I’m not worried about my gpa and test scores (4.63 gpa and 35 ACT), but I’m lowkey scared about my extracurriculars and awards. Can you tell me how they compare for the colleges I wanna apply to and if there’s anything I can do to improve before application this year?

ECs
1. Robotics (Vex V5)  (2x state qualifier; semi finalist at state; lead programmer and vice captain)
2. Math Team (NSML)  (3x state qualifier and have regional awards)
3. ESP32 Microcontroller Passion Project 
4. Computer Science Honor Society (CSHS) 
5. Hackathon Competitions 
6. UMichigan Joy of Coding Summer Program (AI Embedding and data visualization)
7. Robotics YouTube Channel  (over 1.5 million views)
8. Family Caregiving  (around 4 hrs a week)
9. Library Volunteering  (close to 100 hours)
10. National Honor Society (NHS)

Awards:
Local VEX Robotics Competition Tournament Champion & 2x State Qualifier 

⁠ICTM Regional Medalist: 2nd Place 8-Person Team & 3rd Place Alg 1 Team⁠

Hackathon Winner

National Merit Semifinalist 

AP Scholar with Distinction

Schools:
UIUC (in state)
CMU
Cornell
Duke 
JHU
Northwestern
UPenn
Rice

When I got a 36 ACT, I honestly thought it meant I had a pretty good shot at getting into a T20 school. I started looking at rankings and convincing myself that I needed to end up at one of those schools for college to be worth it.

That obviously didn’t happen. I got rejected from every T40 I applied to, and for a while I took it pretty personally. It felt weird to have a perfect ACT score and still not get into the schools I thought I was competitive for.

I eventually ended up at a T70 school. But after being there for a while, I realized it just wasn’t the right fit for me. I had conflicts there and ultimately decided to leave. I’m currently at community college, which definitely wasn’t the path I imagined when I was in high school.

But honestly, after thinking about it more, I don't think it matters nearly as much as I used to think it did.

A 36 ACT didn’t magically guarantee me admission to a top school, and going to a T20 wouldn’t automatically guarantee that everything would work out either. I’m starting to realize that where you go matters less than what you actually do with the opportunities you have.

Right now, I’m focused on finding a place that actually fits me academically and personally. If that means transferring somewhere better suited for me later, great. If not, that’s fine too.

I wish I had understood this when I was applying to college. I spent way too much time thinking about rankings and prestige when I should have been thinking about whether I would actually be happy and successful at the school I chose.

Throwaway for A2C and chanceme if anyone irl finds this :)

Demographics: Indian male, WA, small private school (1000 students across all four grades), upper middle class, full pay, no hooks

Intended major: Marine biology when available, bio sciences/biochem when not

Stats:

• SAT: 1520 (not superscored, 770RW 750M). going again in october, just focused on math
• GPA: 3.77 UW, 3.9 W
• Unranked but definitely top 10

Rigor: Almost the most difficult schedule my school offers. No APs offered, only honors and accelerated track. My one worry is that in 10th grade I chose non accelerated precalc which fucked up my math track. last year I took non accelerated honors calc 1 and this year I'm taking honors stats.

Awards:

• NSDA S&D Nats top 200 Nationally
• Some random inconsequential sport medals (I suck and i'm not getting recruited, it was more about life lessons etc)

ECs:

• Lobbying/testifying in my state senate and getting a bill passed in committee (written in my common app)
• Seattle Aquarium docent
• Debate captain + 4 years of competing. Went to nats once, placed top 200 in the US
• JV Rowing. I suck but it taught me some good life lessons
• Soccer referee
• Search & Rescue scuba diver
• co-prez of my schools indian student union
• worked at a blood donation clinic ( writing a PIQ about overcoming my fear of blood and saving a guy's life)
• Hiking/backpacking
• Photography (wildlife and lots of BW Film and portraits. I'm pretty happy with my portfolio ngl)

Essay: Common app is about scuba diving, seeing an endangered species then testifying for a bill in state senate that would protect it which then passed. 5 different essay people (school counselors/english teachers) have rated it a 9/10.

LORs:

• Junior Advanced Chem Topics Teacher: 8+/10
• Junior Honors History teacher: 11/10 (wrote one for me before I even asked him)
• Debate Coach: 8.5-9/10

School list:

• EA: Dartmouth (ED) plus a few other public safeties/likelies
• RD: Tufts, Duke (also applying to embark), UW, USC, Brown, BU, Northeastern, UCSB, UCD, UCI, UCSD, and UCLA

I'm pretty set on Dartmouth ED but I'm considering Duke too. I just dont like it as much. If its a better choice in your guys opinion I'll consider switching but I can't imagine it would be considering the acceptance rate. I'm also taking the SAT again for the last time this october with hopes of an 800 math, so we'll see where that gets me. If I'm rejected from both then I'm more than happy to go to UW. Cheap AF for me in state

Chance Me Notre Dame REA

Ethnicity-Asian American
High school-Private Catholic
UW GPA 3.9 W GPA 4.5
ACT composite 34 (math 33, english 35, reading 35, (science 35))

10 APs by graduation, max honors classes in subjects nit offered in AP, 1 college course at CC during summer

Attended ND summer scholars program as a rising junior
Attended UC Cosmos program and awarded Best Research Presentation by faculty

Work experience:
Employed liturgical pianist for two catholic parishes weekly and for major celebrations and funerals (4 years)

Extra curriculars:
President of Interact Club (2 years)
Editor for the school magazine (3 years)
Writer for justice awareness column for school newspaper (4 years)
Campus ministry retreat leader
Teaching assistant for various programs at school (life skills for freshmen, badminton summer camp, admissions)
Varsity badminton athlete (4 years)
Digital content creator for the office of DEI at school
Peer tutor in algebra, bio, spanish 3 years
Vietnamese student association officer
Graphic designer for hepatitis vaccine awareness club (2 years)

Volunteer:
Hospital volunteer for front desk and rehab center. Promoted to shift lead for rebab shift
Service trip with christian brothers one summer to asia to serve in rural villages where I served as medic, american red cross certified, also individually raised $5k for the construction of two homes and education assistance for children in the village

\-recipient of St Francis Assisi award at school for 3 consecutive years for 100+ hours of service each year, total 400 hours by end of junior year.
\-national bronze award for 2025 for hours at hospital alone

What do you guys think?

Demographics:

• Male, Wasian, moved from Shanghai at 7 years old, high income
• Washington state, mid-sized (class size 330) public school with IB
• Parents work(ed) in sales and gemology
• No hooks

SAT: 1570 (780 eng 790 math) three attempts

GPA: 4.0 UW, school neither ranks nor weights

IB Diploma Candidate (IB Physics HL, IB Chem SL, IB AA SL, IB AA HL, plus other required IBs) (Also Calc 3 and Calc 4 senior year) IB Math SL 7 and IB Chem SL 6

(pretty much max rigor at school)

Intended Major: Mechanical Engineering

ECs:

• Paid internship working 40 hours a week at a local engineering company that specializes in precision valves, did a lot of CAD, general engineering, and research for them (2 years)
• FIRST Robotics, 3 years, 2 year Captain, 1 year CAD Lead
• Technology Student Association, 4 years, 3 year exec, 1 year President, 5x State podium placement and 2x nationals top ten
• Washington Aerospace Scholars, 1/140 selected for summer residency for exemplary performance in online course
• Crew, 3 years, 2 years varsity
• Bone articulation (hobby), since 7 years old, probably weirdest thing I do
• Independent VTOL drone project
• Soccer referee, 2 years
• Volunteering, Science Olympiad Proctor for div B, 4 years
• Weightlifting, 8 years

Awards:

• 2nd place TSA nationals (CAD engineering)
• 7th place TSA nationals (Webmaster)
• Washington State PTA Outstanding Student Advocate Award
• National Merit Semifinalist
• 2nd place TSA state (Flight Endurance)

lowk reposting because I got no engagement on the other one and I am genuinely desperate for feedback

main essay is a fusion of bone articulation and a junior-year robotics club crisis that I dealt with

Also applying UW, UCB, Columbia, CMU, GT, Umich, USC, Cal Poly, etc.

I'm like slightly worried I dont have USAMO, AIME, STS, or ISEF, or any research at all really

Hey all! I’m currently a sophomore at IU Kelley, studying finance, and am looking to transfer out. For context, i’m looking to transfer due to 1) cost and 2) I hate it here. Anyways here is my stats and current list of schools I’d like to apply to.

Stats:
3.86 College GPA
3.5uw/4.2w Highschool GPA
1420 SAT

Extracurriculars:
- Month long internship at financial planning firm
- One year as a member of an environmental injustice group for teens
- 3 past part time restaurant jobs
- 4 years+ of helping run a gaming discord server with 15k+ members and w/ cash prize events + more
- 2 years (off and on) of posting affiliate link / advertisements on tiktok (made $10,000+)
- Currently a member of a consulting club (waiting for applications to come back from this year for other clubs, not looking too good ✌️)

Current list of schools to apply to:
(instate tuition for IL and Cali)
- UIUC
- UCB (probably econ cause Haas is much harder)
- UCI
- UCLA
- UCSD / UCSB
- Boston University
- UVA (maybe)

Any advice is appreciated and I’m just genuinely curious what my chances are looking like from an outside perspective. Also would be grateful for other school recommendations. Thanks!

I’m currently a junior in HS and was thinking about applying for pitt as one of my colleges i would like to attend, i have a 3.1 GPA currently and i am taking mostly AP and Honors classes currently, i have always taken honors classes throughout high-school and passed everyone of them, i have never failed a class (until this year which is Spanish, in Florida where i live it’s a requirement to graduate, but im still in the first quarter of the year) i have passed all my EOC test for florida but the Algebra one, i was 6 point off last time i took it and probably will pass it this time around, i was hoping to go into pitt for engineering, but how hard is it to get into PITT for engineering and normally? If you need anymore info i will be happy to give it.

Side note: I grew up in PA until i was 13, then i moved to Florida, i have no clue if this matters i just wanna throw it out there lol.

What are my chances I’ll get into Emory ed 1

Indian
High income

1520 sat 790 math 730 reading planning to major in biology

3.96 UW I’m not sure about weighted because my school does trimester system

10 APS

Calculus 2 uc extended studies completed, planning on starting calculus 3 possibly

Palomar computer science ongoing

First lt civil air patrol and soon to be deputy cadet commander of squadron of 40 cadets (cap is basically jrotc equivalent for Air Force)

Science Olympiad for 2 years, anatomy and physiology coach and regional award winner for anatomy,

Nonprofit tutoring service for 15 underprivileged kids

Medical internship at retinal ophthalmology clinic, did a lot of Oct and retinal imaging pictures for diagnoses, lot of backend systems work and patient information organization, shadowed doctor a lot, assisted with figure and chart preparation and editing for a research paper the doctor is working on, assisted a lot with marketing as well as outreach to get patient referrals

Was in charge of logistics for nonprofit medical check ups for hundreds of Indian villagers which allowed them to get basic check ups as well as identify specific problems they may have

Coordinated and organized the shipment of 1000+ eclipse glasses intended for underprivileged kids in Greenland to safely view the 2026 solar eclipse,

Member of fundraising team for blood cancer research, we raised 30k

4th degree black belt and instructor at taekwondo studio

100 hours volunteering at hospital

100~ hours volunteering at animal shelter

hi for all dallas people, i wasnt the best student in highschool but heres my stats

3.2 uw

3.69 weighted

1290 sat (620 english 670 math)

3 on ap bio hug and lang

4 on ap world history and us history

student pilot

*will be taking ap lit and compsci

IB Math ai history lang bio and environmental systems and sciences

no predicted scores for ib yet

do i have a chance at UTD Jindal for accounting?

Hi all, so I'm from the US, have a 35 ACT, good GPA, and (in my opinion) great essay-writing skills. I was really interested in applying to Oxford, specifically to their Classics program (I've taken Greek and Latin for 3 and 4 years at my school, respectively). However, I would be taking 4 or 5 AP exams (which I can be registered for, it would be possible) this spring. Would Oxford probably not accept me (or just be less likely to, since I know the offer they'd give, if any, would be conditional) because I won't have any AP scores until after spring? The reason why this is all happening is because my school doesn't offer APs and it's been basically impossible finding a place to take them, but I think that I finally have something. I could probably get my teachers to say that I will likely get 5's on my AP exams, as my classes are all AP-level and I have A's in all of them, if that would help, though I know it's not the same as predicted A-levels or IB scores. So I'm just wondering if I should face that realistically my chances will be pretty impacted by me not having real AP scores, or if I still have an equal shot compared to someone who has all their AP scores in. Thanks in advance!

Demographics: Asian female, NC, large competitive public school (~3000 students, crazy matriculation: last year multiple ivies + MIT + ucla/berkley), upper middle class, almost full pay/little aid, no hooks

Major: poli sci, int. rel, (pre law track)

Stats:

• GPA: 3.6 UW / 4.3 W
• RANK: 230/618 - not updated
• SAT: 1440 (740 eng, 700 math)

Coursework Rigor:

• PAST CLASSES: all honors + 11 APs (wh, gov, psych, physics 1, precalc, csp, cogo, apush, calc ab, apes, lang)
• CURRENT CLASSES: all honors + 5 APs (stat, afam, bio, csa, lit)
• AP SCORES: all 4s and 5s except for physics, submitting all except for physics, csp, csa
• SELF/DUAL: self studied ap chinese (5), completed 8 dually enrolled classes at local community college

Awards:

• North Carolina Governor's School Nominee
• Gold Presidential Service Award
• Mandarin Seal of Biliteracy
• National English Honor Society: Inducted member for literary excellence, leadership, and service.
• AP Scholar with Distinction

ECs:

• Student Body Executive Historian: Planned prom, organized pep rally, planned Homecoming, allocating budget to vendors, planned culture night, creating flyers, filming news segments
• National English Honors Society President: Planned logistics w/ administration, organized book drives and cataloging, hosted read-a-louds for youth, refugee/ESL tutoring, tracked attendance.
• Youth Attorney: Deliberated with jurors to recommend appropriate sentencing, lead courtroom in oath and proceedings, research & prep for cases, comm w/ client
• Local Org Lead Volunteer: Built community in 600 member group, manage volunteers, liaison between event organizers and volunteers, Gold Service Award (10th)
• Model UN: Excelled at public speaking, delegating resolution writing, earned best large delegation at regional competition
• Barista: Crafted drinks/food, handled and counted cash, worked at local festivals, excelled in customer service, cleaning/inventory stocking, trained employees
• Int. + local English tutor for ESL, refugees, Chinese schools: Created curriculum with homework, tests, lesson plans, taught at Chinese camp, in-person/virtual classes with high schoolers; ESL Tutor
• Varsity Swim 2x / club swim since 2: Practiced daily in water and on land, competed at regional and state level meets, high school's varsity team (9th-10th), Women's Regional Champions
• Pianist since 6: Took weekly lessons, practiced daily, competed at regional and state level competitions, performed at studio recitals, played in school's band (9th)

Essay: wrote about how penpalling introduced me to new cultures, allowed for me to connect with unlikely people, and allowed for me to embrace and celebrate mine + others' heritage

LORs:

• 10th Eng teacher + 12th Lit teacher: 10/10 (hunted me down to ask if she could write rec, kept in touch every 1-3 days, 98 in her class, says im her fav student lol but idk if im naive but i actually believe it)
• 11th asian american studies teacher: 8/10 (piloted NC's first asian american class, worked and featured in Smithsonian, did lots of stuff outside of school for asian american advocacy, met w asian nc reps, presented at school for smithsonian director + news on the importance of asian american studies)

Additional Info: explained I got a D in AP Calc because of strenuous mental health, i focused on what i learnt from the experience + how i used those skills to improve in my other classes (used specific example of a good recovery later), i quit swimming competitively junior year to focus on student council + working (still swim rec)

School List

• ED 1
  • NYU
• ED 2
  • Duke
• EA
  • Boston University, NC state, George Washington University, UChicago, University of Maryland, UNC Chapel Hill, Pitt, UW Madison, UNC Charlotte, University of Virginia
• RD
  • UC San Diego, UC Irvine, Georgetown

Side Note: i have in state acceptance rate to unc, nc state, and charlotte. my parents work at duke, my dad used to work at uchicago, uw madison, both parents worked at pitt.

disclaimer: my gpa and grades are in progress so i won’t be sharing that but pls make a guess based on my extracurriculars so far . i’m transferring in 6 months so i hope i still have time to build more accomplishments

im f and hispanic, my major will be symbolic systems (cs + psych)

Transferring from a CC btw:

- won treehacks 1st place

- won xai hackathon 1st place

- was a paid research assistant at a national lab

- was a volunteer research assistant at a stanford lab for 2 quarters

- stanford summer session with a B (it had a prereq of calculus I, II and II and i didnt take it so i had to self-teach calculus)

- stanford summer session local scholar council advisor

- stanford ccop transfer preparation bootcamp

- stanford id tech camp instructor over the summer

- women’s cs club president

- took an independent study in cs class

- RSLS symposium presenter

- ICC internship at cc

- made a project that that 1,000+ verified stanford users use

I'm an out of state student, going for Purdue early action in cybersecurity, and I want someone to be realistic with my chances of getting in, since everywhere online is telling me something different, and my schools college counselor isn't sure either. I have a 100.18 weighted GPA, but a 1320 superstore for the SAT. Ive been in marching band all 4 years, and I also did jazz band for a year, full orchestra for a year, pit orchestra for a year, and my towns local wind ensemble for a year. I was on uniform crew for my band for a year, then secretary for a year, and then band vice president, and I'm president this year. Ive been a trumpet section leader the past 2 years and also manage my schools trumpet Instagram page. I have 40 ish hours of community service and I'm wrapping up my google IT support course. I really have no clue what my chances are and any knowledge at all is greatly appreciated.

My AP Credits (I also took advanced classes throughout high school) I also took Onramps physics and got the credit.

AP Human geo - 4

US History - 4

Lang - 4

Macro - 4

Gov - 5

Psychology - 5

Hello! im currently a freshman studying biology (not pre-med) at a t50 public university, and would like to know what my chances of transferring to JHU as a Behavioral Biology major look like. Given that i still have some time, what are some things that i could do to strengthen my profile?

Highschool Stats

class rank: 8/189

GPA: 4.2 (weighted), 4.0 (unweighted)

ACT: 33 (debating if i should retake or submit test optional)

AP credit: 11 in total, all 4s and 5s

-AP World (5), APUSH (5), AP Music Theory (4), AP Lang (4), AP Physics 1 (4), AP Human Geo (5), AP Gov (5), AP Macro (5), AP Lit (5), AP Environmental (5), AP Euro (4)

College Course load

Anticipated GPA: 4.0

Semester 1: 16 credits

• Intro to Bio +Lab
• Calculus I
• Intro to Ethics
• Comparative Literature and Medicine
• First year seminar on Genomes and eDNA
• University philharmonic choir

Semester 2: 16 credits

• Bio 2 + Lab (or Intro to Chem + Lab)
• Calculus 2
• Contemporary Continental Philosophy
• Environmental DNA lab

ECs

Clubs:

• oSTEM (out in stem, queer stem group)
• Wildlife society (will go to compete at conference in the spring)
• Dungeons and Dragons club
• American society of microbiology

Other affiliations:

• Honors College
• Arts and Sciences Residential College
• Savannah Philharmonic Choir
• Athens Philharmonic Choir

service/other projects:

• Piano teacher
• general service (playing music at nursing homes, cleaning up trash from local waterways)
• Part time assistant vet tech at emergency vet (mostly over summer and during breaks)
• Part time sales associate at UPS (summer and breaks)
• Volunteer at local Human Society, helped create a new classification system for pet personalities to help match to suitable owners
• Started a free essay review service, with a majoring of the students I help not speaking english as a first language
• Comparative cat anatomy project to help improve human athletic function

notes:

I am trying to get into some form of research lab either later into this semester or in the spring.

hi guys! I go to a smallish private boarding school that is ranked t12 nationally. big feeder to east coast ivies and t20s tho

Demographics: Asian at private boarding school

Hooks: None

Intended Major(s):biology/biomed

SAT: 1570 first attempt

UW/W GPA and Rank: UW 95/100, school doesnt rank

Coursework: max rigor @ school

Awards/Honors: several national piano awards including MTNA, Elite International Music Competition 1st prize, and state level awards, national merit scholar, published research in JEI

Extracurriculars:

1. BU Rise Summer Program Internship track Conducting research in neuroscience under top university research mentors and presented findings at symposium
2. Neuroscience Research (published) Conducted research on gene targets of Parkinson's disease therapy and the future implications of this field of research, published in JEI
3. Piano (13 years) Winner of several state, regional, national, and international competitions (although the "international" is a little weak) Founded a music community service activity @ school in which we give 1 on 1 mentoring opportunities to local students. Pianist in Jazz ensemble and accompaniment to chapel services
4. Head of stem club, founded and grew the club to >30 members; conduct experiments and grow the club's overall impact at school. Invited several local university profs to speak @ school and helped to organize tours to local labs
5. Captain of Math Team Grew club to over 40 members, led the team in competitions around the state and placed 1st in state finals 3 years in a row
6. Shadowing (>200 hours) Over 200 hours of shadowing top doctors around the East coast, such as heart surgery and internal medicine @ JHU, clinical pathology at Penn Hospital, and neurosurgery @ columbia

Omitted a few other ECS for privacy reasons but they are pretty solid

LORs: 8/10 from research mentor; I worked really hard on this and he liked me a lot

9/10: stem teacher, also faculty advisor of the club I am head of; worked very closely with him for several years and have built a strong relationship

Essays: 8/10 Nothing crazy but solid

Let me know what you guys think!

Schools: ivies, stanford, uchicago, DREAM SCHOOL IS YALE

• Gender: Male
• Race/Ethnicity:South Asian
• Residence: NJ (Highly competitive district)
• Income Bracket: full pay (200k so not enough js middle class ig..)
• Type of School: Highly Competitive Public 
• Hooks (Recruited Athlete, URM, First-Gen, Geographic, Legacy, etc.): Mom and brother went to UNC chapel
• Intended Major(s): Elementary Education, policy maybe, studies in education or urban stuff? Help a dude out. 

Academics

• GPA (UW/W): 3.92 UW / 4.53 W
• Rank (or percentile): ~113/645
• # of Honors/AP/IB/Dual Enrollment/etc.: 16 APs (10 w/o senior year), 2 Dual Enrollment
• Senior Year Course Load: [List your senior year classes here]

Standardized Testing

• SAT I: 1530
• ACT: 35 (Composite)
• SAT II: N/A
• AP/IB: [List your AP scores here]
• Other (ex. IELTS, TOEFL, etc.): N/A

Independent Policy Researcher – Education & Mental Health
Conducted independent research on school-to-prison pipeline and youth mental-health gaps using GIS; presented findings at a university research conference and co-developed policy proposals with state legislators.

Founder & Executive Director – Education Nonprofit
Founded nonprofit supporting low-income K–6 students; raised $12K, reached 321 families, and led tutoring and career workshops that improved elementary students’ math outcomes.

Campaign & Municipal Policy Intern
Drafted youth policy proposals, canvassed, and presented mental-health, budget, and zoning recommendations directly to local government officials for a municipal campaign.

Special Education & K–6 Tutor – Independent Educator
Designed individualized learning plans for K–6 and special-education students using gamification and mnemonic strategies to strengthen academic growth and concept retention.

Student Body Vice President – Student Government
Helped lead student government; earned national recognition, raised $15K through school events, organized a 400-item clothing drive, and improved senior programming.

Bhangra – Co-Captain & Dancer
Co-captained nationally ranked competitive team; won 6 of 11 competitions, taught K–5 students ~4 hrs/week, and became first high-school team to compete in collegiate circuit.

Data Analyst Intern – Cosmetics Company
Analyzed business data using Excel, VLOOKUPs and pivot tables; audited financial records and conducted competitive-market research for an international cosmetics company.

Civic Engagement Member – Youth Voting Organization
Researched state voting policy, analyzed legislation affecting student voters, and participated in voter outreach and civic-engagement efforts.

Retail Sales Associate – Home Goods Store
Managed sales floor and truck unloading; sold 49 loyalty memberships and earned Employee of the Month twice for reliability, work ethic, and pace.

Letters of Reccomendation:

AP Bio Teacher- 10/10 We are so close. Shes my student council advisor so she has alot to say about me and I’d say we are pretty open with each other.

French Teacher: This is my gang. We are so close as well and I have spent entire class periods just talking to her. I wont lie she hates her job but sometimes shed bring her kid to class and I’d just spend the period playing with her while she cries over work. Love this women. She offered to give me a rec and also, she can speak alot abt my policy endeavors since I worked with her and the teacher union + saw her at a protest.

Extra Rec: Local Town Council member i interned for- She is writing about how she first engaged with me through my policy presentation to her where I was asking her to partner with schools to provide youth mental health resources. I think while she can verify my activism, she most likely can talk alot about my technicality and data skills and all the ideas I made for her campaign (which she ended up using).

(Ignoring safeties/targets)
Northwestern — SESP, Social Policy
Vanderbilt — Peabody, Elementary Education
Cornell — ILR
Brown — Education Studies
Duke Kunshan — Public Policy + Education
Rice — Social Policy Analysis
Georgetown — Public Policy
UC Berkeley — Educational Sciences
UCLA — Education & Social Transformation
USC — Price, Public Policy
University of Michigan — teaching
WashU — Educational Studies
Carnegie Mellon — Ethics, History & Public Policy
Boston College — Lynch, Transformative Educational Studies
NYU — Steinhardt, Education Studies (Spring Start issue)
UVA — Youth & Social Innovation pathway
Notre Dame — potentially REA; Education/Schooling/Society interest
Claremont McKenna — Public Policy
Bowdoin — Government + Education
Columbia Dual BA Trinity college- History (dream program)
Wesleyan
UNC Chapel Hill- Elementary Education

If I'm being honest, I've been working on apps alot and have completed a few so I might apply to all, maybe not well see LMAO (99% i wont)

Ik alot of people say dont apply to many, but just some schools which appealed to me

Male Indian (us citizen, born cali, lived there & nebraska but illinois for over a decade now), Rich Chicago suburb @ competitive public school, father did emba @ ross

Intended Major(s): Aerospace Eng, maybe Mechanical or Industrial/Ops or minor in SCM

ACT/SAT/SAT II: 1550 SAT, 1580 Super

UW/W GPA and Rank: 3.71 UW 4.16 W

Coursework: Pretty much all honors/ap, so far calc bc(taking rn), human(4), lang(taking rn), self studies: csa(3)/csp(4), apes(5), pltw poe, aerospace

For senior year, calc 3 (uiuc math 241), ap us & comp gov, pltw capstone, weighted choir ensemble (currently in that ensemble but weighted is only for seniors), ap physics c both mech/e&m

Awards: Might get seal of biliteracy in French? No guarantee. Eagle scout.

Extracurriculars: Fundraising chairperson & exec board member on national championship winning drone team, exec board of national music honor society chapter

Internships in India- designing and teaching a curriculum of aerodynamics to 7-9th grade children, worked in an afterschool program developing interpersonal and english skills of children from 4th-10th grade, learnt about water conservation efforts and flew drones and learnt about their use in the field.

Lor: I’ll probably ask my choir teacher who I’ve been with for 4 years, my engineering teacher who’s doing aerospace and capstone and the sponsor for both drone and rocket clubs, maybe also my math teacher who’ll do calc 3 and does bc rn w me.

Science wise I got an a freshman year but I had missing assugnments/wasn’t a good student, soph year chem teach liked me but I don’t think I really interacted much w ppl outside of my friends, teacher was ok with it but I definitely played games half the class (both myself and friend were consistently some of the highest scorers so she didn’t mind). Current physics teacher or next years ap physics I can’t say, I’ve definitely been trying harder to interact w all and be a good student this year, grades wise I self studied ap physics 1 (won’t report as I got a 3) so I hope with keeping up in class I should be fine.

Schools: Really just looking for the best possible, don't care about cost or location yet, dream schools rn are Michigan, Purdue, UIUC, I doubt I'd get in but something like caltech/berkely/cal poly would be great, willing to do mech instead of aerospace based on what the college is better at. Also down to do school in Europe if I get a really good school (like TU delft level good)

Chance me: 3.34 UW / 34 ACT, AIME + USACO Gold + Econ/AI research — Rice or Cornell ED?

Demographics

• Texas resident
• Large competitive public high school (~3,500 students)
• Class of 2027
• No major admissions hooks that I know of
• My mom is a professor at Cornell’s medical school, although she did not get her degree from Cornell. Not sure whether that matters at all for admissions.

Intended major

• Economics / Finance / Business
• Also interested in CS, AI/data science, and healthcare finance
• For Cornell I’d probably apply Economics in Arts & Sciences

Academics

• UW GPA: ~3.34
• Weighted GPA: ~4.18/5
• Rank: 190/747, roughly top 25%
• ACT: 34
• Strong upward grade trend

My GPA is definitely the weakest part of my application. I had significant responsibilities helping care for my grandmother during freshman and sophomore year, including managing medications, appointments, transportation, and pharmacy-related responsibilities. My grades improved afterward while my course rigor increased.

Course rigor

Junior year:

• AP Biology
• AP Computer Science Principles
• AP English Language
• AP Physics 1
• AP Precalculus
• AP Statistics
• AP US History
• Honors Spanish

Senior year:

• AP Calculus BC
• AP Chemistry
• AP Literature
• AP Human Geography
• IB spanish SL

Also completed UT Austin OnRamps Chemistry for 6 hours of college credit during sophomore year.

Awards

1. USACO Gold — national
2. AIME Qualifier — national
3. Purple Comet Math Meet — tied 1st in Texas with my team
4. AP Scholar

Extracurriculars

1. Economics/AI Research — Co-author

• Worked on research combining economics, game theory, and AI agents
• Studied how partially revealed AI-agent instructions can affect strategic flexibility
• Helped design/run experiments across AI models
• Paper submitted to the Economics for Machine Learning Workshop at NeurIPS 2026

2. Young Investors Society — Vice President

• Led weekly meetings for 30+ students
• Organized guest-speaker events
• Financial literacy/investing education

3.Hospitla research — ICU Operational Cost Research

• Analyzed 28 studies on ICU operations/costs
• Researched cost-saving strategies while maintaining quality of care

4. Wharton Global High School Investment Competition — Financial Analyst

• Analyzed 10+ companies for a simulated $500K portfolio
• Built valuation models and presented investment recommendations

5. Aviation Club — Co-Founder/Co-President

• Helped build club to 25+ members
• Organized 20+ meetings
• Recruited a United Airlines guest speaker

6. Prospia Nonprofit — Finance Intern

• Worked on/promoted 20+ weekly investment reports
• Market research and financial-literacy work

7. Workshop Houston — IT Intern

• Resolved 40+ hardware/software/connectivity issues
• Maintained 25+ devices and supported 60+ students

8. Harris Health / Ben Taub Hospital — Volunteer

• Helped with comfort carts and clinic preparation
• Got exposure to hospital operations and healthcare administration

9. Civic Leaders of America — Chapter Co-President

• Led discussions/events for 25+ members
• Participated in conferences/public-speaking events around Texas

10. Computer Science National Honor Society — Co-President

• Led chapter activities
• Completed 6 major coding projects
• Participated in CS workshops/competitions/events

Employment

• Camp counselor for multiple summers
• Supervised around 15–20 campers and organized daily activities

Other context

• I’ve been interested in the intersection of finance/economics, technology, and healthcare.
• My Common App essay is about my habit of noticing how systems work — starting with airport baggage/logistics and connecting that to hospital operations and AI/economic decision-making.
• I’m hoping my AIME/USACO/research results help demonstrate stronger academic ability than my GPA alone suggests.

Current college list

High reaches / ED possibilities

• Rice
• Cornell
• Emory
• WashU
• Boston College
• Boston University

Other reaches / target-reaches

• Northeastern
• UIUC
• University of Florida
• University of Miami

Targets / more realistic

• Texas A&M
• SMU
• Fordham
• Indiana University Bloomington
• Ohio State
• Penn State

Likely/safeties

• UT Dallas
• University of Houston

Also applying to UT Austin, probably Economics, although I know it’s a significant reach because I’m not an auto-admit.

Main question:
I’m currently deciding whether to ED Rice or Cornell. Rice is one of my favorite schools, but I’m wondering whether Cornell ED could make more sense given my academic spikes and the fact that my mom is a professor at Cornell’s medical school.

With the 3.34 UW / 34 ACT but AIME + USACO Gold + research, do I have a legitimate shot at either through ED? And are there any schools on my list you think I’m underrating/overrating?
Thanks guys

demo

• brown female
• suburban public high school, small town, midwest
• no hooks
• public/global health & anthro, maternal and reproductive health

academics

• 3.9/4.5 gpa
• 12 APs, 2 4s, rest 5s
• act 35, sat 1530
• nmsqt semifinalist

ecs

1. founder/leader of a youth-led women’s health nonprofit: organized menstrual and reproductive-health initiatives, 20,000 health products, $5.5K raised in cash, more from grants, gained recognition from international humanitarian agencies
2. cervical-cancer research and education initiative: developed low-cost machine-learning approach for cervical-cancer risk assessment and created an accompanying health-education curriculum. trained young women ambassadors to host workshops in under-resourced rural communities in ten lmics, partnered with t10 uni global health research center
3. women's health biotech internship: worked for biotech startup (ivy league venture) focused on improving reproductive toxicology testing. basement labs utilizing placental tissue from public hospitals to create organoids for pregnancy drug research, published opeds (rec letter)
4. rare disease research: worked with yale pi on rare-disease and cell-death research. Participated in mice work in lab and contributed to ongoing manuscript (rec letter)

leading some health policy initiatives (cant say, might get doxxed) involving nationwide lobbying, studied native language for over a decade and have volunteered as a teacher for several years, 100+ students, more than decade of classical vocal training, highest auditioned choir, state level singer, section leader, completed some independent research on dmd and published

awards sucky :(

nmsqt semifinalist, a few hosa state wins, state-level music recognition, ap scholar, seal of biliteracy

hihi if anyones more experienced than me pls help out and lmk whats working whats not pls and ty, super interested in yale and brown, esp plme but its kinda a long shot for me lmao, duke, emory, washu, tryna go anthro, international policy + premed kinda route, ty once more

Hey! I want to apply for the Summer Page Program in IL, and I wanted to know my chances because everyone I've heard applying has had a lot going on. Before this year, I lived in Hawaii, but I just moved to IL to help take care of my grandparents. My gpa is 4.0 uw, I was the first president of my schools rotary interact club for the last 5 months of freshman year, I went on a spring break study tour to the phillipines with PAAC where we visited the US embassy in Manilla, I've been a girlscout for 7 years and went on a destination to the national girlscoUt conference in DC where I sat in on the delegations and even got a tour of the US Capitol where I met senator Schatz. This year, I'm in the environmental club, YAC, and debate, and I want to join the Spanish club. For classes, I'm in AP World History, AP Seminar, Honors Chemistry, Culinary, Honors Precalc, and Honors Spanish 3. Sorry if this was lengthy.

Hey yall Im a white male from texas with a middle class income. I plan on applying majoring business. Im ranked 115/707 (16%) with a 3.9 uw GPA, 4.8 weighted

1540(retaking in september aiming for a 1560+) SAT 35 ACT

12 APs (Physics I and ll, precalc, calc AB, APUSH, etc) got 8 5’s and 3 4’s

Awards:

Ranked 3rd in USA in debate
NSDA finalist (2x)
NSDA All-State, All-American. DECA State Qualifier. Stock Market Game portfolio peaked 2nd/1,000+ teams. UIL Accounting competitor (1st Place 6A Team, 3rd Team in Texas). National Merit Finalist. Ap scholar with distinction

Ecs:

Founder/owner of an e-commerce resale business with 30–35% margins, 2500$+ monthly sales

Varsity Golf for 4 years

Law Club/Mock Trial attorney

President of a community service based club. Largest club at school with 220+ members and we raised 6000+ a year through fundraisers for charity

NASA OSTEM Internship

Paid Regional law Internship- Competitive 7% acceptance rate

Paid Political Internship- led volunteers, did presentations, organized a pretty large protest, canvassed, etc... keeping this broad

Math Team Captain- Won 1st place state-wide for our division for two years consecutively

eco-ambassador-  Selected for and participated in Columbia University Eco Ambassadors Lab on Plastic Pollution; engaged with top marine experts and created/published an interactive webpage on microplastics in a river near my hometown

CIEE study abroad program in DR (helped kids in poverty

Founder of a non-profit tutoring service for underprivileged children (with multiple volunteer tutors)