Consistency in classwork that coincides with intended major
Hi! I am a high school senior intending to major in general biology. I have known that I wanted to major in biology since before high school and have demonstrated that interest significantly in the academic setting. I have been a full time college student enrolled at a local community college for the past year and a half (Junior and senior years) and have had the opportunity to take more bio courses as a result because I was on a quarter system. Freshman year I took honors biology, sophomore year I took chem for science majors (we don't have honors chem at my school) and dual enrollment anatomy + physiology, junior year I took college level global health, psychology, plant biology, and general biology with a lab. This year, I'm taking college level engineering physics and general chem with a lab, as well as environmental science or cell biology. I have a 4.0 and have gotten A's in all of the classes I have taken thus far. I am also on an advanced math track and should finish calculus this year. How much does it appeal to colleges that I have been as committed to my major as I have been for four years? We have no biology extra c's at my school and in general, my extra c's don't really align with my major (poetry, sustainability club, choir board, etc). Is that a bad thing or do you think I have demonstrated my passion enough? UC Berkeley is my dream school.
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1 answer
Hi there @Claire_H,
It seems like you have a lot of good science involvements on your resume, which will definitely appeal to colleges when you choose to apply as a general biology major. As for your other extracurriculars, it's good to show a breadth of interests rather than just having all of your commitments focus on one thing. You could try merging your interests - for instance, sustainability and poetry could blend with biology if you take the right steps. You can use your essays to demonstrate how your non-traditional extracurriculars allow you to explore biology in non-traditional ways in addition to your current pursuits in academia.
If you want to demonstrate a passion for biology more clearly in your extracurriculars, you can write a blog or YouTube series where you post biology-related poetry, or start a sustainability awareness campaign about an endangered species in your area that you know a lot about at the biological level.
Hope this helps!
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