This year, I participated in this state-wide program sponsored by NASA called High School Aerospace Scholars. It entailed a 6 month online course with an extensive amount of work that needed to be done. We had to complete math assignments, design models in TinkerCad, and other engineering activities/lab reports. But the most important part was the on-site experience at the Johnson Space Center. We stayed at the JSC for a week (all expense paid) and toured special buildings, heard from numerous researchers/engineers, and also were split in 4 teams for a competition. For the competition, we had to build several different engineering projects and compile group research into a PDR (Preliminary Design Review) presentation all in ONE WEEK. We gave our PDR to a panel of NASA engineers and faced a QnA. I held a leadership position on the team; our team won the competition and we were awarded at the closing ceremony. I was wondering if this would be considered a strong EC and if I should include it as one of my 10 ECs (I already kinda have 10). The program isn’t extremely competitive and is more about just giving a bunch of kids a good opportunity with NASA, etc. It also doesn’t fall completely in line with my goals to study chemical engineering but I really enjoyed my experience there. Just wanted to gain y’alls opinion on whether I should include it, how strong it is for top-tier schools, etc.
It sounds significant to me in terms of work and commitment and would include it in your ECs. See if you combine something else if the other 9 ECs are equally as strong.
People have put 2-week summer programs as an EC on their app… so a six-month program would be significant, and it was very interesting. (Adcoms can’t always tell whats selective or not, but just describing what you did would impress them). However, it should not replace another ec that represents who you are trying to portray to the adcoms. Also, you should probably ask someone else if this is an ok idea but you can also list it in the additional comments section.
Adcoms know better than hs kids what’s selective and significant.
Not sure why OP needs to ask this question. If you’re researching your targets, you should understand wha sorts of commitment, stretch, and impact they want to see, what’s relevant vs filler or easy hs stuff. Your competition will be fierce, kids wth top scores, no B grades and applying underinformed is a huge risk.
And speak with your guidance counselor.