Obviously i want to enter a STE field, and I would love to do science fair/olympiad. But my (small town) school for some reason doesn’t host one. Will colleges look at my app and wonder why i never entered one/ why i dont have any ecs in engineering?
Colleges will look at your application in context and understand that small schools like yours just don’t have the resources/opportunities that a large school has. This shouldn’t negatively affect your admissions chances. Just make sure you’re involved in other extracurriculars and do as much in science as you can!
Colleges look at how you took advantage of the opportunities you had—they don’t hold it against you if you don’t have the same opportunities.
For example, if you only took 1 or 2 AP classes because that’s all your HS offers, they understand that. But if your HS offers 20 of them they will wonder why you didn’t challenge yourself with more.
(Just an aside, neither of my kids did a “science fair/Olympiad” and both are studying STEM fields.)
I agree with the above posters that you will be fine with out participating in a science fair or Olympiad. However, most of the high schools in our area don’t host their own science fair. (Interestingly, it is has nothing to do with size of school around here. the private schools and inner city school tend to hold fairs for their students, the small rural and large suburban public schools do not.) The students that want to participate start directly with the regional science fair (in our state it covers many counties). So not having a fair at your school is no excuse if you want that experience! You can look up your local affiliate fair on the International Science and Engineering Fair web site. My kids did projects right inside our home, so not having a research college nearby is not an excuse either! For instance, my older son set a small, but functioning, aquaponics system in our dining room. My younger son used the Arduino platform to create some cool devices for his projects. So my advice to you is to come up with a cool project and tinker with it over the summer!
Science fairs just aren’t everybody’s cup of tea- whether they are available or not. If, like @SueAnneW’s kids you are into them there are ways to do it on your own. If, like @ClaremontMom’s kids they are available but you aren’t interested that’s fine too.
Try to keep focused on the reasons for what colleges look for: they are usually proxies for something else. Participating in science fairs in’t important to “prove” your interest in science. It is just a useful proxy for other parts of you, such as being involved in something beyond the classroom (which in turn suggests a student who has the time management and self-discipline skills to handle more than school work); a student who is interested enough in something to invest their time and energy in it (and thus likely to be an involved member of the college community and the larger world), a student who can see a project through from beginning to end (and is thus likely to handle the longer term perspectives need to successfully navigate college/adult life), etc.
A science fair can be a part of your narrative arc (did science fair project on x, which led to a greater interest in y, which has become a focus on z), but as you can see for ‘science fair’ you can substitute an enormous number of other activities.
Put your energy into what you are genuinely interested in.
Is there a university or community college nearby? If so, you can try contacting some of the professors there and see if you can spend time in their labs. Our local community college has wonderful science professors doing cool research, and they’re constantly bringing high school kids in for internships, research and tours. Closer to home, you can ask your high school science teachers if they know of any local opportunities you could pursue.
Lack of involvement in science fair, especially if your local area doesn’t have one, is not going to be held against you. But if you’re interested in STEM there are definitely ways you can pursue STEM activities on your own even if your school doesn’t sponsor much. Not only will you get some good experience that can help you decide on a major, but if you show the initiative to seek out the opportunities you will make your college application more attractive.