<p>For the "What do you want to major in?" question, would it count against me if I write a reason (excuses, i guess) for not doing so well on the national exam of a subject that I want to major in?</p>
<p>For example, I didn't do so well in my ap bio exam (3) because I had ap bio as a freshman and it was my 1st period class at 7:10 am. It took me a while to get used to the high school schedule (middle school started at like 9am or something) and the ap class format.
I'm not going to write my whole essay giving excuses but I want to mention it..</p>
<p>I would say don’t tell them, perhaps put it in additional information on the common app. The supplemental essay is to show why you have interest in the subject, not the reasons you underperformed in it. Perhaps you should take the SAT II for Bio to compensate for the exam.</p>
<p>I would say that it’s something your counselor could mention in his/her letter, but you definitely don’t want to come off as trying to make excuses in your essays. I’m guessing that if you want to major in bio, you have some experience/demonstrated interested in it after your freshman year. I would say it’s far better to acknowledge your shortcoming and focus more on how and why your interest in studying biology developed. Admissions officers are looking for a reason to admit you, not reasons to reject you, and (in my personal opinion), your otherwise excellent statement on how you came to be interested in biology could be seriously hurt by trying to give excuses for your poor score. I do understand that you want to try to explain the disparity between your interest and the score, but I would personally caution against it, and if you do choose to include it, do so very briefly, and have your counselor read it to make sure it comes off in a good way.</p>
<p>Btw I’m going to write that I want to major in bio b/c it is a broad enough subject for me to utilize when I go to medical school(I want to become a surgeon but I am unsure of the field of surgery).
Does this sound like I’m choosing biology because that is the only choice? (Meaning: does it sound negative?)</p>
<p>sorry for asking so many questions… I just got rejected from my dream college:( so i’m really skeptical about everything i’m putting on my essay…</p>
<p>I chose Biology as my second major, however I wrote about how I want to go into pre-med using biology and the natural sciences, so yeah you can focus on that!</p>
