Passion Project Examples
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If you’re interested in creating a Board Game, I found this course that might excite you!
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Engineering + Clothing Designs
If you’re going into engineering, this is a great type of concept to show that you can think about basic things in surprising ways!
If you’re going into STEM, I think it can really help to get some ‘balance’ in your resume by having something a bit more creative. There are several examples of this kind of creativity on this page. This one is very science-y, and also artistic! And it’s a contest, which is useful in other ways.
A 12-Year-Old Boy Spent Four Years Building a Nuclear Fusion Device at Home
Your Passion Project can be something that the world has seen before. But, if so, you’ll want to take that project to a very high extreme of completeness. It can’t just be an idea you had, sort of. It should be something you spend four years building, and it’s really functional, like this.
This could be a great way to show your interest in Engineering, Product Design, Art, or other majors!
Turning American Classic Snacks Asian
This guyhas createdmany of these. This is such an amazing idea. It takes effort, experimentation, iteration, creativity. And it shows a commitment to a higher goal, even when you’re just having a little fun.
This is an amazing project for fun! Especially if you’re interested in Engineering, but also for any other major. You’ll have to face a lot of challenges, including aspect ratios, materials, printing errors, and raw mechanics. You’ll have to learn tons of new things! This is a great one.
Mapping 1.5 Million Previously Unknown Space Objects (High Schooler)
This kid joined the Planet Finder Academy and made the absolute most of it! “Drawing on his background in theoretical math, coding and time series analysis, he built an automated algorithm to process the archive.” This is a great usage or math and coding skills! For coding, you really want to do something other than just make a little phone game or a simple app that is just a copy of something else that already exists. You want to think bigger.
From the Book How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell
One person in this book is creating a map of Oakland, but it’s the Long Lost Oakland, the Oakland of yesteryear that tells stories of native tribes and forests and rivers that used to exist. Here’s what the book says about it:
And yet his dedication came from something more than despair: I have chosen to illustrate this map not as a horrific depiction of the catastrophes that define our common history, but as a reflection of the resilience and magic I see in the city around me. It is a reminder that no matter how bad things get, they are always changing. I want Long Lost Oakland to ground the viewer in the place where they stand and to spark the imagination of those who will struggle for a different kind of future.
Even when you’re working with something tragic, you can tell a story of hope.
Learn to Read Hangeul in Two Minutes
This was really fun and effective! There are just so many things you can do for your Passion Project. Even teaching language can be made exciting enough to pull its weight on a college resume.
How to Start an Ecommerce Company With a Small Budget
If you want to apply into undergraduate business schools, this is what you should be doing. This is your competition. Take it seriously.
Visualizations of Things Like Happiness
Muir created a bed that tipped him out each morning (as an alarm clock, basically), a lamp that turned on as well, and a desk that dropped books into place, held them open for a specified time, and then put them away again (so he could study his subjects for set times each day).
If you’re interested in locks, this is pretty cool!
It slingshots a Monster energy drink into this guy’s hand, then flexes his bicep to force the drink to his mouth. It’s silly, but it still took grit and several failures to produce!
Spectacularly Tiny Worlds in Winning Videos
Teaching an Octopus to Play Piano
The Details of Making Super Spy Clothing
In this video, he’s talking about pockets. He has a whole series on this idea.
A Quest to Make Wood Flavored Bread
This guy has several videos attempting different flavors. The Passion Project is all about showing skill and personal passion.
You honestly can’t be anything other than a Nerd if this is your big hobby, and colleges love Nerds! Also, this girl has done a ton of other cool stuff, too. If this were your resume, you’d get into Harvard, too!
This guy made and fermented gochujang for over a year. Something this “simple” can still be a great passion project. The time commitment is a big piece of the puzzle. He went back to it over the months, edited it, commented on the changes. If he had made this in one day, it wouldn’t work. But the long-term commitment is great.
Cost here is nearly free. This is just a time commitment. Your first ones don’t have to look so amazing. You might start out mediocre, but with time, you’ll improve. Improvement over time (and commitment over time) are two key things colleges are looking for in your activities.
Someone who’s Great with Comic Book Lettering
Notice the opinions that this guy has all the time. He has several videos online, and he always has clear preferences, best practices, and other opinions. Opinions really show that you’ve gotten deep enough into a thing to know something and believe something about that thing. Something that, ideally, not everyone else also thinks/believes.
Students who Found “Impossible” Proof for a 2,000-Year-Old Math Rule
Several othervideos from this creator. If you’re interested in engineering, I really think you should be building at least one purely fun/goofy project like this. Notice that it still requires tons of skill, programming, building, planning, teamwork, etc. But, it’s just for fun. Colleges like to see that. Also, check out the second video for something really impressive and artistic/fun!
Six prototypes. MRI brain flowers for the pattern (her actual brain). Zoomed-in apple skin cells for the yellow background. A really impressive combination of art and science. You could do something a fifth as complicated, and it would still be amazing.
Creating Your Own Tiny Chemistry Lab
Handless Handle for Kitchen Cabinets
I’ll let you discover the story from the short video. This teen conducted a massive experiment and wrote a book about her results. This would be a very powerful thing to add to your college resume.
Kid Built a Digital Computer Inside the Game Terraria
Elle Cordova Poetry
Unexpected Instruments like this or this.
This guy is a jeweler, and this particular video had such an interesting line. “It’s funny how brutal the process is…yet my work has to be invisible…no proof I was ever here.” That is exactly the kind of thing colleges are looking for. That kind of cool insight into whatever it is you’re into.
This guy is really dedicated to soccer balls. He has a whole channel making them. This is another one, and it’s very rooted in math and curiosity.
This video shows how his random and seemingly useless skill became useful in select ways. There are other videos like this.
Getting Your Local Playground Adjusted to Accommodate Younger Kids
This girl was 11 years old when she submitted this plan to help accommodate her younger sister.
Cracking a 100-Year-Old Math Problem for Aerodynamics
Viossa - a Living Language / New Conlang
This may seem crazy, but you could very well do something like this. It would take guts, and you’d be talking to a lot of people online (so be safe). But, it’s doable. You could also just create this within your own high school, or inside of just the high schools in your county, or just within your church youth group. Possibilities abound. This would help you show creativity, genuine innovation, collaboration, dedication, and being a part of a unique community.
Strandbeest - Wind Sculpture Creatures
Digital Art “Brushes” that Paint Books on Bookshelves
Macro Photography of Slime Molds
Maya Lin: Designer of the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial
Maya Lin designed the Memorial when she was in college. Her professor thought it was too boring and simplistic, and gave her a B on the project. And yet, she won the contest and her work stands in DC today. Don’t let a grade define you.
16 year old kid did this one!
Chandelier that Casts a Forest of Shadows on Your Walls
In case you want to make art but don’t like painting!
Detailed Paper Art and more Paper Sculptures and even more Paper Art Potential
Sculptures with Grown Crystals
Interesting Painting Techniques
You could scroll through the icons of her videos, or click through a few videos to see more of her process.
Big Collection of Funny Comics
Scientists Are Training AI Robots to Write Graffiti
Really Cool Portfolio of Bjorn Karmann
Lots of exciting things in this one. Check out each project. Obviously this guy is an adult, but YOU could have totally done the Occlusion Grotesque one. So, don’t think these aren’t approachable. This is also a great resource for thinking about what your final portfolio website for college should look like!
Cool Puppets from Scrap Materials
3D Printing Plants That Do Things including this crazy Bamboo Plant
3D Printed Desktop Skeeball or Basketball
It really can just be as simple as this.
On the other hand…it can be crazy complicated like this.
This woman is talking about how financially lucrative it can be to find a niche and run with it. If you’re thinking of going into business, economics, or entrepreneurship, you should consider how you can make a business out of something that starts out small like these butter guys! But even if you don’t sell it, making different kinds of butter like this could be a great passion project.
Something like this is totally doable for a teen in high school. Yes, it already exists. But there are tons of ways you could make it your own!
You could have a lot of fun with AI and architecture. It’s not great at it yet; it still looks a bit abnormal and wonky. But, if you’re interested in architecture, it’s a great way to get crazy inspiration for something completely new!
Textile Sculptures of the Ocean Floor
Boxing Glove Sculptures from Textiles
Some art is just pretty to look at. Other art has a message. If you want to make art, start paying attention to the messages people have for their art. If you can put forth a powerful message with your art, it will bode well for your college strategy.
3D Printed Chess Pieces and a Mushroom Chessboard
Like chess? Consider making something innovative like these!
It would be really difficult to create a language in under 3 years of consistent and heavy effort. But, if you want to go for something like this, go for it!
Just Passion, Not Projects
This woman finds 19th century schoolbooks and talks about them with enough detail and interest that it’s worth reading. You could mimic some of her points or style in any college essay.
This guy talks about linguistics, and has favorite words in various languages, like this word in ASL. You could mimic that passion and the uniqueness of having such a nuanced favorite in your own essay.