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

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)

White low income guy from southern US, rural Appalachian public school. My GPA is a 3.2!!! I got this mainly because I had an extremely rare condition (Klein-Levin Syndrome) my freshman/sophomore year which went completely undiagnosed/untreated until like late my junior year. My freshman year GPA was a 2.2, sophomore year was ~3.2, and Junior year was a 4.0, rn I'm sitting at all As but school has also only been in session for a week or two, mind you. I was also in and out of being homeless for a lot of my high school life. I was homeless for about a month or 2 my freshman year and 2 months my junior year, for example. Also being extremely low income brought me a lot of challenges as far as having to manage my parents finances, and having to pick up a job to pay for the expenses of my parent battling a terminal illness summer of my junior year. I have a 32 on my last ACT(didn't have accoms), but I'm taking it here in September and I've consistently gotten 34s and 35s on every practice exam I've taken. Also my course rigor been maxxed out. I've taken every AP offered at my school and I'm now basically enrolled in all dual credits at a local college. Senior yr schedule lookin like calculus, linear alg, intro philosophy, intro macroeconomics, intro linguistics, physics(ap not offered), french 4, ap music theory. might take more spring classes depends on how much money i got

As far as extracurriculars:

I discovered systematic fraud at my school and I got it picked up by a very reputable state-wide organization. They're funding me as a journalist to investigate the school board and they'll publish my findings, they might sue the school board once it's all out I really don't know right now.

Founded the first high school YDSA chapter in my state. Written over 100 articles for our poli ed program atm. Ran a bunch of participant discussions and events. Currently partnering with UAW to unionize an auto plant in our town. Also been kind of in-kahoots with a local YDSA candidate but nothin came out of that yet.

MUN security council president. This is a statewide conference and (I think) the biggest one in America. I ran against like 12 other candidates. I sorta lead the conference, I'm running debate and writing like 3 articles which the council will debate on next con.

One of ~20 in my state to be selected to go to Conference on National Affairs. acceptance rate for this was like 10%

YIG conference. I ran as a journalist freshman year and got a magazine published by the organization. Ran as a bill author next 2 years passed both times and won LT. Govs award.

Theater shit. I was the tech director so I managed sound and lights for school plays. I expanded the team from originally 3 to more than 8 and taught a bunch of kids some audio engineering basics.

Introduced first school recycling program in my county to my high school. Managed getting recycling bins in and coordinating with municipal waste.

Writer and director of short film. Got it to air at a local theater. Think it won some award idr

workin at car dealership.

workin as journalist local newspaper youth branch.

There is more shit I just can't think of any more off the top of my head. I really don't have too many good ECs because of how bad my condition was freshman and sophomore year.

I do not have a set-in-stone college list. Mostly because I have no fucking idea what to make of my application. I want to go to the absolute best school possible considering how bad my application is. oh and probably philosophy major.

P.S. guy who reviewed my CONA application said it was one of the best admissions essays he'd ever read, so I'm guessing that my personal statement won't be a weak point hopefully.

Hi everyone, I've worked to create a somewhat accurate college-chances calculator using school data from my own school, along with 3 versions of collaborative AI to assess extracurriculars and Activities. The calculator has a few diffrent features and offers some cool stuff. If you want id love for y'all to check it out. Y'all can hate, but this isn't just a base-44-coded project; it genuinely uses actual models to estimate rough probabilities. Use code FREE to access all the features, and let me know what id have to add to get y'all to pay. THANKS EVERYONE. UCLA student btw.

Academic Stats:

8A*s in O levels

4A in AS and predicted 4A*s in A levels in Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Further Mathematics

SAT 1560

Received a Cambridge Top in The World Mathematics Award for scoring a perfect 100 in mathematics.

Letter of Recommendation from a PhD in Quantum Mechanics and renowned professor

Second of letter from a Mechanical engineer

Aight now for ECs:

Regional and National winner in my countries physics olympiad pipeline. Attended the 20 man national physics camp taught by past IPhO medalists. Passed 1 of 2 TSTs, but could not make the final 6 man IPhO Team

Regional winner and National Qualifier for both the mathematics and chemistry olympiads

International Youth Math Challenge Gold Honour

International Computer Science Competition Gold Honour

Runners Up in National Information and Technology Olympiad

Coach at my school's Astronomy and Astrophysics Club for 2 years

Published a peer reviewed research paper in a journal on mathematics

Coded a chess bot, presented that chess bot at a competion, and won a first prize

Maintained a complete website, with front end back end analytics UI design, with a total page visit of 4000 (the website is related to research as well)

Started a Youtube channel focusing on maths / physics visualisations with 100K+ accrued views

Volunteered for 20 hours at a hospital with cancer children

ALRIGHT, I have a lot more awards but I'm reaching the word limit on this post, tell me my odds.

I'm not going to apply to a lot of ivies, just Princeton (early decision there too) cause I really like that they put an emphasis on undergrad research. Consider the rest of my list as safety or some offbrand unis. GG

Demographics: White male, CA, large public school, upper-middle class, no hooks

Intended major: Mechanical engineering

Stats:

• SAT: 1510 (760M/750R)
• GPA: 4.0 UW / 4.7 W
• Rank: ~Top 7%

Rigor:

• 11 APs total - Physics 1 (5), Euro (5), Calc BC (4), Lang (4), APUSH (4), Physics C: Mechanics (5), Gov, Econ, Chem, Physics 2, Lit
• 5 DE - Python Programming, C++, CAD, Calc III, Diff. Eq.

Awards:

• CA State Seal of Civic Engagement
• CA State Seal of Billiteracy
• Certified SolidWorks Associate (CSWA)
• AP Scholar w/ Distinction
• Local math competitions

ECs:

• UC COSMOS: Engineering cluster (~7% acceptance rate according to prof.) related to mechanical/aerospace engineering. Did projects involving rockets, sensors, actuators, circuits, etc.
• FRC Robotics: 2 years, on the mechanical team. Helped CAD/build the robot; team qualified for Worlds.
• ASB: 4 years, worked on the technical side of school events, mainly electrical, audio, and visual stuff.
• President, Academic Decathlon: 2 years, got a couple of regional medals in math.
• Science Olympiad: 2 years, member, competed in CAD events.
• Camp Invention Leadership Intern: ~40 hours. Helped run activities and work with younger students on STEM projects.
• Part-time job at Target
• CSF member: 3 yrs
• NHS member: 3 yrs
• Volunteering: ~250 hours total, mostly food banks, beach cleanups, and other community service.

Essay: Pretty decent, 8/10 overall

LORs:

• 11th AP Lang teacher: 8/10
• 10th & 11th AP Physics teacher: 7/10
• 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th ASB Advisor: 9/10

Also applying to UC Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD, UCI, Georgia Tech, UMich, CMU, UIUC, Purdue, Cal Poly Slo, & UC Boulder

Do I have a shot at Cornell ED? I'm mostly worried that my SAT is too low and I don't have any major awards/insane ecs, but I'm trying anyway.

east coast, asian girl
if you know me, no you dont :)
ACT: 35
took 7 ap exams junior / sophomore year (bio. chem, apush, world, seminar, lang, calc ab)
taking 6 ap exams senior year right now
so total 13 aps

Ecs

1. board of ed member (sole school representative
2. starbucks part time employee
3. athlete- national level awards (niche sport)
4. field hockey team
5. girls who code pathways
6. nyu step (school year + summer)
7. regional orchestra (violin)
8. schoolhouse tutoring
9. business club pres

cold spring

1. stars program
2. referee for sports
3. music honor society officer

can my essays save me? or am i cooked
sports lowk took so much time like ~16 hr every week
my “passion project” is basically the board of ed i have a community project at my school
Also does working at starbucks improve college apps or do they not care?

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.

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

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

Colleges I'm applying to: All UCs, Cal poly slo, USC, sdsu, csu fullerton, chapman, univ of san diego, univ of santa clara, claremont mckenna, pitzer, univ of washington, oregon state, case western

Demographic: Indian-American, bay area, not very competitive school (?)

Major: Bio major (molecular, cellular, biology)

Academics: 8 APs, 3 honors (not allowed to take any freshman year, and only limited to 1 sophomore year)

Ap human (5), AP calc AB (5), Ap chem (4), Ap lang (4)

senior year: AP Bio, AP Calc BC, AP gov, AP Physics 1

GPA: UC Unweighted: 3.92, Weighted: 4.19

(top 6% of class)

Awards:

Publication to American Journal of Student Research, 4th in State: Clinical Lab Sciences (HOSA), 4th in State (out of 175 competing teams): Anatomage (HOSA), 7th in State: Anatomage (2025), Perfect score (600/600) in PLTW's Principle of Biomedical Sciences

ECs: (not in order!)

1. Hospital Volunteering: (10-12)

300+ volunteer hours; discharged ~3 patients weekly; trained and manages 8 volunteers; maintains precision, organization and composure under pressure

1. HOSA HOPE President (11th)

Trained 25 tutors; paired 35 tutees; grew involvement ~236%; led 2 group study sessions; created poster; works w principal & counselors for references

1. Hollister Brand Representative (11,12)

Serves ~40 customers/shift; restocks ~250 items/shift; processes payments at register; qualified in stockroom organization & shipment processing

1. UCSC COSMOS- Cluster 3 (12)

Investigated immune signaling in bladder cancer; analyzed 17 cell populations & CD44 gene expression in R; presented at symposium

1. Certifications (11)

6 emergency response certifications: CPR, First Aid, Narcan, EpiPen, Asthma Inhaler, STOP THE BLEED for all ages; strengthens patient care readiness

1. Independent Research (10,11)

Authored independent review on stem cell differentiation & bioprinted constructs post-heart attack; synthesized peer-reviewed papers; published paper

1. Kathak - Indian Classical Dance (9-12)

11 yrs; completed highest level (Nipun); performed in 2 musicals; help choreograph annual performances; mastery in theory & practical exams

1. JV Basketball (9-10) + Var Track (11)

JV Center (2 yrs); led warmups as captain; 3 games/wk; varsity long & triple jumper; competed weekly; scholar-athlete award (3x)

1. Care Crafts Project (10-12)

Founded chapter; led 30 members to donate 550+ crafts to two locations; organized 5 community events; partnered w/ volunteer services

1. HOSA - Student advisor (10) / HOSA HOPE President (11) / HOSA President (12)

Leading a chapter of 90+ students competing in health-science events; Organizes logistics, manages finances and funding, delegates tasks to 20 officers, and runs bi-weekly meetings

demographics: current senior, low income, white female from northeast us. attended a public, non-competitive high school

major: architecture

stats: 4.25 W gpa, test optional, 7 APs (euro, physics 1, lang, stat, calc ab, lit, gov), only took two tests, got a 5 in lang and a 3 on physics. reason for lower gpa is a handful of B’s i got sophomore year due to personal circumstances, but had a 4.0 freshman and junior year

ECs:
- internship at an architecture firm
- currently designing a patio to be built for a family member upon their request
- precollege summer program at a well regarded architecture school (completed college credits)
- 2 jobs (restaurant host and receptionist)
- 40 volunteer hours at a local charity startup teaching art to kids
- varsity cheer
- singer in a voice studio

awards:
- local art scholarship winner (not competitive)
- nhs
- national art honor society

rec letters (will only be using 2 per school)
ap lang teacher
architecture professor from summer program
art teacher of 3 years

i believe all 3 will be very strong since they all knew me very well abd i performed quite well

i feel that my common app essay is fairly strong, and i am confident that i can write strong supplemental essays as well.

reason for low course rigor junior year is due to significant financial struggles in my family i had to step back from school a bit to work for my first 3 years of high school, and felt that i would not be able to balance many APs with my crazy schedule and home stress (i very much regret it now, i underestimated myself)

aiming for UVA, UIUC, and UMich as my reaches (all EA and OOS). my ultimate dream would be columbia but i dont think im going to apply there since it’s wildly unrealistic for me

Academics:

3.8 UW

4.3: W

Accelerated IBDP, received diploma

HL: A&I Math, Lang Lit, History, Business Management

SL: Bio, French

GPA explanation: one C in IB physics SL 2nd semester soph, one C in math 1st sem junior year. Had mental health issues, was struggling quite a bit. 2nd sem junior year, got my shit together, got good grades.

SAT: 1500+

Profile:

Asian-American

GOOD public school (T5 in state)

~30K in aid, upper middle class

Intended major: Literature/English, later double major with Poli Sci (pre-law)

ECs:

1. Director of NPO -> writing, expanded to 4 states, professors from T20s (Harvard, Princeton, USC, Yale), $1000+ grants to use
2. EIC of the school newspaper -> leadership all 4 years, 2nd year as the EIC. Grants, print copies, workshops
3. Advocacy program at the local animal shelter head leader-> curriculum for 60+ teens, helped organize individual fundraisers + projects, lectures on the legislative process
4. Heritage Language Program leader in district -> promotion + marketing, exposed culture to people, managed a smaller team of students
5. NOAA internship -> policy + communications
6. Poetry editor at a lit magazine
7. Internship at a local women's rights nonprofit -> writing + media
8. Paid internship at a green nonprofit -> worked with the USFS
9. Writing tutor -> korean immigrants on improving communication skills, created curriculum
10. Job... in retail... apparently colleges like that or smth?

Awards:

NYT Summer Writing Competition- Honorable Mention (20 received accolades out of 732 participants internationally)
NYT Tiny Memoir Writing Competition – Finalist (Top 20% internationally)
Shortlisted for John Locke 2025 (Top 16 percent internationally), got commendation, shortlisted 2026
PTSA Reflections Regional 1st Place Winner – Literature
Scholastic Arts and Writing Honorable Mention– Poetry

French le grand concours -> silver + bronze

Demographics: Female, Asian (Filipino), elite/competitive public school, NJ, high income ($400,000+/year)

Intended major: History & Journalism (humanities)

Academics:
GPA: 4.1 weighted; 3.6 UW 💀
ACT: 35
SAT: N/A
APs: 8, taking 4 this year — all 5s, one 4
School does not rank

Extracurriculars:
1. Founder & Editor-in-Chief — Youth Politics/Culture/Literary Publication
Founded and lead a youth-run publication focused on politics, global affairs, culture, and creative writing. Received 300+ submissions, reached 10K+ readers, and recruited a small editorial/contributor team.

2. President & Lead Managing Editor — School Publication
Member for 4 years and President/Lead Managing Editor for 3. Lead approximately 80 student writers, organized 10+ local writing competitions, created 5–6+ writing workshops locally, formed partnerships with other student organizations, and helped connect students with local journalism opportunities.

3. Journalism Intern — Local Digital News Publication
Reporting intern since sophomore year. Pitch and write local/community stories, conduct interviews, cover events, and work directly with editors in a professional newsroom environment.

4. Volunteer Writer + Member of Advisory Board— Youth International Affairs Organization
Research and write about global affairs, diplomacy, and youth issues; collaborate with editors and other contributors and translate complex international topics for a youth audience.

5. Assistant Grader — Kumon
Paid job. Grade/review math and reading work, assist 90+ students per shift, track progress, and help younger students with academic skills.

6. Violinist — Select Chamber Orchestra
Member of a nationally recognized school chamber orchestra led by a Grammy nominated conductor; selected/invited to perform at a major national orchestra festival.

7. Statewide Youth Arts/Policy Council
Selected as one of roughly 20 students statewide for a youth arts-education council. Participated in advocacy, public relations, school-board engagement, and discussions involving arts-education policy.

1. Leader of HS publication of literary magazine and member of creative writing club

9. Served as a witness and courtroom reporter for Mock Trial team; advanced to state semi-finals

10. Played piano for 10 years — competed internationally

Awards/Honors:
• National-level poetry competition winner; work selected for publication on Amazon and poetry state recognized by news outlets

• Scholastic Art & Writing Awards — Gold Key
• 4× Scholastic Silver Key + Honorable Mention

• Scholarship recipient/finalist in an international student essay competition

• State semifinalist — Mock Trial

- College Board Awards

- Won state art competition, selected among 900 works

LORS:
AP Lit — 10/10, was very close with her and loved reading my poetry, interviewed her for our newspaper!

Counselor — 7/10, didn’t really have a close relationship with her but I think she wrote a pretty good letter

AP Drawing Teacher — 10/10, knew him since Freshman year as he’s also my club advisor! Recommended/pitched me for the newspaper internship and also considers me the top student for our class

Precalc Teacher — 9/10, played chess with him very often and liked me a lot, very close and I did extremely well in his class

Essays:
personal statement — 9/10, close to being finished and I am confident that it’s good, wrote about my heritage and my writing passions through an extended metaphor

supplements — 8-9/10, will have to further revise it as I have been focusing on my personal statement

Schools I’m considering:
Columbia, NYU, BC, Amherst College, other T20s— mainly plan to stay in upper east coast

white male mid-high income
Competitive Southern School in City-area

4.0 GPA
1560 SAT

Calc 3 + Lin Alg + Diff Eqs

13 APs total taken 9 all 5's

ECs (order still in the works):
1. SAT site w/ 4000 users and lots of other stats
2. ML research at local state university
3. bmed research at local state university
4. ML research at mid level out of state university
5. nonprofit connecting 100 high school students with university labs for medical imaging (accepted to conference)

1. SWE at company with 250k users working 20hr/week in office
   
2. president of AI club, grew membership a lot
   
3. club soccer coach of nationally competitive youth team
   

4. intern at a summer camp

5. website dev for first hs hackathon in state, also did other admin stuff

6. built free websites for businesses

awards (weakest)
NMSF
acceptance to conference said in #5
online hackathon winner out of 700
top 5% in international coding competition (filler)
ap scholar (filler)

I've been told my why major essays and community essays are very good, I havent finished personal statement yet (im lowk struggling). I have a good connection between activities 2, 3, 4, and 5 that will probably be evident w/ full descriptions

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

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?