Super-Curricular Activities for Architecture: Reading, Competitions and Projects

Admissions tutors for architecture courses read hundreds of personal statements each cycle, most listing similar open days and similar A-Level subjects, so what tends to stand out is evidence of a candidate who looks at buildings and cities with curiosity beyond the requirements of a portfolio. Because architecture sits between art, engineering, history and social science, tutors read for signs that an applicant can observe, question and connect ideas across those disciplines. Super-curricular activity, in this context, means anything that extends a genuine interest in the built environment beyond the classroom.

This activity carries particular weight for architecture because most courses do not require A-Level Art or Design and Technology, leaving tutors with few formal signals of design aptitude to assess. Reading, sketching, visiting buildings, entering competitions and following debates about housing, sustainability or urban design supply that missing evidence, showing a candidate understands what the degree actually involves, beyond an interest formed by watching property programmes or admiring skylines.

Architecture courses typically ask for a portfolio alongside academic grades, and the several years most routes take to qualify as an architect reward sustained commitment, so tutors also look for evidence that an applicant has tested their interest against the reality of the subject: through reading that is sometimes dense, competitions with real deadlines and, where possible, direct exposure to practice.

Reading around the subject

Sustained reading remains the clearest way for a sixth-form student to show genuine engagement with architecture, since it demonstrates independent thought beyond attendance at a single open day or taster course. Tutors respond well to reading that ranges across architectural theory, urban history, criticism and the social consequences of design, extending past iconic buildings or named architects alone. A student who can discuss why a housing estate succeeded or failed, or how a city's planning history shaped its current form, tends to make a stronger impression than one who can only describe a building's appearance.

• A mix of theory, on why buildings matter, and history, on how styles and cities developed
• Criticism in journals and magazines read by practising architects
• Case studies of housing, regeneration or public buildings near home, examined firsthand where possible

Competitions and essay prizes

Competitions and essay prizes give a structured way to produce work of the kind universities expect, because they impose a brief, a deadline and, often, feedback from practising architects or academics. Entering, even without winning, gives a personal statement something concrete to discuss: a design problem the student chose to tackle, the constraints they worked within and what they would change if they returned to the brief. This matters particularly for architecture, since much of the degree is assessed through design projects marked against a brief, unlike the exam-based assessment more common elsewhere.

Schemes such as Design Engineer Construct, delivered in some UK schools, set built-environment briefs specifically for sixth formers and award prizes for the strongest responses, giving students without access to a design A-Level a formal way to produce assessed design work. Where no local scheme exists, students can respond to open competition briefs independently and keep the resulting sketches, models or reports as material to discuss at interview.

Lectures, courses and online learning

Architecture schools and professional bodies run public lecture programmes that are usually free and open to sixth formers, covering topics from individual buildings to broader questions about housing policy or climate. Attending regularly, whether in person or via recordings, gives students exposure to how architects and academics argue a case, sharpening the kind of argument expected at interview. Short online courses, where available, offer a similar benefit in a more structured form, often including short design exercises that produce material a student can describe in a personal statement.

• Public lecture programmes run by architecture schools, most free to attend
• Talks and events hosted by professional bodies and museums
• Short online courses that include a small design exercise

Projects, EPQ and portfolio-building

An Extended Project Qualification gives sixth formers the chance to produce a substantial piece of independent work on an architecture-related question, such as research into a local building's history, a proposal for redeveloping a site, or an investigation into a material or construction technique. Because the EPQ is supervised but self-directed, it mirrors the way architecture is studied at university closely, and gives a personal statement a specific, sustained project to describe, distinct from a list of separate activities.

Some courses, including several of the most competitive, ask for a portfolio alongside the UCAS application, made up of sketches, models or design work produced outside a formal classroom setting. Building this over Year 12, through a regular sketchbook and small independent projects such as redesigning a room or surveying a local street, tends to produce stronger material than work assembled in the weeks before a deadline.

• EPQ topics rooted in a local building, site or material
• A sketchbook maintained across Year 12, not assembled retrospectively
• Small independent design exercises, such as redesigning a room or a street

Work experience and exposure to practice

Formal work experience in an architecture practice is difficult for sixth formers to arrange, since insurance and liability concerns mean many practices are unable to host under-eighteens, and tutors are generally aware of this constraint. Where a placement is possible, even a few days of shadowing, observing site visits or sitting in on client meetings gives useful material for a personal statement. Where it is not, students can gain comparable exposure by contacting local architects for an informal conversation, attending open studio events, or following the work of practices whose projects interest them, an approach tutors generally recognise as a reasonable substitute.

• A few days of shadowing or site visits, where a practice can host it
• Informal conversations with local architects
• Open studio events and exhibitions of practices' work

A Year 12 to Year 13 timeline

Super-curricular preparation for architecture works best spread across both years of sixth form, since reading, competition entries and any EPQ need time to develop, well before the autumn of Year 13 when UCAS applications and A-Level work compete for the same hours. Starting broad in Year 12 and narrowing towards a personal statement in Year 13 tends to produce a more coherent application than starting activity only once the application is imminent.

• Year 12, autumn to spring: broad reading, first visits to buildings and lectures, joining a school or online architecture society
• Year 12, summer: a competition entry, an initial EPQ topic, early contact made for any work experience
• Year 13, autumn: personal statement drafted around two or three activities explored in depth, EPQ completed or nearing completion
• Year 13, from October: interview preparation, where relevant, drawing on the same reading and projects

Writing about it: personal statement, interview and common mistakes

A personal statement for architecture works best when it explains why a piece of reading or a project changed how the student thinks about buildings or cities, moving beyond a list of what was read or visited. Specific detail carries weight: naming the estate, the material or the argument in a particular chapter, and setting out a considered response to it. Tutors read this as evidence of a mind engaging critically with the subject, past its surface impressions.

At interview, admissions tutors for architecture often ask students to talk through a piece of work, a sketch or a building they admire, testing whether the enthusiasm described in the personal statement holds up under questioning. Preparing means being able to explain why a building or project worked, what its constraints were and what the student would have done differently, echoing the kind of critique architecture students receive throughout the degree itself.

• Listing many books, competitions or visits without depth on any one
• Describing enthusiasm for buildings in general terms, without specific examples
• Treating a portfolio or EPQ as separate from the personal statement, when the two should support each other
• Leaving all super-curricular activity to the autumn of Year 13

Recommended resources for Architecture

• The Architecture of Happiness: Alain de Botton's accessible study of why buildings affect mood and identity, a common starting point for sixth-form reading lists.
• The Death and Life of Great American Cities: Jane Jacobs's influential critique of postwar urban planning, useful for students interested in cities as much as individual buildings.
• RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects): The UK's professional body for architects, with student and careers resources alongside its events programme.
• Design Museum: London's Design Museum runs exhibitions and events on architecture and the built environment, useful for visits and reading around them.
• Dezeen: A widely read architecture and design publication covering current projects, debates and competitions worldwide.
• ArchDaily: An extensive online archive of built projects with plans and drawings, useful for building visual and technical vocabulary.
• The Architectural Review: A long-established architecture journal publishing criticism and analysis, useful for students reading at a more advanced level.
• 99% Invisible: A design and architecture podcast exploring the reasoning behind everyday buildings and objects, accessible for students new to the subject.
• The Pritzker Architecture Prize: An annual award recognising a body of built work, with laureate profiles giving a well-curated overview of significant contemporary architects.
• UCL Bartlett School of Architecture: One of the UK's leading architecture schools, hosting a public lecture programme open to prospective students.
• Royal Academy of Arts: The RA's public events programme regularly includes architecture lectures and exhibitions relevant to sixth-form applicants.

University admissions support from Taylor Tuition

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