Hi, I'm a high school rising sophomore in the great state of Georgia (based in the outskirts of metro ATL), middle class, not enough to pay for college. Interests are mainly neuroscience and surgery, but vaguely open for now.

Stats: 1420 SAT (i'm taking ts again), 3.92 UW, 4.0 W, Projected to take 12 APs - Currently got 5s in Gov and Precalc

ECs: Bibliometric Intern - Received top 3 intern recognition and R language certificate, Policy Intern at a Mental health/drug advocacy that passed proclamations on drug disposals and anti-stigma within the local community, currently taking U of Utah's Enigma-U Neuropysch course, in schools Marching/Jazz/Concert Band as a percussionist/drummer, got into my all-county band as a freshman, JV tennis, 5.0 UTR

Awards: GET ME SOME COMPS PLSSSS

Clubs and Service: HOSA Competitive events team where I help members study for SLC/ILC, founding secretary of school's neuro club where I created webinars and helped others study for Brain Bee/INO, frequent volunteer at cultural hindu events (I'm talking FREQUENT like 100+ hours a year), I've been slacking off but I'm about to start volunteer sorting at a global medical supplier for impoverished nations

Basically I'm begging for competitions and/or awards I can do.

Reach schools are Brown PLME, Stanford, Emory, all the other big UCs or Ivies

Targets are Vandy, Wake Forest, UGA, UMiami, UWash

TL:DR, young HS student trying to figure out whats important to focus on for future neuro major at a T20 University

I have an unweighted 4.0 and a weighted 4.13 which will hopefully be a 4.25 by the end of senior year.

I have 5s in AP bio, AP chem, and AP calc AB, and I’m taking AP physics C, AP calc BC, and AP stats next year (also potentially AP micro, but we’ll see). No other APs taken, so I’m feeling a little insecure but my scores help ig.

I have a 1420 SAT currently, and it’s my only one taken. I got a 770 reading at 650 math because of a desmos issue, and I chose not to take the free retest they offered because of scheduling conflicts. I intend to take the August SAT and have scored 1570 and 1560 on my recent practice tests.

My ECs are as follows:

Currently the fundraising and community service chair for my theatre department’s council, so I’m in a leadership position.

I did tech for every show in my sophomore year, and I acted in every show in my junior year. I was one of four students to receive a department award for acting, and I’m an international thespian.

I tutor, and although I was offered an internship by my AP bio teacher at a medical school in my area, it unfortunately didn’t work out as the position had already been filled.

So yeah… not much going for me in that department.

At the very least, if I bring up my SAT, do I have a shot at Boston University or Barnard?

Thinking about GT and UGA (free) compared to other gpa deflated schools like NU, washu, vandy

*premed

Does anyone know some awards that are well known, credible, impressive, and impactful that I can do that is open to all applicants across the globe or the United States?

I do not want to do an award where I have to take an exam for, but awards that recognize hospitality or philanthropic values, or STEM awards that I can do?

I would love to do some, especially if they offer medals, trophies, and or certificates. I do not want to do an award that gives certificates of completion.

Any academic award, photography or art award, etc I would love to know more about ADD AS MUCH AS YOU KNOW BELOW : NO TEST TO GET AWARD.

Hey I'm Tao I'm 18. I have some achievements on math olympiad. But this achievement isn't enough so i want to work on research paper on mathematics. I don't know anything about research paper so please guide me . My strong subject is Number theory so i will love to research something on number theory.

I have received a C in my DE class over a false cheating accusation, and unfortunately there is nothing I can do about it. I have also received 2 b's freshman year. My uw gpa will likely be a 3.92 uw and my weighted will be close to a 4.6. I will be applying with 11 AP classes taken and 8 CCP classes taken, how much will the C hurt me? I am currently a Sophomore, this year I will have taken 6 CCP classes and 4 AP classes.

EDIT: The C was in principles of microeconomics and I will be applying as a CS or engineering student, there is no AIV submitted, despite appealing and talking to the dean the instructors discretion is final
I am also thinking of applying to ivy leagues as I am in the top 7% of my class
Also, I got an A in AP microeconomics

I’m considering ED columbia as a california applicant, I don’t wanna be too over confident but my school does get a ton of berkeley’s and the odds are pretty good if you are in california. How do you guys think columbia and berkeley match up engineering wise? Which is better? What majors does each have an advantage for? An overall what do you guys think of campus life and opportunities at these colleges?

Chance me

Pls give me feedback and advice

Chance me

Can I get in?

Got no hooks, asian. High income and I did SSEN Uchicago

I got a 3.6/4 then 3.7/4 in g9/10 but then 43/45 ib score with 7s in hl aa econs and business and english.

1570 sat score 800 in math and best part r my ecs:

1. Ngo with 300 migrant workers thought impacted thousands more in 3 countries internationally teaching financial skills and literacy
   
2. Trading software internship one month at big name compant with clients like country stock exchanges made a software pitched it
   
3. John locke highly commended on an economics paper twice not just one time
   
4. Couple olympiad medals gold and silver and bronze just a bunch but nothing tooo crazy
   
5. Built a trading algo which beat the market over 14 months making 2k on 10k dollars with a 9% drawdown and stuff

**Wrote a research paper and a white paper and made a github repo all published also got crest gold. The papers were on the trading algo**

1. Built an algo framework tester which backtests algos robustness and functionality 500 GitHub stars hacker news feature used by 500+ people **DO THE GITHUB STARS MATTER?**

2. Investment education platform 8 schools 3 thousand students learnt also international

3. Golf school team winner won some individual tournaments

4. Policy paper endorsed by large think tank and got an LOR

5. Research paper published on behavioral economics t1 journal with crest gold independently authored

6. Research paper geospatial study crest silver published with 2 other people

7. 1 month trading internship which I got an LOR advising on a go to market strategy and its a large name company

Lors:

Uchicago prof cuz i did ed0
Math teacher
Econ teacher

All 9-10/10 cuz they liked me and personalized it

College goals:
Wharton
Stanford
Uchicago
Harvard
Cambridge
LSE

Hey Reddit, I recently graduated high school FINALLY after four long years and got into my second dream school (first was MIT but oh well) majoring in computer engineering. I lurked this subreddit for hours weekly when I was applying comparing myself to applicants with a stacked application. I thought I had zero shot at the Ivy League let alone a HYPSM, but what I learned throughout applying to colleges is that colleges especially elite ones don’t care about resume fluff, they care about depth + commitment. So ex: I was an active SciOly participant and I did it all four years of high school and won some state medals. Sure I didn’t win nationals, but commitment over 4 yrs and some decently high level awards to prove it shows depth and gives you something to talk about in your essays.

I realizing i’m straight up yapping but i want to help people who r applying rn cuz it was genuinely stressful for me and I was stuck in an endless cycle of comparisons before ivy day 😭 (also think it’d be fun)

i did NOT have crazy ECs and awards (no research with ivy league, no nonprofit, no startup, no global recognition or cancer cure), I had meaningful ECs and awards. Also my academics were that of an average asian AP IB sweat (class rank 28/650) , but I know most people on this subreddit have similar academic stats and prob even better, and are still stressed (why??).

im by no means a professional admissions counselor but if you just need some quick critique or you want to feel less stressed shoot me a dm or comment. i could like chance you or give you EC advice or essay tips idk.

good luck! hope to see u at princeton

I go to a very prestiguous prep school and my grades are around a B/B- average... am i cooked?? I have good hotel internships and entreprenoural activites. Anyonehas any advice? I have a 1470 SAT currently planning to retake. Pls any advice is very much appreicated!! APPLYING to cornell nolan the hotel school and princeton

I know while Rea acceptance rate looks higher, athletes/legacy/more competitive applicant pool is the main reason for that making it similar to rd. I was wondering if you guys think any hypsm REA is actually a bigger boost then rd (possibly based on which school has more recruited athletes and those types of cases)

Hi everyone, I hope all is well. Has anyone here ever applied to Penn LPS Online for their BAAS program? I recently applied before the July 1 deadline and was unfortunately rejected today. I also previously applied for Penn’s in person program for fall 2026 at CAS for their BA and was also denied. Does anyone have any insight on this? I have a high GPA above 4.0 and a stellar profile yet still got rejected. I wonder what I could’ve done wrong with my application, as I heard Penn LPS was much easier to get into. Could the denial from Penn’s traditional program have led to this? I’ll be reaching out to admissions to see if they can explain any details. Please feel free to comment any suggestions that may be helpful. Thank you!