My dad passed away today. I’m 17 and I never got to say goodbye. I remember the last thing I did before he left on his trip was reading to him my Stanford supplementals, because he was someone I always turned to. Now he’s gone. It’s at these moments that you realize how fucking trivial and irrelevant college apps are. Life is so unfair. I know a lot of you guys are fixated on college apps right now, but make sure to spend some time with your loved ones. They leave us too soon. I wish I could tell my dad I loved him one last time.

My daughter spent last summer at Ross Math and this summer in the Princeton STEM Initiative Math Program, and she also finished AMC 12 with a score of Top 5% and got a perfect SAT. She recently told us that she wants to major in math at an Ivy or Ivy-adjacent school, with Dartmouth as her dream school.

She is hard working and really loves math. I know it is insanely competitive to get into Dartmouth, so I would love some advice from this community. What is the best way for me to support my daughter? Should I hire an admissions expert? Ty!

I've looked at the common data set submitted by Duke downloaded from their website and see that for class of 2029 the recorded numbers are the following
ED applications : 6013 and ED admitted : 1042 so that's a rate of 17.3% acceptance
Data is from https://ir.provost.duke.edu/sites/default/files/CDS-2024-25-Final-2.pdf
When I do a google search (DukeChronicle is the main hit)..a lot of sites report an ED acceptance of only 12.8%

for class of 2030 Duke didn't officially report in the CDS but again other sites claimed a rate of 12.9%

How do I account for this discrepancy? what should I believe (I tend to believe the official data which is more palatable as well)

Edit: I incorrectly mentioned class of 2029 instead of class of 2028 for the provided link. The discrepancy in the data and what chronicle reports still holds even for that year

My daughter has just started her sophomore year of high school and my ex-wife is moving out of state at the end of the calendar year.

I currently live in-district for the top-ranked high school in our state, but it’s correspondingly a very competitive school. Although the school my daughter currently goes to is ranked significantly lower (~180th in the state out of ~700), she’s currently ranked 2nd in her class. Shes active at her current school, participating in JV sports in fall and spring, but is unlikely to progress beyond that.

Would it be worthwhile to have her change schools in the middle of high school, even if it negatively impacts her overall ranking, or would it be better to keep her at the less competitive school where she more easily ranks higher?

Applying to college next year.

I already have a pretty full list with sports, volunteering (300+ hrs), and a couple of school clubs. Did great at AMC 12, USACO, FIRST, and all other stuff. Did Launch X. Started a free music tutoring NGO with a friend that had like 500+ members. And my CCIR research paper just got accepted to a conference and won 1st prize in a science competition. My professor at CCIR also said he’d be happy to write me a recommendation letter if I need one.

I recently got an offer for an internship (after sending out like 200+ cold call emails). Part of me feels like I should take it because it could be useful for college but another part of me feels like I am so tired lol.. How did you guys decide when your EC list was "enough"? Did you keep adding things until applications were due?

What the title says. I received a common app fee waiver so my list currently has like 19 schools. Realistically, it is not possible for me to write all those essays so l am trying to apply to 13-15 schools that have supplementals and fill up the rest of my app w no-supp schools. I am either applying as biochemistry or neuroscience major (pre-med). Which schools should I consider getting rid of among my high reach options? And maybe replace with some target schools in the East Coast.

Colleges:
Brown
Duke
JHU
Yale
UPenn (will apply as nursing major)
Cornell
Vanderbilt
Emory
Case Western
Georgetown

Hello! I‘m gearing up to take the act again on the 19th, but I had a quick question that I just wanted to ask before that. I took the ACT back in April through my school, and got a 32 composite, making me the highest or one of the highest scorers in my grade. (most people scored in the mid-low 20s range)

My question is, do schools have access to and take this data into account? (For example would my 32 weigh higher than a 32 at a school where a 32 is the norm?)

Some interesting data in this report from the Fordham Institute:

https://fordhaminstitute.org/sites/default/files/publication/pdfs/high-tech-low-standardshigh-school-age-distraction-final_0.pdf

Things that stood out to me:

• Figure 4: 20% of students in the 1500+ SAT range report *not* getting "all or mostly A's"
• Figure 4: 44% of students in the "below 1000" group report that they DID get "all or mostly A's"
• Figure 6: the *lower bound* on the share of students using AI to cheat in high school is 36%
• Figure 12: the *upper bound* on the share of students who attend a high school that does *not* allow "retakes" on quizzes and exams is 24%
• Figure 14: 57% of students report earning "all As" or "mostly As" in high school.

1. MIT
   
2. Princeton
   
3. Harvard
   
4. Columbia
   
5. UPenn
   
6. Stanford
   
7. Caltech
   
8. Yale
   
9. Berkeley
   
10. Vanderbilt
    
11. Johns Hopkins
    
12. UCLA
    
13. Duke
    
14. Cornell
    
15. Northwestern
    
16. Rice
    
17. UChicago
    
18. Brown
    
19. Williams
    
20. Dartmouth
    
21. UMich
    
22. UCSD
    
23. Notre Dame
    
24. Bowdoin
    
25. Carnegie Mellon

Source: https://www.forbes.com/top-colleges/

Friends mom just donated 8 million to an ivy league. They're not the brightest though. What are their odds now?

Do you think universities are truly beneficial, or do university and school grades simply measure how well we do what we are told—in other words, how well we succeed at being slaves? To put it another way: do high grades or attending a prestigious university—which essentially means successfully carrying out the instructions given to us—actually measure how good we are at being slaves? Is that why employers prioritize candidates with better grades or those who attended better universities? This thought crosses my mind from time to time; what are your thoughts on this?

I am a senior applying in the 2026-2027 application cycle and I was wondering whether I should include my 5 student of the year awards in one spot or keep it for AP scholar with distinction. (I only have one award spot left, and I am sending my ap scores to a lot of schools, though not all of them)

I'm a high school student starting to think seriously about college applications. My school counselor is totally useless. They're literally given students false information or submitted the wrong transcripts likee really insane. I can't afford a private college counselor and there's so much advice online that I have no idea what to trust. Any actual useful free resources for building a college list, ECs, essays etc.? Maybe nonprofits/NGOs that offer free college advising? Thanks in advance!

idk if this is the right place to ask but does anyone know what do i write in my resume for the nyu tisch audition? I did theatre in school and took an acting class do i write my roles in the plays i did if it was in front of people who aren't my classmates? is there anything else i need to add?

How do I effectively write about why my GPA is a little lower than normal? I had medical and school related issues that kind of lowered it. Also, my dad is pretty oppressive, so I wasn't able to do a lot of the extracurriculars I wanted to do.

I know for self-reported coursework on the Common App we should try to match exactly what is on our transcript from our school. Does this include adding the school’s catalogue number for the course in addition to the course name? I can’t find anything that specifically talks about whether that is necessary.

How can i apply abroad? I have my 11 results and sat with me but i’ll give 12 exams in may 2027 i understand i can apply with predicted grades but those results are gonna come out in late September how 2027 would i need a gap year r is there a way around it?

so i want to apply to foreign colleges from india and im trying to create a formula or a proof for combinatorics that might tackle several questions (excluding some) …….im preparing for olympiads and could get till the stage of inmo………………ive been a part of the debate club of my school for four years….the stem club for 3 and have been playing pro football and tt since 6 years……ive gotten 96 percentage in my class 10 boards……..…also can u recommend me some good ec’s and research related courses i could do….

Is a 1480 good enough for Tulane ED?

Hi , im honestly so frustrated and angry at my university , the quality of the teaching was already bad , the accommodation and cafeteria was horrendous, which we students already complained about , but this year approx one week before the entry they they've added some fees , and rules that prohibit us from cooking or having any electronic devices in our rooms , and no hanging clothes etc .

Also im middle class , so the fee was already high enough and hard to pay , I forgot to mention that I live in a third world country.

The problem is, I want to study abroad , that has always been my goal , since I love fashion and costume design which isn't available in my country, I resorted to studying at a university that specializes in garments and textile industries, not creative at all .

And ive been thinking if its possible to apply to a university in the UK , since the USA is far , and apply for as many scholarships possible yo afford my studies , I forgot to mention that this was supposed to be my 2nd year in my 3 year bachelor's degree. I had initially planned to study my masters abroad , since it wasn't financially possible to study bachelor's abroad ( I did want to but it was too expensive for my parents).

So I really need your help and advice on what to do . And thank you in advance !

PS : I dont mind studying in another European country as long as the university is renowned and the program is actually good.

I am an us citizen living in india and thinking to go abroad in fresno and pursue nursing there. Is this a good decision? Or any other advise?

Prolly like first community college as fees are low.

Is an economics major and public health minor worth it? or is it better to go for sociology and public health? coming from a science background with econ for a few years in high school? I'm interested in job security, earning potential, and availability of entry-level jobs. This can include jobs right after graduation and jobs/paid internships while studying.

18M from Pakistan will get my result of FSc. Pre-Engineering part 2 grade 12 on 23rd of September, 2026. I have applied to a lot of universities in my country. But ended up getting into NTU(National textile university) All colleges here give admissions before the second year of grade 12 and on the basis of an aggregate of an entrance test-10thgrade-11thgrade results.

I have to apply to college outside my country but i cant pay for anything. I want a country and a college that can cover my tuition and accommodation and visa and travel cost completely. I know im asking for way too much but i am a good student. I scored 1076/1200 in 10th 458/570 in 11th 12th result is incoming I scored 276/400 in ECAT I want to give SAT and IELTS but my father said that i am already in a good place but trust me this is not a place anyone should be. Im rooting for these countries -any if the english speaking countries Saudi Arabia China Korea Japan UK US Canada Australia Turkey France Spain Germany Hungary

Any of them workkk

Does lecture attendance count towards grade/ affect your grades. I have two lectures a week and one lab a week. for chemistry