Hi friends! I'm applying to T30 schools like WashU, Northeastern, and Emory.
Right now my SAT and GPA are great, just worried about my extracurricular stuff. This is what I do -
Girl Scouts, working on my gold award
SHARE Chair, organize a project to go once a month volunteering in the immigrant community
ASL Club - started a sign language learning club at my school
Theatre - I run lighting design crew for my school musicals and have been nominated for state award
Internship - summer internship at my state school's biochem lab
NHS member - needs 15 hours of service per semester, not rly big deal
Poetry award - won my school district's high school level poetry contest
How can I improve? Any advice? I want to be a pre-med biochem major. Thank you!!
Hey @stressedjunior! Here's my recommendation on how to improve:
1. Can you become the President of your school's NHS chapter? You have some leadership already in your EC's (Gold award, ASL club cofounder) but it could be helpful to hold an official board position. In your post you said NHS wasn't really a big deal -- but becoming the President or VP of NHS could make it a big deal! Not only would you be doing service hours, but you'd be leading a group of students who are all serving and trying to maximize everyone's impact!
2. Try using some of your volunteer hours or your next internship to work in a patient-centered facility. This helps demonstrate your pre-med interest! You said you did an internship at your state school's biochem lab, which is awesome! Doing something patient-centered next could round out your interest in pre-med specifically vs. just bio-chem. Volunteering at a hospital, senior/rehab center, shadowing a doctor, being a medical scribe, or anything that can get you some visibility into life as a doctor would be awesome. You'll learn a lot and it could also be great material for an essay topic when you start writing your applications and explaining why you want to go pre-med. Bonus: It would be super cool to work with patients who are hard of hearing so you can use your ASL talents as well!
Overall, I agree with @Kaitlyn that you have a strong EC portfolio. You have a lot to be proud of already!! Make sure you're having fun and doing things that are positive additions to your life.
I think your extracurriculars are definitely above sufficient. The only thing I would add if possible is something with biochem outside of school. You have won awards and demonstrated prowess in your activities, which shows more dedication and skill than just adding a ton of hobbies to the list. If you want specific dos and don'ts, you can look on YouTube to find specific videos on what is a turnoff for colleges. Good luck! :)
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