Applying to College as a STEM Major

Webinar Transcription

2025-04-09 – Applying to College as a STEM Major

Lonnie: Here we go. Hello everyone. Welcome to CollegeAdvisor’s Webinar, “Applying to College as a STEM Major.” To orient everyone with the webinar timing, we are first gonna begin with a presentation, and then we’ll have the opportunity to answer any of your questions in the live question and answer at the end.

Also, if you are interested in downloading the slides, because there’s a lot of great information that our presenter has. You’re more than welcome to download them now by clicking on the handouts tab and they will be readily available for you. We often get asked, will this be recorded? Will I have the opportunity to view this webinar again?

And yes, you can. It will be. Located in our library of webinars on our CollegeAdvisor website so that you could be able to see it. Just give us an extra day and then this webinar will be up live for you to view again. So with that said, let’s now meet our presenter, Rachel.

Rachel: Okay. Hi everyone. Uh, my name is Rachel and I’m currently a master’s student here at MIT.

I studied computer science, econ and data science and business analytics, two majors in my undergrad. And then I did like a plus one program to do my master’s now, so I’ll be graduating next month. Um, a lot of my experience specializes in data science. I really enjoy working with complex data to solve.

Problems or any sort of big problems. Um, there’s a lot of use now with the boom of AI and I think applying to college as a STEM major ties really well with that. So I’m excited to get started on the presentation.

Lonnie: Awesome. Well, you are experienced in this topic, so our audience has something really great in store.

But before we dive into our webinar, we’d love to get a sense of. Where our audience are at as it relates to their grade level. If you’re a parent guardian, please go ahead and mark other for us, so we wanna know what grade you’re in so we can just find ways to speak directly to you and make sure that we’re addressing, you know, this topic based on the, our live audiences a great level.

So I’m gonna give it a few more seconds as the responses are coming in and as they are, um, coming in. Rachel, like, how’s your master program going?

Rachel: That’s a great question. Um, it’s going pretty well, um, for our program, even though it’s like one year we still have to write a thesis, so it’s due on the last day of class, May 9th.

Um, we’re all friends and I are all struggling to finish it because we wanna wrap up all of our research, so then we. Start writing well, and then we go through all the drafts, the editing with the lab. Um, but I really enjoy so far and then classes are going good. And I am also a teaching assistant for a couple of classes in the Eco economic Department.

Um, and I really enjoy it so far, so would recommend. Oh, but I guess that’s like much, much further on in your career, um, as high school student, whether or not you get like, go to graduate school. But I enjoy it. Yeah.

Lonnie: Great. Awesome. Well, that’s really just helpful to let the students know that, you know, you can continue with your education by furthering it and receiving your master’s degree, so you know, that’s really awesome to hear that that’s where you are now in your journey and good luck finishing up that thesis.

Thank you. I’m gonna need it. Yes, not a problem. Not a problem. So with that, Rachel, I wanna let you know that we have 50% of our AU live audience are in the 11th grade, and then we have 30% that are 10th grade students and 10% ninth grade and other. Um, so with that, I am now gonna turn it over to you to share with the audience.

Um, how did you know that the STEM major was right for you?

Rachel: Okay, so this is like a pretty big question. Um, it’s kind of hard to figure out, I would say at first because especially if you’re in like ninth grade or 10th grade and still thinking about what you might wanna choose. Um, but the number one question that I would say to ask yourself is, what are you curious about?

And usually if you’re really curious about how things work, um, I would say that’s a pretty big indicator. For example, like anytime that you are doing something, you think to yourself, oh, but like. What, how is this being done this way? Um, for example, like, I don’t know, you might be like putting something together or watching your parents put something together or like, you know, buying new appliances and you’re thinking about how all of this process in the background to output like a certain result.

And that gives you a lot of curiosity. Like if you’re blending something or like if you’re, you know, like driving a car and you actually want to get to know like, how does the combustion work? Like how do we get the car to propel forwards? Or how come, for example, if you. Carry a 20 pound box versus roll it on some wheels, like the physics in that.

Is that interesting to you? So number one thing is, what are you curious about? And then number two thing I would say is if you enjoy hands-on experience coding or research, these are typically STEM major based. Um, so if you like working labs, you know, like putting on your lab code, running experiments, whether it’s in a lab or even just online.

Um, so like their coding, does that give you excitement? Um, and MIT’s model is men and Manus, which is mind and hand. So it’s like you can. Think all you want, calculate all you want, but we also want you to have like real life applications. So like hands-on experiments, um, making sure that like you really like doing things and.

Learning how they work. Um, and then the other indicators, honestly, this could sort of be true for other majors as well, but I think they’re quite like indicative for like stem. So you enjoy like challenging puzzles or problems you’re comfortable with structured thinking and logic. So for example, like I maybe at your age, like if you like math classes, science classes, um, all of the like.

Numbers and calculations and how to get to an answer. Um, if that is all like really interesting to you, I would say is also a big indicator. So in summary, you’re curious about how things work. You enjoy, like using your hands and maybe you also enjoy like, thinking things through logically or in a structured way.

Okay, cool. So I wanted to start off by also seeing, um, showing you guys a series of problems taken from some of my STEM classes that don’t necessarily require specialized background knowledge. So when I say that, I mean, when you read a problem, you don’t necessarily need to know, like a ton of math or a ton of like, like you don’t even need calculus for any of them.

Like, um. Or I guess like any sort of specific bio or chemistry or anything like that. Um, maybe just a small bit of math background. And I want you to think to yourself if you find these questions interesting, so I don’t have time to actually go through the answers with you. And if you are interested in the answers, um, maybe I could figure out a way to share them.

But yes, I’ll just scroll through them. I’ll give you maybe like. 30 seconds, depending on how much time you’re interested in, um, how much time. It doesn’t feel awkward to just stare at a slide, um, to kind of like, look at the question, think about it, and see if you enjoy thinking about it or even have an answer.

So this problem has to do with, um, oh, actually I’ll just be quiet.

Okay, so this is more of a math problem where you wanna detect if a game can be symmetric when there’s a set of two actions to choose from. And then you want to argue that it also has a PA pure, um. Equilibrium, which that is probably a term that you would need further, like previous study for, but symmetric is defined here.

Um, that if it, it is symmetric if, and only if a one equals a two equals a, just, just two action sets are identical.

Here’s another question. It seems like pretty standard, like, um, a conserv venue is trying to predict how many people will attend an event based on a bunch of features, and then they use a specific model to decide which advance to book, but they want the predictions to be conservative, which just means, um, it’s better if the model is.

Hitting a lower bound. So underestimating the attendance than overestimating. So better to undershoot than overshoot. And then they say that you can express this in this way, and they ask you what numbers here would be equivalent to squared error. I believe squared error is something that you do learn about some time, maybe in high school math.

Um, but you, this requires you to think about like how this equation might be modeled in this space. And then, oh, I guess this is not, not super clear. Sorry. I thought this was like a transition here, but, um, this question has to do with. Um, building an elephant and you have a series of tasks, um, like, well, you can imagine 1, 2, 3 there, and then the rest is covered, unfortunately.

But it tells you how each, um, task is done. So you might collect this first, collect that first, and it asks you, um, what is the longest sequence of tasks that need to be completed successfully? So. You, this is a very simple task in a way ’cause you’re building a structure. Um, and it’s not asking you to like, you know, do some like really big math, but it is kind of like puzzling and kind of challenging.

Um, and then we have some constraints is what you would call it. So maybe only one team can be assigned to a particular task and multiple, like, teams cannot work together in a single task and

Lonnie: things like that. I’m gonna re, I’m gonna reload it for you. Oh,

Rachel: no, no, it’s okay.

Lonnie: You can see the whole, I think I just added a transition, but, um, it’s not a big deal.

Okay. Uh, gimme one quick second. Yes, of course. Reloading. Sorry, one short pause. Okay.

Rachel: And was that Oh, yes, there. Yeah. That, that, that’s good. Thank you. I should I also separate this last, next time? No, no, you’re fine. Yeah. So here’s like a series of tasks that the Ant can do, right? So task three, attach two legs to the chest nut. Task four, attach two legs to the hip nut. And then it’ll also tell you how these tasks must follow other tasks.

So this, in my head, it’s like a puzzle game, right? Um, and then we’ll have some constraints. And then the question, which I showed you, um, just earlier is what is the critical path for doing this elephant building, uh, successfully?

Okay. Another question that you might encounter, this one was in a math class. Oh, by the way, all these questions I have answered in, in college, and they’re also college level questions, so I don’t expect anyone to like be able to like answer them now, of course. But it’s kind of, I wanna sow the seeds of, oh, is this interesting to you?

Oh, like, does this. Problem style and this like thinking, like, make you feel like it’s something you wanna pursue. Um, so kind of like stimulating whether or not you feel like, you know, stem is right for you. Um. So this is like more probability math. Um, talking about Toic, which is like a, um, Pokemon character, I think.

Um, and then it talks about whether it is or isn’t modest, then we have a probability and then, um, well, I, I won’t go through all of it, but it’s like a probability based question and, um, if you like this, that’s also a good side. That you might be a fit for a STEM major. Um, this is also a really interesting one.

Um, so it’s like, oh, you have a group of MIT students traveling from, uh, Massachusetts to Ohio, and you wanna profit off of one of your friends. And then your map shows the, in cities, like some number in, so it could be like 10 cities, but any number in, connected by m two way roads. So each road goes forwards and back.

And then m is a. Another number that’s not in. And then each road charge a toll. So, um, of $1, and this is the only exception is for the road that you own, which is between Maryland and Iowa. And you can set your price to be whatever positive energy. You want, and they want you to design an algorithm that returns either the highest toll price that you could set so that MIT students will still choose to take your road or a state that no such toll exists.

And the students will always choose to pick the cheapest route or always pick the cheapest route. And if it’s a tie, then it will use the route that doesn’t use your road. And what we ask you to do is just design an algorithm, which just means design a series of tasks to complete. Um, I guess the question here, which is the return statement, um, yeah, so I think that’s probably my last one.

You can take a while to think about it. Yeah, that’s my last one. So those series of questions, if you like them, I would say it’s a good sign as well if you, you know, wanna do a STEM major, they’re all classes. I take in my, I think CS and math particularly, um, as part of the curriculum here. Cool. I’ll stop you.

Yeah. Continue answering the question. So what are benefits of a STEM degree? Um, I think the biggest one is probably high demand and job stability. So I’m fortunate to say, um, STEM degrees are very employable, I would say. Um, I think a lot of, um, companies, if you’re interested in going to industry as a, okay, yeah, I should segregate this into industry and research.

So if you’re interested in going to industry, um, which just means working for a company, um, I would say it’s like very, very useful. Um, it can work out. Pretty much like any company because of the different needs that each one has, unless your degree is very specialized. So like if you’re really into like biology, then you know, there are like biotech companies, like, I dunno, Moderna, Pfizer, um, et cetera, um, or pharmaceuticals.

But if you’re interested in just like. Engineering in general? Math in general technology, which gives like CS or AI in general. I would say like every company needs like that set of skills. Um, so I would say it’s like pretty high demand, pretty good job stability. Um, second point is strong earning potential.

I think everyone kind of knows this. Um, typically it’s because of the, like the analytical rigor that a STEM degree usually requires to complete. Um, it, you’re compensated based on that. Um, you have a lot of career opportunities, so just because like say you major in math, um, you can. You don’t have to be like a mathematician, right?

Or a scientist like you could be, oh, I have a list of careers, I think on the next couple of sides. But, um, it’s not tied one-to-one. You can like use those skills in a lot of different careers. Um, and the third, fourth point is applicable to different industries. So just as I said, like whether you’re working out like.

I don’t know, like Google or like Unilever, which is the company that makes like your standard like shampoo, um, and conditioner and other drugstore products. Both will need like math somewhere. So, um, I would say the skills that you learn are pretty applicable. And then the fifth, um, probably one of my favorite points that I really like about my.

I guess studies is that you have a high opportunity to impact society through innovation. So I like to think like tech is really like at the forefront of innovation and how we make the world more efficient or how we find like better solutions to problems. And when you have like the skills that are usually trained through a STEM degree, you have a pretty high opportunity to work out like.

Innovative stuff. So I think a direct translation as a new grad from college is like startups. Startups are very popular here as an exit avenue after, um, college. And, um, they’re really into like that stuff. I think that’s like one of the biggest ways, and I think even inside of each company, they tend to have like an innovative group, whether that’s like.

I don’t know, like they might like set aside some money to like do some initiative. Um, and it really puts like your skills to the test. So if you really like creating things, um, and like disrupting the market, as you might say, I would say like a STEM degree has that benefit for sure. I. Cool. Okay. So these are some examples of STEM majors.

This is like a funny chart that I saw, um, when I was researching around like how I might wanna present this. So these are, some of the standard ones are on the left. So engineering, there’s mechanical, electrical, civil, um, these, I would say like are, um, distinguishing between like what kind of problems you wanna solve.

So like. I’m not, I’m not very good. I’m not any of those majors, so I can’t exactly know. But like, um, Sybil, I know it has to do with like, you know, the roads, the highways, like things like civilians might like use. Um, mechanical, I think of like always thinking like. Engine related industrial, like manufacturing related, um, any sort of supply chain process.

Um, electrical, of course, you know, like electrical wiring. But, um, and even like for example, inside of your computer, how does your computer work? Like what are the different parts? How do you build it? How do we make it more efficient? So a lot of the problems that I think you solve in this space is how to reduce, unfortunately, reduce cost, increased efficiency, and um, also reduce space.

So like, we want your computers to be small. You want your iPhones to be small. We want it to be light. We want it to calculate things very fast. So constant, constant optimization is only my, um, call, call it. So computer science information systems, I think some schools have like I, uh, information systems as a separate major from computer science.

I’m not too clear on the difference. Um, I think maybe it has to do with more like technical, or, sorry, not technical, more like system, uh, that’s not a good. Um, relation either, but I think it is different. But, um, I don’t see information systems as often as computer science, so I would say do your own research.

Um, for biology, biotech, these are all like very popular. I think neuroscience is growing. Um, I have a lot of friends that really enjoy neuroscience, physics, chemistry, math stats and environmental science, et cetera. So. To decide what exact major that you wanna do, I think is, um, something like you have to think about and maybe like read about the experience, do some research, but um, or like use this handy dandy, uh, chart that I have here.

Okay. STEM careers. I feel like this is low key further in your journey than choosing like a major to apply to college as, but in the case you are interested in. Thinking about, uh, the five-year plan, um, these are some examples of STEM careers that you could potentially be interested in. So the biggest one, or I guess like the one that’s like hot is software engineering, um, or like app development.

So a lot of like websites are being put into apps now. Like you go into any restaurant or going to any like. I don’t know, like kava, Chipotle Green, um, like they’ll be like, oh, download our app. Download our app. Um, like anything out there has an app now, unfortunately. Um, and I think that’s really big and it’s so handy to have on your phone and things like that.

So a lot of software engineers are behind that. A lot of mo mobile developers, app developers, things like that. Um, another thing I should put here is machine learning. I think that’s the next biggest thing after software engineering. So, um, I don’t know if you’ve like seen this scene with how a corporate world is like.

I don’t know, like. Um, doing those like relations with technology, but a lot of ML engineering is opening a lot of software Engineering is shrinking a little bit, so, um, I won’t go too much into that climate. But yes, ML engineering is also very big data science. Um, that’s actually what I’m personally doing after I graduate.

Graduate. Um, I’m gonna work as a data scientist. Um, biomedical research robots. Um, environmental analysts, aerospace, cybersecurity, et cetera. Um, there’s a link here that I think you probably can click, um, inside of the download, but it sends you to a page that’s like a hundred jobs of the future. And I think it’s quite interesting if you wanna look at it.

These are some things that some person that has on some research, research predict that might be a job by the time you exit college. So, and then I have a picture here for a career wheel, I guess there’s like four different types of avenues that you can think about. Um, like do you like contents and designs?

Do you like product development? Do you like working with business or do you really like the tech sphere? And then it gives you this, um, color wheel of like, how much of each do you really play with within each, um, I guess like career. So feel

Lonnie: free to take a look at.

Rachel: Okay, so say like you’ve decided that you wanna be a STEM major. How do you find the right STEM program or school? So for anything that’s kind of like this, I would say research that’s like number one, like consume. I would advise you to consume as much knowledge as you can in as many programs as you can, because that will only help you, right?

So I want. To, or I would recommend to research faculties, research labs. So for example, we know CMU or UIUC is known for their CS programs and you know, Johns Hopkins is like known for its biomedical engineering programs and you can find like other pieces that you are really interested in and what is the best school for that?

Um. So number one, see if you can like, do research and see if there’s the faculty labs, classes in schools in general that’s, you know, known to be good for that field. Um, second thing is to browse these elective courses or course catalogs. I guess that kind of goes into what I just said. So I would recommend like looking up classes that you find are interesting, um, or even classes that you’ve taken right now or plan to take.

If it’s like something that you would wanna continue deeper, you can, um. Like do some searching around to see like if there’s some really like distinguished professors with like, you know, loads of experience and things like that. Like you would wanna take classes from that might like indicate that this school is a good fit for you.

Um, and also read other students’ experiences. So when I was, um, I guess your age, I read a lot of blogs. Like I read so many blogs, like uncountable, number of blogs of how people. Um, experience, uh, different campuses and in different majors, what they like, what they don’t like. Um, and also YouTube videos.

There is always, always like a day in a life of a student at blah. Um, so I’m certain if you look up like schools that you’re interested in, something will pop up, hopefully. Something will pop up. So kind of like getting that experience and just consuming how like a student at your age might be taking on like this major or this program at that school.

Um, if you feel like you vibe with that or not. And lastly, I would say like visit campuses. So to find the. Like both the question, like find the right school and even find the right program as well. Um, if you can, if it’s within like your resource to visit campuses, I would highly recommend it. Um, I did it when I was, I guess, your age, um, like touring different campuses and some vibes.

I, I think some vibes I enjoyed more than others, so that I wouldn’t have figured out if I hadn’t done that. Um, if I just like read blogs and watched YouTube videos all day. So those are some things that I would recommend. Okay, how do I utilize minors or majors? So I would say that. Focus mostly on your primary major.

Um, so if your primary major is in stem, like focus on that. That’s like your most important thing. Um, it is very common to pair other degrees with your, um, major. So for example, I did a double degree. My second degree was in business. And it’s mainly because I realized that whenever I’m presenting, like, um, I’m coding stuff, but then I need to talk to someone.

And there’s often a gap between like you as a coder and. The person that you’re presenting to as like a stakeholder or like as, um, as your manager or whatever, because your manager isn’t watching you code and they don’t necessarily know like exactly line by line, like what you’re doing. And you need to know how to best communicate that.

And this is not just with like jobs, it’s like jobs because it’s more relevant for me. But like for you guys, like it could be literally any project or presentation or internship or like. I don’t know any time where you had to face someone and tell them about something that you are specialized in, but they’re not.

So business analytics for me, kind of bridge that gap because like all businesses need like analytics to solve problems and there are ways to better like pitch the solution than others. So I would say like that’s how, that’s what that trained in me. Um. So I would say like if you’re going to choose an additional major, make sure it compliments like your own interest, compliments your major.

Um, and also like to discover that I would take elective courses to explore. So typically like your major program, it’s not gonna like consume your whole time. Like you wouldn’t have no time to take elective courses. So if you can, I would do that to see if you want to add a minor or a major. Um, and then how do you use them?

I guess like utilize can also be interpreted as, how do I use these in the future? Well, like, you know, they’re very useful because it adds flexibility, it expands your skillset. It also allows you to learn from a different department, a different program. Um, like I realized that the CS department here at MIT and the business department, I guess here at MIT are very, very different.

Like the requirements are so, so different. Like in business classes I have to. I have to speak, I have to speak all the time. Um, even if it’s a classroom of like 200 people, like they want you to talk, and there are mics at every seat. So you’ll have a big, big lecture hall of 200 people and there’ll be a mic at every seat.

So when the professor asks you a question, you have to turn on your mic. And. Um, answer the question. And there’s more common, there’s more cases like cold calling and like their higher participation credits. And they require every student to have a name tag. So when the professor calls on you, like they, or they know your name so they can call on you.

And then it helps them also better remember their name. And then there’s a lot more, um, group projects, I would say in business school, um, because they really wanna foster that, like cooperation, teamwork, communication. Um, whereas like in CS classes, it’s like. Like your own homework, um, you don’t really talk much.

Um, it’s definitely more intense as you might imagine. Um, the content’s more intense, there’s less questions. Um, it’s just completely different. And I think like it teaches you for, for me at least, like two completely different skill sets that compliment each other because. It primes you well for the future.

So yes. And then additional majors, minors, um, you can also pursue interests, passions, like I have numerous friends that major in CS and also do music and or major in CS and also do like, um, media studies or like writing. Um, it can be literally like anything that you want and that you like. So, um, I would say like if you have room to add on another major I to like, I would say go ahead and I would recommend.

Okay. Cool. So should my current activities correspond with the major I am interested in? So ideally, yes. So, um, I think this only adds to your application, right? So if you wanna say you are a math major, then ideally you have math clubs, math competitions, math projects, math classes, like things that really compliment why you are like applying as that major, right?

Um, or else like to, uh. I don’t wanna say it’s like, like to an admission officer or to like someone reading your application. Like it doesn’t really make sense if you’re applying for something and then you have like zero experience in it. Um, maybe you write about it a lot in your essays and I think that’s like totally valid.

But if you really have like no reason why you’re applying for this other than like, oh, like I think this looks good, or like, oh, I think I’m interested, but like I’ve never done it before. Like it’s a bit harder to like create a convincing argument that like, you suit this profile and you will like take this, like do this major at this school.

So ways to like help with this, right? Um, you might wanna take related clubs in that area. Um, you might wanna do like. Oh, so in general I would say it’s good for leadership, teamwork, and other skills to also showcase through your application. Um, so I guess like as much as you can for current activities, but also like you wanna be a robust student.

Um, so that’s goes to my fourth point, balanced focused STEM activities with broader interests. So if you really like knitting, like. Do your crochet club. Like don’t drop a crochet club to take a math club because you like, everything has to be math. Like, no, like that’s not the case. Um, it’s actually, I think, better to have like a more robust profile than like two centered, so it’s kind of hard.

Now I feel like I’m contradicting myself, but there’s a balance. As long as there’s demonstration that your current activities are going to the path of the major that you are applying for, I think that’s fine. So if you can like. It also demonstrates that you have like true interest in the subject. Okay, cool.

So do I have to have specific experiences in your application to stand out? Mm, generally I would say like, yes, you don’t have to have, but it would be nice to have and encouraged. So one thing I would say focus on depth, then quantity. So there should be like a few things that you can go all the way in.

And when I say all the way, I mean like. Like literally, like do as much as you can in that one thing. So for like, for example, when I was in high school and even in college, I played piano, but I didn’t just play piano leisurely. Like I had my lessons once a week. But I also did competitions. I also like composition.

I also enjoyed like playing at, um, like. Restaurants, um, or volunteering at like local senior homes. Like, I really love piano and how, and it’s because I really love piano, that I really wanna do these things, right? It’s not like. Because I wanna show that I like, like piano. I’m going to like force myself to do all these things.

Like, no, because it, it comes, it should come naturally, right? So, um, if you for are like me and you enjoy piano, then I would recommend like going as deeply as you can in piano, like learning difficult pieces, volunteering at local places to play your pieces, getting your pieces evaluated, doing competitions.

If you, maybe you really like the music theory part and also do compositions like. Try to go in depth as possible as you can on these activities that you really enjoy. I think that matters a lot more than just having like 10 like shallow activities that, that you like have done. Um, so. Yes. And then research projects, internships are valuable, not mandatory.

I think it’s getting harder and harder to get, especially as a high school student. But, um, in your like summer times, I would definitely recommend like doing research or doing some sort of program that. Accelerates slash ads to your application profile as a STEM major. So, um, whether that’s with a local university or you’re doing this personal project or this code or this class that you find online, like it’s good to do stuff better, to have stuff than not have stuff, if that makes sense.

And then, um, this goes onto the third one, which is personal coding projects or competitions show initiative. So what is really, really important is to have initiative, to have consistency initiative. So, um, you build something because you like it or you compete because you want to be evaluated and constantly pushed to see if you really like, know that stuff.

So, um, there’s a lot of like competitions that I, I guess we can talk about if you have questions at the end, um, that you might. Want to attend because you wanna challenge yourself. So the common ones that I see in stem, so I guess like science and engineering ish, and math is like the olympiads, that’s like pretty common I think.

Um, so whether it’s like in math, there’s like a MC to a ME, to UMO, to like IMO and then also for coding and physics and all of this stuff. Like, um, it’s not mandatory to compete in subjects that you enjoy, but it shows more when you do because it like. Demonstrates that you like to do this stuff and you wanna constantly tackle challenging problems, and you push yourself to.

Constantly tackle challenging problems, right? Because as you imagine, whatever you’re studying now, it’s just gonna get harder. Uh, I hate to tell you, but it’s just gonna get harder. And you wanna make sure that you are prepped and primed and can’t show that this like STEM major, you’re gonna succeed, right?

And just happens to be one of the ways to show it is that you like do competitions and you’re successful and you’re pushing yourself, et cetera, et cetera. Um, and then I guess the fourth one summarizes that all. So you’re curious. You take initiative and you learn from these experiences that you have, and I think that will help your application stand out.

Okay. So how do I prepare in high school for a STEM major? So, number one, take advanced classes. So for me personally, um, I took a lot of AP classes. I took every AP class that my school offered, um, because I think it was like a, the most challenging and also b like I thought it was. Something that I would be interested in, and like a lot of my friends took them.

So, uh, but first one for sure, like, you wanna show that you’re taking the, the hardest things that you could possibly take at your school, because that shows that you’re challenging. You’re like, um, constantly like, I guess I say this like a million times, but pushing yourself to learn the most that you can.

Um. Second one is join STEM clubs. Kind of talked about this earlier. Competitions ISEF was one that um, I did. And also here around, so that’s the International Science and Engineering Fair, I believe. Um, summer programs, um, to help you learn. So STEM is very general. There’s so many different majors inside of stem.

So, um, you can’t apply as like stem, right? You have to choose one of the four. And even inside one of the four, there’s more, um. So I would say like, do as much research and take programs in a specific thing and see if you like it. So, um, I originally thought I was gonna be like a biology major, so I did some biology related research with like Petri plates and like pipettes and whatever.

Um, and I realized I didn’t like it, so I’m not a biology major. Um, and doing that experience helped me learn more about biology, which then helped me decide that bio biology is not for me. So. That’s why I think that it is like a good idea to do summer programs or any sort of research or, um, experience in these areas.

And then personal projects, independent projects, I just yanked about that earlier. Um, you can do this stuff either with a teacher or, um, through like online tutorials. I think there are ways to, um, follow like instructions, but also add on to these things that can really like. Help you figure out if this is what you like and then build relationships with STEM teachers and mentors.

This is extra important because, um, you need rec letters to apply to college and you want these letters to like stand out. You want it to the teachers to properly, I. Like, speak to your ability and your potential to survive at some college that you wanna go to, right? So for you to have a good relationship, this could mean like becoming their tutor, peer mentor, um, meeting, meeting them after class, going to office hours.

Like really, like if you take an exam and then you’re like, oh. I don’t understand why like I got these questions wrong and you go talk to the tech teacher and the teacher talks to you for an extensive period of time. Like that will help enrich the relationship between you and your teacher. ’cause it demonstrates that you are interested and you wanna know why you like messed up and how to be better.

So I think building relationships with your teachers are very important. I personally, I feel, like I said I personally a million times, but when I was in high school, I did have a really. Close math teacher, he like really challenged me to, um, learn math and to like, I don’t know, think about every single thing.

Like oftentimes I’ll ask him a question and then he’ll ask me a question back and I’ll be like, I just asked you, but. Them asking you questions is the most like helpful thing like ever because it really tests whether or not you know that stuff. And then if you don’t have that stuff, boom, you’re caught.

And then they’re able to like better assist you in that stuff. Um, so questions are good. And then, um, exploring internships, shouting professionals. Um, uh, like a, if you’re interested in like the biotech area, you can maybe shadow professionals at a lab. Um, and. See around, like if there are programs that you can participate in locally or even statewide to better figure out if you wanna do a STEM major.

Okay. I’m almost done. Okay. Advice. Oh, there’s like, so much I could say. So here’s like a few things that I could say, which is, um, one, follow your curiosity. Um, curiosity is so, so important. I think like a lot of this, I think curiosity is normally nurtured when you’re younger and when you get to high school, middle school, high school, it’s kind of like shadowed because you’re.

Always trying to meet deadlines, like finish homework or like prepare stuff for a club or like for a meeting or like, I don’t know, you just have like a million things to think about, but, and it makes it harder to like be curious about things. But I think like curiosity is really important and, um, you, you should have it.

Uh, and it’s okay to fail. Like, I fail so many times. It’s totally okay. Like, you’ll be fine. Um, if you, whether that’s like, I don’t wanna say a class because ideally you don’t fail a class, but if there are instances where you get setbacks. That’s okay. Like if you struggle with stuff, that’s okay. Um, ’cause everyone struggles.

And honestly, I don’t think you can properly learn if you don’t struggle, if that makes sense. Like if you don’t think like, uh, to an extent, right? Everything has an extent. But if a class isn’t confusing to you, you’re not learning. Um. That’s what, like I’ve gotten the general vibe to be, and then being consistent, developing strong support networks, and also keeping an open mind about careers.

So STEM evolves, especially the technology so, so fast. Um, I mean, I’m sure you guys are all familiar with GBT, but um, AI especially evolves very, very fast and the way that it impacts. Every other part of the, I guess the st the SEM of stem, uh, is also very fast. So careers evolve and it could become something that you are no longer interested in after you get into college or you might be interested in something else, like, that’s totally fine.

So as long as you keep an open mind, um, I think that’s all that like I would ever recommend. Oh, cool. Okay. That’s all I have for you guys today. And Lonnie will take it over from here. Or I guess I’ll answer questions for,

Lonnie: yeah. Thank you. Thank you Rachel. Uh, great, great job sharing this information with our audience.

So, for our audience, we are now gonna move into our live question answers, so this is your opportunity to ask anything that maybe you wanna clarify that ratio may have shared, or just overall just general questions that you have about the STEM field and applying to it for college. So I will read the first question that we have.

Um, first question says, what are elective courses?

Rachel: Okay, that’s a good question. So, elective courses are typically referred to classes that are not required by your major. So, um, you might like. Go on a catalog and you might see like a map of what classes that are required. And then just cross compare with something that isn’t required.

So you might take like, I don’t know, like say your first semester, like calculus, chemistry, biology, and then you have a place to take another class that’s not required. So you might wanna take like. I don’t know, like underwater basket weaving or like, um, water polo or like how to build like a breadboard, like something that you find interesting.

So when I say reflective courses, I just mean classes that aren’t required. And I do encourage you taking them to figure out like if there’s something else out there that you enjoy or, um, maybe like you can add another major or just for fun.

Lonnie: So, good question. Great. Um, so someone asked, um, let me see.

Someone asked, can you, are you able to major in engineering and statistics at the same time? Uh,

Rachel: yeah, I would say you can, um, I’d say, or I guess it’s just better say for MIT yes, for other schools, most likely, but I would say you have to make sure you can take all the classes together. Um, sometimes there are classes that have overlap, so that’s pretty helpful for you.

You double check with your, like, counselor with the office, um, whether or not like certain classes can, but if you enjoy both majors, I would say you can. Maybe you have less time to take like. Fun classes, um, or like explore other things. But yeah, I would say it’s possible. Yeah.

Lonnie: Great, great. Okay, next question is, what is the best way to get an internship and what advice can you provide around receiving or getting internships or applying for internships?

Rachel: Yeah, that’s a great question. So I guess like, maybe the first part I would say is, um, you should do a lot of research into internships. So internships or probably in high school I would think of as like summer opportunities more so. Um, I think like I. The standard companies that you might see like around, you can’t really like, maybe work for at your age, but, um, local, like research opportunities such as at a local university or even ones that are like STEM programs for high school students.

So ones that I know off the bat are like RSI, research, science Institute, SSP, um, HSSP. These are all acronyms, but they’re all like summer science program related stuff, which is. Um, typically camps for any students nationwide, and you apply on their website, write some essays, and you submit it to them. Um, so the best way to.

Like, I guess like to get an internship, I’d say like work, oh, I’m sorry. There’s a train, um, to work on your extracurriculars, to work on your essays and to make sure that you have demonstrated interest in whatever that internship is asking for. So if you, like, if it’s a science in or if it’s a biomedical internship, um, maybe you’ve taken biology classes that you really enjoy or maybe youth, um, shadow the doctor or volunteered at a hospital, um, maybe for like chemistry that you really enjoy, like.

Organic chemistry and you learn that on the side. Um, anything like that I would say like, would help with your, I guess chances, if that’s what you’re asking. Um, so yeah, hopefully that’s helpful.

Lonnie: Yeah, it is. Um, what is a recommendation letter? A rec letter?

Rachel: Yeah, so a rec letter is just a statement from your, um, teacher typically, or a mentor that can speak about your accomplishments and about your ability in school.

Um, typically you wanted to showcase that you are, like what you say you are, um, from the teacher and also that you, you know, like are. A good student, like you’re observant, like you demonstrate like a teamwork, like the teacher would recommend you on their behalf to go to the school. So, um, it’s usually someone that you know pretty well, but I know sometimes it’s hard to like get to know teachers ’cause they have like so many students.

But, um, for that case, I would just say a teacher that can write a lot of positive things to you and to your, about you and about your journey so far in, I guess, college or in high school. So, good question.

Lonnie: Um, so let’s see. Next question is, oh, what is a CS program? That’s,

Rachel: so CS stands for computer science, um, I guess like a computer science program.

Uh, like you take computer science related courses, like ones Okay. I guess like for me, take in like algorithms, data structures, um. Like, a lot of the things are titled, like programming or like advanced algorithms, um, distributed algorithms, um, software construction. These are all not very useful, but as titles.

But, um, these are all like the, the titles of classes that you might take. Um, performance design, um, a lot of stuff in computer science. Or Yes, which path. But a sense, a lot of classes in my computer science programs tend to focus on optimization. So how to make your computer run faster, how to make your computer be more accurate in its calculations.

How do you get to look up information like more efficiently, like, um, that’s a lot of the bulk of like my CS classes, different, uh, schools have different programs or different schools that have CS programs might tailor problems differently, but that’s just from my experience, so that’s helpful.

Lonnie: Yes. Yes.

Um, it’s almost like you were speaking a, a different kind of like language. I was like, oh wow, it’s really cool. Like, here are the titles of the classes that are part of the computer science programs. Um, so let’s see, next question. What, what are, do you know of any like, good summer programs for students who are interested in engineering?

Rachel: Um, yeah. Well, yeah. I think for engineering specifically, it’s a little, hmm. With science too. Like if, if science will do, um, there’s like SSP, which is summer science program. Um, as I mentioned earlier, there’s RSI where there’s research Science institute, but you can do that in any lab on I think MIT campus or Harvard campus, um, that you’re interested in.

Um, I think a lot of the STEM programs tend to. Tailored towards like STEM in general, or like science in general, which I think engineering is a subcategory, but engineering specifically, I guess I would need to know like some more details on like, like civil, like chemical, industrial, biochemical. And things like that.

So, um, yes, maybe I can like type out a list somewhere if that’s helpful. So, um, I would say like a quick search. Um, I can also continue yapping about all the different titles, but it’s probably not helpful unless you like, go on that website and start reading about like what they like teach you in that program.

So, um, those are some examples. That’s

Lonnie: helpful. Okay. Uh, let’s see. Any advice on how to spend your summer after your sophomore year going into your junior year to help you, your chances of getting into a top STEM program?

Rachel: That’s a good question. So after sophomore year? After sophomore year, okay. Um, I would say, so if you’re current, like this is like who you are.

Like right now, as of like April, um. There a lot of programs have closed, I do think, unfortunately. But, um, something that I would recommend is to do like a research personal project, um, free online classes or, um, something like nearby in a local area that you could participate in or be like a. Like a mentor for a program, for class, um, teach a program, teach a class like bootcamp for any sort of skill that you like to talk about or like that you are interested in, um, that you can speak about.

Um, I think when I was a, well, I guess I can’t remember. I think at that time I was still very musically or like, or I was really musically intense. So I did like a bunch of piano camps, maybe nice piano camps. I think so it doesn’t have to be like super STEM based. I think the more important part is like for the year after sophomore year, that you are challenging yourself and exploring something that you like.

So the overall theme here is like, do what you like and do it as best as you can. Um, so yes, it, I’d say like those are some things that I would encourage you to.

Lonnie: Absolutely. Absolutely. Okay, everyone, we’re gonna continue to, uh, take your questions, so feel free to place them in the q and a tab. I just wanna take a moment to share more about the work that we do here within CollegeAdvisor as we are exploring the.

STEM major. Uh, so for those in the room who aren’t already working with us, we know how overwhelming the admission process can be, especially for students who are applying to STEM majors. Um, those are very much so competitive. Um, programs that definitely require strategy and. Attention to when it comes to applying.

And so our team of here at CollegeAdvisor, our team of over 300 former admission officers and admission experts are ready to help you and your family navigate the college admission process through one-on-one advising sessions. After analyzing our data for the 2021-2024 year. We found that our CollegeAdvisor students are over two times more likely to get into colleges such as Harvard, Stanford, and Princeton.

Increase your odds and take the next step in your college admission journey by signing up for a 60 minute strategy session with an admission specialist on our team by using the QR code on the screen. During this meeting, you’ll be able to get a assessment of your academic profile, along with some initial recommendations on what you can do to stand out as someone who is interested in applying to a STEM specific major At the end, you’ll also learn more about CollegeAdvisors premium one-on-one packages that can complete.

That pair you with an expert like Rachel who can support you in building college lists, editing your essays, and much, much more. So with that, everyone, we’re gonna continue with our questions and answers, and thank you all so much for your engagement. These questions are. Very much so. I know they’re like personal questions that you have, but they’re also applicable to other students who may not have asked it, but it’s very, very much so relatable.

Okay, so our next question says, for schools that do not require prospective students to declare a major, do you recommend expressing a major interest in the application or is it better not to?

Rachel: Hmm, that’s a great question. I actually don’t know which schools don’t require, uh, let me think. ’cause I think I remember when I was doing common up and you have your colleges like common up itself I think asks, oh, am I right?

Oh, it’s been so long. And so may have asked for a major, but I would say, um, in general, I think like. It’s good to express interest in an academic subject if it answers one of the essay questions and you feel strongly about it. I dunno, that’s totally like a roundabout answer, but, um, I think like, you don’t have to say like, oh, like I wanna major in this blah, blah, blah, like as your six 50 word, like essay, like your main essay or anything like that.

But there might be an essay that will ask like, oh, like. What’s something that brings you joy? And if like, I don’t know, like, like computer science brings you joy. You can talk about computer science, right? It brings you like more joy than the average person might feel towards computer science. Like, that’s totally fine.

Um, I think like as long it’s something that you resonate really hard about, um, or really well with. Um, it’s good to include, you don’t have to necessarily name a place. I do think some colleges or maybe like most colleges will ask like, why do you wanna go here? Or like, why do you wanna. Study this major or be at this department, then I would say like, you should talk about it, right?

Um, like in your, why you wanna go here, there could be a major that you like, have dreamt about forever and only this school offers it, or this school offers it in this like elaborately like well designed way and that really fits with your like, perspective and what you wanna study. Then I would say like, talk about it.

So, uh, probably case on case basis, um. Yeah, I think like ideally, like whatever you study, you’re probably gearing towards like a specific thing to take on in college. So, um, as long as like you feel like it resonates with who you are as a person and it’s a part of your story, like that subject, then I would say for sure talk about it.

Yeah.

Lonnie: Yeah, abs. Absolutely. Um, yeah, there, there are, you know, a very small group of colleges that don’t require you to choose your major. Um, you know, when you’re applying. However, just like what Rachel said, like if that institution is not require you to select a major, it is still great to just show your academic curiosity and your interest in a specific area of.

Study. Um, and that can definitely come alive either in your common app essay or just like Rachel said, the opportunity to a answer it in a supplemental question if they are directly asking. So, um, I love that question. Uh, so next question is if my school has read this one really quickly. Okay, so if my school has an AP bio class that I could take, but they also have computer programming, which would be best for someone who’s interested in engineering,

Rachel: um, I.

I don’t wanna like, give you, give you an answer and then you go take it and you’re like, oh, like I don’t actually like this. Like it’s all her fault. Like, blah. Hopefully. Hopefully that’s not what you think, but, um, I think like eng engineering computer programming sounds like it aligns a bit more with some of the tasks you might be doing in engineering.

Um. I think AP Bio is also like a good class as well. Can’t really, I I would wanna know, um, what the syllabus looks like for a computer programming class. Like is that teaching, is that like bare bones basic that you could learn by yourself or is it teaching you like more advanced stuff that is applicable?

Um, I would say engineers do know computer programs, so. If you take computer programming, it is a skill that you will use in engineering, but I cannot say that like AP bio is not a skill you would use in engineering. So, um, I. I would say like both are probably fine. If there’s a specific like field in engineering that you really like, then um, I would say like computer pro or like if there’s a specific field that you like and it is biology related, then maybe biology.

But if it’s like very general, it sounds like computer programming, um, would be better. The only thing I would say is like, make sure it’s like a good class. Like if it’s like not a lot of people take it or it has like bad reviews or like people don’t recommend it or it’s like. I don’t know, like in some way, not very fun or not very good, um, or not a recommended class then not right?

So probably use your best judgment. Talk to your counselor, see what your friends say, and yeah, hopefully that helps answer.

Lonnie: Yeah. Yeah, it does. It does. Um, are you familiar with the acronym ISEF? Oh, yes. Yes. So if someone asks, like, how does that work?

Rachel: Yes. So I think the, probably the best point you can do is, um, there’s like, if you Google it, there’s like some.

Things that will teach you, um, how the process is. But for me personally, so I worked with my like teacher, my science teacher, and we, um, came up with like, we, like I partnered with a friend and we came up with an idea that we wanted to do research at. So you do a bunch of like reading, like literature review, um, and.

You figure out if there’s a subject that you really wanna do, like a deeper dive in, and you build it out for the, I think like fall semester usually. And then you submit a poster board to um, the regional version, and then they evaluate and choose the top contenders in each region. And then after they choose the top competitors, I think you go to a state level where you talk about the research that you’ve done and they choose top competitors at state, and then you compete nationally and then you compete.

Internationally, and it’s based on like self-led research or self-led slash maybe a professor helps or a teacher helps. Um, but it’s definitely very self-led. Um, it’s actually interesting or, or the last winner of the whole like international competition, um, is actually here. MIT from 2024. You can find ’em on YouTube.

Um. So, yes, I would recommend, and, um, if your school participates in the program, if they don’t, and you are really interested, I think you should advocate for it to your counselors or to your teachers. Um, I think in my high school, there were stuff that I didn’t, I wanted to do, but I couldn’t do it, so we just got like friends or they, it wasn’t offered, so it got some friends that also wanted to do it, talked to them, and got it worked out.

So, um, make sure like as long as it’s, it’s like student led and something you really wanna do, um, and you chase after it, I think like. That would be like the most helpful. So that’s kind of a timeline of what it is. Um, I would say like refer to the website for more information.

Lonnie: Yeah. Okay. Awesome. Okay, Rachel, so that is actually bringing us to the conclusion of our webinar.

This was awesome. I loved hearing about this topic. This was great, and our audience asked some amazing questions. So is there any, just any final advice you wanna give to our audience before we close out our webinar?

Rachel: Um, I’d say like, don’t be scared, don’t be nervous. Um, try to explore as much as you can about, um, which major in STEM that you’re really interested in, um, overarching, like, make sure you show, drive initiative and take like difficult classes to just figure it out.

’cause all of it is like figuring it out. And if you don’t know, that’s also okay. Um, my major change like. Two times going through college. Um, so it’s like totally okay if you apply with one. And it’s different when you start and it’s also different when you are in the middle of it. So don’t be intimidated and do your best of course.

So,

Lonnie: yeah. That’s beautiful. That is beautiful. Um, so everyone, thank you all for your participation. Reminder that you can download the handouts tab, um, by click or the handout, sorry, by clicking on the handouts tab. And this webinar will be available on our website in the next day or so. We look forward to seeing an upcoming webinar or.

A strategy free strategy session, which if you did not catch the QR code, there’ll be another popup screen that will appear immediately once you exit out of the webinar. So thank you Rachel again. Thank you everyone. Have a great night. Bye-bye. Yes, bye.