Competition for entry into selective STEM programs is only growing more intense. Many families already know– or quickly learn– that it’s more important than ever that your student is taking advantage of their academic and extracurricular opportunities within each year of high school. Not only does doing so give them more opportunities to discover new and specific interests, but it’ll also help strengthen their application by showing that they have genuine interest and experience within the STEM field.
Looking to learn more about what you can be doing to help yourself stand out and become a more competitive STEM applicant? Check out this blog!
Demonstrating Academic Excellence
Strong academic abilities are generally important for all successful STEM applicants. Selective programs want to see that the students they’re admitting have not only challenged themselves with the most rigorous coursework available– particularly in math and science– but they also want to see that you’ve done well in that coursework.
According to most schools’ admissions guidelines, STEM students should ideally complete biology, chemistry, physics, and advanced mathematics (including calculus) during high school if possible. And don’t think that skipping out on English, foreign language, or social studies requirements will do you any favors! Successful STEM students are still expected to have developed the communication and writing skills associated with this kind of coursework, and not having maxed out these subject areas will be seen as a weakness, not a strength.
One additional piece of the puzzle worth noting, in an era of rampant grade inflation, elite colleges especially are increasingly looking for additional ways to measure a student’s academic achievement, and therefore may value the inclusion of standardized test scores to validate a student’s academic potential. Test scores, whether SAT/ACT®, AP, etc., provide an additional important evaluation metric when making admissions decisions. Put yourselves in their shoes! In a world where an A means one thing at one school and something entirely different at another, they need to know you’re able to perform at a certain level, and standardized test scores allow them to make these assessments in a uniform way. To learn more about our perspective on this return to testing and what the schools have said about it, check out our blog.
Making Meaningful STEM Experiences
While grades are certainly important, they aren’t enough on their own to get you in, and therefore, excelling beyond the classroom can be just as important as excelling within it. Elite universities are looking for students who demonstrate intellectual curiosity and initiative by engaging with STEM outside of their structured and required assignments.
There are many ways to find great STEM experiences, but we often recommend starting by exploring opportunities in your local area. Reach out to university professors, local organizations, or research facilities to see if they have opportunities for high school students. You might be surprised by what you find! However, some advice before you make contact: first, try to familiarize yourself with this person’s work and then draft a thoughtful response that responds to the question of how their work relates to your special interest. You don’t want to make a generic or uninformed request. That’s one way to make sure your email gets ignored.
Once you’ve found a productive way to spend your time, it’s helpful to provide tangible evidence of your process (notes) as well as working toward final products (research posters and papers). This not only helps you remember what you learned, but also gives you concrete evidence of your contributions that can be later used for reflection, brainstorming, and application materials–specifically essays.
If you’re having trouble finding an organization to work with, there is nothing wrong with starting your own independent project– as long as it is intentional and well-planned. We offer more advice about this process in other blogs, but if you have a special project that interests you, colleges love to see self-guided research! Just make sure that you have a specific end goal in mind and milestones to keep you on track.
Writing About These Experiences Effectively
Even the strongest experiences lose impact when they’re communicated poorly. This means that taking some time to figure out how to articulate your STEM journey is going to pay off when it comes to writing your application essays or sitting through interviews.
It’s not uncommon for us to hear students interested in STEM say that they aren’t great writers, however, using the college application experience to focus on learning to curate an effective personal narrative won’t just help you secure admissions, but will also be an important skill down the line when you apply to jobs, write research grants, or publish your work.
Tips for Writing a Better STEM Essay
1. Tell them your story, not your resume.
When writing an essay, you want to be sure that you’re avoiding building just a list of your accomplishments. You want to make sure you’re not just telling them what you’ve done, but also showing how it helped you grow, demonstrate your curiosity, and learn about yourself. For example, instead of just saying, “I participated in research on nanoparticles–” which is an amazing experience to have!– try instead describing a specific challenge you encountered, how you tackled obstacles you faced, and what the experience taught you about yourself or the industry.
2. Failure is Part of Life
Admissions officers aren’t going to reject your application because you mentioned something not going right during an experiment in your application essays. In fact, readers are often more interested in how you embrace failure and learn from it. No one is expecting you to be the perfect scientist, mathematician, or student; but they are expecting you to be able to respond to setbacks, analyze a situation for different outcomes, and learn from them. This kind of vulnerability demonstrates maturity and authentic engagement with the scientific process– something elite colleges value.
For more advice, check out our College Essay Resources Tab!