Will my chances of admission be hurt if my extracurriculars don鈥檛 match my intended major?Answered
I鈥檓 a rising senior that is planning on applying to schools with an intended major in engineering, but my extracurriculars don鈥檛 really match up with that. My course load in high school has usually been much more STEM heavy, but I have many interests and consequently none of my out of school activities really connect to a future in the STEM field. In fact, the are quite focused in the arts, which can sometimes be seen as the opposite of STEM. Will this hurt my chances of admission into a college鈥檚 school of engineering? Should I explain why almost none of my extracurriculars are STEM related? And if so, where would be the best place on an application to do that?
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3 answers
For selective schools yes it will hurt but if your ECs are superb but not major related such as President of a national club in let鈥檚 say English but you want to go into IT that is still very impressive and is more impactful than president of a school wide stem club. If both were school wife the STEM would be better. It has more to do with achievements/accolades.
holistic schools that are not competitive such as Minn TC Oklahoma St Oregon and VCU it wouldn鈥檛 hurt (If did its like a 3.98 gpa to 3.97) assuming your ECs are meaningful not a 30 minute talking session 1x a month. For example I want to major in STEM but I have competed nationally in debate that is still a great EC. Generally these types of schools are looking for EC accomplishment not major related accomplishment in admissions major related is just a boost
It depends how you present yourself in your essays. I'm sure you are familiar with the 'spike', and to be honest it would be helpful to have at least two career oriented activities. Instead of presenting yourself as someone who is love with STEM but has no STEM ecs, (because that looks suspicious) maybe in your essays explain how you like exploring and understanding life through two widely different lenses and how that has affected your perspective and broadened your way of thinking. It would be good to tie this up by explaining something along the lines of engineering being your best form of understanding. However if you can get some ecs in STEM, please do so as soon as possible, rather be safe than sorry!
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