Career questions tagged college-applications
Can you still get into a good college without clubs?
I do other extracurriculars outside of school, such as archery, but none of the school clubs interest me. Will this hurt my chances?
What are my chances of getting into Auburn and how can I increase them?
I'm a junior who lives in state so my chances are slightly higher. My GPA is really mid(my weighted will be pretty high) but I'm pretty sure I can make a 25-28 on my ACT by December. Since Auburn mainly looks at 9-11 transcripts so I'll have taken 7 honors and 6 AP classes. I also plan on applying for a major Mechanical Engineering. I'm currently or participated in many STEM related clubs and have a lot of community service hours.
Struggling to Balance School and Life – How Can I Strengthen My College Application?
Hi everyone, I’m a junior in high school. I recently moved from the UK and started mid-way through my sophomore year, so I had to take freshman and sophomore classes instead of APs. Currently, I’m only able to take 2 AP classes and 1 dual credit (OnRamps) this year as a junior because my counselor advised against taking more. I am also currently taking sophomore classes too. I have a strong interest in engineering, political science, and international law. I'm aiming to double major/double degree in engineering and either political science or international law or law or business for undergrad. In the future, I plan to pursue a master's degree in data science, an LLB or JD, and an MBA. I also plan to join the Air- force or Navy. Most colleges that offer double/dual degrees/majors are top 25 schools. I want to get into a top 25 school, but I'm worried about my academic profile. I currently have a weighted GPA of 2.95, but I'm not sure about my unweighted GPA. At my school, we use a 15.0 scale, and my GPA recently dropped from 11.35 to 11.05. I'm in the top 13-14% of my class, and I mostly get A's, so I'm confused about whv mv GPA is this low. I've been struggling with depression (yes I did get diagnosed) and unfortunately, my parents don't believe in mental health, which makes it harder for me to cope and improve. My depression is only getting worse, but I'm willing to ignore it to improve my academics. On top of that, I'm dealing with parentification at home, which is adding more stress. I'm struggling to focus on studying and retaining information, and I'm feeling lost on how to handle everything. Most of my school's extracurriculars are focused on volunteering. I'm currently part of Student Council (StuCo), Key Club, and the African Students Association (ASA). However, the majority of school competitions and meaningful extracurricular activities are only available for health and business students. I'm about to start applying to colleges, but I have absolutely no idea what to write about for my essays. I'm considering writing about my traumatic childhood, a specific traumatic experience in my life, or my migration and how it affected me. I'm not sure which direction would be most impactful or how to approach these topics. 1. How can I raise my GPA and strengthen my academic profile, especially given my current mental health struggles? 2. What can I do to enhance my extracurriculars, especially with the limited options available at my school? 3. Are there any specific extracurricular activities, competitions, or opportunities outside of school that I can explore to boost my college application? 4. How can I improve my studying habits and memory retention given everything I'm dealing with? 5. What advice do you have for choosing a strong college essay topic? How can I make my experiences stand out in a meaningful way? +++ I have an insane amount of volunteering hours. What do I do with this information?
What clubs should you join or create that would help students who want to do engineering majors in the future ? Do colleges prefer students engaging in clubs ?
I am a junior. I wanted to know what clubs I should know that would look great for my college application and also show that I'm engaged in extracurriculars.
How should I go about requesting letters of recommendations?
As a rising senior who's applying for colleges, I feel some anxiety that surrounds letters of recommendations. This is not only limited to college applications, but job wise as well that I would like to improve on especially in future.
What's a technique to look through every valid past activity and achievement to put into a college application? #Fall24
It's helpful to put activities and circumstances outside school into my college app, but I'm wondering about how to determine the validity of my activities and whether I should start from middle school (most active in outside school work) , or freshmen year.
What are some good mechanical engineering schools?
Hi, I'm a senior in high school interested in majoring in mechanical engineering. I have a decent SAT score (1450) and 3.75 GPA. My extracurricular activities aren't very good: no leadership positions and a member of two clubs but I been in some engineering related mentorship and internship. Any suggestions for good mechanical engineering colleges to apply to? (that I would have a decent chance getting into)
Application?
What can i start doing now to make my application more attractive if i want to study medicine as an international student?
Application proccess?
What can I do to make my application more attractive?
How much time did you spend on your college applications?
How much is best to spend time on your collage applications and how much it takes to finish one application, and after completing it once, will it be easier and faster to make other applications for different colleges?
Is it good to have a letter of recommendation from my high school principal for college applications (common app) ?
My principle stated they can give me a letter of recommendation but I'm not sure if that is too much/kinda odd and bad. I do not know I should add it..
What are considered to be big and small awards for common app?
I am currently a junior and wonder if 2 of my main awards as of now are big or small awards. I was a freshman when I got 2nd out of 56 science fair boards at my school and second in county sophomore year for biochemistry where I was qualified for ISEF. What are some programs or research opportunities in where I could gain valuable awards for common apps and in pursuit of going into the medical field.
I'm a senior in high school and barely have any extracurricular activities and leadership positions and I want to go to USC, what do I do?
I have a 4.0 GPA and a 4.45 W GPA, however I never really was encouraged or was emphasized the amount of importance extracurricular activities have on a college application until the end of my junior year. My current activities only consist of co-founding a community service club at school with mid-popularity based on reading to children, p.e dance & a year of dance team, and link crew. However, compared to all the others in my grade with amazing test scores, internships, 100+ community service hours, and in honor societies, I feel as if I am not even good enough to apply to USC, which is a great school for my dream career. I'm not sure what to do.
I am trying to get into Software Engineering and the extracurriculars I have are not related to what I am aspiring to become. Is this bad or is it okay to show this to colleges?
Does it matter if my extracurriculars are different from my chosen major? Will it look bad on my college applications? Note: This question was submitted by a learner anonymously
How can I combine my intetest? To standout in the college application
I want to go into the medical field and computer science but I want to combine those interest together, my extracurricular are: • STEMEd for girl volunteer •American Red Cross blood ambassador. •American Red Cross youth action campaign advocate •ambassador for UNCG intersection camp: a camp for girls in stem. I want to combine those interest for programming and health by creating an App for students to treat themselves in case of minor injuries or illnesses when there is no teacher similar to how AED defibrillators guide people in case of sudden cardiac arrest. for example if you got bitten by a mosquito it’ll guide you on how to treat a mosquito bite or you were doing an activity outside of class and you got sunburn, it’ll guide you on how to treat a sunburn. Is this a good idea, and if so, how can I get the resources or what do you recommend because I don't have the resources or any idea on how to start an app?
How do I get medical experience as a highschool student?
Hi, I'm a highschool student and I'm trying to apply to the PLME for brown. I have a 1230 SAT and 25 ACT. I have a 4.7 gpa weighted and 3.84 nonweighted I am the ASB President and board member for the Interact Cub as well as the president for the Orthodox Club. I volunteer at the hospital and I Teach hymns at my church. The problem is, I know I don't stand out. I want to gain more experience in the medical field so I can appear as motivated as I am as well as, I would love any new experience. What do you think I can do? How can I apply for these experiences?in what ways can i make myself stand out as medically inclined highschool student?