I’ve been a starter of two clubs, one of which is Kendo (a Japanese swordfighting club for Japanese enthusiasts) and HackerSpace (hack club to learn ethical hacking and cybersecurity), and have been active in two others, which are art club (freshman to junior year) and chess club (recent). I’m an engineering and science enthusiast, however I haven’t been able to have time to participate in science fairs or competitions due to the fact that both my parents run a small business 6 days a week and usually work late, and have to stay at home where my brother and I can look out for each other and stay safe (the small town we live in is pretty dangerous and poor). My parents only have time to pick me up and drop me off at most 2 to 3 days a week after school for 2 hours on each day, and then not more because it gets repetitive and tires them out.
However, when I’m at home, which is most of the time, and not at extracurriculars, I take the time to take additional online MOOCs in things I like (engineering, Japanese culture, cybersecurity), commit to teaching myself piano and drawing, and plan out stuff and skills to learn. I have a knack for learning, and so I tend to take the free time I have to really engage and learn when I’m not doing stuff in school. So far I’ve earned a certificate in electrical engineering and electronics from Tokyo Technical Institute on edX, and because of the stuff I learned from the course, I’m now collaborating and working on a research paper on magnetically levitating robots with my chess club sponsor who’s also a science teacher. I never knew how fascinating magnetic levitation was, as well as the science behind bullet trains. I hope to finish and submit the paper for publication by May.
With the lack of time for my parents to pick me up and drop me off for ECs, I’ve only been able to invest time in ECs that I really liked, especially art club and chess club, and leading two clubs. I’ve seen other students on here that have been involved in much much more, and earned many national awards, which daunts me.
Is this a negative factor for me in admissions? Should I explain this in essays? I’d really like to go to perhaps NYU or MIT, as my dream is to work in robotics and improve human interaction between robots and people and kids someday. That, or become a security engineer. But I feel as though the fact that I’ve had to stay at home the majority of the time during high school really kills me in admissions.
And to also add on, on the weekends I sometimes help out my parents with cleaning and setting up pedicures and manicures for the customers since it tends to get busy.
Sounds to me like you have well used your time at home and should be able to effectively communicate that in your essays. Staying home to care for a sibling is a very legitimate reason for limited ECs at school.
ECs aren’t just clubs or organized activities. What you described - working, taking MOOCs, researching mag lev (and it IS very cool!), caring for a sibling, are ECs! And they’re good ones and interesting ones. You do have ECs - all the things you describe in your OP are ECs and you should describe them as such on your apps.
If you possibly qualify for Questbridge or Posse, see if you can get help with your app from them. They will be able to show you how to describe all these great ECs you do on your app.
I think that your home life would make a powerful essay. The love and loyalty you have for your parents and your little brother shine through in your post. If I were an AO, I would so much rather have a student who understands the need for sacrifice and is willing to put family first than someone who does 29 expensive EC’s. By the way, your activities, even and especially on your own, exceed those of my children, who weren’t asked to look after each other as my H works from home.
I interviewed (as an alumni) a student in your very position. Not much EC because he was watching his brother. His parents were getting divorced and he watched his brother after school…but then he showed leadership because he realized his brother was sort of falling through the cracks. He helped him with his homework and asked his parents to sign the brother up for a sports team and then he would take him to practice/games.
This student was admitted to the college.
Leadership can be President of a club or Captain of the Team or Section Leader in Band. But it can also be:
-Student involved in ethnic community center for years and then is asked to teach little kids
-Actual officer in a club
-Watched his little brother after school and encouraged parents to sign up brother for sports team and took him to practice
-Within a club, organized an activity for that club
-Lead a community service activity
-Lead singer of a band - sings, chooses set list, organizes transportation for other members
-Summer Camp counselor
-Boy Scout Eagle Award/Girl Scout Gold Award
-EMT Cadet
-Boys State/Girls State
-Tutors others
EC’s are NOT just organized things at school. It’s anything you do outside of school which includes watching your brother, helping at the business and ALL those online things you did are ECs. Just write them up.
If you want an engineering future- and have time for two clubs you started and art and chess clubs- can you find time for some math/sci ECs at your hs? MIT will see you more as an engineering possibility with those collaborative experiences. You may need to shift some other activity to do this.
If you weren’t naming such an outrageously competitve college, this could be different.
And make sure you can afford these colleges. NYU, eg, is not uniformly helpful with financial aid.
Are you actually doing Kendo at the hs? Or just talking about it? Can that or the hacker thing be a sideline, to make room to join an already existing math or sci club activity in your hs?
And the essay isn’t the place to explain limitations. Your home life isn’t what gets one into a top college-- it’s how you triumphed over limits, in the ways your target colleges want to see.
You do not need major awards.
Think about this. Read all you can about what your targets want, the sorts of kids they brag about, as a hint (it’s not just scientific accomplishments.) Then you may learn more about your choices and how to make the best of your app/supp.
^I actually don’t think the clubs will be important. That paper on magnetic levitating robots and the electronics certificates will be far more interesting than a HS club IMO.
ECs do NOT have to be at the HS.
OP, can you create a website for your robot levitation project. We know a kid who did that with home project and was invited to work with two universities while in HS and is now at GTech.
I actually think there’s a lot of initiative shown here. But OP needs to wrap it up in the right ways. One of the keys for engineering chances at a most competitive college is showing the collaborative experiences- not with a teacher, writing a paper, as much as with peers. Engineering (the study and the career) is very much about collaboration.
@lookingforward I do teach Kendo at the high school every Friday, and I’ve even collaborated with my friend, who teaches long sword in the club as well, so it’s kind of a combination of Kendo and other sword fighting, but still, it’s mainly called Kendo for ease. So far we have 10 members, and have raised over $400 for armor and supplies in donations.
And maybe, just maybe, I’ll consider joining math team next year and make time for it. I do have a knack for solving math problems in my spare time, and so I think I’d be a great contributor to the team.
I don’t know if I can push aside Kendo club to the side, as I’ve already gone far into the club. And other than the math team next year, I don’t think I can do much in terms of science and/or math ECs, sorry. I am, however, planning to speak at a science forum on a summary of things I learned at the forum. This’ll be later in senior year, I already have it kind of scheduled.
I know a true story about a young lady who could not do much of ECs or among the top students in her HS, but had to devote most of her time after school taking care younger siblings, ranging from middle schooler to a baby, while her parents worked longer hours in their shop just to survive. She wrote about that in her application essay and got into Stanford with final aid, while her well to do peers were not able to get admitted to schools at such high level.
Don’t underestimate the power of a well curated GitHub repository. It looks good for college admissions but it’s a real boost when you go to apply for internships and eventually jobs.
“who could not do much of ECs…” Can you tell us what she did do, for ECs? And about the content of her essay? You don’t just get in for stats and a sad tale of limits.
…publication in a respected science journal, preferably where the submission is vetted by other scientists… Not just anywhere. It’s not the verb “published” that’s key. It’s the reception.