I’m rising a high school senior and have recently become aware that my extracurricular activities do not really line up with my intended major. Although I want to major in Biochemistr/ biological sciences, my activities are Debate competitions, volunteering at a senior patient care center, astronomy club (founding and running), and author for short stroies on sites like Commafull and Wattapad, working as a swim coach and at a bakery, designign tshirts for non-profit organizations, and hosting art workshops for children from underprivileged backgrounds. While they do not line up exactly, I really do love all of my clubs and am fairly involved. I was going to see if there were any biochemistry clubs at my school this year, but then I got nervous that it would look like I’m just doing it for the college app, even if I enjoy it. The reason I’m nervous is that I have seen people say your college app should have a “theme,” and I feel like mine is a bit more art-oriented. Would this be a dealbreaker for higher-ranking schools, or would it just kinda be neutral because I’m still really involved and passionate?
You do not need a theme. I also do not agree that your intended major does not align with your activities. For example, volunteering at a senior patient care center can tie into biology, health care etc. Please note that this is just an observation- it doesn’t matter and you don’t need a theme.
You appear to be an involved HS student who participates in activities that you enjoy. THAT is what matters!
There is no shortage of schools that offer majors in biochemistry/biological sciences. If you put together an appropriate list I have no doubt you will find the right school.
Agree. You are overthinking. There is no need for a theme and there is no need to seek out an activity in your expected major.
I have heard admissions officers say that they look to put together a well-rounded class. That class will include some individuals with specific/pointed interests and well-rounded individuals.
Present who you are to admission officers and I expect you will have a very nice college outcome. You are a STEM student who is a caring, well-spoken, artistic person that contributes to the school and community – and that is all good.
I agree! You sound involved, helpful, passionate about your activities. I also know exactly what you mean about noticing your “theme” or “throughline.” This is very common advice on TikTok/Instagram from college advisors and other kids sharing their stories of how they got accepted to Ivies/T20s. I have grown to hate this advice—you are a teenager! You are figuring out what you like and don’t like. You will probably change your major at college at least once.
What I’m choosing to take away from this kind of “advice” is that it’s really about taking a moment to reflect on what you’ve learned about yourself so far. If your transcript paints a picture of your academic life, and your activities offers a look into how you’ve spent your time, and your essay offers a look inside your heart and your mind, then I think you will show up beautifully.
Adding now just shows you are faking it - and besides, you have great clubs and they are relevant!!!
What do I see - teammate, responsible, empathetic, leader.
Your ECs need to show who you are - not who you want to be. The athlete or band member or kid who collects cars in the grocery store parking lot all have FANTASTIC ECs…and they’re not related to biochem either - and yet they are - because they are teammates, responsible, helpful, etc.
You see - whatever you do shows strength in something.
But one needn’t have any EC tied to a major…so you have no worries and that you love them - that’s what matters!!
Best of luck in your college apps. No theme required !!
I agree with others, you are not applying for grad school, you are applying for college, and colleges that practice “holistic review” mean that they are in fact interested in a lot more than your current intended major–if any. In fact, many colleges, or schools within colleges, are on an exploratory model where they want you to take a variety of classes before you decide on a major. Why would such a college want everything in your application to be about some major you might not even choose in the end?
I think part of what is happening here is some people are overinterpreting the concept of what I would call an elevator pitch. An elevator pitch is a short summary of why a favorable decision should be made (short enough to articulate during an elevator ride with a busy decision-maker). And you can imagine a reader making an elevator pitch to an admissions committee on your behalf: “OK, next up is jridhi, who I thought was a strong candidate because . . . .” And then the elevator pitch is whatever comes next.
But everything we know about how holistic review colleges do admissions suggests a wide variety of things could come next. And indeed, what could come next is a few different attributes that together form an interesting candidate. And these attributes could involve non-academic things, like interesting non-academic activities, valued character traits, or so on. The idea that elevator pitch has to be about just one thing, and that one thing specifically has to be your intended major, is not at all supported by anything I have seen coming out of holistic review colleges themselves.
OK, so I don’t think it is a bad idea to self-assess what you think about you might be most attractive to a holistic review college. Among other things, this could be part of choosing which colleges to actually put on your list. But it could maybe also help you write stronger applications.
But what you should NOT do is try to follow some formula a gazillion other kids are following. You want to think about the authentic things about you as an individual that could actually stand out to a reader or committee. And maybe no one of those things is uncommon in themselves, but maybe they make for an interesting combination.
And so rather than try to downplay interesting combinations of attributes you possess, you could actually see those as positives. Like not every applicant interested in Biochem has hosted art workshops for underprivileged children. And that is a good thing, not a bad thing, because it might well be the sort of thing a reader or committee could find particularly interesting.
You’re talking about "branding " yourself. What you described is the type of student any university would love to have on their campus.
Pro hint : You do you and don’t worry about what you think “others” are doing.
Give some thought as to how you ended up doing these activities and what you enjoy about them. Even if it’s “a great way to hang with friends” or “I was curious and stuck with it to really get a good sense of it” or “I like variety and purpose”, the theme of who you are will emerge.
Remember that colleges don’t want you to make yourself into something to please them, they want you to be who you are and have some self-awareness.
You don’t need a “theme” and your activities do not need to align with your intended major or career. You are fine. And also, try to find a school that fits you rather than trying to fit a certain group of schools. For instance Colleges that Change Lives schools ctcl.org
Honestly, I wouldn’t worry about this. One of my kids was a bioengineering/biology major in college, and zero of that kid’s HS ECs aligned with that. Kid was heavily involved in music and was on the swim team. The important thing was that the kid’s ECs showed long term commitment, and some leadership skills.
This matters!
Where did you hear this? I’m not sure it’s true.
I agree with the advice that you don’t need a theme to your app.
The only thing I have to add, is for any supplements that ask ‘why X major’, you should directly link some of your experiences to that major. Obviously you can be creative in doing that and make some broad connections. Good luck.
My daughter was a biology major and most of her activities did not align with her major. One volunteer position did, but it was not intentional. As noted, it doesn’t matter.
Given the major you may be in grad school one day, where it likely matters more.
As has been thoroughly stated, forget completely about ECs aligning with majors - DOES NOT MATTER. I do think adcoms care about depth. They don’t want the kid who joined a handful of clubs and showed up an hour a week to have enough ECs to fill the slots on the common app. My daughter had zero ECs that aligned with her potential majors. She did have huge depth and passion for the ECs she engaged in. Whether you think of it as a brand or elevator pitch - what will make YOU stand out to the reader. I imagine my daughter came across as the nerdy ballerina. She had huge commitment and depth in her ECs. Think about why you do what you do and let that drive the narrative of allowing the adcom to get to know you.
Whatever you want to call it, that is a great brand/pitch!
Anyway, I am just chiming in to support the idea of depth. That is in fact a thing I have seen AOs repeatedly say when talking about activities, that they are looking for quality over quantity, and that dedication to something over time where you get more and more deeply involved is at least one potentially very important type of quality.
Including because they are interested in you doing that sort of thing again at their college. This basic insight seems to be lost in some of the online conversations pushing kids to make everything about their intended major. These colleges want their students to be very active outside of just their classrooms, libraries, and labs. That can mean many different things for different kids, but they are generally hoping you will get really involved in one or more of the important student activities at their college, many of which are not academic in nature, or are being done by kids in unrelated majors, or so on.
And once you understand this, the way they talk about ECs all makes perfect sense. College academics can be intense and time-consuming, but kids who are sincerely passionate about one or more other things, and have good time management skills, can still end up doing well both academically and in other ways during college.
And of course you are not literally bound to do the same things in college as you did in HS, lots of people find entirely new activities. It is more the concept of being the sort of person who seeks out such a balance between school work and other valued activities, and is able to make it work.
The theme that I get from your opening post is that you are a well-rounded, caring individual. Not bad.
If you choose to explore clubs in your intended major because you want to (not because of how it looks on your app) it is fine. In fact, it is perfectly reasonable to want to dip your toe in the field to see if it’s really what you want to pursue. And it can show that it is smart to see why you want to study this field. It doesn’t make you disengenuous.
It’s fine to explore something new, if you want to and you have time this coming year. You will also have time to explore new things once you get to college.
Do your colleges have core course requirements? That would mean you would be required to take courses across multiple disciplines. Some students find things that pique their interest while doing so.
You are fine now…no “theme” across your application needed. Just continue to do well in your HS courses.