Hi, I was wondering how I could group my EC’s to get into a top stem university.
" If you have an interest spike, an area where you particularly excel or that emphasizes your dedication to a certain field, you can tie much of your application to that spike and make your application more memorable "
^ made this post in reference to seeing that.
My EC’s right now are: volunteering at a youth summer camp, team captain of the basketball team, ambassador in model UN, part of the World Science Academy, taken a 4 week after school science course at a museum with scientists, and intern assistant of scientists at a lab for 1 year, also culinary club (people tell me to not even write this). also part of nhs but no leadership position so probably won’t write that, volunteer tutor at a local library (probably shouldn’t write this either right?)
How do I group those to show my “interest spike” to colleges?
What’s your prospective major?
Probably biochemistry or biomedical engineering.
Dino…library
Sauce…culinary
Maybe you should play up that which seems close to how you (may) define parts of yourself?
Your EC’s absolutely do not have to dovetail with your intended major.
In fact, showing a range of interests aside from those related to the major, and those to which you have shown a depth of commitment (even without leadership positions), can help you to present yourself quite positively as someone who will contribute greatly to the spirit of the university community.
Your ‘interest spike’ may work to well-position your profile for favorable review, but do not discard and dispose of every activity you have engaged in, and functions you have undertaken, outside of those which relate to your intended major.
You could brainstorm ways of tying the science to the cooking (kitchen as laboratory… isn’t a lot of cooking about chemistry?). Maybe you can develop something around the chemistry of food/cooking to get younger kids excited about science, maybe even a video series during quarantine?
Then you can talk about your other activities as part of your own leadership development efforts.
So your narrative could be that you are fascinated by Science and chemistry, but that as much as you love spending time in the lab (or kitchen!), you know that to achieve your long term goals you also need leadership skills, like knowing how to motivate others (hence the youth camp), speak persuasively (hello, Model UN), and work as part of a team and even lead it (sports).