I love scuba diving and I am able to do it multiple times a year and have just recently received my Rescue Diver certification, which means the next certification is Divemaster. I’ve done some conservation work with it and also been on a 3 week trip living aboard a sailboat gaining other certifications and doing some conservation work. I have already applied to my number one school, University of South Carolina, and mentioned all of this in my application. I’m worried that my test scores won’t be good enough but I hope this would set me apart from others. I also want to be a marine science major, so I was wondering if colleges normally look for some type of correlation between hobbies/extracurriculars and the major you choose. Thank you
Well it won’t hurt, but that doesn’t mean it can overcome subpar test scores or grades. State schools tend to rely on scores over other parts of the applications. I don’t know about USouth Carolina though.
You may also want to apply to Uof Maine at Orono as they have an excellent marine science major and they are offering reduced out of state tuition.
For USCar, the 3 very important factors are course rigor, GPA, and standardized test scores. Everything else that is used is in the considered category. Nothing is in the important group.