<p>Im attempting to prepare all my essays ahead of time to proofread them before school starts (6 AP courses to contend with next year), and I can't decide on which activity to elaborate on the common app. Ive taken leadership positions in nearly every club ive been a part of, but my main issue is deciding between elaborating on my most important club (not relevant to my major) or my internship experience which was my major to the t. </p>
<p>My most important club, FIRST Robotics (FRC), I began near atlanta when I was im seventh grade. However, this was 2 hours away and I was technically too young at the time to be on the team. I was hooked at day one. I never missed a meeting. But then, in 9th grade, I started a local team for the county with my father as a mentor. We started as a FTC team due to financing issues, but soon I was able to get enough corporate funding for an FRC team (that year, the day before kickoff). By then we had ten members including me and the bare minimum amount of money. We were able to scrape together a robot and earn 11th place at our regional. The next year, we had around 30 people and many people far better than I at getting corporate sponsors. So we had a decent amount of money and started 2 FTC teams, one making it to state and winning first in our state scrimmage. Then FRC season arrived and we abandoned it for the "big bot." We did fairly well in regionals, making it to semifinals. We were able to go to worlds, and did. We did terribly there. Lol. But then, I had to move away. Fortunately, there was a team nearby which was struggling and I joined in. I began working as an assistant to the robot leader, but soon, I was placed as robot leader. We did poorly that year at regionals bc our parts didnt come in and our makeshift bot didnt have any bugs worked out. Thats when we decides to reorganize the team. We created a constitution and leadership system to guarantee accountability in all aspects and organize a large team into a functional team. Im expecting to be elected Robot Director, but we havent elected our leaders yet. </p>
<p>That wasn't my essay, its just a summary of my part in FIRST. But I plan to major in computational biology or double major in computer science and genetics (thank FIRST for the computers), not engineering. My other choice is a short summary of my work in a genetics lab, where I tested for genetic variations in metabolism for specific drugs (one of the few personalized medicine genetics laboratories commercially available). I could spend hours talking about that, but that was just a summer internship my junior year and Idk if it carries as much weight. It seemed more applicable though.</p>
<p>I also had a similar experience to the FIRST experience with TSA, but I felt that it wasnt quite as committing and I only held positions of Sgt. At Arms and Treasurer and I only did that in 9th and 10th grade. I made it to nationals both years and placed 2-10 in most of my events at the state level though.</p>
<p>So back to my initial question, which of the (now three) expanded detail for activity essays should I write? And should I add open courseware as an activity? Ive taken about 10 courses in their entirety and I have notes for all of them, I just do that for fun though. </p>
<p>Additional information: applying to Brown, Clemson, RPI, and USC. I have a 3.8 unweighted gpa as of last year, I have a 2020 on the sat (V: 720, M: 630, W: 670) and a 30 on the ACT (E: 32, M: 27, R: 36, S: 20, but ive gotten higher in English and Science on my first test, I had a 34 and 29 respectively). I plan on retaking and being tutored for the ACT and SAT.
Thank you for your time! :)</p>