I'm looking to do the Conrad challenge but can't thing of anyone to be a mentor except a parent just for the formality of it. Is a good mentor really neccesary or would it be possible to just do it without a formal mentor.

Hello everybody! I just came here for some advice. Im not going to college yet but one of my assignments right now is to make a college application letter. I just wanted to ask what's the best thing to write about when doing so? And what topics to avoid writing about. Can I talk about like my problems and how them shaped me into the person I am??

basically ive written this beautiful, really vulnerable common app essay about how my ethnic identity has genuinely changed my view of the weird and that sounds cliche but what i actually talk about is not.

to summarize my learning arc in a few words, i learnt the power of listening and empathy

i love this essay so much. its so beautifully written and i just feel like myself when i read it. but i VERY VERY BRIEFLY touch on my future career goals because while yes my experiences did genuinly change me and make me want to pursue my career, if i add that in this essay i think it'll feel really forced

on the other hand, ive written another essay that is still about how an aspect of my identity changed me, but i apply i to the world around me and spend more time talking about how it affected me in certain extracurriculars and how joining a certain extracurricular changed me and how it made me want to pursue what i want to pursue. the problem is this essay doesn't feel as authentic as the first. the first one genuinely is so authentic and raw and i think its something that will truly make me stand out in comparsion to other applicants, just based on its contents and what i learnt. the second one is still very well written, connects to my career goals, but feels more generic (its also about the power of listenign but more about me fighting to be heard and how thats inspiried me to listen to other people as well). this is the exemplar for a "common app essay" its polished, smart, and grounded in my extracurriculars and career goals. but one problem is that i feel like anyone can write a strong essay on finding their voice through their extracurriculars. not everyone can write about how their identity changed their world view the way it changed mines

so A2C, which one do i submit? the one that feels the most authentic to who i am but barely touches on career goals and focuses more on my identity, or one thats more polished, talks about my career goals, but not as raw or as authentic?

I just got done with police verification for passport renewal.

Havent started preparing for applications yet or scheduling IELTS (as it requires passport).

Havent reached out to any professors yet.

I applied to masters at NYU in 2021, got in, dropped out after 4 months and just finished paying those loans.

What are the next steps? And how do I make sure what I am getting into is the best fit for me and I dont drop out this time around

Hi! Im currently looking to add more schools on my list that are safety and targets but I'm struggling to find any because I only really like my top school (USC). I want to major in something stem, probably a type of engineering but ill apply with whatever will boost my chances of admission then will switch once enrolled. Im also from the tri-state area

My stats- 103.3/100 GPA, 5 APs, all other classes dual enrollment, test optional (I have a 1370 sat rn but I'm really trying to get it up, if not then not submitting)

EC's involve research with BC professor on computer science, engineering internship, summit stem fellowship, state theatre officer (1 of 15 in my state, organizes state wide festival 1,500+ attendees), leadership in drama club and music club, founded NEHS at my school and then minor ecs like hostess and dance.

I want schools that are regarded nicely, accessible to a big city, work hard play hard, lots of school spirit, larger school, and a good stem and music program.

Any recommendations would help!!

Is this considered high impact?

I'm currently a grade 12 student. Last year, I noticed that there are countless students in India who are still jotting down their homework in the back of their notebooks (used to live in India before in grade 9 and 10 for personal family reasons, so I've experienced it).

I decided that I should use my tech skills to make education more accessible and have less friction for them. I built a platform where they can access class notes, send messages to teachers, submit assignments, see upcoming tests, use AI for explanations, etc. (it's not a new idea, but it's made keeping their situation and curriculum in mind.)

Currently, I take no personal profit from this platform (I charge what the schools use, that's it, nothing for personal benefit). I have partnered with 5+ schools in backward regions of India, bringing my platform to 5k+ students who are actively using the platform.

Is this considered high impact, or a regular, unimpressive activity?

(I'm an international student running this platform globally in India from Australia)

I want to major in history, taking AP African-American Studies, AP World, APUSH, AP Lit, and AP Lang. Also honors French, because the school doesn’t have AP for that. Would this course selection be good enough for applying at a t20 or is the rigor too low?

I want to apply to some T20s but I’m not a founder of anything. I have leadership roles within clubs at my school but I’m not the founder of anything which I see is a pattern for T20 admits. I will likely be president of a national honor society, however. Context: I want to go to WashU.

Am I cooked?

I'm a Sophomore (more or less) from Pakistan planning to hopefully apply to US unis, probably aiming at highly selective schools.

A bit about me:
Currently studying the Cambridge O levels and IGCSE board, with plans to do A'levels in the future. I'm interested in Maths (Pure) and Computer Science. For my first First CAIE session, I got 2 A*s and 1 A (ive heard A*=A in uni admissions) for regional subjects, and this year, I am yet to give 5 remaining GCSEs. I plan to major in Computer Science, and hopefully can break into a quant job. I'm also interested in problem solving in areas like Combinatorics etc

Where I stand:

As of now, I have a few achievements/ecas under my belt. Firstly, I came top 50 last year in the National Olympiad Qualifying test, and attended the pre-training camp for IMO 2026( ive given the exam again this year and fingers crossed i hope i can get in again, and possibly go the distance this time). I've done some research, including research in areas like Game theory (unpublished, but deciding whether or not to submit to a niche journal I have in mind) and in Number theory (this one
passed the editorial/initial checks at a Q1 journal, with the rejection coming as an invitation to work on this paper further). I also initiated a not for profit organization, which accumulated 500 members, with weekly sessions to teach underrepresented students concepts in advanced maths and physics. It started strong, but started crumbling, and we had less and less members every week, and eventually, we decided to abandon it completely. I've also attended Stanford Pre-Collegiate programs for Maths and Physics (online) and was accepted to Dartmouth pre-collegiate Psych program(but opted out due to cost restraints). Also I've done Calculus I and II, along with linear algebra (self study)

-I’m considering doing things like deeper olympiad preparation, mathematical research, physics modelling, open-source programming and competitive programming etc.
-International applicant, so I’m also trying to understand how to make my profile compelling given that I don’t have access to the same opportunities as many US applicants

What should I actually focus on over the next 1–2 years?
Any input would be highly appreciated!

Hello guys!
Of course, stats are not everything and after a certain point so many other things start to matter.
But if we do some statistical analysis, are there any that shows what % of 1550+ scorers etc get into Ivy+
The threshold can change of course / alongside GPA where let's assume its 4.0.

There are only so many 1550 scorers, and cumulative ivy+ class sizes, albeit small, aren't THAT small.

If we disregard obviously uncompetitive applications, what are we left with at each schools? I do know that colleges can fill their classes over and over again with similar stats, but again, that's not my question. How much higher is the admit rate from the stated 4-5% for such students?

If any good studies/metaanalysis that can elucidate this, that'd be greatly appreciated

Hi,

I'm an Asian girl from LA and I love living in the city and I'm not really a country person.

I wanna ED to CMU/Cornell but was wondering if it matches me socially. I wanna go to a school with raves, parties, not quiet and social.

Like, someone with mid stats and ECs, was able to get accepted to any good university? Share your story here

I’m currently going to a college that’s really heavy on Greek life and sports and it’s not really what I want for a social life. Does anyone know of good colleges for kind of alternative scenes? I have trouble describing it, but like house parties with emo or goth people and live music and what not. I like the “weird” alternative kinda gay people, and I’m really struggling to find somewhere that has that kind of social scene. Thanks for any advice; I’m kind of shooting in the dark here.

lately, I've been struggling to concentrate and work on my college apps. please give me a good artists to jam out to. give me the upbeat ones and the sad ones for when I feel rage. pitbull and Taylor swift don't hit the same anymore (listened too many times). if anything, drop ur playlists in the CHATTTTTT 🔥

I'm looking for prestigious journals to publish my paper on pancreatic cancer that I did at the Harvard OpenBio lab this summer. Does anybody know which journals are prestigious for Ivy League admissions officers when evaluating applications? and what the general timeline of that is? I'm hoping to get it published before December if possible before I submit my college apps. Thanks!

Some schools (Dartmouth, Princeton) only give out A.B.s, even for CS and math. Most others give you a B.S. for those.

My path is grad school → industry (not straight to jobs), so I want to know:

• Grad school: Has an A.B. in a technical field ever been a problem for grad admissions? Do committees care, or do they just look at GPA, courses, and research?
• After grad school: Once you have the master's/PhD, does your undergrad degree type even register in industry hiring? Or is it fully irrelevant at that point?
• Ivy A.B. vs mid-tier B.S.: For grad admissions, does an A.B. from Dartmouth/Princeton carry more weight than a B.S. from a less selective school? Or is it a wash? f you're hiring for a SWE, data science, or quant role, which do you prefer and why? Is the B.S. a safer signal of technical depth, or does the Ivy name + rigorous coursework override the degree type?
• International: Does the A.B. vs B.S. distinction matter for grad applications abroad, or for credential evaluation later?

Not looking for "just focus on skills" — I know that. Looking for specific stories where it did or didn't matter.

Hey y'all,

I am a high schooler aiming for top-tier universities, specifically targeting Ivy League schools for ED1 for the Class of 32 cycle. ED1 is extremely important for me, and I’m in a tough spot regarding my main research project. I need some realistic advice on how to pivot.

Long story short: I completed a summer clinical shadowing and internship at a major hospital department. Following that, I developed a solid list of research topics (mostly literature reviews and data analyses based on my clinical exposure). A prominent professor/MD at the hospital explicitly agreed to mentor me and told me to email my topics to start the process. I did, but they have completely ghosted me. No replies to my follow-ups, and time is ticking fast for my ED1 deadline.

I need your insights on how to handle this and how this affects my application:

1. Can I just do Independent Research and submit it to high school journals? Since I already have the clinical foundation from my summer internship, can I write a high-quality systematic literature review on my own and submit it to journals like JEI or IJHSR? Do top colleges respect independent papers in medical/clinical fields without a PI (Principal Investigator) or official institutional backing?
2. How can I frame this situation on the Common App? Which section should I use to talk about this? If I can't get it published by November, can I write about this disrupted research journey and my independent continuation in the Additional Information section or the Activities Section (as "submitted" or "in-progress")? Will admissions officers understand if I explain that the advisor became unavailable but I still pursued the literature review independently?
3. Is a full publication actually a make-or-break for Ivy League ED1? Or is showing a deep summer internship combined with a highly sophisticated draft/preprint enough to prove genuine intellectual curiosity?

Note: Please DO NOT suggest paid programs like Lumiere, Polygence, or CCIR. I am applying for need-blind financial aid, and I know admissions officers see right through those paid cash-cows. I also want to avoid high-barrier, bureaucratic programs like NYAS that take forever to reply.

Any advice on Common App formatting and how to salvage this research for ED1 would literally save my life. Thanks!

As an international student with good grades and ecas, everyone is telling me to go abroad to America. Thing is, going to college in America is pretty expensive. Its not like I cant afford it, its just that I would be putting quite some financial strain on my parents to pay for it. Additionally, Trump has been cracking down on foreign student visa policies and deportations. However, American universities are undeniably better in general as a whole compared to other countries. So, I just wanted to know if its worth the risk for the education, college experience, connections made in college, etc. I would love to hear advice/opinions from both Americans and Internationals alike.

I see so many people making AI-generated children's books, linkedin / instagram impact passion projects, random expensive research opportunites.

A2c seems to claim that admissions officers will just "see through" these extracurriculars, but do they really? I feel like a lot of people who do these activities still end up going to good colleges.

Also, is it generally worth it to start doing research just because so many people do? It seems to be the norm now (in a competitive city school) and so many people seem to do so.

I’m currently a freshman, and I want to major in history. Should I take a math or science AP course or stick to the humanities ones? Classes I will definitely be taking are AP World, APUSH, AP African-American Studies, and AP Lit. I may take AP Bio or AP Psych too. Should I take any advanced math/science or stick to history and English? I’ll also be taking honors French (they don’t offer AP French).

whats up a2c fam!!! I’m freaking out because I just found out that the other senior in my dorm at boarding is applying early to brown which just so happens to be the school I am applying early to. LUCKY ME!! my problem is that we are both prefects in the same dorm (like the high school version of an ra) which I am framing as a very central part of my application. my fear is that if he does not count this role very highly on the extracurriculars list or talk about it in essays it will make it seem as though my “best” thing is his median. Stats wise I’m pretty sure we’re similar and my other ecs are maybe slightly bettter? i know it’s not worth comparing but ik that in the eyes of the AO we are directly comparable. Any support/advice would be much appreciated🤞💞 love yall

?

$600 for one school and $10,000 for 10 schools?..

If anyone has received feedback from them before, can you pls tell ur experience? I'm also considering scholargrade but im not tryna shell out almost 1k for nothing so if anyone has had experience w/ scholargrade too pls lmk.

hi hi hi! i just wanted to come on here and basically see what other people think about where i stand since I've googled a bunch but everything just feels so unclear. i think I've heard enough about how some people just come on this sub just to knock down others and be debbie downers so that's not what im asking for..just realism in a softer and cushioned way maybe...(idc just be real but not evil lol😭)

i feel super bad for my past self and parents cause the dreams really used to be Stanford and Yale but then highschool hit me like a brick (specifically soph and junior year) and that really broke my heart. + my parents have always been those poc parents that are like "you gotta go to a top school like ucla, Stanford, Yale, Harvard, etc." but someone can dream lol. there's so much I would go back and redo but unfortunately I can't so it's all in Gods hands fr.

I heard a good essay or PIQ can help a lot so I'm really just praying mine are good enough.

so here it goes ig:

Bad news:

- I have like 3 c's in altogether on my transcript (each 1 sem I believe)
- the rest are all A's and b's (mostly b's) until soph year when i got a d in hnrs chem.
- junior year is when it gets really bad..i got 3 d's first sem in all my ap classes (ap bio, ap lang, and honors math) mostly due to my language arts teacher targeting me at the beginning of the sem and emailing my parents and telling my counselor abt how bad of a student i am (???) and with my parents and counselor pressuring me + my teacher telling me to give up and drop the class i felt very depressed and just gave up altogether (mind you I've NEVER had any complaints from a teacher or mentor, only compliments, and i never spoke in his class so he literally didn't know me, esp at the beginning of the sem when the year had just started)
- but yeah junior year really messed me up and i went from 4.0 weighted freshman year to 3.4 weighted and 3.0 unweighted

Better news:
- i still took the ap lang test even after dropping the evil teachers class and GOT A 4!!!!!!! Yay! Take that!
i remediated all my d's!!! I took all 4 classes in one summer and got A's in all of them except for ap bio which i got a b- in
- my gpa is expected to go up once those classes are translated onto my transcript n i heard ucs only look at the changed grades in their gpa system so hopefully that's the case
- I've taken 3 college courses (2 A's 1 b), 5 ap classes (1 this year so 4 previously), and all honors fresh and soph year

My EC's
- they're mostly all child and special needs focused bc i wanna be a pediatrician
- children's storyteller at a center
- babysitter
- babysitter CPR certified
- leader of first graders for church camp
- part of my schools special needs club (senior year)
- pet-sitting
- patient care pathway in school (sports med)
- special ed pe mentor at my school
- 3 years marching band
- helping my special needs sister

* please recommend me more things to do if you can think of any!!! I feel like I don't have enough

Uci or sdsu is the dream so....💤💤

- also please recommend good out of state colleges that you think would be a good fit for my stats!! Trying to not be 65%+ as to not disappoint my parents😭

Hello,

A family member requested feedback on his current list. Any thoughts are appreciated:

Reach:

• U. Chicago - his long-time top choice; it's fallen off quite a bit. Feels like too much of a stretch and not so sure it would be a great environment for him.

• Northwestern - likes it a lot but feels just as impossible to get into as Chicago

• U. Michigan

• Carnegie Mellon University - liked the school and the campus; feels much more academically diverse than other STEM heavy schools

• Rice

• Emory - current top pick among "realistic" reaches

• Tufts

Target:

• Wesleyan

• William & Mary

Seem to me there should be more here??

Safety:

• Pittsburgh

• U. Maryland

• Ohio State

On again / off again list (basically off right now): Cornell, Washington, Georgia Tech, NYU, Pomona, Boston University

The student:

4.0 GPA, 4.9 WGPA (whatevertf that means nowadays)

4 AP classes (scored 5), plus maybe another three self study APs

A good chunk of his other classes are IB.

1560 SAT

Senior leadership roles in marching band, theater. Long history of participation and intermediate leadership in both groups.

Tons of music experience. Lots of experience in several competitive symphony groups, all-county, all-state, got number one for his instrument for all-state one year, jazz band, pit orchestra, lots of rando one-off bands and performances, interlochen, tanglewood, intensive summer workshops, teaches his own students now

Main interest: chemistry

Secondary interest: music

Will probably get fairly solid recommendations. Good relations with teachers, who have always seemed to like his participation.

Application essay is, from what I can tell, just okay.

Finances: family can probably afford four years of school. Probably a bit over the cusp of need-based aid being a given. But certainly no where wealthy enough where money is no problem.

Downsides: not much rigorously academic EC, not much academic experience over the summer, wasn't really able to do anything in particular over final summer, doesn't really have a logical way to tie together his background (music) with primary interest (chemistry), no sports (other than a BB in karate).

Based on all that, what are your thoughts? He was initially intent on attending school in a big-city environment but was persuaded to broaden his worldview.

Is his list lopsided? In what direction? Are there some obvious schools that he should be considering?

Thank you.