My school specializes in science and engineering, but I’m actually looking into pursuing a career in medicine. I’ve taken all of the math and science APs, and received good scores, but my extracurriculars are pretty split between activities related to medicine, and activities related to engineering.
I read in one of your blogs that being too "well rounded" could actually hurt you in college admissions, so I want to know if taking all of these engineering related extracurriculars will hurt (or help) me when applying to competitive BA MD programs.
No, it doesn't sound like you're well-rounded in a way that would hurt you in the college application process. When we talk about the dangers of being too well-rounded in the blog, we're referring to students who are half committed to a bunch of random clubs and activities that aren't really important to them. Many of your extracurriculars are still centered around your field of interest, and since your school is an engineering school, it makes sense that you would also be involved in engineering-related extracurricular activities.
If anything, the engineering extracurriculars on top of those related to medicine will be a positive for you. It shows that you're also invested in academic fields adjacent to medicine. You may be a stronger medical student because of your genuine interest in engineering. The one piece of advice I would give if you're applying to highly competitive programs is to try and pull out a particularly impressive achievement in one of your extracurriculars related to medicine. This will show that you're especially focused on that career path even though you're also an engineering whiz!
1 Like