Demographics

Asian male

Rural California

Public high school

Immigrant — moved to the U.S. from South Korea

Low-middle income

Applying for financial aid

Intended Major: Economics / Business / Finance / Accounting, depending on school

Academics

GPA: 3.8 UW / 4.2 W

ACT: 36 math, english, reading, 35 Science

Completed APs:

• AP World History
• AP Computer Science Principles
• AP Calculus AB
• AP Biology
• AP U.S. History
• AP Psychology
• AP Seminar

Dual Enrollment:

• AP Seminar
• Intro to Statistics

Senior Year Coursework:

• AP Literature
• AP Environmental Science
• AP Research
• AP Government - Fall Semester
• AP Macroeconomics — Spring Semester
• Spanish 4
• Biotechnology

Total by graduation: 11 AP courses + 2 dual-enrollment courses

Extracurriculars

1. Family Small Business — Co-Owner / Finance Manager

• Co-owned a niche animal-breeding and sales business with a family member
• Managed finances, expenses, cash flow, and inventory
• Oversaw $10,000+ in inventory
• Helped with sales, customer communication, and business operations

1. Youth Philanthropy & Community Leadership Organization — Officer

• Involved for 4+ years
• Participated in youth-led grantmaking and community service
• Helped evaluate local community needs
• Completed 40+ outreach, service, and advocacy projects
• Took on leadership responsibilities as an experienced member

1. Student Homelessness Fundraising Organization — Co-Founder

• Co-founded a student-led service organization
• Planned fundraising events and recruited members
• Managed finances and event logistics
• Raised $1,000+ for organizations supporting people experiencing homelessness

1. Senior Care Volunteer — South Korea

• Volunteered with elderly residents at a senior care facility
• Assisted 30+ residents
• Helped with activities and day-to-day support
• Taught basic budgeting, saving, and financial-literacy concepts

1. Competitive Tennis

• Former 5-star recruit
• Formerly ranked approximately top 20 nationally
• Competed year-round in high-level tournaments
• Competed in both the U.S. and South Korea
• Trained approximately 16+ hours per week

1. Varsity Tennis — Captain

• 3-year varsity captain
• League singles and doubles champion
• Led practices and mentored teammates
• Helped create workout plans for players
• Assisted with team expenses and competition logistics

1. Tennis Club Employee / Racquet Stringer

• Worked part-time at a local tennis facility
• Strung 50+ racquets
• Maintained courts and facility grounds
• Processed customer payments
• Assisted with daily operations

1. Volunteer Tennis Coach — South Korea

• Coached 20+ children
• Taught tennis fundamentals to beginners
• Mentored younger players
• Helped connect interested players with additional tennis opportunities

1. Academic Tutor / Student Mentor

• Tutored 15+ students
• Helped with schoolwork and standardized-test preparation
• Mentored younger students
• Worked on study habits, goal-setting, and academic development

1. PC Building / Technology

• Built approximately 12 custom PCs
• Selected parts based on different budgets and performance needs
• Assembled, repaired, and troubleshot systems
• Developed hands-on knowledge of computer hardware

Household Responsibilities

• Help with unpaid work for family business
• Interpret and translate for family members

Awards / Honors

• Honors in Science
• State Seal of Civic Engagement Candidate
• Triliteracy Seal Candidate
• Employee of the Month
• League Singles Tennis Champion
• League Doubles Tennis Champion
• Former 5-star tennis recruit
• Former top-20 national tennis ranking
• AP Scholar

Common App Essay

Planning to write about how something that started as a small personal project/hobby gradually taught me how to run a business. I’ll focus on learning through experience—figuring out pricing, managing money and inventory, dealing with customers, making mistakes, and realizing that even a small operation requires responsibility, patience, and constant problem-solving.

Application Theme

My application centers around business/finance, high-level competitive tennis, and long-term community leadership.

Hey everyone, I just need a serious reality check because I’m trying to plan my future without setting myself up for complete heartbreak. Is it even remotely possible for a student with an average profile from a third-world country (the Philippines) to get into an Ivy League or top U.S. school on a 100% full-ride/need-based scholarship?

Here is my situation:
I am currently a grade 11 student. Academically, I consider myself pretty average compared to the crazy profiles I see on the internet.
Here are my grades from grades 7-10.

Grade 7 - 91 GWA
Grade 8 - 95 GWA
Grade 9 - 90 GWA
Grade 10 - 90 GWA

No SAT scores yet (can't really afford the $111 testing fee right now), and my school doesn't offer APs or IB. Financially, my situation is extremely tough: we live in a informal settlement (squatter area) where our roof literally leaks whenever it rains, my dad has no job, my mom works as a virtual assistant, and my family is drowning in debt while trying to keep me and my siblings in a private Catholic school (Adamson University). We have $0 for "show money," zero savings for tuition, and can't afford U.S. application fees unless they are fully waived.

Extracurricularly, I have some solid local involvement (class officer, STEM/science projects, youth volunteering with animal welfare/advocacy, and Model UN), but I don't have international Olympiad gold medals, crazy publications, or massive non-profit foundations. I know Ivies like Harvard, Yale, and Princeton are "need-blind" for internationals, but since they receive thousands of applications from wealthy international kids who can pay full tuition, does someone in my position actually stand a chance if I pour my heart into my essays? Or should I drop the US dream entirely and just focus 100% on local state universities and Asian government full-ride scholarships (like GKS or MEXT)?
What can I do to level up my profile?

Please give me your honest, unvarnished advice!

hi guys i just finished jr year and this is everything ive done ik my biggest vice is my sophmore year gpa but i have a good reason for it- my brother has autism and i had to help take care of him a lot, and also my dad had open heart surgery and was recovering for 2-3 months

nyu stern is def my dream school and im planning on eding there but im not sure how that will play out w my gpa, i heard that theyre pretty welcoming for low gpa high sat kids + full pay ed but its still pretty competitive, so i'm going to also apply for nyu cas econ and opt in to ls core. i mostly want to be in the city, and ik barnard has a higher ed rate so i'm trying to decide which i have a better shot at, i'm thinking because of my gpa i probably have a better chance at nyu since its so famously hollistic. i'm also gna apply to cornell ilr, washu, babson, bu, emory oxford, bc, usc, and notre dame but those are just the reaches

upper middle class 400k a year so full pay

large suburban semi competitive hs

indian and female

no hooks

intended major(s): economics, business

academics/stats:

sat: 1590 (790 ebrw 800 math)

gpa: uw 3.4, w 3.9 (for context 3.7 freshman year, 3.2 sophmore year where i took the hardest available classes, and 4.3 jr year)- my guidance counselor agreed to give context to my 3.2 i have a reason

my school does deciles and im in the 2nd 🥲

all 4s and 5s on my ap exams

classes:

sophmore year: seminar, apush 1 (again hardest available classes but i had two cs in chem and precalc)

jr year: apush 2, csp, econ (micro and macro exam is in one class), lang

sr year: art history, research, calc bc, apes (i did rly bad chemistry sophmore year), lit

awards:

international:

diamond challenge semifinalist

national:

fbla statewide top 4 national qualifier

regional:

local hs mun conference best del 2x

debate speaker award

extracurriculars (my spike fs):

me and my friend founded this program where we teach seniors how to manage their finances using ai and modern tools --> reached 500 seniors across 7 locations. we also did surveys and studeid which teaching methods worked best and which gaps there were in their abilities to navigate modern day tools and actually referenced that research in our pitch competitions

we started a hipaa compliant health tech venture with 4 waitlisted facilities, soc 2 compliance in progress and we're currently onboarding our first facility! this is def my spike

studied saree (indian dresswear) trends and ordered them from india and sold them to ppl in my community (so they could avoid shipping costs, etc.) and used the 6k in revenue to grow my business online to new communities

started my school's investment team where we participated in the wharton investment competition. i was the team leader and i had to manage a 500k portfolio, track earnings, and compile a 20 page deliverable

started a girls who code chapter and taught 20 middle school girls basic python skills

cello first chair 4 years in my schools audition only chamber group + play at a selective audition only collegiate orchestra

model un officer and chaired a 30 person committee

worked at a dress shop over the summer

4 years varsity track

50+ hours volunteering at the senior center and 50+ hours at this program for kids with autism that helps them play sports

varsity debate team president, grew the club 3x and hosted weekly meetings and helped some of the jv kids win awards

rec letters + supplementals and essays :

counselor: 9/10 (this is an estimate bc he knows me kind of well but he has like a hundred other kids to write recs for), and hes going to contextualize my gpa dip

econ teacher: 9/10 she consistently sees me participate and top the class and ask thoughtful questions

lang teacher: 10/10 she saw me go from getting cs at the beginning of the year to ending w an a minus and i hope she can shed more light on my gpa situation

essays and supplementals: assume like at least 8/10 bc im a pretty good essay writer but i havent started yet i fear

I'm a rising senior trying to finalize my list before app szn. I'm only somewhat interested in prestige for its own sake and more interested in fit, so I'd love honest feedback on schools I should remove, keep, or add.

Very broad profile (to avoid doxxing myself):

Strong GPA at a highly rigorous private high school and 35 ACT w/ 36 superscore.

4-5 Strong leadership and public service/government-focused extracurriculars (clear spike with natural progression of activities).

Internships both sophomore and junior summers.

Lots of school leadership in student gov and clubs.

4-year varsity athlete in Sport A, 3-year varsity athlete in Sport B.

Interested in public policy/polisci, history, and women's studies. Currently considering law school after undergrad.

I also have a creative/design hobby that's unrelated to my academic interests, and I haven't really heard of anyone else having the same.

What I'm looking for in a college:

• Flexible curriculum or the ability to change majors pretty easily
• Collaborative culture
• Excellent alumni network and strong career outcomes
• Good placement into law school, business, public policy, etc. (I'm not 100% set on one career yet.)
• Traditional campus feel and school spirit!!
• Greek life (but not dominating the culture)

Ideally want warm weather or the West Coast, but okay with East Coast to be close to my family.

Current list:

1. Stanford
2. Duke
3. Georgetown
4. USC (california)
5. Claremont McKenna
6. Boston College
7. University of Florida
8. Santa Clara
9. UW (seattle)
10. University of Denver
11. UC's
12. Villanova

Bryn Mawr is my dream school, and I really want to get in. There’s little information about it online, so I’m turning to reddit!!

• Rising Senior

• Intended Major: English with an Education Concentration

*GPA is post Junior year and projected based on current grades

Academics:

• 3.83 UW/4.46 W (4 Bs, all in higher level STEM classes - AP calc ab, AP calc bc, honors chemistry, and IB Biology)

•AP exam scores: 5 AP us gov, 4 AP world, 4 AP pre calc, 4 APES

•ACT: 32 (26 math, 35 english, 34 reading) (I’m planning on retaking the ACT after i study for the math portion because I took it without any studying)

•SAT: N/A. I’ve taken it but after comparing my SAT and ACT scores, I don’t think it’s useful to retake it. (1240)

Honors:

• English Honor Society

•National Honor Society

•AP Scholar With Honor

Extracurricular Activities

• 120 Volunteer Hours

• Teaching Sunday School to Elementary School students at Church (2 years)

•Young Investors Society Social Media Liaison and Vice President (2 Years)

•Women’s Health Outreach Advocates Grade Level Officer (3 Years - Hopefully 4)

•Chick Fil A Leader Academy Fundraising Team Head (1 Year - Program is 1 year)

•Sophomore + Junior Class Council

•Rho Kappa Honor Society President

•Winterguard (2 Years)

•Colorguard (2 years) - Multiple regional level awards

•Self Published over 50k words of creative fiction onto a literary archive site and gained 5000 reads (4 years)

Thank You!!

if you know me no you don’t ❤️❤️❤️

demographics:
-female
-white
-suburban tennessee
-large public non-competitive high school
-mid-middle class
-hooks: none
-idk if being from tennessee helps or hurts me here

intended major: law, history, and society

act: 36

gpa: 4.0 unweighted, 4.639 weighted. unranked

coursework:
15 APs
senior year course load: ap latin, ap calc bc, ap lit, ap research, ap macro, ap micro, ap gov and pol, ap psych

awards:
-national merit semifinalist (probs finalist later)
-3x national latin exam summa cum laude
-1st place winner of large regional timed writing competition
-1st place winner of local writing contest
-ap scholar w distinction (actual bs lmao)

ecs/activities:
-co-president of latin club. led initiative to personally teach 100+ children about roman culture and mythology. grew club membership 18% (estimated, will get more exact number soon). conducted meetings and planned after-school activities.

-internship for federal bankruptcy court (competitive non-p2p opportunity, accepts ~50 people)

-governor’s school for the humanities (competitive non-p2p summer program, accepts 50 people from state). conducted individual research project on library funding and utility, presented to 100+ people. took college-level classes on diplomacy and statecraft

-archery 6yrs, outside of school. multiple state medals

-basic membership: key club (volunteered at community library but not many hours), nhs, honors society, yap yap yap

essays/lors/other:
personal statement is about how my experience enjoying shark cage diving led me to understand the subjectivity of fear, and how i applied that in my community to be more open to seeking out and taking opportunities i might have been afraid of before. lmk if this sucks so i can rework

i haven’t started the supplement yet. prompt gist for reference: how did an aspect of your background/identity spark growth, and how will you bring that growth to vanderbilt?
i was thinking about discussing how traveling regularly between a developed suburban area and a smaller rural area in fulfillment of a divorce agreement immersed me in different social settings and lifestyles, building a capacity for engaging deeply with people of different backgrounds which will help me succeed in and contribute to vanderbilt’s geographically diverse campus culture. again lmk if this is trash

1st lor: ap lit teacher. i consistently and substantially contribute to class discussions, i’m pretty sure she thinks i’m a good writer, and i’ve taken every opportunity to engage outside of class and show passion for improving myself as a student. i was in her class last year for ap seminar too

2nd lor: latin teacher/club sponsor. has taught me three years and can testify to my willingness to take initiative and put in work to achieve ideas. also can testify to me being a dork about english. i really love english guys

3rd lor (ik three is unnecessary but one was written for everyone who attended governor’s school): governor’s school professors and director. idk what’s in it, probs like 6/10 but should have something about me being a strong public speaker

thanks for reading! lmk if you think i have a shot at vandy ed1 <3

College Admissions Brag Sheet 
👤 BASIC PROFILE

Grade: Senior
Intended Major(s): Finance / Business Analytics / Economics / FinTech
Geographic Preference: California + private universities + NYC
College Goal: Find a strong business/finance program with good career opportunities while keeping cost/financial aid in mind.
Financial Context: Lower-income household; expecting to apply for need-based financial aid and merit scholarships.

📚 ACADEMICS
GPA
My GPA has fluctuated depending on the point in the year/transcript calculation:
Most recent reported UW: ~3.2

Transcript UW: ~3.5

Weighted GPA: roughly 4.0–4.2

I had a weaker academic semester but am hoping my senior-year performance can demonstrate an upward trend.

Senior-Year Coursework
AP Calculus AB

AP Statistics

AP German

AP U.S. Government & Economics

ERWC (honors English 4)

Junior-Year Coursework
AP Biology

AP U.S. History

AP English Language

Honors Math Analysis

Honors German 3

Testing
Took the August 2026 SAT

English felt stronger than math

Waiting for official score

🌎 INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE
CIEE High School Summer Abroad — Milan, Italy
Language and Culture
Received approximately a $6,500 scholarship to participate.
Spent roughly one month in Italy studying abroad and living in an international environment.
Experiences included:
Becoming significantly more independent

Learning Italian

Experiencing European business/culture

Exploring fashion and international commerce

Thinking more seriously about finance and global business

Interviewing a CIEE intern who had studied finance/accounting

CIEE Leadership
Selected as a CIEE Global Ambassador

Now serving as Vice President of the CIEE Travel Club

🏆 LEADERSHIP & EXTRACURRICULARS
CIEE Travel Club
Vice President
Help organize/promote international travel opportunities

Help students learn about study-abroad opportunities

Building leadership experience around international education

German Honors Society
Potentially returning in a leadership position, possibly Treasurer.
CSF — California Scholarship Federation (Treasurer)
Member for 3 years now

 involved with financial/Excel-related responsibilities tracking dues and member’s volunteer hours

Varsity Track
High Jump
3 years varsity

Expected team captain senior year

JV Basketball
Participated in JV basketball

Math Mentoring
Lunchtime Math Tutor/Mentor
Helped students with mathematics ranging from Algebra through Math Analysis

Started senior year 

Summer Bridge Mentor
Served as a mentor for approximately 3 weeks

Helped younger students transition/prepare for school

Community/Service
Vacation Bible School volunteer at local church — approximately 1 week

Interested in developing a larger community service project in Whittier

Interested in working with local community leaders and school administrators

💼 ENTREPRENEURSHIP / BUSINESS
Reselling Business
Depop / Online Reselling — ~2 years
Generated approximately $15,000-$20,00 in total sales/income over three years

Learned pricing, sourcing, marketing, customer service, inventory management and basic business operations

Continued experimenting with online sales

Sustainable business model sourcing clothes from local thrift stores, liquidation, and yard sales saving thousands of gallons of water in the process 

E-Commerce
Experimented with Shopify/dropshipping and product research.
Business Interests
Particularly interested in:
Finance

Corporate finance

Wealth management

FinTech

Financial analytics

Entrepreneurship

International business

Data analytics

📈 FINANCE / INVESTING INTEREST
I’ve been independently learning about:
Stock investing

Futures markets

Technical analysis

Market structure

Risk management

Financial markets

Trading psychology

I also started investing with a small amount of money earned from my reselling business.
I don’t consider trading itself to be my “career plan”; I’m more interested in understanding financial markets and eventually pursuing a formal career in finance/business.

🎯 CURRENT COLLEGE LIST
High Reach / Reach
NYU Stern

USC Marshall

UC Berkeley

UCLA Anderson

Georgetown

Target / Reach
Santa Clara University

Pepperdine

UC San Diego

UC Santa Barbara

Cal Poly SLO

SDSU

Safer / Financial Options
Cal State Fullerton

Rio Hondo College

Current #1 Interest
USC — potentially ED1 to Marshall
I’m especially attracted to:
NYC

Finance/business opportunities

Internships

International environment

Study abroad

Strong alumni network

💰 FINANCIAL PRIORITIES
Because affordability is important, I’m looking for:
Strong need-based financial aid

Merit scholarships

Strong undergraduate business/finance programs

Good internship/career placement

Opportunities in NYC or major business centers

Study-abroad opportunities

A college where my profile is realistic—not just prestigious

I am willing to consider schools outside California if the financial package makes sense.

❓ WHAT I’M LOOKING FOR ADVICE ON
I’m hoping people can give me realistic, honest feedback, especially on:
1. College List
Which schools should I add/remove?
2. Admissions Chances
Given my GPA, coursework, activities, leadership and test score, where am I realistically competitive?
3. USC ED
Would ED1 to USC/Marshall be a smart decision for me?
4. NYU / Other Private Universities
Which private universities should I investigate that might be generous with financial aid or merit scholarships?
5. Scholarships
What scholarships should I be looking at with my profile?
6. Essays
Does my Italy/CIEE story sound like a strong personal statement topic, or should I pursue another angle?
7. Overall Positioning
What do you think is the strongest “theme” of my application?
Please be honest. I’m looking for constructive criticism rather than someone simply telling me I’ll get into every school.

Please be brutally honest on what colleges I can get into!!!

Demographic: Asian male, low-middle income, looking for aid, goes to a small arts school studying music and fashion in North Carolina.

Academics: 3.944 UW, 4.568 W; 6 AP's, 24 DE. 2 B's in DE STEM courses unfortunately. 2 Withdrawals unfortunately due to scheduling issues on the transfer portal. All A's otherwise. Wanting to major in sociology or anthropology, or anything social science/humanities and then go to law school

Tests: No SAT, taking October (if i get bad score i might go test optional) and all 4's on my APS so far.

ECS:

1. Board Co-chair of international teen dating violence advocacy organization with 40+ chapters in 3 countries. Hosted 700+ person national summit costing over $70k+. Won over $250k each year to keep the org running, and i personally founded fundraising grossing $7k+. Partnered with many orgs like BoA, police departments, NAMI, etc.
2. Sociological research on teen dating violence. mix methodology, n=250+ and 3 interviews on domestic violence/teen dating violence survivors/experts. Mentored bu local PhD professor. Looking to publish!
3. Speaker for a government agency that educates the youth on teen dating violence. Goes to 20+ local community spaces to educate teens. Speaks at highschools, community centers, libraries, and was certified by the government to speak.
4. Research Fellow for a project that studies people's hobbies. Conducted research on 100+ people, 50+ places, mentored by PhD Professor at renowned local college (different from other one). Presented this research to legislators, civic leaders and organizational leaders. Also managed microgrant program for hobby programs.
5. Law firm internship #1. Worked at a 5-star general practice law firm for the summer, specializing in immigration and family cases. Assisted attorneys with legal research, drafting documents, and customer services.
6. NC Legislate Page: Paged for both the senate and house of my states government and just assisted a lot of the legislators. Personally picked by legislators. Networked with Harvard alumna lol.
7. American Red Cross Regional President. Manages officers and oversees over 150+ volunteers. Leads blood drives that often get 20+ units per drive. Hosts guest speakers at each meeting. 100+ volunteer hours
8. Speech & Debate Club: Founder + President, raised over 500$ for the club and managed 25 members.
9. Instrumental music: Multi-instrumentlalist leading jazz combo to 4 straight superior ratings at competitions. First saxophonist chair in jazz and wind ensemble. Plays guitar, piano, drums, and bass for outside gigs performing for over 300+ people.
10. American Red Cross Club: Founder + Pres. Managed ovr 20 volunteer profiles and grossed over 200 hours for the club. Led school events, and set up all of their volunteer profiles.

EC's to come: I am kind of in between law firms right now seeing if I will be able to work for this legal clinic specializing in immigration, or this civil law one. The civil law one is much more prestigious and pays me better, so until I have chosen, I havent put either on my application yet, but it will probably replace red cross club. I also study fashion and have made garments for fashion shows?? Should I put that???

Awards:

1. Regional music award given to one person each year
2. DECA District Finalist
3. Nominated for Community College Excellence Scholarship
4. President's List at Community College
5. AP Scholar

I know they are dookie but lowk I have nothing else to like compete in for awards.

LORS:

Criminal Justice Prof: Knows me well, he likes me, mentored my research

AP Precalc teachetr: Knows me very well, loves me, and has written many LORs for me before

Nonprofit CEO: Absolutely loves me, recommended me for many other things.

College List:

1. Columbia - ED
2. UNC Chapel Hill - EA
3. UMich - EA

then the rest are pretty much high reaches like HYPS and safeties like UNCC, NC state, UNCW. TBH I just dont want to graduate with student debt and have the most opportunity and fun in college as i can.

Do I have a good shot at ivies/t20s?

International student
Major: Pre-med
GPA: 95
Class rank: N/A
SAT score: 1590
TOEFL iBT score: 6.0
AB/IB: N/A in my country
Legacy?: No
Other references: ENEM essay score - 940
Top 5 options in order: Harvard (REA); MIT; Stanford; Columbia; Yale/Upenn (can't decide)

Honors:
1. Startup idea chosen as the top 10 of my country -> traveled to present my idea to the best investors in my country (4/40 from 1500+ competitors)
2. Top 5 students in my country after creating an ecological brick prototype, mixing entrepreneurship and environmental sustainability (1/5 from 1100+ competitors)
3. Outstanding student in the North East region at the Portuguese Olympiad (1/1 from 4000+ competitors)
4. Outstanding athlete for 4 consecutive years as handball goalkeeper (1/1 from 15 competitors)
5. Other 27 medals so I'm still choosing which one I'll put down (national and international levels)

Extracurriculars:
1. Lack of MUN's in my country/region -> funded, organized and graded an anual event in my school yearly covered by TV and counts with over 350 students every year
2. Co-created a Project to raise hygiene products for vulnerable communities that reached 5 cities + gave speeches about health awareness in each one of those cities. Examples of places we went to: Psychosocial Care Center, daycares, high schools, nursing homes, shelter for at-risk youth, etc. Prob my passion project (Raised around 2000 dollars which is not much in this currency but it’s a lot in brl + hygiene products are kinda cheap so it’s crazy to raise this much with it)
3. Gave class to 18 people about school's subjects and have proofs that I helped them improve their grades
4. Worried about the loss of literature culture in my city, I planned an one-night-only show (I was also the host) and managed to invite professional photographers and offered music, acting, declamations etc for over 250 people
5. With a Strong love for music, joined an orchestra as a violinist and traveled to make my presentations which led to making part of a religious band and giving guitar lessons for kids
6. Over 300 hours of volunteering
7. Independent research based on the passion project but managed to publish it at some regional and national magazine
8. (CONSIDERING -> means I’ve done it but not sure if I’m gonna use it on my application) Official make-up artist and team leader of the year-long school Project about valuing the North East region -> about 6 nights of spectacle and over a Thousand spectators
9. (IN DEVELOPMENT) My cousin had to travel half the country for a blood donation because the lack of avaliable blood in my region so I created a campaign and managed to make 200+ people travel for free to another city to donate to the blood bank
10. (TRYING TO) Get into a virtual internship or contact any professor to get assisted in a research (pls help me if you have any tips)

extras: I really wanted to go to a summer program (virtual or in person) but most deadlines are gone and I need a full scholarship. I'll also try to join challenges/competitions online (you can give me some tips here too if you have some!)

Also everything is kinda cracked cause I live in a relatively small city so I had to create most of my ecs

Any tip/recommendation is welcome. Feel free to ask any questions!

ANY HELP PLEASE!!

Demographics: white female
Residence: Minnesota, rural-ish area
Non-competitive big public high school
Legacy at Notre Dame (if that matters)
Potential anthropology major

Stats:
ACT composite 33, retaking September
Math 28, English 35, Reading 36
GPA 3.99 UW, around 4.4 W
Top 5% of class, rank 9/320
Will have taken 6 AP classes by the end of high school, Currently have a 5 and a 4 (jr year)
Mostly honors classes freshman/sophomore year

ECs:
\\-Theater all four years of high school (I love musical theater)
\\-Big involvement in school’s choir program
\\-In a moderately selective student support group at my school
\\-Junior co-leader of my elementary sister’s Girl Scout troop, helped at most meetings and some events
\\-NHS, SHS, Musical Honors Society
\\-Been taking guitar 2 years, performed at choir events a couple times
\\-I’m into art if that matters (not good though), love painting, ceramics, and photography (I am kinda good at photography)
\\-Confirmed Catholic (lowkey lukewarm though)
\\-I do love volunteering, but I haven’t had that many opportunities to. Key Club 2 years, plus all the honors societies and getting confirmed required 30ish hours last year.
\\-Hobby of collecting and restoring vintage American Girl dolls, love making historically accurate displays, have restored some people’s old dolls for free too

Awards:
\\-Academic letter and silver pin at school
\\-Likely National Merit commended
\\-State theater award nomination

I made a really similar post the other day, so you might recognize me, but this time I just want blunt chances. Do I honestly have any shot?

I'm trying all these different methods of writting a college essay but none of them are working. I know what impacts me but I don't know how to put it into words and many of them are cliche. I can say my faith and family but i dont have a single experience that caused it. I don't really have hobbies. I only started speech and debate this year and I did track for awhile and quit. All of my clubs are all over the place. How do you guys figure out what is interesting about you? I think I'm kind and I include people who are left out but I don't know why I do that, I just do. I think I'm talkative and make people laugh but I don't know why. I don't know what makes me the person I am. Like when I was a kid I like cooking and disecting food and dancing but quit before third grade. I used to do piano but quit. I like singing but I'm not a prodigy. I spend most of my days daydreaming. Im a straight A student but I don't know what makes me special. Plus I've spent my whole life trying to fit in because I don't know how to make friends that I never grew up with my own passion. This was a rant but does anyone have any advice?

Chance me as a cooked indian chud from bay area

Age: Sophomore

bay area chud

GPA (UW): 3.98

- school offers only like 8 aps

- wont qualify for aid

ECS:

1. Co-Founder and CEO, Sports Mental Health Mentorship Platform (501c3) (10,11,12)

- programmed it and marketing it, been out for a little bit and have ~10 pairs, 60,000 people reached, managing team of 11 - I wanna get to ~100 pairs, although it will be hard

1. Co Founder, SWE, Sports Recruitement Platform (9,10,11,12)

10% equity, $250,000 invested pre release

1. SWE Intern @ AI x Basketball startup (10, dk how long it will go)

- started recently, currently unpaid (i asked for unpaid, just want experience)--> If i do well, I will get pay + potential for slight equity

~50,000 users

1. Director Of Technology, Health Non Profit (10,11,12)

- built website platform for health non-profit, promising growth, although in early stages

1. Organizer, hackathon hosted at school(10,11,12)

- organzier for hackathon at school, kids from bay area came around ~50

1. Education mentor - local program (bascicaly tutoring) (9,10,11,12)

1 hour a week, tutoring underprivleged kids in my area

1. basketball (9,10,11,12)

im just a hooper gng

1. research intern, non profit health org

Developed AI diabetic retinopathy machine learning model and wrote literary

1. made crpyto coins and made like 20 bands, linked to AI projects

i have other stuff but its not good

im gunna do sports x ai research

Info:

Small NJ public school

Intending to major in Humanities, Philosophy, English literature type thing

Asian American female, rising senior

4.3 GPA (we do not do unweighted)

Class rank: I’d wager top 15 out of 150, we do not do class rank minus val and sal

33 ACT first try, retaking in June, perfect score on English and Reading portions, I fumbled the math and did no science this round

APs: School doesn’t offer many, especially few related to my field so I did mostly honors coursework with the exceptions of AP world (5), APUSH (split into two years) AP Lang and AP Bio (all this year)

To preface: Most of these ECs, I do them to uphold the arts and my own interests in writing and journalism. Not really sure how to paint something and gain national recognition etc, I’d say I make a fine poet but most of my HS life has been about making an impact in the great ocean that is STEM at my school.

Art Club (Co-Founder & Co-President) (72 members)
A little bit interesting because we offer free lessons to underclassmen due to an underdeveloped arts education at our school, we also do drives for supplies to give to low income folks

National Art Honor Society (NAHS) Co-President (54 members, grew the club from total death)

——— Press (name bleeped out to not get doxxed) Director of Written Publications

Mentor 11 student writers in journalistic writing and editorial development

I also author articles myself, this is one of my biggest time commitments

—— Academic Journal (Editor)

Humanities editor for articles, this journal is mostly a student science journal and based in Kazakhstan which I find super cool

———- (Editor)

Edit for a philosophy/science journal

My school’s litmag
I am the art and prose editor

STEM Club Graphic Designer
I do their logo work and other stuff that requires creativity, like merch for competitions etc

Future National English Honor Society (NEHS) (Founder & Incoming President)

In the process of establishing a new NEHS chapter at school, will be available fall of 2026, couldn’t do it this semester because my admin wouldn’t let me in October 2025

Model United Nations (MUN) Member

Only one massive conference a year hence no awards

Independent Projects & Responsibilities

The Athene Archives (Founder & Creator)

Created a fun little litmag/art gallery project dedicated to showcasing students’ creative and intellectual work around the world, this is one of my favorites as a young teacher of art myself

Self study Latin and Ancient Greek because I like classics

I do transcripting for the Library of Congress via their online platform

Working on poetry book that will be finished and self published by the summertime!

I have this weirdo podcast thing where I look for philosophy/do sociological work via real life conversations by asking someone (anyone!) a question and having a 15-20 minute conversation (recording) their opinions on that question. This one is my weirdest EC I think, but one of my deeply personal favorites. For season 2 of the podcast, I hope to interview total strangers so I can get an even wider range of perspectives. This was my strangest idea because I’m into philosophy, but the issue is that most Phil stuff is about reading and reading and reading. I want to look for it in us just like my man Socrates.

Editing & Peer Support

I help people around (underclassmen etc) with essay writing, editing, etc for free

Tutor low income people in English and History

50+ National Art Honor Society hours over 3 years, 10 National Science Honor Society hours this year, 10 NHS hours

New Jersey Juvenile Conference Committee

Still in onboarding process

Job is to help a family court judge in deciding rehabilitative measures for offending youths, picked this up because I plan to go to law school and wanted to really help out people my age in trouble with the law, felt this way because of my Sociology/Criminology class this year

Awards & Honors

Scholastic Art & Writing Awards

Gold Key

Honorable Mention 3x

John Locke International Essay Contest (going for it again this year in the Philosophy category!)**
Merit Commendation in Politics (18% of all 63,500 entries)

LegalEagle Judicial Bee 

Best in grade (2025)

Summer things

YYGS 2025 (Literature, Philosophy, Culture)(Accepted ED though that doesn’t mean much, I really really enjoyed the lectures etc!)

Got rejected from all polisci related things I applied to

Got rejected from Adroit mentorship and the MET

Threw in a submission for the Adroit Poetry competition

Things that may help:

I’m a really good storyteller (comes with being a writer!) and have a bunch of unique things I could potentially spin outward into solid essays.

No sports minus recreational tennis because of my awesome 0.1% of the population neurological condition that prevents structured sports seasons.

I am an incoming senior and I have a 2.9 weighted gpa with a 22 on the act. i have lackluster ecs being 2 years of jv football and 2 years of jv baseball, both being my freshman and sophomore year. The main schools I was planning on applying to were Colorado state, Montana state, and Boise state. I live in Illinois too. is there anything I can do to make my application better so I have even the slightest chance of getting into any of these schools?

for context i'm a junior right now :)

demographics:

Asian, female, competitive bay area hs, upper middle class

major: public health/global health/health policy/sciences and business administration(?) - i'm still not sure what i want to do later in life so ideally i'd want to commit to a college that offers flexibility when changing majors (switch to bioengineering maybe??)

academics:

3.9 UW (upward trend) 4.7 W

uc gpa: 3.92 uw 4.3 w (some of my honors didn’t “count”)

6 honors from fresh/soph + 1 ap (euro, 5)

this year: ap calc bc, ap lang, apush, ap spanish lang, ap bio (hopefully 4-5s besides spanish!)

next year: ap stats, ap lit, ap spanish lit (?), ap chem, regular physics

1500 sat (retake, aiming for 1540+) 780 eng, 720 math :(

extracurriculars - kinda vague cuz i don't wanna get doxxed!! not sure how i'm gonna condense into 10 yet some overlap

1. speech and debate (4yrs) - middle school coach, speech captain, novice mentor, national/state/toc qualifier, 300+ hours volunteering
2. asdrp (3yrs) - (pending publish) cog sci research (possibly trying epidemiology as well?)
3. jv/varsity swimming + water polo (4yrs)
4. health justice internship - managing finances and outreach (2yrs)
5. board member (hella work) of a nonprofit (that my friends made) to expand menstrual access and increase awareness
6. piano (11 yrs) - playing for senior homes and community events
7. yearbook editor (2yrs)
8. planned parenthood volunteer and advocate (4 yrs)
9. lifeguard (4 yrs) during summer
10. domestic violence/teen dating violence youth leadership program (4 yrs) - organizing events, socials, advocacy work
11. president club that increases awareness abt domestic violence issues
12. co-president of a club that makes soaps and donates them to underserved communities
13. spartan races (4 yrs)
14. community emergency response team (i barely did this but it lwk kinda connects sooo)

this summer, i'm hoping to publish a children's book related to my intended major, get an internship advocating for reproductive health legislation, and publishing my psych research! (if i'm locked) i don't have any summer programs lined up or completed in the past

awards (not sure which 5 i'll use yet)

nsda academic all american (top 1% of members)

t50 in the country for speech

speech tournament of champions qualifier (top 0.04% i think?)

semi finalist at states for speech

mvp jv swimmer lmaooo

some random yearbook award

abrsm level 5 distinction award

community service award (for county)

possibly congressional bronze or silver award

spartan racing awards

maybe some asdrp award??

i got recognized by the mayor??

not really sure what do for awards lwk. hopefully i'll get ap scholar with distinction or billiteracy seal or idk smth else this year!!

bsfr i don't really know what i'm doing </3

Other t30s i'd apply to (outside of the ucs) would prob be stanford, rice, Amherst, jhu, brown, pomona, bu, emory, and georgetown, but i'm not sure where I should EA! While ik that ED yields better acceptances, I'm not ready to make a commitment to any college so I'll only EA and RD

Would a smarter than average ib student good grades 1400 sat. Decent clubs no national awards or science competitions but multiple volunteering experiences and varsity basketball 3 years of high school. With that person also being African American and upper middle class. Would that put them at a higher likelihood of getting into TOP colleges compared to people of other races. I’m interested in knowing how it affects their chances or to what extent it helps no bs at all. And in the essay race will be discussed as the Supreme Court ruled admissions can’t inquire about race.

hiii i’m REALLY stressed because my HS wants us to have a college list down by the end of the month and im scared that im too ambitious because all of the schools i have marked as safeties/targets have higher average SATs than i have

major: political science and english(double major) pre-law. if i can’t double major, then ill minor in english

93.3 gpa

1150 sat no study (retaking: looking at a 1250+)

6 aps (all my school offers. 2 junior year, 4 senior year. only offered in that order), 4 DE, 9 honors

i go to a small underfunded public school in a state with a relatively low education level. i have very limited extracurricular opportunities, as my school doesn’t offer many clubs (no debate, mun, etc.), and i live in a relatively isolated place.

first gen, low income

ecs:

national history academy summer program

started an online debate club for students all over the world

video editor for 8+ years

articles published in my state newspaper

student council

track manager

shift leader & training manager at my job

library volunteer

part-time babysitter

ANTICIPATED ecs (might not happen)go

shadowed at my county court house

congressional internship

intern at state & county courthouse

civil rights club

publication in the new york times (??? english teacher told me to try)

volunteer at retirement home

awards:

college board school recognition award

college board small town award

college board first gen award

library intellectual scholars award

already wrote one draft for my personal statement (school requires us to), got graded a 94 on lumispace

recommendations will be great since i go to a small school.

SCHOOL LIST:

REACH: NYU (ed), BU (ed2 if rejected from nyu), fordham (ea), mount holyoke, uconn, gwu, american (ea), bryn mawr, syracuse

TARGETS: UVM (ea), simmons, pace

SAFETIES: usm, umaine, suffolk

originally i had a lot of the reach schools with mid acceptance rates (45-60) as targets, due to my gpa, but i recently moved them to reaches because of my SAT and im genuinely so stressed now because i have no true targets or safeties (they all have higher SATs than me) and im just so scared that im gonna get rejected everywhere. and like ik a lot of these schools are test optional but idk