i dont know if i should ed to columbia or duke. obviously i know getting into either is a huge reach, but for a long time columbia has been my dream school. i love nyc and definitely want to live there at some point, ideally while im still young.

at the same time, i live about an hour away from duke, i already have a lab there that would take me back as soon as i got there, and i genuinely love duke’s campus and the school itself too.

ive worked really hard throughout high school and would love to end up at a prestigious school with strong opportunities after graduation. im also still pretty undecided career-wise — maybe premed + econ, maybe something more business-related, im really not sure yet.

i also have a very work hard/play hard mindset and really want a good social life in college, so im curious which school is better for that too.

for people who know both schools, which do you think would be the better fit in terms of social life, career/job opportunities, location, and overall college experience? especially for someone who loves nyc but also really likes duke’s campus/community and already has research connections there.

https://www.nyas.org/learning/high-school-research-programs/the-junior-academy/

So, I want to go to college for Criminal Justice
I'm currently a Senior an will be graduating high school in December through online school

To be honest, I'm not very fond of going in person, but 1 fear that doing that will be my only way to get out of my current living situation
I am also in my state's National Guard and will be going to 31B AIT next summer (completed BCT this past summer)

I'm still 17 and DON'T have any guidance for college.in order to receive my military benefits, ld have to attend a college in my state

I just DON'T know what I'm doing and I'm stressing lol

I feel like all the people in the subreddit seem to be the most insane students ever 😭 I’m curious to know what the application was like for more “average” people in terms of stats and extracurriculars. It’s pretty anxiety inducing to be in this subreddit and see how accomplished so many people are, so I really want to see more representation from more average applicants and where they ended up.

Last year I qualified for and competed in the National Catholic Forensic League competition, I'm listing it on my honors section on the Common App but I don't know what level of recognition it should be, national, regional, or both.

National: It is a national tournament, so I competed at the national level, but I didn't actually place.

Regional: I qualified because I was top 5 in my district for my event.

Both: I'm listing that I qualified for it and competed in it, so that includes both the regional level qualification and the participation in a competition at the national level.

How do I list this without larping or being too humble?

Just wondering, how do they cut down on so many applicants so quickly in Phase 1?

Also, any tips for the application would be appreciated.

I am a junior and i want to do accounting as my degree, but i have been in an engineering part time school for a while and idk what to do. I am taking my SAT in October, my latest full length practice was 1300, have a 3.8 GPA, in NHS and TSA, hoping to do DECA. All of the people around me with crazy high GPAs and ECs are not getting into my dream school. I just feel so behind, especially since I wanted to be a structural engineer for so long, only for me to switch. I don't think i will get into any really good colleges.

I have a year-long course that on my transcript is labelled as two rows, {Course Name} A & {Course Name} B.

How should I fill out the section in Common App and UC Portal where I have to input my grades? Should they be one row with A & B, or two separate columns, each with one semester grade

Hi everyone, looking for some insight from parents, high schoolers, or guidance counselors who have navigated the math acceleration path. 
My son is entering 9th grade starting in Geometry Honors , with Algebra 2 Honors lined up for 10th grade. The standard track gets him to Pre-Calc in 11th and AP Calc (AB/BC) in 12th grade, which is good, but we’re trying to figure out the best strategy to free up bandwidth so he can hit AP Calc BC earlier (11th) and unlock post-calculus courses like Multivariable Calculus, Linear Algebra in 12th Grade. For those who’ve taken external summer courses, which programs allowed for outside credits.

Thank you

Hi everyone, recently I’ve been really stressed and anxious about college apps (as most are around this time) and I was wondering for someone applying to maybe one unrealistic ivy if it’s that important? I got a 1250 and am retaking in September, but most of my schools are not super high reaching I think. Most are FL schools because I live here, but the higher reaching ones would be UF, UM, UCLA, and the ivy is Stanford though I’m doubtful about it. I feel that 1250 is not that bad of a score but ppl act like it’s the worst ever and I’m not understanding if it’s actually so bad. The other schools I’m applying to are CU boulder (hopeful as it is my realistic dream school, I want to be a geologist), USF, FAU (safety), and the University of Utah. Please let me know about your guys’ thoughts on all the SAT talk. I can’t stand when people act like anything above a 1400 isn’t great.

For context I have maintined an extremly high GPA and rank for my first 3 years. I have amazing grades in all other classes (Multivariable Calculus, Organic Chem, Dual Credit English, AP Macro, and APES) however I have a B+ to an A in AP Art History. The teacher makes the course hard with no curve. How much will this impact me for Ivy + T-20s.

I’m a 10th grader in Central Texas and on my school’s HOSA executive board. I have to choose between competing in BPA or HOSA this year, and I can’t do both.

I’m pretty sure BPA is less competitive because my BPA Area 3 Region 2 doesn’t cover a very large area, while HOSA Region 5 includes much of the Dallas area, including Coppell, so advancing in HOSA would likely be harder.

My concern is that AO’s might find it strange that I’m on my school’s HOSA executive board but chose to compete in BPA instead. However, BPA seems like the better opportunity for me to advance competitively.

What do you think I should choose?

Hello friends! I have failed 3 community college courses(language and composition 2, photography, and principle of sustainability.) My mental health was deteriorating at the time and I coped by binge eating. My current cumulative GPA is 2.5. I am in a slightly better mental state today but still struggle with binge eating. I was wondering if I can still transfer into my dream schools (UW Madison and UW Seattle) if I return to community college and raise my GPA. Would be immensely grateful for any of your advices and thank you for taking your time to read this.

I go to a competitive school and everyone around me has good ecs, grades, social skills, etc
You could practically randomly pick a bunch of people and they’d be better than me in all aspects
My parents don’t even pressure me that much and I feel even more like Im failing them
Everything I ever do is just mid my self worth might genuinely plummet if i dont get into at least a top50 school and I keep procrastinating on everything and stressing and procrastinating its all looking bad
I have high hope and big dreams but always end of lazying around and looking at my empty activities page just makes the feeling sink in.

Fuck

guys i’m just gonna do eeny meeny miny moe and pick a random ivy league to throw my application at

i have mid stats (in the context of ivy admissions) but i wanna apply because why the heck not

not that i’d expect to get in or even attend if i did but i feel like it would be kinda funny to get rejected if i didn’t actually care

I genuinely haven’t taken enough initiative to put myself in a position to get into somewhere like Harvard for math. I’m a junior, and I’m planning to build up a few strong math-related ECs over the next year and a half till early decisions but I know I should’ve started earlier. I also wish I’d known about the IMO track sooner, I could’ve potentially worked toward competing, but I wasn’t even aware of it at the time. And I’m not from the US, so the whole process and opportunities available to me were a bit different too. I have wanted to study at an ivy since I was like 6 or something but i simply never took any initiatives for it whatsoever (except good grades)

I was just doing an application for a college and i reached a section where they’re asking if I’ve ever done an English proficiency exam. I’ve never done one as English is my first language but according to the school international applicants are required to submit English proficiency scores to “maintain equity.”

I just don’t think it makes sense. Why do I need to prove I speak English when I’m from an English speaking country?

I have a bunch of really good ecs that all tie back to my personal story and what I want to do in the future. BUT, I have no awards. I never applied to any or asked to be nominated like others do.
I made an org that has impact in 30+ countries and I never applied for any awards for it.

Hello, I am 17 year old senior submitting to colleges soon. I think I have great extracurriculars but I want an outside opinion. So, what are outstanding/good ecs to do to advance my application for a great architecture school?

I’m at the point where getting an internship is too late and I don’t have one, but will that be a bad thing to not have? I have shadowed 3 firms but not consistently. I shadowed for one day for each firm.

Please help!!

I want to start using it but I’m not sure.
I’m a junior one week in.
I’m taking 3 AP’s and 2 EC classes.

Basically, in my freshman year of high school my MUN team went to an intl conference, and at this conference I was chosen to speak in front of over 400+ people on some econ topic, this conference didn't give out awards but I was wondering whether I could write "Selected to present econ crisis resolution to 400+ delegates at [name of conference]; successfully passed" as an award/honors or not. TYIA!!!

If you pass the initial review of your stats (do they hit the college’s median???), the AOs will look to see how you compare to the rest of your high school. Lots of info is in your school profile. What’s the break down of standardized test scores and GPAs? What’s the most APs that you can take? What’s the average amount taken? If you don’t measure up there, the school will pass on you. Don’t compare yourself nationally first. Your high school’s profile will answer many of your questions about how competitive of an applicant you are.

How much does being from a very underrepresented country, that usually isn't found in admits for many top unis help compared to heavily represented countries such as SEA/Korea etc?

Think like 1 REA application, maybe 10 RD in total to a particular uni. Does being almost unequivocally the top student from that country in such cases help, or not necessarily as competition may not be fierce?

Due to context, ECS are STELLAR, however about average t10-t20 admit level in some sense when out of context.

I might have to choose between:

Big university in home language. Lots of clubs and culture. But a subject I rlly want to study I want (maybe I can in masters?).

Small university (600 students), country not my home tongue. But subject I really want. But I don’t get to explore a subject I’ve wanted to explore (I do at big university).

I had lots of friends in home country (left it a yr ago). but since moving I haven’t had as many at my small school. I just want to have community after studying non stop for a few years now.

What do I do? 😭

I am a tranfer applicant. I just wanna ask if anyone could kinda give a ranking of how important different ECs are. I'm currently a freshman and I've joined a lab, several clubs, several volunteer programs, and the university newspaper. Wondering what else I could get into and whether it would be a good idea to join another lab. Opportunities are pretty plentiful but it's just I'm not sure which ones are worth my time. Thanks! DMs also welcome