Hello. I am a upcoming junior in high school. I have a decent amount of extracurricular activities but do not relate to the field I want to be in, computer engineering and computer science. I only recently discovered that this is my dream and field that I want to work in, but I do not have any extracurricular activities that relate in this field of study/interest plus I don’t have a lot of time (basically a year) please help thank you
Do not worry…i think most people don’t have ECs related to their majors. It is good to explore your major if you can…like taking a CS class. Colleges don’t want all CS people who have done robotics…they want a variety.
Is there a way to show the reasoning with my extracurriculars with my essays?
Just don’t worry about it. The ECs show your interest and dedication to something besides school. Use your essays to show who YOU are.
Well, as an incoming junior, you still have a year before applying to colleges. Volunteer for tech-related programs at your library, or help seniors at your local senior center learn how to use a tablet or smartphone. Join the computer club or the programming club. Ask the teachers in your “computer departments” for suggestions on how to get involved (in DD’s high school, programming comes under the Math Department, but IT comes under Applied Technology - so you might have to talk to multiple people about this). A neighbor’s kid got a summer job in the high school’s resource department setting up iPads for the incoming freshmen.
Keep your old ECs, especially if you enjoy them. But it wouldn’t hurt to make room for a CS-related EC.
If you can fit it into your schedule, take a CS-related class such as AP Computer Science Principles or similar (if you haven’t already).