Question for the parents of STEM kids

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Harvard and Yale are generally not where top STEM students go. But to your point, every admissions officer can tell what a student is likely to major in. Someone that has won poetry prizes and does theater is not likely to choose engineering. Someone that is president of the math club and has won science awards is not likely to be a gender studies major. And so on and so forth.

Selective schools have decades of data. They generally know what they are doing as they put together a broad and varied class. There really aren't a lot of humanities students trying to sneak into engineering or business.

Not always true. We know a kid who had his picking between Princeton, Stanford, Yale and Harvard and it came down to the later two.

I mean, of course it's not true. Harvard was the original silicon valley school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, this is a well-known strategy among private school kids, especially those using independent college counselors.

I have two STEM major kids and we are Asian Americans and I knew it was going to be an uphill battle, but I could not get them to do any extracurriculars that are related to a humanities major when their interests and strengths were entirely in STEM.

I also think that teaching kids to fake an interest in some subject that is not the kid's actual interest is not really something to be encouraged.

In the end, my kids did not get into HYPSM, but they did get into several T20 schools and I think they'll do fine.

It’s not as easy as that, even with independent college advisors. The kids who are that pliable aren’t that passionate, and it will show. But if you are a bonafide smart humanities kid, especially a boy, I think the college admissions world is your oyster right now!

Most elite humanities kids are bonafide smart.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If some people believe that it is more difficult as a so-called "STEM" major to get into schools like Harvard, Yale, Princeton, etc.--schools that do not admit based on major and do not require students to declare a major until after sophomore year--why not just apply as an easy humanities major? I am assuming that like most applicants to these schools, the Verbal and Math sections of the SAT are both stellar. I am also assuming that the APs in high school were both STEM and Humanities.

So, why torture yourself?

No torture or subterfuge necessary for my HYPSM DC.

[Anonymous]

DS is an Asian-American and loves his engineering classes. However, he also leans heavily into writing, music and sports. Had done journalism, won writing/music awards.

We had a college advisor who pushed for him to declare a humanities major. Even with his profile, the STEM was flowing outward. There really isn't a way to hide when he was interviewed.

So unless it was curated much early on by a college counselor with a kid willing to deceive, I would assume the narrative would not match. Plus there is the idea of loving the schools that love you back!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Harvard and Yale are generally not where top STEM students go. But to your point, every admissions officer can tell what a student is likely to major in. Someone that has won poetry prizes and does theater is not likely to choose engineering. Someone that is president of the math club and has won science awards is not likely to be a gender studies major. And so on and so forth.

Selective schools have decades of data. They generally know what they are doing as they put together a broad and varied class. There really aren't a lot of humanities students trying to sneak into engineering or business.

Not always true. We know a kid who had his picking between Princeton, Stanford, Yale and Harvard and it came down to the later two.

I mean, of course it's not true. Harvard was the original silicon valley school.

They actually ended committing to Yale.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If some people believe that it is more difficult as a so-called "STEM" major to get into schools like Harvard, Yale, Princeton, etc.--schools that do not admit based on major and do not require students to declare a major until after sophomore year--why not just apply as an easy humanities major? I am assuming that like most applicants to these schools, the Verbal and Math sections of the SAT are both stellar. I am also assuming that the APs in high school were both STEM and Humanities.

So, why torture yourself?

Top STEM schools will sniff that out easily. They do this stuff for a living.

[Anonymous]

It is a long and comprehensive thing, involving clubs, competitions, essay brainstorm, etc. I am afraid my kid may fall into love with humanities and forget the ultimate goal. I don't take this risk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If some people believe that it is more difficult as a so-called "STEM" major to get into schools like Harvard, Yale, Princeton, etc.--schools that do not admit based on major and do not require students to declare a major until after sophomore year--why not just apply as an easy humanities major? I am assuming that like most applicants to these schools, the Verbal and Math sections of the SAT are both stellar. I am also assuming that the APs in high school were both STEM and Humanities.

So, why torture yourself?

What torture? Sounds pretty unethical. If a school doesnt want my kid , "as is", we move on i.e. UVA WL.

Oof, no thanks, to precipitous of a drop.

[Anonymous]

It’s AI or unemployment for kids entering college next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is a long and comprehensive thing, involving clubs, competitions, essay brainstorm, etc. I am afraid my kid may fall into love with humanities and forget the ultimate goal. I don't take this risk.

What's the ultimate goal?

Suppress one's humanity in service of a high-paying job?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is a long and comprehensive thing, involving clubs, competitions, essay brainstorm, etc. I am afraid my kid may fall into love with humanities and forget the ultimate goal. I don't take this risk.

What's the ultimate goal?

Suppress one's humanity in service of a high-paying job?

[Anonymous]

It’s harder as they limit the number of students to each program to make it more selective for better ratings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If some people believe that it is more difficult as a so-called "STEM" major to get into schools like Harvard, Yale, Princeton, etc.--schools that do not admit based on major and do not require students to declare a major until after sophomore year--why not just apply as an easy humanities major? I am assuming that like most applicants to these schools, the Verbal and Math sections of the SAT are both stellar. I am also assuming that the APs in high school were both STEM and Humanities.

So, why torture yourself?

Because STEM kids often want to do a lot of stem things in high school. Plus, the system works for the vast majority: true top unhooked stem kids can get into at least ONE ivy/T15 stem private (Stanford, MIT, JHU CMU Rice Northwestern Duke Chicago...)or at least one of UCB /GT /Michigan OOS. It really is not that hard for the true top ones. Most get into more than one among this vast group.

I don't know if this is true. I know of a truly amazing top unhooked STEM kid at my kid's school who was going for chemical engineering. He was deferred and then rejected from Penn. Was waitlisted at Harvard, Cornell, UMich, GT, UCB and rejected from the other schools you listed. He is attending Univ. of Washington (in Seattle). He was not one-dimensional either - he was concermaster of the orchestra and also played Bass in a popular school band and was part of a group that won a STEM competition.

An anecdote to counter yours. My STEM kid was admitted to MIT, Harvard, Rice, GT, Michigan and many others. Was also offered a full ride at one school and lots of merit at Rice, etc. so what might have been the difference? I noticed you said your kid’s classmate was part of a group that won a STEM competition. Mine placed in a few competitions INDIVIDUALLY. Had other interests like music etc as well but a clear interest in STEM and kicked b*tt in their field.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If some people believe that it is more difficult as a so-called "STEM" major to get into schools like Harvard, Yale, Princeton, etc.--schools that do not admit based on major and do not require students to declare a major until after sophomore year--why not just apply as an easy humanities major? I am assuming that like most applicants to these schools, the Verbal and Math sections of the SAT are both stellar. I am also assuming that the APs in high school were both STEM and Humanities.

So, why torture yourself?

Because STEM kids often want to do a lot of stem things in high school. Plus, the system works for the vast majority: true top unhooked stem kids can get into at least ONE ivy/T15 stem private (Stanford, MIT, JHU CMU Rice Northwestern Duke Chicago...)or at least one of UCB /GT /Michigan OOS. It really is not that hard for the true top ones. Most get into more than one among this vast group.

I don't know if this is true. I know of a truly amazing top unhooked STEM kid at my kid's school who was going for chemical engineering. He was deferred and then rejected from Penn. Was waitlisted at Harvard, Cornell, UMich, GT, UCB and rejected from the other schools you listed. He is attending Univ. of Washington (in Seattle). He was not one-dimensional either - he was concermaster of the orchestra and also played Bass in a popular school band and was part of a group that won a STEM competition.

An anecdote to counter yours. My STEM kid was admitted to MIT, Harvard, Rice, GT, Michigan and many others. Was also offered a full ride at one school and lots of merit at Rice, etc. so what might have been the difference? I noticed you said your kid’s classmate was part of a group that won a STEM competition. Mine placed in a few competitions INDIVIDUALLY. Had other interests like music etc as well but a clear interest in STEM and kicked b*tt in their field.

Congrats to you for finally finding a thread where you could brag about this.

[Anonymous]

Immigrant parents go bananas if, for one day, their DCs are not doing math, engineering, or physics related. Not gonna happen.