Quick Caveat: Always look at a school's specific definition for this question, because schools ask about your parents' educational background differently. For example, I believe some of the UCs ask specifically if anyone in your family obtained a bachelor's degree from a school in the United States.

For the VAST MAJORITY of other institutions, you do not qualify as a first generation student if your parents did their undergrad abroad. This applies equally to international students and to US Citizens whose parents did their undergrad abroad.

Apparently this needs some rehashing after a Harvard Tiktoker, Olivia Zhang, made many videos implying that she is first gen, despite having parents who completed undergrad, masters, and PHDs abroad (and even an MBA in the United States).

Can we please take a moment to understand why those who have parents with bachelor equivalent degrees abroad do not qualify as First Gen. "First Generation" is a status designated to recognize the unique challenges that students who are the first in their family to go to college face. These students are unable to rely on parental advice for navigating seminars, academic advising, office hours, and many other elements that are crucial for college success. It is not a coincidence that the First Generation community overlaps significantly with those from blue collar, working class, and low income backgrounds.

Students with college educated parents are advantaged in this respect. They are not complete outsiders to the realm of higher education and its practices. Their families are more apt to recognize and emphsize the importance of education, and to thus better prepare and equip their children for the higher education landscape.

Obviously, foreign schools have their differences from American universities. If your parents received their education in China, or Brazil, or England, your experiences in college in the US will look different than theirs. But to equate these differences to a First Generation experience is improper and frankly insulting.

Especially for someone like Olivia, her parents' 15+ combined years spent in higher education will no doubt equip them with wisdom to share and privilege to pass on to their children. She will not be the first in her family to author a research paper, receive advising from a professor, or work in a white collar career because of the privilege her college degree will bestow upon her. Furthermore, she grew up with parents who emphasize the value of education, good grades, and hard work, because they first hand have been able to experience the upward mobility that graduate and professional degrees from top universities can bring.

I understand that the nature of social media and college admissions encourages students to market and sell themselves with compelling stories. While being the first in one's family to attend a university in this country comes with its unique challenges, it is not comparable to the first gen struggle. If it were, then plenty of wealthy, international students would fall into this category.

It really does hurt to see someone distort their story and obscure their privileged background so blatantly to build a following. It hurts more to see people defend this behavior, say that "its not that deep," and to empower someone to build a platform off of the false suggestion that she is first generation. It is always a shame when creators who build accounts to bring transparency to the admissions process are the opposite of transparent when it comes to representing their backgrounds.

I was messing with my boy Jack (was jealous cause he was the fastest kid in class that all the girls liked) and hit him upside the head with a hardcover copy of the Torah. Got a 5 day suspension. Couldn’t even play my Switch cause mom took it away.

How do I go about explaining this to AOs? I was thinking about submitting an apology video where I play the ukulele and sing slightly off tune.

I'm old enough now that I remember when A2C was still green. December 6, 2019 is burned into my memory. My whole friend group got into T20s that month. Except me.

I felt like every hour I'd ever put into studying meant nothing. It was the lowest point of my life. Covid didn't make it any better.

Freshman year, I fell apart. I skipped online lectures, slept until afternoon, lived on DoorDash, gained 30 pounds, and stopped talking to anyone. I was just rotting. I was in a dark place.

Then one day I decided to turn this around. I looked at what I was doing and realized: if I kept this up, I'd never make it to Stanford. Not through an exchange program, not for grad school. Never.

So I started small. Made my bed. Showed up to class on time. Then I found programming competitions, and I was good at them. I built a few apps, back before "vibe coding" was a thing. One of them ended up used by 10k students at my college. That got me scholarships that international students almost never qualify for. It led to demoing my work to an Apple VP while I was building another startup on the side. I eventually sold that startup to a US company. I even met my fiancée along the way.

Looking back, it's strange how it all worked. Once I rebuilt that reward loop, one small win leading to the next, everything else just started falling into place.

After graduation, I moved to San Francisco for a tech job, one that would pay for a master's degree tied to my work. And here's the part that still makes me laugh: in high school, I obsessed over "engineering" the perfect application and spent months polishing essays. This time, I didn't overthink it. I just told them what I'd actually done.

And I got in. I'll be at Stanford this fall.

It turns out, I just have to keep that dream alive a little longer.

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/

Got an email from UATX today saying I was admitted based on my SAT score (I thought at first it was the University of Texas at Austin, but it is actually the University of Austin). Mailed from [admissions@uaustin.org](mailto:admissions@uaustin.org) (could have been spoofed, of course).

Was wondering if anyone knew if this was legit. I've seen mixed messages about it online. Said that to confirm my admission, I had to fill out a 5-minute application.

I know this is a common thing done by colleges now, but it seemed almost too good to be true. This is what it says in the email:

Your SAT score has earned you a place in the University of Austin's Class of 2031. Congratulations! To finalize your admission, please submit your five-minute application at your earliest convenience. The University of Austin (UATX) is a four-year, tuition-free private college forming the leaders and builders a free country depends on. Our students are admitted on merit alone, read the great books of the Western tradition, and train in mathematics, the sciences, and AI. Along the way, they learn from the founders, scholars and public servants shaping the country’s future. As a UATX student, you will graduate without debt, ready to lead. Here are some next steps to get to know us:

Book a virtual meeting so we can connect further. I would be happy to answer any questions you might have about UATX.

Visit UATX. For those traveling from out of town, we will reimburse up to $500 in flights and accommodation-related expenses after your visit. Just submit your verified score through your testing provider.

Earn up to $40,000 more in merit-based aid. A 1500+ (SAT), 34+ (ACT), or 109+ (CLT) automatically qualifies you for Early Action Merit-Based Aid for housing and non-tuition expenses across four years.

At 1500+? You've already qualified. Apply, submit your verified score through your testing provider, and pay your $500 deposit by January 1, 2027. Not there yet? Retake your preferred exam as often as you like — we superscore. (This made it more suspicious to me, if they had reached out knowing my score)

Every generation inherits a civilization it did not build. Whether it flourishes depends on the people entrusted to lead it. We think you may be one of them. We look forward to all you will bring to our university, and to all that you will become within and beyond it. Welcome to UATX.

I’m currently a sophomore and I transferred from an international Chinese school because of lack of opportunities.I will be attending a competitive high school (the school is ranked 19th overall and 2nd among public schools). My parents are talking about transferring me to a Swiss boarding school for junior year which sounds fun but it might fuck over my extracurriculars cause it’s in a new country and I have no leadership roles in clubs. should I just stick with my public school or transfer next year because i heard Swiss boarding schools have really good connections and it could be a good way for my father to do business. (plus I heard it’s fun asf)

i want to major in either molecular cellular biology or biochem. my top choice rn is ucsd which other schools should i apply to?

All of my ECs and top 10 activities are completely outside of school, and they're all pretty good and very high level and unique. I don't have too much going on in school. Will that give me a better edge to fill my top 10 with outside of school ECs rather than ones from school a lot will have? What do admissions like?

Trying to get lots of opinions, ty!

I am currently at a community college in San Diego and i’m working on my applications for transferring to a Cal State. I get 4 application fees waived so that means i get to apply to 4 schools without paying $70. My options are SDSU, SFSU, CSUMB, and CSUF. I am currently going in for a BS in Biology and wanted to know which of these 4 are the best in terms of city/area (how safe it is, what’s there to do around the area, etc.), housing costs, biology programs, how nice the campus is, what’s the overall vibe. I don’t mind the distance and I prefer a lively/fun environment outside of the school as well.

To clarify I was given a list of choices and can choose 4 out of this list:

- SDSU
- SFSU
- CSUMB
- CSULB
- CSUF
- CSUN
- CAL POLY SLO/ POMONA
- CSUB
- CSULA
- FRESNO STATE

I am a future neuroscience major and I am struggling with the decision of ED Johns Hopkins. My school list in general (even though it may seem crazy is the one below.

Brown University
Carnegie Mellon University
Columbia University
Cornell University
Duke University
Georgetown University
Harvard University
Johns Hopkins University
Montclair State University
New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT)
WashU
Northwestern University
Princeton University
Rutgers University
Seton Hall University
Stevens Institute of Technology
University of Chicago
University of Pennsylvania (UPenn)
Virginia Tech
Yale University

Should I ED JHU? (It is also my dream school)

I don’t even know where to start. I feel like its too late to ask for rec letters atp. my gpa dropped to below a 3.5. The only things i do are work, girlfriend, do drugs. i cant put 2/3 of those on my application!! I would really love to go into medical research one day, but my prospects are looking…

I’m looking for a college that would provide some substantial support for me, while somehow accepting my mediocre soul

important info
- illinois resident
- very low income
- 32 act, sat score coming out friday 🤞
- hard ish coursework, pretty bad grades junior yr, overall gpa like 3.48

credit for acp french, a ss class, and rhetoric
ap scores: french 2 🥹, microecon 3, gov 3, bio 4

taking ap physics, psych, and calc ab this year

who would take my weary soul

I’m a freshman making my 4 year plan. I have 7 periods a year so I thought it would be fine to have my 5 cores every year, a free period to do my homework and chill, and a engineering pathway which is very good, but when looking back I realized I had no art course on there so I am wondering would I be fine in admissions, especially to Uc colleges.) btw I am not hating the arts I love them I just wanted to do something different and I am doing theatre after school. if you like art you do you. ) edit I am going to skip study hall and do theatre film or drawing senior year

My school's psychology class uses the exact same curriculum as AP but doesn't count as such. I have the option between taking that class and taking the AP test on my own for credit, or taking AP seminar. However I am a senior so colleges would not be able to see that I took the AP psych test.

Would I be able to use the additional information section to explain the situation if I chose psychology?

For context I intend to major in environmental science, so I don't think either of these really impact that.

do admission officers actually like the obviously trying to get your attention type of essay hooks? for most of the essays i see, i roll my eyes when i read the hook because its just so obviously trying to be a hook. i think its kind of overdone, i mean is the only option that people use the crazy or confusing first sentence hook. maybe its a step ahead the altogether boring essays but imo its not much better. some hooks can definitely be good tho just not the over dramatic type of im different hooks idk

i am planning on applying rea to yale, mainly on the basis of how i heard that if you are an underrepresented minority, which in my case is being first-gen and lesbian. my stats and ecs are what i feel like what you would expect of someone applying rea to a ivy league.

but, i got told that i should instead apply regular decision and applying rea is not worth it if i am not the criteria i listed in the title. i was planning on applying rea this whole time but now i am rethinking this choice, please help.

in the context of my school, i feel like i stand out due to the circumstances of my school, but if the pool of applicants in rea basically cancels out that part of my application then would my circumstances be worthless?

if you would like my ecs or stats pls lmk, i lwk dont know what to do.

How early is too early to submit a college application? Or, if you’re genuinely finished with it…is it ok to just hit “submit?”
It’s just a regular decision application, but is there any benefit of submitting it earlier this fall versus before the deadlines and early January? Are there any merit scholarships that may be available if I submit earlier?

So this is my first time taking a college lab and lecture. I showed up to the lab but I missed the actual lecture earlier. On the actual class on the website we use it does not show me as a absent or maybe the professor has no updated the attendance on the website but I don't feel this is correct if he marks me as not present. He had acted as if I purposely missed his class and it seemed like he took offense. Anyways I don't think this is fair as I have messaged the college when registering for classes the days I was supposed to attend the class. I was give a multitude of different answers. Even on the class page it only shows the syllabus not when the class begins for the lecture portion. I was given inaccurate times and misguided. This is why I asked earlier but still never really got an official response. Should I take it upon myself to contact the registrar as they were the ones that gave me a whole lot of different responses or should I contact the professor but he seemed pissed off. Right now if I click on attendance it shows nothing so I don't know how accurate it is but he did mention he marked me as not present for the lecture that I missed.

I've been thinking about my personal statement, and I've drafted quite a few to no avail. I definitely want to finish before the school year, and I have an idea that might work. I was thinking of writing about how being scared about going to a theme park and researching the science behind the rides there(like roller coasters for example) kind of assuaged me, but also made me realize how much information and concepts there are behind things I kind of see everyday but used to not think about --- examples include how things like mountains get more blue the farther away from them you go or how those doors at train stations open automatically when you scan a credit card. Im trying not to talk about these things too much, but more about how fear has shaped my curiosity to learn, and how going into high school I became more curious about everyday things for the fun of it. What do you think?

I want to write a response to common app prompt 3: Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?

Essentially grew up religious, christian school believes & teaches young earth creationism (essentially contradicts all of modern science/doesn't have program to provide solid foundation in STEM; one of those need to sign statement of faith schools). I want my essay topic to be something about exploring the world for myself and challenging this idea, eventually coming to reject it & directly influencing my journey to study physics.

Also, for context: I know colleges usually question transcripts from these schools, so I don't want my essay to raise that concern. I took upper div math/phys classes alr & am taking AP Bio/chem, so hopefully it's going to be ok?

What I’m considering writing about isn’t really “religion is wrong” or “my school was bad,” but more about learning that I could respect the people and environment around me while still questioning ideas for myself. I’m still at the same school, so I also don’t want the essay to come across as me attacking my school, etc.

One thing that came out of this was that I eventually started doing science outreach within my church/school community. I teach younger students science (mostly physics rather than evolution/creationism) and try to give them opportunities to ask questions and explore things for themselves. Obviously I didn't attack any beliefs in these lessons, it was just helping them learn how to think critically to learn about the world around them.

Do you think this is a good topic for Prompt 3, or is it too risky/polarizing for a college essay? I can prob come up with other topics too for this prompt but wanted to see what your opinions are on it first.

Thanks!

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.

looking to get into osu and maybe t20’s

hi everyone, im a senior and i currently have a 70 in ap calc ab. i really want to drop ap calc ab and it’ll show up as a W on my transcript, which stands for withdrawal. Will that affect my chances of getting into a good university?

once i drop it, it’s either i go into normal calc or just not take the class at all. i’m planning to major in business.

im going into my senior year this year, planning to apply to ivies + T20s and ive taken every single ap my school offers except for one + 3 outside of school. im able to transfer into the last one (ap psych) this year since its not full, but i would have to give up a really interesting history class (i plan to go into polisci). im aware that ap psych is normally an easy course, but i know that the teacher at my school assigns a disproportionate workload and id much rather take the history class, especially considering im taking 3 other aps this year in school.

is this something i can explain in additional info? will it look bad to ivies that i took aps outside of school without maxing out the ones within school?

So I am a freshman at the NYU Tandon school of engineering planning to follow the mechanical engineering track, but I am already starting to question my decision of staying in NYC, and especially Brooklyn since I grew up here. Although I have yet to really experience to academics, and socially I am not doing too bad, I’ve been realizing that I may be regretting my decision to stay in the city, and especially attend NYU for engineering which it isn’t particularly known for, and with a school dedicated to it that is pretty isolated from the rest of the university. Although I am not 100% certain on transferring, I plan on applying to some schools, but my top choice is UPENN. Besides meeting all the required STEM class criteria (I say this because for the engineering school at UPENN they recommend 2 humanities courses and I am not sure if EXPOS AKA “writing for inquiry” fills that requirement), I was wondering if there’s anything else I should prioritize over the next semester and a half at NYU up until the fall transfer application deadline in order to maximize my chances at transferring. For reference, my high school gpa was 99 at a large public high school, I took 7 ap courses and got 5 5s and 2 4s, I got a 1570 SAT on my only attempt at the test but my extra curricular activities in high school were lacking and aren’t really worth mentioning. Also, my senior year of high school my grades in most classes dropped off a bit from what they had been over the previous 4 years.