So my freshman year I didn’t really know where I wanted to go to college or what I wanted to do or what colleges want to see, so I did a few activities that aren’t really relevant to my major, and nothing that was.
This year I’m trying to have more of a science/medicine focus, so I’m joining SciOly, trying to get a Red Cross club at school, volunteering at a hospital and possibly my local VA and fire dept. as an EMT, working with a tobacco prevention program, going to do research at a university in biology, and looking into several medical internships my junior/senior year (including RSI; can someone please respond to my thread on it??), and taking non-credit college courses in medicine (I did that this year, too, but still).
I’m going to do all of this from 10th through 12th grade, so obviously, it’s not going to be one of those things where I join 10 clubs my senior year to “impress” colleges, but since I’d only be starting most of those things sophomore year, would colleges see that and penalize me for not doing it all four years? PSA this stuff is stuff I’m truly passionate about so please focus on my actual question and don’t go off saying that I look like I’m doing it just for college.
I don’t want there to be any reason for adcoms to reject me
Stop sweating this, and stop doing things to impress colleges. Colleges want people who are interested and interesting. You are 7 years away from med school if you are still on that path when you get there. Do things you want to do. Ad coms can find plenty of reasons to reject you (“clearly obsessed with application building and forgot to live a genuine life” can be on that list).
You might read “How To Be A High School Superstar” by Cal Newport. It will help you understand that colleges don’t really just want you to join a bunch of clubs anyway.
I am clearly interested in these activities. I actually want to do them and I’m not just “joining a bunch of clubs” for the sake of joining a bunch of clubs. How am I not living a genuine life??? Obviously, nobody on CC is going to know my life because all they see is what I post, but how does this prove that I’m not genuine and that all this is just to impress colleges? So what if it impresses colleges? Is it so hard to believe that I actually want to do this stuff?
Relax. There is no real difference between starting an EC freshman year and starting it sophomore year.
I didn’t even really do any ECs related to my major, given that I didn’t pick it until the summer before senior year, and then changed it after one year in college.
Really? where did you go?
Adcoms will not care, as long as it’s clear that you stand out from the rest of the people that are doing Scioly, or are in the red cross club. The difference between serial-joining clubs and joining clubs because they’re interesting are usually “measured” by your commitment, contribution, and what you get out of the club.
For example, at my school’s science olympiad team (regular top three in the nation), there is a huge difference between the people that show up to meetings every so often so they can write science olympiad on their college applications, and the actual competing members that work their butt off day and night (sometimes illegally sneaking back into school to work on their builds…) and get medals at the state and national level. (this year my school placed in every single event at states, with two 4th places being their lowest placing).
Seriously – go read that book. It has a lot of good advice on how colleges view ECs.
@intparent I put it on hold at my library 
@raventhemage Thank you for your advice. Way to go on the awards!
Penn State Schreyer. I picked biomedical engineering originally. The only engineering-related thing I ever did in high school was a pasta bridge competition senior year. Not sure if it even went on my apps since I believe it happened after I was done applying. The rest of my ECs were things that personally interested me – band, writing, a trivia team.
I survived (accepted at two schools, waitlisted at two more) and am scheduled to graduate (with honors, assuming I make it through the thesis process) with a degree in chemical engineering this upcoming year.
If you’re genuinely interested in Insert Activity Here, and you have the time to pursue it, cool. Do it. But who cares what colleges think of it? Live the life you want to live and then let the chips fall as they may.
I’m taking the same approach in college. I could be joining seven engineering teams and make my entire life revolve around my major, or I could do what I’m doing and have a few different things that I find personally fulfilling (book club, animal shelter, research). Still had a successful internship search.
Thanks. All I know is that to stand out to elite colleges, I need to have a major spike, so that’s why I need to focus on stuff related to my major. And I bet STEM majors are really hard to get into at Columbia.
@futurecollege00 It sounds to me that you are going fine.
Also, from your OP it sounds like you might be thinking of premed as a possible path forward. There are a LOT of universities that have very good premed programs. While you might aim for an Ivy League school or equivalent for undergrad, there really is no need to attend one to get a very good premed program. Many state public universities for example have very strong premed programs. Frequently these can be a relative bargain if you are in-state, which can put a student in better financial shape for graduate or medical school.
GPA will matter quite a bit.
“Major spike” doesn’t necessarily mean a spike related to your major. It could be anything: band, debate, whatever.
@snowfairy137 I know that, but I figure that something related to a premedical track would also help me get experience for the field, too
@DadTwoGirls True, but A lot of Ivies/equivalents have full ride scholarships, which is a better deal than in-state schools.
That makes sense but make sure you’re doing things you enjoy.
The amount of money they give you is income based not merit based so if that applys to your family, great. If not, make sure to find “finanical safteys” too.
Ivies don’t have scholarships-only need based aid
that’s what I meant. I qualify for the need-based aid though
So I guess what I mean is not “will it look worse to colleges”, but just in terms of my overall accomplishment, I’m worried that it will not be as substantial if I only had 3 years to do something instead of four.
It’s more about what you do than how long you do it. Four years isn’t automatically “more substantial” than three unless you actually accomplish something within them.
I’ve been in the Society of Women Engineers since freshman year. I go to maybe one meeting per semester. I don’t do anything else with them – no socials, no events, nothing.
Is that impressive? Just because it’s four years?
Or is my pchem lab work, wherein we did original chemical research for five weeks, cooler and more interesting?
Say a person wanted to write a book before graduating because their specialty is in writing. BUT they only started writing it sophomore year. So they would only have three years to write it. Sure, you could do it in a year or two, but the publishing process is long and brutal and it would take them over two years to get published. by the time that person applies to college, they have a great manuscript, but no publishing contract, bestselling status, etc. Whereas if they had started freshman year, they would have had time to do all of that.
What I mean is I’m worried I won’t have enough time to do what I want to and have quantitative evidence of my success by the time admissions rolls around. If it takes four years to win X prize, but you only have three years, you might qualify for it, but you sure as heck won’t win it.