Answer a nervous junior's question.....

<p>Basically, I'm pretty much worried about my extra-curriculars as they stand. In terms of the most selective schools, most applicants have several "passions" that they achieved greatly in all 4 years (or at least 3). Freshman and sophomore year, I've had a pretty generic list (band, tutoring, sports). These (especially sports) were still a decent time commitment; it's not like I was just sitting around after school everyday. </p>

<p>Is it bad if I'm just finding my "passions" junior year? I mean, I've found that I really like chemistry. If I say, did some quality research or got involved in a local company (filing papers/shadowing), would that be respected by selective admissions? My school doesn't really offer many clubs besides your standard math team, newspaper, band, etc. and I guess I wasn't outgoing enough as a freshman to found any (nor did I have any idea of what I was interested in).</p>

<p>edit: if it matters, main interest is chemical/civil engineering.</p>

<p>i’m not sure if there is an amgen near you, but if you could somehow find a way to do an internship with a science related company that would look great on your college apps</p>

<p>there is one in a nearby city, but on their internships page it seems that they only offer them to undergrads. are they known for high school internships?</p>