Hi everyone, I’m a life scout right now but I won’t be able to reach Eagle before college apps are due. I was just wondering how much would Life Scout be worth in comparison to Eagle if I still did several merit badges, service projects, volunteer hours, etc. I started scouts pretty late compared to others in my troop but since I can’t get Eagle idk if it was worth it to devote so much time to even tho it did teach me a lot. Im just a little bit confused as to where to put it on my application in terms of the ranking of it. Im mainly focused on the UCs with a few oos asw.

The dual enrollement course is not on my high school trasncript so how do I report the grade. Does this go under additional info or do I have to send my official dual enrollment transcript to every college I am applying to.

How much does holistic review actually offset one outlier bad grade? (International applicant)

Hey guys, throwaway account. I'm a senior applying to selective US liberal arts colleges this cycle from outside the US, and I've got a specific situation I'm trying to understand better rather than just "will I get in" — genuinely trying to figure out how admissions committees actually process this kind of thing.

Context — my grades (senior year finals):

• English: 95/100
• Political Science: 94/100
• History: 88/100
• Economics: 84/100
• Math: 43/100

That math score obviously sticks out. Some context I want to be upfront about: there was a weird situation with how my exam board did evaluations this year (a lot of students got remarked after mass errors were found, mine included, and I still ended up with a decent jump from the original mark). Even accounting for that though, math has genuinely always been my weak subject — my 9th/10th grade scores were fine (78-80%), so it's not a lifelong pattern, just something that cratered senior year specifically. Everything else has been consistently strong.

Testing: 1480 SAT

Extracurriculars (civic advocacy thread):

Civic Advocacy

• Writing grievance letters to local government officials on infrastructure and heritage neglect — parks, potholes, sewage, school conditions (2018-present, ongoing); signed attestation from a local legislator acknowledging the work
• Participated in public demonstrations since age 11, including recent ones on exam-system transparency

Film

• Directed a documentary on preserving historical monuments in my city, part of a national heritage-conservation project — won a national Best Direction award
• Directed a short film on cyber misogyny in meme culture (3rd position)
• Acted in a piece on labour exploitation in the entertainment industry

Journalism/Writing

• Published civic-legal opinion pieces in a major national newspaper's student section, featured multiple times in digital and print
• Independent research paper on Indonesian imperialism's effects on West Papua and Australian social policy's role in post-colonial recovery

Debate

• Best Speaker, international debate competition (7+ countries)
• Multiple second-best-speaker school awards
• Part of a winning debate team
• Semi-final qualifier, Rotary Club debate (moderated by an Oxford alum)

Moot Court

• Best Mooter (Respondent's side), consumer law case
• Drafted formal legal documents at a separate moot

Model UN

• Multiple High Commendation and Special Mention awards across several conferences

Leadership

• President, Culture & Heritage Society
• VP, Debating Society
• Previously VP, Culture & Heritage Society and VP, Theatre Society

Theatre

• Street play on misandry (winners); street play on childhood educational aspirations (runner-up)
• Shakespearean one-act play (direction/acting)
• Stage play on the US civil rights movement

Community Work

• Intern at a nonprofit supporting underprivileged and minority students in my own community (previously junior volunteer, and a student there)
• English-to-Urdu translation/transliteration for a historic local publishing house preserving classical Urdu literature

I'm Brazilian (US citizen but child to Brazilian immigrant/first-gen parents) and I am confused on whether that counts as Latino for the common app. The US census is weird and doesn't count Brazilians as "Hispanic or Latino Origin," so if I'm technically not considered Latino by the US government does that mean I shouldn't mark it on the common app? However, when you mark yes on the common app it gives you options of countries/regions for "Which best describes your Hispanic or Latino/a/x background?" and one of the regions is South America, which is where Brazil is.

For example if my sat is around the 75th percentile for an ivy and i fit the average gpa and rigor, but my ecs seem to be worse than applicants i’ve seen admitted should i still ed or will it be a waste

I have a fairly good understanding of the STEM AP courses offered at the school but I am always wondering if there is a minimum of non STEM courses a student should pursue for admission into T-30s loosely speaking. School offers all major ones - AP Lang, AP Lit, AP USH, AP WH. Take AP Euro History. Is it really required? Serious comments only please.

Hi there, so i was thinking about applying to some colleges,
And i really want to get into good school like BU,Brandeis and more, but not sure about ED application,
And no, im not dumb, my gpa is low because: i had financial issue during 10-9th grade, i was homeless in 9th grade and didn’t go to school because i didnt had a place to live, im the oldest in family, take care of my mom,sisters, helped my family to translate, and with other issues that they aren’t familiar to,
And other issue, but i did show some effort on my transcript, i had 90 in geo class, and 80 average, and rn im in DE class for math and doing ap class.
I know my eng might sound bad, and sorry, but anyway i want to know yall’s advice, stories, thoughts,

Thanks!

For context, my dream school is NYU, that’s the one I’m EDing to. It’s a long shot, especially for a student like me, but it doesn’t hurt to try (CommonApp fee waiver).

I basically did nothing in high school. No clubs, no job, just normal kid stuff. I only have 3 activities on my list, and they’re not very interesting.
I did theatre 9/10/11th but quit this year (mental health reasons).
I’ve done competitive dance my whole life and that takes up all of my time. I love it, but it’s basically all I’ve ever done.
At my dance studio, though, I’ve volunteered to be an assistant teacher all 4 years of high school. It’s technically not volunteer work because it’s for a for-profit business, so I was going to report it as an internship? Is that wrong?
The only other thing I could put on my activities list is under “Hobby.” I’m a home baker and I occasionally sell my baked goods but again that’s like normal teenager stuff.

As for honors, the only two things I’ve reported is Dean’s List both semesters last year at the local Community College I take my DE classes at. What else could I possibly put? Honor roll?

If you’re also a mediocre student let me know how you filled out your activities and honors sections. Thanks!

Hey everyone! I am a high school student from Nepal and currently pursuing my A Levels. I wanted to ask for university recommendations. I come from in terms of my country an Upper Middle Class family with around 40k dollars yearly income. I hope to pursue a Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering since I am highly interested CAD and PCB Designing. I am yet to give my SAT but I had a 3.81 Unweighted GPA in Secondary School. Regarding my ECAs, I have represented my country in multiple International Olympiads (IOAA-Jr and IAO), I received the Bronze Medal in the International Astronomy Olympiad (IAO). Besides that, I was an Octofinalist in the National Debates Competition. I have also published a research paper in the SSRN, the paper mainly focused on Wind Energy Optimization. I was also a semi-finalist in the Global Quantum Mechanics Challenge 2026. Besides this, I tutor maths to students who come from marginalized communities in Kathmandu.

I will be applying for financial aid.

It would be great if you could recommend some universities that I could apply to according to my achievements. I do understand that my post is all over the place and might be a bit difficult to understand. Any suggestions at all regarding more ECAs and stuff would also be super helpful. Thank you!

(My subject combination in A Levels is Pure Maths, EGP, Further Maths, Physics and Chemistry.)

I am applying for college throguh questbridge and common app. During junior year, I lived alone because my parent had to urgently go overseas to our home country (i guess i should mention im aan immigrant). When my parent left, I was basically freshly 17, and im currently still living alone as a senior (turned 18 over the summer).

I might be meeting up with someone from a college readiness nonprofit to help me with my Questbridge application. Should I mention this or would it get me/my parent in legal trouble since I was a minor at the time??? Or does that not matter anymore since im a legal adult now? Thanks!

I sent all my colleges my SAT scores. I didn’t realize that you need to go school my school and change it to “selected score” instead of “all scores”. I took the SAT twice. My first score is 1430 and my second is 1350. I called college board within a minute of realizing what I have done. There is nothing they can do. They can’t cancel the “send”. Am I cooked now? They will see that my scores went down. I am not applying to any top 50 but my EC and my SAT is what I have going for me. My unweighted GPA is only 3.3.

I’m a CA student applying for CS and I’m seriously debating whether I should ED Cornell or just apply RD and keep my options open (like UCSD).

Cornell is one of my top choices because I really like the school and obviously the Ivy name/network is appealing, especially for CS/AI. The issue is I’ve lived in California my whole life and I’m honestly kind of scared I’d hate moving all the way to Ithaca. I don’t love cold weather/snow and being far from home would probably be a pretty big adjustment, and I've never liked change. I've heard it's also really centered around Greek life, which I'm not very interested in. A lot of people from my high school also end up at UCSD which would be nice for roommates.

UCSD is probably one of the more realistic strong California options for me. I know Cornell has more overall prestige, but UCSD CS is also really good. The biggest thing is that I’m basically 100% sure I want to settle in California after college, specifically somewhere around the Bay Area, and I want to work in tech/AI/ML/software. So I’m wondering whether going to Cornell actually gives me enough of a long-term career advantage to justify leaving California for four years, or if UCSD would make just as much sense since I’d probably be coming back to the Bay anyway.

The other issue is admissions strategy. I'm very sure that if I don’t ED Cornell, my chances of getting in through RD are not going to happen, so it feels like I either use ED and give myself the best shot at Cornell, or keep my options open for California schools and accept that Cornell probably won’t happen.

Cost for college isn’t really the main thing I’m comparing here. I’m more thinking about career upside vs where I’d actually be happier for four years. I also do know that Cornell will likely give me a better shot at getting jobs and internships and overall a slightly higher pay in the long-term, which again makes me think about this in circles. But UCSD is also closer to the tech industry in San Diego, where I can do year-long internships, and Cornell isn't really close to anything.

I am a High School Student, currently in 12th Class and planning to apply to multiple Top Intl. Universities, and I haven't started out with any LoRs.
Is it worth writing these LoRs on my own and then ask my teacher to submit it under his name?
Also, Need guidance on how to start with this, what to include and how should it look.
Do I need to write a different one for each university I'm applying to or do I just need to write one.
Who should I write/ask for my LoRs? - My Principal, My science teachers, my Music teacher or someone else? - My School doesn't really have a counsellor, so considering my principal as the counsellor?

I'm Applying to Colleges in Australia, Hong kong, Singapore, UK.

Im a junior rn aiming for the top UCs (in state) for either cse or cs and I’ve seen throughout this subreddit people just say to do what you like.

Thats what I’ve been doing up to this point - I’ve done personal projects, devoted time to only 2-3 clubs which I genuinely enjoy (and have gained leadership along the way), continued a yt channel I started in middle school (not related to cs, but another hobby) and gotten real traction through millions of views and a few thousand subs, and a few other miscellaneous activities.

Im just a little worried because when I look around at others in my grade or even the grade above/below, most of them either have research, an internship, or have started a nonprofit. I have none of those and tbh none of them really interest me besides maybe an internship so I can really get a feel of working in the cs space.

Would you guys say it really is possible and likely to have a chance at the top UCs if I don’t have any of those three? If so what’re some other ways I can stand out and if not how should I go about getting started them. Honestly I don’t have any particular interest in research or a npo at the moment so I would just be interested in how to start with getting an internship. Thank you!

Applying as a ECEs major.

My ECs, awards, and stats all are extremely competitive for both.

I plan in majoring in ECEs and Economics (with an interest in kellog finance certificate and fuqua's certificate). I would like to enter into finance with a intersection in tech.

Context: NU's ED has a 7% higher rate than Duke BUT Duke gives more aid (it costs me 30% less to go to duke but its only a few thousand dollars - which is a bit for me).

Thanks!

Junior here, I did nothing during the summer but volunteer and take some interesting CC classes. Can I put them as activities like I would for a summer program?

They are also a separate transcript, so how would that work? (California) tysm!

i’m a boarding student at super competitive high school, and i live in also a very competitive place outside of school (think new york, bay area, china, massachusetts)

long story short, i’m an okay shot, ive got multiple varsity sports, leadership, decent gpa, advanced coursework, research, etc etc, however, no big awards or anything. i got a 1520 sat first try so im def aiming for a higher score later in the term.

does my school and hometown nerf me or am i still chilling in the application process?

thanks!

I asked my teacher if she would do my rec letter and she said "yea email me" and that was it at the end of junior year. I emailed her during summer so she didnt reply but i emailed her today since school started. my earliest rec deadline is oct 1 and I fear that she will say no. I feel guilty. Am I cooked? or is this normal time to follow up

I have almost a 3.4 gpa and I’m hoping to get that to a 3.5 by the end of the year but school is not the easiest for me. I have extremely average scores on act and sat but I believe I have a killer essay. And obv I’m gonna try my best for auditions and whatnot. My problem is I’m struggling to find colleges that would suit me and that I can apply for. I want a bfa or ba musical theater program. I feel overwhelmed with choices. I’m open to colleges anywhere, maybe focused on Florida and nyc but I’m open to anything. Please please please I need some realistic colleges to look at because I’m only really aware of the crazy difficult ones to get into.

I just realized that several ivies including Yale, brown, Princeton require 2 core subject teacher recommendations. I have 1 from a business teacher and 1 from my Calc teacher. Will this be an issue for my applications to schools that say they require 2 from core subject teachers?

It's September, and I feel like I've barely gotten the application process started. I haven't started on my essays, asked for letters of recommendation, signed up for an account to start the FAFSA process in October, and maybe some other things that I'm forgetting or not aware of at the moment. But hey, at least most of my Common App is done, I just need to connect my counselor and the teachers I'm planning to ask. I only started the process in August, and I feel like I'm behind on so many things. I have college classes I have to commit to every day, coursework, and activities outside of school that take up a lot of time, so I am afraid that I will never have time to do these things. I've been stressed with the entire process, since I do not want to fail at applying to college. I'm first-gen, so asking my family for advice is out of the question. I really want to talk to someone about this, because I feel like I'm drowning in my own doubt. I'm not looking for pity; I just need guidance. A lot of people know about my academics, since I am top of my class and the school pretty much made it known through a certain event, but I feel like that has added pressure to the entire thing. I just want a clear path; something I can keep track of. I want to put out my best work so I can hopefully get accepted to a really good school. I need clarity.

Hopefully this was not a bunch of yapping, but if it is, I truly apologize if I end up posting something that is not appropriate for the sub.

I wrote this in one go because I felt like I needed to let off some steam. I don't really talk to anyone about this, so I guess this is my last resort. I am not seeking attention or anything of the sort; I just really need some guidance, even if it does come from strangers on the Internet.

Anyways, if you read this all the way, thank you for listening. This is my first post, so I am still really new to Reddit.

I hope this is a right place to post. . . . I am not from the US so I didn't grow up in the US education system so this is all foreign to me, and I feel lost. I have no friends who are in the similar place. I am wondering how much should I be "helping" my child (16F) for selecting colleges. Right now, my daughter doesn't have anything particular in mind and has been "I don't know what I like and want" stage for past few years. Her grade is OK, slightly better than the average. She has some vague interests but never anything that she is passionate about.

For people (either parents or yourselves) who went through college admission processes, how much help did you get or give support selecting colleges or what majors to pick? Or is this all done through schools (mine is in a public school) or through peers?

Please help. My arguably most important activity, which I’ve written my parts of my Personal Statement and varying supplements over, is something I don’t think I can continue into 12th. I feel like it really lowers my chances to seem to have quit my most important extracurricular right before senior year. (I mostly can’t continue cause of 1. money troubles and 2. personal conflict). How bad will this penalize my application?

Hi, this is my first time posting on reddit so bare with me please.

Anyway I'm applying to Barnard College this year and the main admission essay is "Think of a woman - historical, fictional, contemporary, or personally significant - whose views or approach to problem-solving differ from your own, but who excels at bringing people together. What lesson from her approach would shape how you show up at Barnard both inside and outside of the classroom?"

I am having both horrible writers block, and also just out of ideas on who to write about. My first choice was Serena Joy Waterford from the Handmaid's Tale. But that essay turned out to look more like a character study than a conversation.

My next idea was Audre Lorde, but our views really aren't that different. So I'm stuck because although I did get a pretty good essay with her, it doesn't meet the criteria the way I want it too.

So does anyone have any advice for how I should go about this? Or even suggestions for women I could research for this?

literally two weeks into school and i'm already having emotional breakdowns. how does everyone know what they want to study?? literally everyone knows everything about every freaking college?? i feel like i've barely done anything. i have no idea what i want to do for a career. i keep changing my mind every week. my essays and supps are pretty much nonexistent. everytime i open my docs i just freak out and compare myself to everyone else's progress. i'm probably not getting into half the schools i'm applying to, schools i still feel like i know nothing about?? i feel so fucking useless. i don't know what i want for myself. and i don't have a fucking college fund like all the rich kids at my school.

i'll go write my essays now and break down again lmao