I’ve won multiple writing awards (YoungArts Honorable Mention, Foyle Young Poet, etc.) and I was planning to write about how I love writing and English so much (I’m a English Second Language learner) for the Common App essay. However, I’m afraid that it will confuse colleges as to why I stress English but want to major in Engineering…
It looks even better. It shows you aren’t a one dimensional person.
Career wise, excellent writing/communication skills in engineering separate the stars from the desk jockeys.
That is fine but have you done anything that indicates a talent or interest in engineering? Math and physics skill/competitions, done robotics etc?
My son is entering Cornell’s College of Engineering and was in a similar situation when he applied to engineering schools. Our school has no robotics clubs, no math competitions, not even a science fair. They do have an excellent music program so DS’s ECs were mostly music, along with sports. This worried me but he got in anyway.
He did build things in his dad’s wood shop, and he made a nuclear fusor last summer using directions in Make magazine, but that was it. And I’m not sure that any of that actually made it into his applications.
Does your school have math/engineering ECs that you passed up? If not, did you take advantage of the opportunities you did have, even if they weren’t math related?
It isn’t a problem at all. ECs are done out of interest/fun but that may not necessarily be your career path.
This is not a problem.
For the record, I went to a highly competitive STEM high school with many STEM ECs and clubs. While I participated in a few (electronics club, took the AMC, etc), my main ECs were all performing arts (concert and jazz band, orchestra, choir, dance, etc). I’m a math/CS major (music minor). My logic was that I really loved the performing arts and my class schedule already showed that I was interested in math/CS (Calc BC as a junior, Multivar, CS senior tech lab, electronics course). Why would I want to sacrifice my music (and dance) for things that I was already pursuing elsewhere?
My music is now paying for my math/CS degrees (i received full tuition music scholarships at 2 different schools).