<p>Hi, and thank you all in advance for your time and responses, they are much appreciated.</p>
<p>I am currently a high school freshman, and I'm looking for unique activities to express my interest in the fields of:
1. Medicine
2. Computer Science
3. Business
4. Engineering
I have been reading posts and asking other people what I could do to show my interest, but all the responses seem SO cliche. I have heard "volunteer at a hospital", "conduct research"(although I am seriously considering that, just sounds like fun), and stuff like "DECA business competition". I'd like to do something at least a little different than what everyone else does. Currently, I have a few things I came up with:
1. I'd like to create my own app for the iPhone (doing that this summer)
2. Internships with Government programs (i.e, NASA, NIST, NIH)
3. Olympiads (USABO, USAPHO, USAMO. Yes I know, not very original, but I do need some competitive experiences)
4. Intel + SIEMENS challenges</p>
<p>But...that's it. Suggestions of any kind would be very much appreciated, thanks! </p>
<p>Feel free to leave a link to any questions/chances threads you have, I'd be happy to provide info if I have something to offer.</p>
<p>Does your high school have a vocational program? If so make sure take any engineering vocational course. And advanced math courses. Those always look good on transcripts.</p>
<p>I am really interested in Science so heres what I have under my belt as far as out of school stuff. I am a sophomore:</p>
<p>-Volunteer at a hospital (may be generic but great experience)
-Work at a Medical Supplies store (located in the hospital)
-Have taken a trip to Florida to study Marine Biology
-Trip to Ecuador/Galapagos to study Ecology
-Taking Contemporary Psychology/Pre-Calculus this summer at a local University
-Board member/Event Coordinator of a non-profit raising thousands a year for cancer research
-Science Olympiad (Captain Hopeful) *
-Ocean Bowl (Captain Hopeful) *</p>
<p>*Have to be a junior to be captain but I have a realistic shot</p>
<p>Those are the bigger things that are science related. I am also involved in other stuff which is IMPORTANT because colleges want to see that you aren’t just good at one thing (Model U.N., Recruitment Ambassador for school, Community Group, V. Hockey)</p>
<p>You mentioned earlier your ambitions to compete in USAMO/USABO/etc. That is a really good idea because colleges also look for recognition. Some other ideas are maybe publishing a scientific/research paper or article. That has been done before but it is more out of the box than just test taking (although if you do well in this it looks very very good).</p>
<p>Well Florida was Marine Biology at a professional lab. We scuba dived, did lab work, and took classes.</p>
<p>the Galapagos/Ecuador trip was half studying the ecology in ecuador and half marine bio in the Galapagos once again via scuba diving. </p>
<p>I went on both of these trips because I love traveling, science, and independence. They were absolutely amazing and some of the best experiences in my life. They WERE expensive but I was able to pay for them from working.</p>
Engineering
I have been reading posts and asking other people what I could do to show my interest, but all the responses seem SO cliche. I have heard “volunteer at a hospital”, “conduct research”(although I am seriously considering that, just sounds like fun), and stuff like “DECA business competition”. I’d like to do something at least a little different than what everyone else does. Currently, I have a few things I came up with:
I’d like to create my own app for the iPhone (doing that this summer)
Internships with Government programs (i.e, NASA, NIST, NIH)
Olympiads (USABO, USAPHO, USAMO. Yes I know, not very original, but I do need some competitive experiences)
Intel + SIEMENS challenges
[Quote]
</p>
<p>Volunteering at a hospital, and conducting independent research are actually great ideas. Volunteering at a hospital takes care of two things- one, it supports your interest in medicine, and two, it’s always good to volunteer for a significant amount of time for college apps. Getting started as a freshman would provide an even bigger boost. (And three, obviously, you’re helping people). If you can actually get research published in a journal, that is a very big boost to your app. Even if not, it shows initiative- you may think it’s cliche, but it’s not very common to conduct actual research (that is, beyond just washing test tubes and stuff). It’s actually more uncommon than the other things you mentioned, I believe. Competitions like DECA also show initiative and you should definitely do those too. Which brings us to Olympiads. Olympiads are very, very tough to succeed in and do not think you can just walk in and qualify to the national level. You need to devote a lot of time to studying if you want to do well in even one Olympiad. However, if you CAN do well, that looks really impressive to colleges. You could spend your whole summer studying hard for an Olympiad, preferably one of the bigger ones like one of the three you mentioned, and if you are very smart and you study diligently, you have a shot at doing well - and if not, try again junior year. Government internships are also a good thing to do with your summer- but try saving those for junior year, as the summer after junior year is the one that matters most. Of course, you can still do one this summer if you want - consistency is also a plus. Intel and Siemens also require LOTS of hard work and are kind of more randomized (some really good projects don’t make it far), but like Olympiads if you can do well that is pretty impressive to colleges. Finally, creating your own iPhone app has promise but to really matter to colleges it will have to be successful (well-known and often-downloaded), and with the competition that’s highly unlikely, so I suggest you just do it for fun and don’t count on it to help with colleges.</p>
<p>I kind of have an idea of something I want to do; have you heard of the siemens environmental challenge? I wanted to enter that with my friends. I have been volunteering at the national recycling program and this summer, they’re giving me a job. I’ve been volunteering on my own for 3 years already (currently a frosh in HS) and they’ve noticed my commitment and want to reward me with a real job. I’ll be working with board members to organize more drives, do some research, etc. </p>
<p>Do you think the research I compile from the project could help me in my quest in the siemens challenge? By doing this job, I’d gain valuable work experience in an academic environment (sort of) and even get research I can publish or use in projects.
Good idea?</p>
<p>1) Volunteering at a hospital is not cliche. In fact, if you didn’t, your chances for getting into a school that you’ve expressed interest in medicine to is significantly lower. My mom does MedSchool interviews/adcoms and says that showing CLEAR interest in medicine is key for both pre-med and med acceptance
2) How do you expect to do Intel & SIEMENS without working in a lab this summer? /:?</p>
<p>Also, if your research is good, try to get it published. Not just for colleges, but for yourself as well, because you want to expand the knowledge in the field which you studied.</p>