I am a freshman in high school right now, earlier in middle school I wasn’t concerned about college that much, so I used to spend my days just reading, studying and building things. Now that I am in high school, I keep on thinking about my college, so should I continue to do and learn like science research in my school or robots, or should I do those things that can actually help getting into a better college, like extracurriculars and grades?
Robots can help, if you are any good
Yes. Try starting a robotics/tech club and volunteer/work at the library if you want it to count. Maybe enter writing contests or write book reviews or something.
You don’t think that building robots can help you in getting into colleges? Do what you’re interested in as selective colleges want to see that a student does more than simply study all day. When you apply to college, it’s the packaging of the application that matters far more than the individual extracurriculars. A senior who can effectively discuss the impact that building robotic components had on his life has a more interesting application than the captain of the varsity lacrosse team who simply lists the his position and number of years involved.
“I used to spend my days just reading, studying and building things.”
Don’t stop! Whenhen is right. Do what you love and do it well. At some point, building things well is going to require you to reach out and connect with others who share your interests, who can teach you or provide guidance, who can help you innovate or explore other directions. They can be courses you take, forums, conferences you attend, clubs you join, etc…Reading is the gateway drug to lots of interesting intellectual exploration as well - stay hooked! Find others who like to read the same things and talk about what you read. This is how you build a rich and meaningful life and that is vastly more important (and in no way inconsistent with) getting into a good school.
Agree with the above two posts!
- Do well in school - learn and get good grades
- Do stuff you enjoy doing and that challenges you
- Find people who like the same stuff you do and do it with them
- College takes care of itself
Stay away from drugs and eat your greens!
I see it will work out with robotics, but what about reading science journals or just learning about how different kinds of technologies work. That is important knowledge according to me but I don’t think that it will count towards the college resume. Do you think learning right now is a good idea even if it lowers the chances to get into a good college, which can lower the chances of getting any knowledge at all in college?
You should do things that build your resume but you should also dong things you enjoy. If the two overlap great! If you spend all your extracurricular time on stuff merely for your resume, you will be miserable.
Learning will not lower your chance to get into a good college, it will increase your chance to get into a good college.
If you think “grades” also sometimes called “learning what is taught is class” is something you only do to “get into a better college” then the game is already over.
@mikemac I see what you are saying, but usually that’s not the case practically. Even though I like reading, English class is mostly writing but I am not interested in that as much as I am in science, for example. In history and biology our teachers tell us not to go too deep, analysis is usually discouraged and facts are preferred. So even though school is a good place to learn, I don’t think you get good grades by learning more, you have to force yourself to do what others tell you to do
You need to both do what you like and do the things that purposefully expand you as a young person. If you like building things and later decide to pursue engineering, robotics shows you took on the challenges/problem solving and the nature of the teamwork/cooperation involved. But you can also use the interest and skills in, say, working on theater tech crew or in community service. You can use your science knowledge in Sci Bowl or similar or help other kids catch up. We don’t know what schools you will eventually aim for, but depth and breadth are always a good bet. The competitive colleges can like to see you can do more than “just” what interests you.
Life (and this includes college) does require we do things for our goals, even if some are not our first-choice interests- don’t make the mistake of limiting your scope.
Life is too short to spend all our time building a resume.
Do things that will matter to colleges, but things that interest you as well. So, sure, do robotics if you find in interesting. Choose activities you can “gush over” at a college interview: activities that pull you in, that you enjoy devoting time and energy to. Activities that you are good at, or will become good at.
Stay away from “reading science journals” unless you find them interesting. (For example, I LOVE storms. I can see reading meteorology journals-- if I had time-- because I find the topic so fascinating.) Again, choose activities that you want to learn about, not activities that you forsee some college admissions officer checking off on a list.
My son got very interested in programming in an offbeat environment (Minecraft Redstone for those who are interested). He built an entire ALU (arithmetic logic unit - thousands of parts) in this world. He interacted virtually with people around the world doing similar things. No it did not end up as a line on his common app. He mentioned it in passing in his essay. He showed it to his math teacher, who may or may not have mentioned it in his recommendation. But it was central to his becoming the college applicant he became. He learned what he was interested in, became enthusiastic about learning this particular field, and got accepted to good schools. He’s now a double major in Engineering and CS at Swarthmore, and doing really well.
Lots of good advice in this thread. As a general approach, I’d advocate something like this:
- Pick a few things that interest and excite you. Pick them early if possible.
- Stick with them long enough to get good at them. Proficiency in a few good things is better than dabbling in a lot. A lot of kids jump around from one thing to another and never develop proficiency.
- Figure out how to document the time and commitment you've put in to these. That shows sustained interest, time management skills, etc.
- Once you start to get good, figure out how to broaden your interests. Expand on them, take them in new directions, connect them if possible, take on leadership roles, figure out ways to bridge them into community service. There are lots of ways to do this, depending on the activity. You can do it with sports, music, the arts, STEM, etc. Doing this shows initiative and creativity.
Consider the example of dannaleighg’s son above:
- He picked programming as a genuine interest, and found an offbeat niche (Minecraft Redstone).
- He got good at it and developed proficiency to the point of building an entire ALU.
- He expanded his scope from doing it by himself to interacting with people around the world.
- He documented his commitment in his essays, and it may have been emphasized in one of his rec letters.
The trick is to start early, to pick things that genuinely excite you, and to stick with them. It sounds like you have a decent start.
Boyfriends and girlfriends don’t count on your college resume.
Above all, maintain perfect grades. After that, do things you will excel at. This will usually, but not always, be stuff you like anyhow.
You don’t have to spend every waking moment doing things for your college applications. It’s okay to spend some free time doing what you like. If you’re so worried about it, just spend like 15-30 minutes before bed reading. Then you’re not sacrificing anything. It’s not like you would have spent that time on an extracurricular, and you still get some time everyday to read. Reading (anything, including scientific journals) is an important skill, and there is value in practicing it, even if the benefit doesn’t seem very tangible right now.
I don’t think they are mutually exclusive at all! Science research and building robots sound like excellent extracurriculars that really delves into what you are interested in and demonstrates your passions to colleges. I believe that it will leave you enough leisure time that you can do some reading as well. IMO the people that are the most interesting and fun people to talk to in college are people that do reading for fun or can really talk about what you are interested in. So don’t stop doing that. I think during the interview or essay in particular colleges can tell the difference between someone that is really passionately interested in something, and someone who might be doing something “just for the resume.” So I think being able to bring up things that you have read alongside related activities that you are interested in will be beneficial for you. Overall you sound like a great kid who will go places, so really just do what you love and the rest will follow
LOL You’re suspicious of the system. In 9th grade! That’s refreshing to hear. Keep one eye on the program, do the work, get the grades, but mostly just keep charting your own course. :ar!