I want to go to Texas A&M for Mechanical or Civil Engineering. My English teacher is making us write essays for the colleges we want to apply for next year and it got me thinking about how my application comes across when I apply. I have a 30 on the ACT and am retaking the ACT and SAT this june. I am about in the top 25% of my class rank (Should increase alot this year though) and take 7 AP / IB / DC classes.
I am involved in a lot of clubs: Academic Decathlon (6 years), my *church youth volunteer group (6 years - President), My *film making club (3 years - Officer / music composer), Book club (3 years - Founder/President / Writing Chair), Technology Student Association(2 years - Vice President / Music Composer), Color Guard (2 years - Officer / Music composer), *Young life( member 1 year), *National Honor Society (member 1 year) . I also applied to some engineering summer camps this summer and might get a job) I also have 2 letters of recommendations and a resume in my back pocket if i need them.
*= involves some community service hours
Whats the difference between The Coalition and ApplyTexas?
What can i do to improve my chances of getting admitted? (since A&M engineering is holistic )
When I apply should I make all my should i show all my extracurriculars, or only a few? Since my extra curricular look scattered around.
If you are instate I say you have a very good chance of being accepted. I don’t know the answers to 1 and 2 but I know #3. On the apply Texas application it asks you to list your 10 most important extracurriculars( in order from best to least) if you have a significant amount more than that you can attach a seperate resume with everything you have done with the application. So I would list things that would most apply to your major first and then ECs that just look good like key club/ volunteering.
@anthonys621
I am instate. But my major is engineering and the only ones similar to engineering are Decathlon (since i win medals in math and science regularly) and Technology Student association. will it not seem odd that I have next to no engineering activities?
Do you do any like graphic design or something like that? A lot of times there is ways to spin ECs in your favor. Anything that tends to be creative or something where you make things can be related.
@anthonys621
Well in film I make some animations and do graphic design and I do design and build film making rigs. And I do a lot of music composing and win awards for film, book club, Technology Student association, and my church youth group. Does that count? Because none of the awards are on the national level. and In most of the clubs I do A LOT of team work and leading. Does that count?
Most of my engineering experience comes from the excessive math and science I do in Academic Decathlon and technology student association and my high school curriculum (Calc 1 (AP), Comp Sci 2 (IB), Chemistry (AP), Engineering design (H)).
In your essays talk about how your activities shaped you into the person you are today and how it lead you to pursue the major you want to do. Quality over quantity. Talk about the stuff you were most involved in. I am not familiar with the Coalition. Just use Apply Texas since it is has been used for many years. What the University is looking for is why should we choose you over the other 10,000+ people applying to your major. But note that you are first reviewed for admission into the University then for Engineering. Make yourself standout. Try and find opportunities that give you exposure to the Mechanical or Civil Engineering industry. And lastly relax about the process. When I was applying I was pretty nervous and excited about the next step in my life. I know that if I could go back I would change a lot of things I did academically and activities wise. But as long you are passionate about what you are doing and not making stuff up you are fine. From the looks of it you challenged yourself and really want to go to A&M. Be Happy! Also apply early.
Edit: Show the activities you were most involved in. Unless there is no max on the number you can enter then just put it there. But in your essays speak more about the ones you were most involved in.
In all honesty I don’t think your extra curricular activities will get you in. I saw that you posted that 1/3rd of admission is academic and I don’t think that’s the case. Most of my friends who got into big North Eastern Ivy Schools, that review holistically, said that academics is always first. Extra curricular activities second, and essay’s third. You probably want to get over a 32 ACT, with a high math score to make up for the low academic rank. They also said that most extra curricular activities don’t matter unless they relate to your major or academics. They also look at leadership positions especially in academic clubs because it shows how highly your peers think of you.
You have to think about it this way. The average ACT is a 29, and almost all of those kids are in the top 10% of their class. So anyone whose around average even with bad activities and clubs will have a great advantage over you. So to counter act this you must have a substantially higher test score. Also try to get into leadership positions in NHS. These are by FAR the best leadership positions that help you holistically. I’ve heard this dozens of times, that almost all colleges look for that NHS badge of honor. Other than that I don’t believe that there is any other way to catch up to the average kids there. Rank is just such a big deal in the state of Texas. Put as many extracurricular activities on there, but unless they really know what they are, they wont take them too seriously. This is based off me and the group of friends that are around me helping me right this right now. So take that as you will.
Essay’s are third in importance. So you’ll probably want to completely talk about your interest in mechanical or civil the entire way through. Make them believe that you’re not seriously considering any other school than Texas A&M. That you are 100% dedicated to them.
I also agree, that Apply Texas is the most reliable way to go.
It seems a bit difficult to talk only about engineering and loving texas A&M in with those essays (becuase I’m not gonna do that for essay C because 60-somthing are also doing that for essay C)
I guess maybe I can talk about engineering in #2, but If my essay’s are just about engineering and not much about me then won’t that prevent admissions and scholarship offices from knowing me?
But I can talk about my interest in music, how it lead me to a psuedo-career in local music production, led me to meet audio engineers (and eventually mechanical engineers) and discovering an eternal joy for solving problems (with a team occasionally) * Does that kinda work? *
@justanotherjose
Congrats on noticing my problem. I don’t know if I should put alot of these extracurricular since they don’t all have to do with engineering (and mostly point to music composing). But i don’t know if it would be worse to only put two engineering clubs their instead. and i doubt I can be a president for NHS, I’m already spending 40+ hours a week on my other extracurricular (especially during marching season) and 20+ volunteering. But I guess I’ll try to be an officer.
* Will it be worth breaking my back trying to be an officer? or am I okay in the extracurricular department now and should spend next year studying for standarized test?
I said that 1/3rd of the factors are academics. Not how much they are weighted. (no one really knows that) because in the past we have only been able to read about high school students due to the auto-admission policies that required high test score and ranks. But now that that is gone, I though that they may consider extra-curriculars as well. who knows.
@justanotherjose
okay, thanks. But I still would like more advice. Should I list all my EC’s, or only the engineering ones (or only popular things like NHS?) Help I want to use this in my essay that my teacher is helping me with.
Unless ApplyTexas has changed since 8/14 when my S submitted his application, you can upload a supplemental resume…take that opportunity to list all of your ECs since there is space for only a limited number in the actual application. You will need to choose the ones you feel are most important to you for that – could be ones you’ve focused on all four years, ones most related to engineering, or ones that you devoted the most time to and are most passionate about.