I started to add colleges to my list a few months ago, researching casually in my free time. But, I recently had an overlook, and discovered that most of them were open curriculum schools. I will apply next year (so I have only around 6 months to start my application process ) ,however, I was completely the opposite in high school. I don’t have a single activity or award outside the computer science field. Most of the subjects I took in high school were STEM related. Would I not fit in such a college list?
(For instance, one of my reaches is Brown, I read that they do love well rounded, or people who have tried several things. Is that true ?)
Does my extreme concentration on Computer Science posses a drawback in my college application?
Do you have 4 years each of English, Foreign Language and History/Social Studies?
I think you’d have to well address why an open curriculum school appeals to you in the “why us” essays otherwise it could look like a disconnect.
It don’t think open vs spiked is an issue. You are not expected to have molded yourself to a college curriculum. The curriculum is a pedagogical issue. There is no reason to expect that someone with many achievements in one area would choose a college that only focused on that one area. Nor would it be expected that your essay would focus more on that issue than would the essay of someone who had achievements scattered in multiple areas. I’ve known many students who got offers from Brown who you might describe as spikey. You are adding a variable to the mix that is a red herring.
@Eeyore123 Yes, but I was just taking the bare minimum.
@Iostaccount That’s a relief, thank you very much 
Dean Furda wrote an enlightening blog post about what Penn looks for in its applicants. The blog post may or may not be helpful to you given how different Brown is from Penn, but my feeling is selective schools all want students who demonstrate passion and curiosity in whatever way is authentic to you.
A great article! Thanks!
I had a very spiky CS kid who did a pretty good job of looking more well-rounded than he really was. (high SAT scores, high GPA, 5 on the APUSH AP, honors English until senior year when he took an elective English course over the AP offerings.) He did Academic Team and Science Olympiad at school, everything else he did - and there was a lot - was in one way or other computer related - from writing programs to analyze proteins for a med school prof to, volunteering at the computer lab at the science center, to working, to wining some recognition for a game mod. He got into CMU and Harvard (where being a legacy and applying the year they added engineering no doubt helped.) But he got rejected from MIT, Stanford and Caltech. With schools this selective you really can’t count on anything.
I think some CS kids are looking for a more well-rounded experience, some aren’t. Carnegie Mellon makes students have a minor because after all CS is an applied science to a large extent. My son found his kind of nerds at both Harvard and CMU, but when he really dug into the schools what he was looking for was at CMU.
Some kids are spiky with everything in a single field. Yet, they can demonstrate passion and commitment. That’s impressive. Other kids dabble in many things and can show curiousity and lots of experience. That’s impressive too. What I think is most important is to show that you are unique and have some experiences that others may not. There is no one size fits all.