<p>Hey all,</p>
<p>I'm a high school sophomore, looking to major in Chemical Engineering for college. I was wondering what kind of extra-curriculars I could start getting involved in to "pad up" my resume for college application (I'm going to apply to several selective colleges) in two years time. </p>
<p>I'm also an international student at a US boarding school, so it's hard for me to participate in local organizations. Not being a US citizen automatically disqualifies me from A LOT of science competitions (Science Bowl, for instance). I would appreciate any suggestions that help me build a stronger file in terms of ECs.</p>
<p>Merci beaucoup!</p>
<p>I don’t think hs students should do EC to “pad up” the resume. They should pick activities they enjoy. Now when a very busy student needs to pare down ECs that are all well liked, it makes sense to do so with resume balancing in mind.</p>
<p>Often hs student interested in Engineering enjoy robotics clubs. DS would have liked to do that, but he was busy with other ECs that energized him more. I don’t think it hurt him at college application time.</p>
<p>ECs only matter much if you are near the top of the scale in academic credentials (course rigor, grades, class rank, test scores) and are applying to super selective schools that get flooded with applicants at the top of the scale in academic credentials.</p>
<p>Do ECs because you like doing them.</p>
<p>But do the best you can in academics. The A student with no ECs beats the B student with ECs, though the A student with ECs does get a better chance at the super selective schools.</p>
<p>I am doing well academically (getting a 4.0 at a competitive school that sends 25% of the graduating class to IVYs annually, including a bunch to Princeton), and I’m going to work my tail off for that 2250+/35+ on the SAT/ACT. It’s only my ECs that are egregiously lacking because the concept of ECs are not well perceived in my home country (a small country in East Asia); there is a general consensus among parents that children should focus solely on the academics, and deem those who play sports/go on camps as “spoiled” and bad-mannered. Therefore I suck at sports.</p>
<p>I am also privy to the precept “do ECs because you like doing them.” I have a friend who plays the violin well but hates it. My parents made me play the piano for 4 years. I loathed it and dropped. Too classy for me. Recently, however, I picked up an electric guitar (I couldn’t back then because my parents were against the idea of me playing a “violent” instrument) and I’m in love. Nonetheless, I obviously can’t play this to my advantage against applicants who have 10 years of piano and won national awards, or violinists in the orchestra. </p>
<p>My passion has been music, though not in the traditional sense, and I do not want to ground my future on a music-related career. Back home, I used to part of an underground organization assisting in arranging gigs for local bands and inviting foreign musicians to come and play. Even my parents did not know about my clandestine involvement in the group, which I had to quit after going to the US. I can’t do anything similar in the US because no one in my current school listens to the same kind of music as I do. </p>
<p>To keep this rather unnecessarily long post short, I will be applying to Cornell ED in two years time. Since Cornell is very selective, I think it’s necessary that I start getting involved. Is the robotics club about designing and building robots? If so, I’m not interested (my drawing/designing skill is atrocious) and I thus don’t wish to participate. In the end, I aspire to be a pharmacist, and I would like to pursue ECs that will benefit me in the long run even when I don’t get into the college of choice. And I think I’ll legitimately enjoy the ECs with which I’m padding up my resume if I know they’ll facilitate, in one way or another, my future career prospects.</p>
<p>…or is it already too late considering I have literally nothing in hand?</p>
<p>@coloradomom: may I ask what these “other ECs” your son was busy with were?</p>
<p>If the college’s admissions readers are looking for a diverse class, playing a very common instrument like piano or violin may be less advantageous than playing a more unusual instrument in getting the interest of an admissions reader.</p>
<p>Designing robots with the robotics club probably appeals more to aspiring mechanical, electrical, and computer engineers.</p>
<p>Also note that many of what are considered the top schools for chemical engineering are not the super-selective schools. If rankings are that important to you and your parents, many of these schools are ranked higher than Cornell for chemical engineering, so don’t feel like it is a big let-down to go somewhere else.</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus: Beside maintaining my good academic progress, what else should I do to become a more well-rounded applicant? Is being involved in the regular ECs (newspaper, cultural clubs, community service) good enough because there is nothing for me to do to amass experience for my intended field? And do we have to claim leadership positions in said clubs to actually make it “count?”</p>