Hello everyone. I am currently a junior at a relatively competitive public School in SOCAL. I came to the school during my sophomore year and didn’t really know what HOSA was. I tried to join this year as a junior but some paperwork issues kept me from doing it. I am the President of science Olympiad and have some regional awards there as well as the brain bee but I am kind of worried because the people in HOSA are winning state level awards because it seems to be a simpler process to get to states. A lot of people on my school do HOSA, so, how bad is it to not have done HOSA as an aspiring neuroscience/biology major on a premed track? How much emphasis would colleges place on this? Thanks!
No issue. Keep doing your ECs and work towards meaningful contributions and accomplishments.
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Zero issue - and at many colleges, you don’t need ECs at all.
Good luck.
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For some context, I am aiming for competitive colleges like Duke, JHU, Yale, Dartmouth, UCLA and UC berkley etc. the rest of my stats are moderatley competitive, I am just worried about how AOs will perceive this gap in my ecs and awards.
Awards are unnecessary. It’s what you did to earn them. For example, if you walk dogs at the shelter, you don’t get an award. If you scoop ice cream at Baskin Robins, you don’t get an award. But those are awesome ECs.
My kids school did not have a HOSA club - and I think you should be active at school or in the community - something you care about - whether band, sports, a job, etc.
But you have zero to worry about because you don’t do HOSA or any specific club. And the club name doesn’t matter - but what is it that is done in the club that is making impact? Are they volunteering?
Get a part time job - that is a great EC.
Just be the best you that you can be - and do things you enjoy, not for appearances. One needn’t be in a specific club to support a major.
Given you are pre med, make sure you pick schools you can afford - for 8 years (med school can be $100K+ a year) and you can get there from most any school.
Best of luck.
Could you please do a chance me/match me thread. Answer all the questions on the template. You will get much better info here with that information.
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Colleges like the ones you are talking about don’t deduct points for things you didn’t do. To the extent they are looking at your activities, they are trying to assess what you would likely contribute as a student at their college.
And it typically doesn’t actually matter to them if there is a close relationship between your intended major and your main activities–not least because many people change their majors anyway. So like, a person currently interested in Bio with the typical extremely strong transcript and test scores who was also a conservatory level performing artist would be a very strong profile, because that person can contribute meaningfully to performing arts at these schools without being an arts major. And then if they decide to be a Political Science major intead, no harm done.
So I wouldn’t worry about the things you don’t do. I would instead focus on doing whatever you actually do with dedication and genuine enthusiasm. Which is the right thing for you to be doing anyway, and it happens to also be the right thing for those sorts of colleges (in fact, that isn’t really a coincidence at all).
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Ok, I will do this. I am kinda new lol