<p>Ok... until now I have always wanted to be a doctor
and planned on going to pre-med or just simply studying biology.
But recently, I became really interested in biomedical engineering.
Unfortunately, I do not have much of science-math related activities and ECs.
My grades and rankings are ok (top 3%, near 4.0 GPA) but
since I am a senior now I don't know if I could possibly show enough passion for engineering at top competitive schools...
is it too late? should I just go into Arts & Sciences or should I try to apply to engineering?
I will list my ECs just in case anyone is curious..</p>
<p>Canadian Asian Male.</p>
<ul>
<li>International Group: Founder & Leader. Received grants from the city and a facility from St. Andrews United Church, created executive committees. (5 hours/week)</li>
<li>Peer Helper (gr.11): Helped grade 8 kids feel welcome, led school tours, learned about interactive skills and issues that teenagers face. (2 hours/week)</li>
<li>Featured in a Korean Newspaper. Selected as one of the future prospective Korean leaders for my leadership in international group and peer helper. </li>
<li>Internship at St. Andrews United Church: Involved various projects including interviewing people and posting their stories online, leading the Sunday program, occupying the office, and doing repair works. (35 hours/week for the grade 11 summer)</li>
<li><p>Korean Church: Led Sunday schools for children. </p></li>
<li><p>Metro/Select Soccer team (gr.8, 9): Most competitive league in the province, played right striker position (8 hours/week). Silver Soccer team (gr. 10 – present): Eventually had to drop to silver level due to frequent long-distance travel and increasing schoolwork (4 hours/week).</p></li>
<li><p>Tennis: (gr. 10, 11): Involved in competitive challenger program, eventually offered a place in champion program (highest level) but could not accept it due to financial circumstances, long-distance tournaments and schedule conflicts. </p></li>
<li><p>Varsity Tennis (gr. 9 – 11): Team won the 2nd place in region, 6th place in province. </p></li>
<li><p>Varsity Basketball (gr.8, 9): Team won the regional titles, 3rd in provincials, 3 tournaments (6 hours/week). </p></li>
<li><p>Alto Saxophone (grade 7 – 12): I played 1st alto saxophone in a competitive junior jazz program that required auditions for grade 8 saxophone players. The band made it to the finals at Envision Jazz Festival. I was also part of senior jazz band and maintained lead alto position. I was part of combo band in grade 11, which consisted of only 7 members. (2 hours/week). </p></li>
<li><p>CCM (Christian Contemporary Music) Band: Held concerts regularly, performed twice a week for youth service and adult service. Guitar & Bass guitar (gr. 8,9, 10, 11): Played 2nd guitar and main bass guitar. Piano and Synthesizer (grade 5 – present): Took lessons, currently in CCM band (3 hours/week).</p></li>
<li><p>I have written jazz and new age compositions.</p></li>
<li><p>Transferred to new Secondary school for more rigorous academic courses in grade 10 and to study with academically motivated teachers and peers. I had to sacrifice sports and music opportunities due to lack of programs in the school or lack of time </p></li>
<li><p>Skipped a year of biology and mathematics in grade 10. Skipped IB physics 11 and went directly to IB physics 12 (I took a condensed summer school in grade 10). </p></li>
<li><p>Mathcount Competition (gr.8): Placed 13th in regional, 34th in provincial. Team made placed top 4 in regional and competed in provincial finals. </p></li>
<li><p>business 10 and math 10 awards in grade 9. English and social awards in grade 8. </p></li>
<li><p>top 25% Canada in math competitions (gr. 8-12).. 2nd place in school in gr.9...</p></li>
</ul>
<p>You'll be fine. Colleges admit you based on your qualifications as a whole, not just on ur desired major. Hence the reason you can change majors after you are admitted.</p>
<p>Sorry, I don't agree with Seiken. Many engineering schools, probably most of them, admit students based on engineering aptitude and potential. That is why students apply directly to engineering schools at places like Univ. of Michigan, Univ. of Illinois and others. However, aptitude and potential are measured mostly by course work (math and science courses), not ECs. There aren't that many ECs that are actually engineering-related. I don't think you should worry about your EC record.</p>
<p>so... would my course work be approporiate for an engineering applicant?
Math SL 12 (only offers SL... finished in grade 11) - 98%, 7 in IB exam.
Bio SL 12 (again, only offers SL...finished in grade 11) - 94%, 7 in IB exam.
IB Chem HL 11 - 95%
IB Physics SL - did normal physics 11 in summer school- 100%
IB English HL - 90%
IB Geo HL - 94%
AB Japanese - 98%
TOK, Senior Jazz Band...</p>
<p>Test scores for math? SAT I and II? I believe that is important.</p>
<p>Re: ECs, I disagree with midmo: particularly if you are applying to engineering depts that are not part of a xxxTech, but are part of a university or college that has broader offerings, I believe that the ECs have impact (UMich and Duke, e.g., are two I'm familiar with). The Admissions folks are still looking at building an interesting freshman class.</p>
<p>mafool, I think I wasn't clear. I agree that it is important to have a record of interesting and meaningful ECs. What I was disputing is that all of the ECs need to be "engineering oriented" (which is how I read the first part of the original post).</p>
<p>I don't think most schools will refuse to admit an academically-qualified student because her/his out of class activities did not include a heavy dose of pre-engineering activities.</p>
<p>SAT I - 2210 (800M 720W 690R)
SAT II - Math II 800
hmm.... so I don't NEED heavy pre-engineering actitivities like robotics club, researches and etc...?
Do you think I could get in an engineering programs at competitive universities?</p>
<p>I agree that you don't need engin-specific ECs. In fact, having outside interests makes you, if anything, more interesting, IMO.</p>
<p>"So does it mean that if I get rejected from the engineering school, I would have probably been rejected from Arts & science school as well?" Not necessarily. Depending on where you apply, the applicant pool for the engin school can have already self-selected into a more highly-qualified (statistically) pool than the one applying to the Arts and Sciences school(s). Not always the case, but it does happen.</p>
<p>Sorry I was speaking with Private Universities in mind, not public ones in which u do indeed applying to the program. However, with your SAT scores I think you prove are more than capable of handling a top-notch engineering program at any of the top publics, so u seem covered on that end as well. Just my opinion though.</p>
<p>It's great that you have high math/science test scores. Engineering-related ECs might help but are definitely not crucial to your application. I think that what colleges really want to see is that you have a passion for doing something with your time other than just homework and watching TV/playing video games. Barely any of my ECs were science-related, but I loved what I did (and wrote about it in my essays). I'll be starting as a biomedical engineering major at Northwestern next month (and was also accepted by Johns Hopkins BME, among other schools). In any case, the student body would just be boring if all the engineering students they admitted had to be robotics club-science fair participants.</p>