Yes, the EC arms race is among those who aim for highly selective colleges. However, their number is large since so many students and their parents are led to believe they have a chance due to the obscurity and ambiguity of the admission process. Consequently they account for most of the EC activities as those who choose colleges that admit based on mostly stats donât have nearly as many EC activities (at least the fancier ones).
The EC arms race, like a real arms race, is also expensive. Itâs one of the most unequal elements in college admissions.
Whatâs wrong with asking for depth and breadth? You want kids to go into engineering cold?
The linked article says, ââŠlisting my activities makes me realize none of them are in my planned major.â
None? Fact is, kids do identify interests, including a major. So if itâs an interest, why no ECs in that direction? No one is asking for all stem. No oneâs criticizing arts interests.
Because plenty of kids just arenât exposed to engineering soon enough to have strong ECs. Especially girls. Our school didnât have a robotics program. Sheâs our first kid, We arenât engineers and wouldnât have known at the time where to look for engineering activities if she had asked. She didnât ask. My D took a late interest in engineering. End of junior year, She had a 4.0 GPA and all the relevant high school coursework, and strong test scores. And a bunch of art and music ECs. And in college she blew the robotics kids out of the water. If some schools want to exclude her because she might not like engineering, and didnât get interested soon enough, oh well. She went somewhere that wasnât bothered by her lack of relevant ECs and sheâs an engineer now. She does art for fun,
Nothing wrong with going in cold.
I agree. My son had NO ECs in engineering, and he got into a very selective program. I think itâs more important to concentrate on activities you really enjoy. In his case, it was running.
Some students may identify a major as an interest late enough (e.g. late 11th grade or early 12th grade) so that they do not have the time to build up a major-related EC to the level of showing long term commitment and high level achievement before college applications, even though they may have the academic readiness for the major. Would you suggest that students who identify a major relatively late in high school (or even after they enroll in college) are somehow less worthy than others, from the point of college admissions at the most selective colleges?
Ucb, by late 11 or early 12, I sure hope they have the math and science for engineering. Some act as though it only dawned on kids out of the blue that theyâre interested in stem.
Iâm not saying any kids canât undertake engineering. Iâm just trying to explain why some math-sci ECs can matter, in a fierce competition. And I worry for kids who donât have the background. Or have different expectations, donât realize the nature of the work.
Lots of high school students complete the well rounded base curriculum including math to the highest level available to them and all three sciences often plus one or more at the advanced or AP level, so meeting the expected high school preparation for an engineering major is pretty common (even for those not going into engineering).
But if there are âhidden requirementsâ, like major-relevant ECs started in 9th grade, is it any surprise that we have 8th and 9th grade students posting on these forums asking what they need to do for college admissions, and parents who helicopter-manage their kidsâ educational paths and hire college admission consultants from an early age to help them compete for college admissions?
Why are we disagreeing? A kid doesnât need to start in 9th. Or be obsessed. And etc. But balance is good.
They donât need whistles and bells or major awards. Itâs not hidden requirements. And youâre speaking to the exceptions when you suggest late 11th or early 12th is when they have the Aha! moment.
I donât blame parents. Not unless we hear the evidence. Not all kids, as we know from recent posts, do the max prep. And you know some stem can be not just fierce competition, but Impacted at some unis. Find the right targets.
The education of engineers with the target of extra fully enticing the proper hemispheres of each and every scholarâs brain. The article strives to accomplish this motive by using providing mind fundamentals and connecting them to the visible arts, supplying a private perspective, reviewing the ancient progress of drawing, and suggesting two advantages of participation within the visible arts. Even as the way of delivering freehand drawing guide is valuable
@lookingforward. I totally understand what your saying. But itâs not always needed. If I am advising someone going into engineering I would definitely tell them to take some engineering âthingsâ. My son did summer programs at universities to get a clue. During his Junior year he did https://acementor.org/index.php/affiliates/illinois/chicago/about-us/
Which is a free program and you work in teams and are assigned an engineering discipline and work with other engineering disciplines plus itâs also a one on one mentorship with a real live engineer. My kids was from Georgia TechâŠ
But some kids just have good grades in math and science and donât have an issue getting in.
My kids ec mostly were varsity chess team for 4 years (top ten team in the state) and shot put /throw in track. He had others but mixing it up and it doesnât all have to be engineering types of things.
The worlds of the arts and engineering are actually getting closer so it may actually be an advantage. Last time I checked, some popular and profitable tech apps like iTunes,Spotify and Shazam are closely connected to music. My daughter was admitted to a top ten public school in engineering, in part due to her interest in art and design as it relates to computer science. Connecting music to civil engineering might feel like a stretch, but there may be a connection between the students love of the arts and engineering.