Ever wondered how top STEM students get their start?  Curious what sets them apart from the rest of the pack?

Empowerly sat down with Changxiao, our  CTO (Chief Technical Officer), to learn more about what extracurriculars in science helped him gain acceptance to Princeton. We asked all the questions you might want to know. Read our interview to understand his perspective on admissions and high school extracurricular activities!

Martha Collins, a Stanford alum, shares her Stanford admissions story. She discusses her tips for best approaching the application process and what she feels made her application stand out.

The competition for college admission has never been tougher than it is now. The National Center for Education Statistics recently estimated that approximately 20.2 million students were enrolled in college. Today, as school administrations are only beginning to announce their plans for the fall semester, those in-demand spots are suddenly uncertain.

What we do know is that college admissions’ personnel accepted these lucky students after careful consideration. The college or university board of admissions, with a weighting system unique to each school, determines the criteria for acceptance. Some criteria that are evident across the board at different colleges and universities are: good grades, well-written college essays, glowing recommendation letters, and of course, community and school extracurricular activity involvement.

At Empowerly, it has been heartbreaking to see our students' summer plans quashed, as many internships, externships, and programs alike were either canceled or attenuated. What might have been a full-blown summer internship with Cisco was now reduced to a couple of weeks of virtual programming. Summer research at Northwestern postponed. What is a student to do with their newfound time and a great deal of continued social distancing ahead? Well...

Did the COVID-19 epidemic cancel your plans for the summer? Are you left bored at home, with nothing to do? Do you have a great idea for a business, but are unsure of where to start? Or do your college apps just need a boost? 

If any of these questions apply, the National Youth Entrepreneurial Summit sounds like the perfect opportunity for you!

• In light of current events, including the murder of George Floyd and the protests for Floyd and many others, we would like to express our support for the Black Lives Matter movement. As an organization, we are in support of the movement towards equality—and in order to do our part to make change, we have several updates as follows. 

Summer is here, and with it brings a wealth of opportunity to learn, try new things, and explore your interests in greater depth. It can feel a bit overwhelming at first, trying to decide how to spend one’s time over the summer; and without direction, one can easily find themselves developing a less than savory Animal Crossing or Fortnite addiction. We at Empowerly, as graduates of some of the top universities across the nation, have been there, done that—and we are here to give you some inside knowledge as to how you can make your summer meaningful and fun. 

As students plan their summer (or rejig their plans) to accommodate for the likelihood that social isolation will continue, students interested in the medical field are probably feeling particularly stuck. The two typical extracurricular activities a premed student will do are off-limits: volunteering at the local hospital is a no-go; and research programs at colleges cancelled.

With the current state of things, finding summer activities are hard. Luckily, a lot of internships and externships have switched over to being remote, allowing students to continue to explore possible career paths without putting themselves at risk of exposure. But what are externships and what makes them different from internships?

It's a strange time - places of public gathering have emptied as people bunker down at home. There is a constant stream of advice on the social networks on how to stay busy at home that pops up on our screen between the updates of new coronavirus cases and the latest memes circulating. 

As they say, time is money; don't waste either of yours. Want better results for all your hard work? Track your progress.

Record your academic performance and standardized test scores in your Academic Profile section of the Digital Toolkit. By doing so, Empowerly's counselors, editors, and expert researchers can give you more customized feedback and recommendations!

Why is an AI education important?

If you’re interested in coding, enrolling in a programming summer program is a great way to launch your academic and career readiness in computer science (CS). Unique to computer science, any independent or project-based coding work you engage at any age counts towards your professional development and hiring prospects quite directly. Below is a list of prestigious and rigorous coding summer programs for aspiring programmers. Empowerly is here to help you plan your summer.

Summer is quickly approaching, and you're in the planning stages. As a STEM major hopeful, how should you design your summer for maximal learning and college admission impact? Should you take classes at a local community college? Volunteer at a hospital? Apply to STEM summer programs for high school students? Which ones are still accepting applications anyway? We've got you covered. Empowerly is here to help you plan your summer roadmap. 

Prestigious summer programs for high school students can boost a college application profile, and broaden student exposure to college-level academic topics. What's it like to attend competitive Stanford University Mathematics Camps, SUMaC, summer program? Hear from Empowerly's very own Hanjoon Kim as he recounts his own experience. Empowerly is here to help with your summer roadmap; easy as pi, way less complicated than the unit circle. 

You have so many choices of summer programs for high school students. Some of them are high profile and highly competitive. Others are lesser known, less competitive, but pricey. What's up with that? How do you choose what you want to do over the summer, and how do you narrow down your list of worthwhile summer programs for high school students? Empowerly's gotcha covered.