Hello! Junior in high school here (16F) , I am planning on majoring in Computer Science. I have learned HTML and CSS as well as some JavaScript on codecademy in the past few months and have also coded some websites on my own. Should I put this on my college applications?
I’m not sure if you have to be certified or anything to put proficiency in coding languages on your application, or if this is even impressive.
Thanks!!
Yes definitely. This is a great skill and will strengthen your application. You don’t need to be certified to add skills to your application as long as you have those skills.
Just to clarify, where would one put their coding knowledge on the common app? Is this one of the ten extracurriculars?
Let’s say a student learns to code in a high school class (instead of outside school)… should she/he still list coding knowledge/experience?
Yes, list it as an activity. Doesn’t matter where the skills were learned. But if the student only codes for required school work, then it really isn’t a terribly impressive hobby or activity.
Sorry to disappoint, but knowledge of and experiences with programming languages aren’t required or beneficial, and certainly not impressive, for a CS applicant. On the other hand, it will be helpful if you can demonstrate that you did something remarkable with the help of the knowledge you have.
List it as an activity. You can also list it in your additional information section but list it. It is an impressive skillset and should by no means be left off even if you’re not applying for CS. Coding is used in all disciplines currently whether through building sites to disseminate information or to help sort through all kinds of data in order to help solve all kinds of societal, business, technical and scientific problems. It is impressive. Don’t worry about what is required. The fact that you have acquired this knowledge says great things about you.
Also there are plenty of CS applicants that have no coding experience before they major in CS. You have coding experience. You acquired this knowledge outside of school which shows initiative and drive. You’ve built a site etc. List it.
The OP’s question is, I believe, more about whether such skill is a factor in admissions. It isn’t, especially at more selective schools. Still, OP can list it by all means, but I wouldn’t list it at or near the top of the EC list (unless there’s some other more significant accomplishment that resulted from that skill).