How can I demonstrate interest in Engineering? I took all science and math APs available at my school. I am part of two science clubs, have high GPA and SAT score. I understand that this is all very generic and boring for admission officer to read. What can I do to make my application to stand out?
Robotics competitions? Shadow an engineer? Chain-reaction contraption competitions? Volunteer in a lab?
@bodangles Great ideas, but no robotic club/ class at my school. Too late for this competition, since next one is next December and I am a junior now. I wish I knww about those earlier. My dad is an engineer, but colleges will not value much me shadowing him.
It’s less about what you do and more about the story you tell. If you have a good sense for storytelling, you can make pretty mundane experiences sound like something impressive.
It sounds like you are highly qualified already for most engineering programs, except the tippy-top schools. What schools interest you?
@colorado_mom top UCs, Stanford, Caltech, Harvey Mudd. I got into pretty good research program for the summer so hopefully it will help.
@Dinka7, what’s your safety school?
@eyemgh UCI,UCSB,UCD and CSUN.
@Dinka7, Good, just making sure that with the bigger guns you’ve applied to that you had a backup just in case. The schools you mentioned receive many more fully qualified applicants than they have space for. Sometimes the difference between acceptance and rejection at holistic schools is simply chance.
BTW, readers are savvy about picking up filler activities to make an application “look better.” It probably won’t hurt, but if it hasn’t been a longer term activity, it won’t likely help much either.
Also, other than high rankings, those schools are all very different. What type of engineering are you interested in? How did you complie that list?
Good luck.
My daughter mentioned she was growing up building Leggos for U of Michigan and she was accepted. No robotics experience.
When I applied to colleges ~5 years ago, my application had AP Calc BC, AP Phys C, 2 years of Kick-Off Mentoring (helping middle schoolers transition to high school), 4 years of FBLA (future business leaders of america), NHS, SNHS, Business honors society, and nothing to do with engineering whatsoever. I still got into Purdue, RPI, Drexel, U Pitt and Penn state. I think that as long as you’re involved in activities and show good qualities, you’re a decent applicant.