It’s nice that this group views Robotics as a sport. Our point is…most colleges will NOT view it as a sport.
It is an excellent EC…but it’s not a sport for college admissions purposes…at least not around here.
OP, again, you need a better understanding of what tippy tops look for. Start asap. Don’t be caught at the last minute with all these misconceptions.
Whether you hs treats robotics same as a sport (eg, giving out a varsity letter) is just some peculiarity to that hs. Robotics, on its own, is good for STEM. But it is not a sport.
You don’t need a sport. For certain STEM, you need collaborative math-sci experiences, for a tippy top. Plus balance in the rest.
You don’t need scholarship awards to get into a tippy top. You need savvy.
Instead of getting more confused, go learn from what the target schools say. Don’t spin your wheels with assumptions. Top colleges want kids who don’t assume, but proceed in some orderly fashion. Strategy, not far flung notions.
Don’t have dream schools. “Dreams” aren’t what gets you in.
And if it’s a top high school where’s the GC in all this? Or is there some other issue standing in the way?
And now I want to know this, too: how many of those activities are on your own, a commitment, real responsibilities, versus random onesie-twosies, a couple of hours, once in a while, hanging with friends, via Key Club?
If you want an uber competitive college, light the fire. Be the sort who can learn what does matter.
@lookingforward amen lol, thanks for the loads of help you are giving me. Im basically involved with all of the clubs i’ve listed but don’t have any leadership position/roles in them. however i’m thinking of founding a new club as I said in my post.
@lookingforward Mind if i asked what college you went to?
Another misconception: needing “titles.” It’s the value of your efforts, not titles.
And now founding a club? Forgive me, but are you kidding us?
Stanford wants kids who can think critically, who can delve into the info needed, process it and move forward. That energy, activation. And the ability to present it coherently. 40,000 kids will apply. A chunk with the attributes and accomplishments they DO want. You’ll either be one of those or not.
Breathe. And then sit back and learn from them. Then match yourself (not what You want, what they want.)
You want to add founding a club to this lengthy laundry list of ECs? WHY?
In my opinion, you need to show some read dedication to one or two things you are already doing…not DD to the list.
Like I said…your ECs read like a laundry list…no real commitment to any one thing…but a LONG list of a lot of things.
Anyway…this thread has veered WAY off topic…especially since you weren’t looking for scholarships to pay for college…just a way to pad your resume.
@thumper1 well the topic is “Financial Aid and Scholarships” I’m not looking for financial aid but am looking for scholarships. My parents are willing to pay for college but a scholarship would still go a long way
You need to focus on scholarships that are specialized to your work and interests. You won’t qualify for any scholarships that have a need component, so focus on the ones you might get.
- STEM scholarships like the NSA or DoD
*Society of Women engineers
*Anything in your state that is for honor students. My state has two very big ones, one that does require 'need' and the other has to be used in the state; if I had a child who was qualified, I'd have them apply for the instate one even if she had plans to go OOS. You never know. This is such an honor that it would be a hard choice between the scholarship and Stanford *Anything in the areas you have a special talent or interest - writing, art, theater *robotics sponsors scholarships
If you go to Stanford, all of these will chip away at the full pay bill you will receive. If you go to another school that offers merit, all this organizing of ECs may help you win a merit award.
@twoinanddone thanks! By the way I’m a guy. So I don’t think I’ll qualify for the Society of Women engineers scholarship lol
Unpopular but I don’t see a disorganized laundry list. I see a lot of things relating to medicine and health, and tech/science/engineering, with some nice volunteering stuff on the side. I WISH the kids who came to me for scholarship help had ECs that look like this. This is a Coca-Cola level list.
Unpopular, but true, you need laundry lists to win huge outside scholarships. Unfortunately for you, your income takes you out of the running for almost all of them.
But yes for merit, scores are king. Write some cohesive essays on medicine/health tying all your involvement together and you’ll be in the race for competitive merit awards too.
Also don’t agree with the obsession with having sports and/or arts stuff. I wasn’t interested in sports OR arts so I did neither, and was totally fine. Was never once asked to justify it.
If anything, I think being too well-rounded is what looks weird: no one is interested in every single field. Period. If anything, I’m more skeptical of kids with ECs in everything you could imagine. It’s normal to skip over a few categories.
Btw – is it too late to apply to be a high school intern at Microsoft? I think they let rising seniors in the area do it (either that or rising college freshman). It seems to be up your alley, but of course as a 2x Microsoft intern I’m also biased 
@CourtneyThurston thanks for the advice! What do you mean by “unpopular”? Also I’m more interested in the medical field than the comp sci field
As in, other people in this thread seem to disagree quite strongly with me.
Courtney, you’re our go-to for scholsrship experience. But Coke generally requires a very well done, cohesive story, that proves out, in several ways. Quality over quantity. And knowing how to do that well. That requires a level of understanding OP would need to put effort into. I’ve worked with finalists and a winner.
Like you, I don’t see laundry list to the extent others do. But it takes a level of savvy to turn this- or the college goals- into a successful strategy. It’s not like the Presidential medal, where it’s just a matter of hours accrued.
Unless you are talking about some scholarships for high school students, you will be able to put any scholarships on your application for college. The timing is totally off. For honors and awards, you may get some academic achievement ones like NMSF and AP scholar.
I would agree with all that you said…but this student is NOT looking at tech types of schools like the one you are attending. If she were, this set of ECs would be fine…even though I think it’s too long.
She is looking a universities that are not solely tech related…and she will be competing for admission with lots of other students who DO have arts and sports on their resumes.
Also, she says she on,y wants scholarships to put on her applications…to strengthen her application. I think there are plenty of other ways for this application to be strengthened…if it needs to be. Winning scholarships…unless a HUGE national one…not going to be a big help on the application.
Just my opinion.
“If she were, this set of ECs would be fine…even though I think it’s too long.”
Fair, maybe. It’s not like the only schools I was talking to were tech-oriented though, and I’m pretty sure I could’ve gotten into some top LACs (I was looking at physics programs at Reed etc).
“But Coke generally requires a very well done, cohesive story, that proves out, in several ways.”
Coke requires quantity AND quality. You will not win if you don’t fill out enough of the activities lines in the app. This has basically been proven.