I’m an Asian-American female and I’ve recently heard that Stanford takes very few kids in STEM from the East Coast, seeing as there is already a multitude of them in the West. Generally, I think that humanities are on the decline, especially when there’s so much of a focus now on technology for the future. I know that women are rarer in STEM, but Asians are rarer in humanities, so as an Asian girl, would it make more sense for me to pursue STEM or the humanities, with respect to uniqueness from a college admissions lens? I know that I should pursue whichever one I’m more interested in, but I’m just curious right now. Thank you for taking the time to read my post (and for potentially answering my question)!
Is your question asking with regards to potential college major or to HS preparation? If the former, Stanford, and similar schools do not admit by major, so it does not matter; if the latter, colleges will want a balanced HS curriculum encompassing all core subjects.
The reality is that Stanford admits very few students, period.
@skieurope Thanks for the reply! I was asking with regards to potential college major - sorry that my question wasn’t clear. I thought extracurriculars and coursework would give admission officers some insight as to which direction a student might be headed. I imagined that they would want kids who showed a clear passion and interest for a particular field in addition to being well-rounded and figured they would tend to avoid an incoming class of freshmen composed entirely of those involved with lab work and the like. I was also just using Stanford as an example of this situation seeming to be true; I was asking generally, for any college, whether or not one field would see a higher admit rate than the other for Asian-American girls.
Thanks for the clarification. The answer remains the same. Most colleges want you to be you. No college is going to want you to be what you think they want and, anyway, they’d likely see right through it. Good luck.
I think OP’s question makes sense in regards to Stanford only when an applicant has evidenced that he or she is great in both STEM and Humanities area. Although Stanford does not require an indication of major, they do ask for an Area of Interest. If you excel in both areas and have ECs to show for it, I would put down Humanities if you want to increase your chances of getting into Stanford. This is going to be a very rare case though.
What do you like? What do you want to study? What extracurriculars do you enjoy? Which academic electives at your school interest you? Be yourself. That’s what colleges want.
However, Stanford does not formally admit by major, and does not appear to have any restricted majors (even CS, despite huge increases in enrollment). Of course, with holistic admission reading, your indicated intended major may have some unknown effect, which cannot be predicted from outside the admissions office.
Any school that asks for some idea of your possible direction(s) can then look for how you back(ed) that up with activities. If you indicate humanities, but have primarily stem ECs, and depth only in those- the sort of thing that might make you a great stem applicant- of course they may question.
In part, they’re trying to get some balance in majors, across the freshman class. In part, they’re looking at (and for) your thinking. Not just what you “say.”
It’s not perfect, but don’t assume this only applies when you specifically apply for, say, an engineering program. You want to show any tippy top that you really are on your game.
If you’re truly interested in stem, then pursue the right activities in that.
Ps. Where’d the idea come from that S doesn’t want east coast stem kids? Doesn’t make sense.
Stanford (& similar) get so many super-qualified applicants of every combination, that Asian + humanities won’t even be a blip on the radar. Trying to think of a combo that is so rare that it would get the attention of AdComms at Stanford (or similar) is a plausible game for a long car drive but it won’t help you get into one of those colleges. Believe [url=<a href=“http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/applying_sideways%5Dthis%5B/url”>http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/applying_sideways]this[/url] and [url=<a href=“http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/there_is_no_formula%5Dthis%5B/url”>http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/there_is_no_formula]this[/url].
If you’re into the Humanities and can back it up with EC’s (writing, history contest, museum volunteering, re-enactments, learning classical Greek on your own…) and academics ( learning two world languages to AP level, taking most humanities/social science Ap’s offered at your school, showing initiative in that area, perhaps through a research/independent study…) yes it’ll be a little change from the gazillion kids who want to study CS, but if all your EC’s are in STEM and you’re not clearly into the subject, then it’ll backfire.
Would colleges also consider the prevalence of STEM / humanities in what region the applicant’s in? I’m just wondering because my geographic area is heavily populated with Asians, and the focus in school is very STEM and research intensive, with many people who do well at Intel or Regeneron STS. I’m an Asian-American female myself, and although my course load is pretty STEM-heavy, my extracurriculars are somewhat humanities-skewed (more depth in creative writing and debate than in CS). Would colleges hold it against me for not taking advantage of the STEM resources at school?
You really just need to follow your passions.
I think around 40 per cent of the kids who go to Stanford are from California. There is nothing you can do about that. As everyone has told you follow your passion. Yes Stanford tries to build a class with a bunch of different types of students but you really cant manipulate the system to your advantage.
If your courseload is STEM-heavy, then you’re not as strong a Humanities applicant. Next year, perhaps try to beef up your Humanities/Social Science courseload.
I think Stanford gets enough apps that it really doesn’t matter. If you are interested in a particular STEM major, you will have an advantage at some schools as a female. Think schools with “tech” or similar in the name where men make up 75% or more of students.
^If she likes STEM, absolutely, taking a STEM-heavy courseload and applying to schools with “Tech” in the name will absolutely help.
However for Stanford, someone interested in STEM-Entrepreneurship is a dime a dozen, boy or girl. :s
If she’s interested in Humanities, though, and plans to apply for a Humanities major, having a STEM-centric courseload with a Humanities-light courseload is unlikely to be the right choice.
For intensely competitive schools like Stanford and other highly selective colleges, I don’t think it makes any difference whether you’re an Asian female in STEM or humanities. Either way, you’d have to demonstrate some noteworthy and distinct accomplishments, not just your leaning. The Arts Supplement, for example, is a great venue to demonstrate distinct talent in arts and music. Even then, the colleges specifically ask that only truly talented should consider submitting the sample works; if not, you only risk frustrating them and that certainly won’t be to your advantage.
My school offers far more STEM classes than humanities-oriented ones, to the extent that it doesn’t have any post-AP humanities electives, whereas it offers a plethora of advanced science and math ones (lin alg, compilers / interpreters, etc). I’d actually argue that my courseload is STEM-centric more because of the options available than by choice, although I’m pursuing the english / history classes to the highest levels possible (APUSH, AP Lang). I have the extracurriculars to back up my writing and debate interests, but there aren’t any more humanities classes left for me to take in school. Apologies for any confusion.
So my question is, are colleges going to factor the courses offered at my school into their decision-making process? I’m not talking about Stanford specifically; I’m just curious about the colleges in general.
Make sure your guidance counselor explains that in the school profile.
In addition, you could try to dual enroll at a community college (also called PSEO or Running Start) to increase your Humanities classes.
All in all, Stanford is so competitive that you never know what will or will not ‘work’.
@grandlv, your school will provide a ‘profile’ to all the colleges that you apply to, which will make it clear what is offered, what typical students do, etc. Your GC can write about your humanities emphasis in a STEM-centric school.
AdComms do not parse student schedules as closely as many students seem to think: according to the adcomms people that I have spoken to and/or heard speak, there is typically a first level review of the course load, particularly to make sure that the required/recommended courses are covered, that GPAs are calculated the way they like, etc (done administratively/automatically) and the general rigor (for selective schools, the ‘most rigorous’ check by the GC).
But unless you are applying into a specific course (ie, engineering, some compsci or bme courses, architecture, etc), most colleges aren’t too bothered about what you say your academic interests are- because they know how often students change (classic example: the # of people who apply as pre-med v. the # of people who apply to med school). Typically about 1/3 of students materially change their academic focus once they get to college.
Colleges are, however, interested in the narrative arc of the story you tell about yourself, because it is a proxy for other things about you: things such as drive, determination, ability to stick with things over the longer term, demonstration of growth and maturity, ability to get along within your community, ability to problem solve, etc. All of those things speak to both how you might fit into their community and your ability to be successful there. The alignment between STEM and humanities in your course load and professed areas of interest is easily reconciled if they reflect genuine interests- b/c you will be able to tell the story. . And if you feel that they don’t align, that’s ok also- b/c you have a story to tell there. That’s why the other posters have been saying ‘be yourself’ to the OP.