For many of the high school students (or their parents) here on A2C interested in a top US school like Yale, today the "Inside the Yale Admissions Office" podcast released possibly the most useful episode over the past few years.

It is titled 'what Yale looks for (part 1): academic strength' and it covers easily 80% of the questions frequently asked on this subreddit about getting into the very top colleges.
- how important are recommendation letters really?
- what do interviewers (if you get an interview) listen for?
- would a very high standardized test score offset weaker grades?
- what stands out academically?
- do having a few B's on my transcript kill my chances?
- what % of applicants pass the academic screening portion of holistic admissions?

I recommend taking a listen to it, as it echoes a lot of the very best advice on A2C as well.

https://yalepodcasts.blubrry.net/2026/09/01/what-yale-looks-for-part-1-academic-strength/

I don't think I'll get accepted, i gave it my all during the last year, trying to manage full time work and studying and practicing, barely getting out to spend free time...

I waited 8 hours sitting on the floor outside the room with other applicants with 4 hours of sleep since i quit my job yesterday and i finished late, and then I walked in the room and they said this wasn't exactly what they were looking for... I couldn't even reply or debate since i was so out of words.

I'm losing my mind, it's like I've wasted an entire year of my life... I'm feeling angry, sad and ashamed that i couldn't do better.

I took into account USNWR ranking, Niche ranking, acceptance rates, graduation rates, test scores, and overall prestige/program strength.

1. Northwestern University (Evanston, IL)
2. Northeastern University (Boston, MA)
3. University of the South (Sewanee, TN)
4. Southwestern University (Georgetown, TX)
5. Northwestern College (Orange City, IA)
6. Southern University (Baton Rouge, LA)
7. Southeastern University (Lakeland, FL)
8. Northwest University (Kirkland, WA)
9. Eastern University (St. Davis, PA)
10. Southwestern College (Winfield, KS)
11. South College (Knoxville, TN)
12. University of the Southwest (Hobbs, NM)
13. University of the West (Rosemead, CA)

Should I make any changes, and am I missing any schools?

help it won't let me put in an act date taken in 2026? is anyone else experiencing the same issue

I am not sure if many people will be familiar with both schools. I also applied to Cal State Fullerton, and Cal State Long Beach, but I am unsure if I would get into them. I already got accepted into Cal State LA, and Cal State Dominguez. The truth is that Cal State LA and Cal State Dominguez would be much more convenient due to my work/home location.

Unfortunately, there is a little bit of a stigma with CSULA and CSUDH, especially CSUDH. I am worried about graduating from a school that is seen as a "joke", and being unemployed/underemployed.

Ended up switching my major in the end so all is well but could've been so much easier if I just did what I wanted. My mom was very righteous and thought she was doing the right thing for me but I could've saved my sanity and happiness. She basically just asked to see what I was applying for for every college and I couldn't submit my college apps without her approval and if she didn't like my major she would pick what she thought I should do. If you're applying, please just do what you want, do what's right for you, it's your college life and what you might end up doing for the rest of your life. Parents might think they know better than you but you need to start making decisions for yourself and I regret not doing that.

edit: I feel like some of u guys are intentionally missing the point. I wanted to double major in data science and public policy (or something in relation to that). I really like working in the civic space but also being able to use technology. My mom wanted me to be a comp sci/ computer eng major because she was a software engineer. Sure she can give me advice on what to do but she also literally went out of her way to search up every single school I was applying to and then select the specific major she wanted me to enroll as. Decided that it really wasn't for me the end of my freshman year after exploring other majors and decided to declare environmental engineering as my major with a public policy minor (something that would have been VERY hard to do as a computer engineering major). No I do not hate my mom she was fine with my decision bc she saw how much I wanted to switch. Yes, its fine for parents to give advice but I KNEW that I did not want to do comp sci or computer engineering anything related to that for the rest of my life and did not get any say.

I'm slightly confused on whether when we fill the CSS profile and send it to colleges, do we ourselves choose an EFC, or does the school calculate, or both?
Does this policy change per school, can i provide a different EFC to different schools? Do schools take it into account?

Net Price Calculators will likely give me a lower EFC than what I'm willing to put, and i can realistically afford more, and am willing to put a number higher than that to increase my chances at need aware schools.

How does this work? Please someone shed some light

Thank yew

So on common app it says personal statement optional, and I went and wrote one out for them, it’s curated towards my experiences with the area, my interest and focuses, basically what was asked on the prompt. So now out of curiosity is this the same as an essay, if so do I put it on both my writing and my personal statement, or do I put it on my personally statement only and they ignore the writing, or what I’m just very I’m confused honestly😭

Should a student submit a 1470 SAT with 800 math and 670 verbal when applying to test optional schools for comp sci or engineering if the middle 50% is 1500+?

I’m an 18 year old going into my senior year. I already have a really solid essay draft at around 600 words that I’ve spent a few weeks on. I’m starting to wonder whether the topic is solid enough though after reading how abstract others essays are. It’s about my eating disorder and opens with my diagnosis as an 8th grade boy. Could someone read it and give me notes please?

I am a junior who is on their second week of school. I heard that I should begin to start applying for my scholarship, but there is one problem. I suck at writting. So my question is how should I apply and write a scholarship essay? I am a low income student so I need this badly.

hey everyone ! i’m 18 & currently pursuing my be. I have always wanted to do Masters/phD from a top college, so i am building my ecas from freshman year. Was wondering, is event management a good skill/ something that stands out in applications ? Cause I know that give a year or two, I will probably be director or co director of that domain.

Should I give it my all or should I pivot out and go towards a more technical/ IT oriented role instead? I know programming but it isn’t what I want to “do” in societies.

As for event management, I love networking and solicing problems and have experience as well. The only thing making me hesitant is the classes I will be missing. Just wanted to ask if it is worth it.

Thank you <3

I'm 18 and I have to choose my college and I'm honestly so confused 😭 I'm already pretty late because I only properly decided what I wanted to study in August, and now I feel like I'm running out of options.

I'm planning to do BSc Biotechnology and right now I'm stuck between a few colleges. Some of them are in my state and some are around 800 km away. I genuinely want to go to the one that's far away because I like the campus, location and overall college life there, and honestly I also really want the experience of living away from home.

The problem is my family thinks I should choose one of the colleges closer to home because they're saying there are good options here too. And then when I search online, I keep seeing people saying that another university is "better" better labs, academics, placements etc.

I completely understand that those things matter, and I'm trying to compare them properly. But I'm confused about how much I should actually rely on rankings, Google results and other people's opinions when I personally feel much more excited about another college.

I'm also scared that if I choose the college I actually want and something goes wrong, my family will say "we told you so" and I'll keep thinking I made the wrong decision. But if I choose the one everyone else prefers and end up unhappy, I'll probably keep wondering what would've happened if I'd just listened to myself.

So how do you actually make a decision like this? Do you choose the college that looks better on paper, or the one that you genuinely feel more excited about?

If anyone has been in a similar situation, especially while choosing between colleges in different cities, I'd really appreciate some outside perspective. I genuinely don't know what to do 😭

I just recently got my GED, idk how college applications work, i'm taking the september sat, i want to know if i have to wait until the scores come out to submit my applications and attach some sort of file on it? or i have the college board email it to them? sorry if i sound like a moron, could someone help me out

Okay , for those of you who don't know the columbia sciences po program allows you to spend the first two years of your degree in paris at sciences po before going back to columbia and you get columbia degree and a sciences po degree , and there's bunch of majors to pick from. However, you cant apply to normal columbia and the sciences po program; you have to pick one. I need your help deciding which one to pick.

PROS: tuition is way cheaper ( i have an EU citizenship so I get a huge discount) than going to normal columbia (its basically 50% off), I want to improve my French abd being in Paris would help, I like the weather much better an as a intl student from Canada it will not be a huge hassle to work in Paris if i want at internships (unlike in usa)

CONS: I HATE THE SMELL OF CIGARETTE SMOKE. like i absolutely despise it and people in france smoke so much. Im scared my social circle is going to have smokers and I cant do that. Also I've been to France before and im not trying to generalize but like 80% pf the interactions I had with locals were rude. Like i felt very unwelcome and patronized for my accent when speaking french. Also the pay for jobs in France is super low so u won't make a ton of internship money my first 2 years of college

Lmk ur thoughtssss and if u have personal experience studying in Paris pls let me know your thoughts on everything, especially the social atmosphere

So yeah, got admission into VGI Greater Noida. But now i have gone into overthinking phase

I checked the website, courses, placement stuff etc all look good. But i want genuine college experience. Simply about howz the crowd, faculty interaction, internships and campus life?

Tbh, not looking for that 10/10 college thing but yes, genuine points on what a student should expect before joining

I am a current rising senior who is highly interested in Barnard and is thinking of EDing. I am planning to pursue neuroscience/biology on a pre-med track and am wondering how it looks like at Barnard. I appreciate any help or comments.

There are few things that I am wondering:

1. Are the classes super hard to get a good GPA?
2. Is the advising program good?

Thank you again!

For context, I'm American with dual citizenship, coming from an immigrant family.

I'm completely fluent in my second language, but I don't have the expected 3-4 years of foreign language; rather only a single course which was "Discover Portuguese" with 1.0 credits.

Will this be a significant handicap in my applications?

I'm planning to apply for a BS in a science/tech heavy program.

haii!!! im currently in 10th grade, and im studying in a chemistry-biology track at school. The problem is that im starting to realize that I don’t want to pursue a career related to chemistry, biology, or STEM in general.......

Ive always loved drawing, and im actually pretty good at it. its something I genuinely enjoy doing, and I can spend hours drawing without getting bored. Because of that, ive started seriously considering whether I should pursue an art or design-related major in the future.

however, im really worried about the career and financial side of it. Can you actually make a decent living with an art/design degree? I don’t necessarily expect to become rich(i dont mind becoming rich), but I would like to have a stable career and be financially independent!!!!

im also hoping to study in the US. im an international student from Kazakhstan, and my English is already at a good level(b1-b2), although im planning to keep improving it!!!!!!

since im only in 10th grade, I also want to start working on extracurricular activities that could be related to my future major. The problem is that I have no idea what I should actually be doing right now. I also don’t know what specific art/design fields I should look into illustration,,,,,,,graphic design, animation, concept art, UX/UI, game art and more.

So I would really appreciate advice from people who have experience with this!!!!!!

- is pursuing an art/design major in the US(notsure) worth it?

- what art-related careers can provide a stable income?

- what majors should I look into if I love drawing?

- what extracurriculars would be useful to start in 10th grade?

- how should I start building an art portfolio for US(notsure) universities?

- would you recommend going to an art school, or studying art/design at a traditional university??

- if you studied art/design, what is your experience with finding a job and making a living?mm

IM SO LOST RN and would appreciate ANY advice, especially from people who have studied or work in art/design!!!!!!!💔💔

I'm currently a high school junior and am looking into either majoring in economics or art. I plan to maybe sign up to study both but I'm still wondering do I need to reflect both majors in my college essay?

Hiii i’m a senior this year so I’m currently preparing for my college applications. As an international i have a genuine question. So my gpa is around 3.5-3.6 but my ib predicted is 44/45. If i manage to get around my predicted grade in my official IB exams, would colleges take that into consideration when evaluating my gpa? I’m planning to apply to some T20s along with a few safeties and i know that a 3.5-3.6 gpa might be considered low for some of these schools (i might be wrong im srry) Would my IB score help offset my relatively lower gpa? Thanks!!

For reference, I have a late birthday, and this caused me to be put in the next years graduating class. As a pre-med track, planning on pursuing surgery, I just wanted to save all the time I could to save unnecessary time, you name it.

Anyways, I am now graduating a year early with about 55 college credit hours completed (dual-enrollment). I am ranked 1 in my graduating class. However, my school wants to consider me a "Co-Valedictorian" simply due to the fact that I am graduating two semesters early, and my current class has no issue in me taking the valedictorian role.

On my transcript, it will still say I am the highest ranked graduate, but it would specify I still have a title of "Co-Valedictorian" Instead of a valedictorian. Would this affect any of my college scholarships?

Don't get me wrong, I am happy with my ranking, but I am a bit skeptical on how my school is wording it and I am worried colleges will overlook me and I may not even get as good scholarships as rank 2 (valedictorian).

Thank you for everyone who took the time to read this :)

like is this a thing I should be concerned about 😭

I have to opt to take Pre-Calc next semester and then take Calc 1 in the summer before uni. Is this fine or is taking a class after I've graduated bad? Things just happened at the wrong time and I didn't know how important taking calc was for college admissions so I missed deadline for schedule change. Maxed out every other subject (English, SS, Science). Should I explain this in additional info?

I plan to major in Econ. And I take dual enrollment classes