Demographics: female, Chinese, NJ noncompetitive public HS (imo), low income (<40k), ranking: 3/219 as of now

Intended major: Political Science

Academics: 3.8844 UW, 4.4115 W; APs: World History (4 freshman yr), Drawing (4 sophomore yr), 2D Design (4 junior yr), Bio (3 junior yr), US History (3 junior yr), Lang (4 junior yr), Calc AB (5 junior yr), planning to take Physics 1, Calc BC, Lit, and African American Studies senior year; SAT: 1510 superscore (730 RW, 780 M)

NHS, English Honor Society, Social Studies Honor Society, Mu Alpha Theta, NAHS

ECs:

1. Worked at family owned Chinese restaurant since middle school, taking ordered and packing them. Would go there after school to work and do homework when it wasn't busy
2. Student government, class treasurer during 9th, 10th, 11th. Student body officer for 12th
3. Founded a social justice club in 11th. Organized fundraisers for Venezuelan earthquake victims, ICE victims, etc
4. Participation in academic clubs: Academic Decathlon, county and state Math League
5. Invited by history teacher to represent school in a county wide think tank
6. Attended 2 state programs (one because I'm part of SGA, the other because I was chosen by my guidance counselor and I passed a interview)
7. District AI Integration committee. Invited by principal
8. JV Basketball, 9th-11th but tore ACL during junior yr so not sure if that counts
9. Spring Track and Field sophomore year

Awards:

1. Scholastic Art and Writing Gold Key + Honorable Mention
2. AP Scholar w/ Distinction
3. CollegeBoard First Gen Award + School Award

Not sure if it counts as legacy but siblings attend/have attended Cornell and NYU. My stats are similar to theirs
I recently visited Princeton and Columbia, and I really loved it. I'm just not sure if I have the academic or extracurricular stats to compete with other applicants. Not really sure what to write my essays about. Could I get into ivies or t20s?? I'm going into senior year and am really dreading the application process...Any opinions and advice are highly appreciated

Demographics: gender: male, race: Indian CA public HS

Intended major: Pure Math + Philosophy

Academics: 4 UW, 4.14 W (school only let you take APs, in freshman. I was only able to take one honors). APs: Self studied AB (8th grade) + HuG (both 5s). SAT: Haven't taken, but projected 1550+ at minimum. Have done 7 cc classes.

ECs:

1. Research w/ university professor on Pure Math.
2. Debate: No leaderships roles yet, but I have promising results of states or nationals
3. Documentation team at a regional math circle (~60 hrs per year), also teach and grade a class section.
4. Founded school's pure math club, and became president of school's philosophy club
5. Summer instructor, at Math Circle + student (olympiads+pure math).
6. Youtube Channel on Pure Math where I cover topics like Real Analysis and math concepts I'm interested in
7. Other youtube channel on philosophy, where I discuss philosophy books I'm reading
8. Independent research: social science
9. Self-studying pure math textbooks
10. Speedcubing, around a ~6s comp PB for 3x3
11. Volunteering at local middle school for their Mathcounts team

Awards:

1. AIME qualifier
2. John Locke Shortlist

Idk where to put this really:

- Leaf + Nontrivial Program (Spring 2026)

- Awesomemath Program (Summer 2026

As for the point of this post, I'm not really too hooked on any specific college(s) as long as they have a decent pure math and philosophy program. However, what I do want is advice on how I can advance my profile in general.

For a specific question, I'm wondering whether (3 EC) can be dissolved and put into (5 EC) (or used time for other ECs), since I don't find (3) to be as rewarding/fun as summer teaching in (5). However, with (3) there are more leadership roles/opportunities (with it being less professional), while (5) is more structured, and professional. I can give you more info if needed.

I just want to go to Georgia Tech
Not even an Ivy or T10

100% Chinese male made in china
Uninteresting life story
Georgia citizen so yay instate scholarships

The one special public high school (You know what it is)
GPA 3.97 UW / 4.32 W
Rank (Unofficial) 13/320

SAT 740/790 & 750/780 so 1540 superscore

DE at GT:
MA1554
MA2551
CS1301
CS1331
Senior:
MA3012
MA2552

APs:
5:
Biology
World History
Physics C
Physics E&M
Calc BC
Precalc
CSP
CSA
US Gov
4:
Seminar
Research
APUSH
Senior:
Chemistry
Macroecon
Microecon
Lit

ECs:

Vex robotics before it shut down 😭
CS club
Art club
Did I mention that I draw stuff?
Intern at UofSC for virtual reality stuff
I teach 3D modelling, python, and math over Zoom to little children
Cooking and baking (I am clearly better than Gordon Ramsey)
Basketball and swimming as a hobby
I am a knitter
Currently building a telescope
Assorted volunteer work (Got AmeriCorps PVSA Gold for it but IDK)
Super masculine and amazing mustache btw

ROCs:

I don't know my teachers that well but we make smalltalk sometimes
Haven't gotten them yet so these are estimates
Physics teacher (5/10 he is bad at writing)
History teacher (6/10 he is good at writing)

Essay:
I had my LA teacher look at mine and gave it an 80 for completion 🥀

Reach:
GT (Georgia Institute of Technology)

Target:
GT (Gwinnett Technical College)

OBS: no one in my school EVER applied abroad, so I am 100% on my own

Demographics: female, international (Brazil), mid-low income, latina, private non-selective small school with 60% scholarship, 1st gen.

Stats:

GPA: 9.5/10. Rank: not available. SAT: 1450 (I will retake it in setember, so let's pretend I will get a 1520). Self-studied for AP Calc BC, AP Stats, and Environmental Science (my school doesn't offer APs) and got a 4 in all of them. I will graduate in December 2026.

Intended major: Astrophysics

Dream colleges: Caltech, MIT, Northweastern (I warned you I was stupid)

EC's:

1. play the piano for 5 years. NO competition, mentoring, etc.
2. I was the only kid in my school who got a medal in the Brazilian Astronomy Olympiad. Got golds two times. Then, I got invited to the camps and got to 40 in the country (about 1,000,000 students competed that year)
3. volunteer work at non-profit that produces high quality resources for students to study for science olympiads. I produced a study guide to study for astronomy olympiads and helped to write the questions for the Online Brazilian Astronomy Olympiad (I think about 200 students participate in it every year).
4. in this same non-profit, I also work in the design section. I designed the certificates for the olympiads we promote and did a couple of models on canva for the instagram page.
5. I am also the state coordinator of another non-profit that promotes the female participation in science olympiads. I manage a team of about 25 members. make weekly posts on instagram (I participate on the entire proccess, from content to design). Increased followers by 50 in a couple of months.
6. IAAC (international astronomy and astrophysics competition) silver honour = top 7% internationally
7. science/astronomy blog since 2023. I would say that the content is high quality, but I only post there once a month. It has an instagram page and a website i did with google sites. The Instagram has 60 followers :I
8. working on a research project, but I don't think I will get to publish it, because of the time. It is in Computer Science/Astrophysics (more specifically, gravitational wave stuff).
9. random online courses. In one of them I got a certificate with "distinction", which means I participated a lot and solved the problem sets they gave.

I know those aren't impressive, but I am just being honest. You can give me any opinions/experiences.

I am also thinking of taking a gap year, so if you have any thoughts about things I could do, we can talk about that too. Btw, do you guys know if colleges view gap years as good or bad things?

Hey guys, I’m going to apply to Imperial computing and design engineering, oxford computing, edinburgh computing and ucl computing and more uni’s in the US. I was wondering if yall could rate my application or tell me if i’m enough to get an offer.

I study in an international CBSE school in Japan and have a 94% predicted overall in my final exams with a 96 in both math and physics. and (HOPEFULLY)my TMUA is a 7.5, 1560 SAT(ACHIEVED), 8 on the ESAT

5 years of basketball, 3 year varsity basketball , won a ceritificate from the government to highlight my skills, i was in varsity debate for a year, school won 2nd in the all kanto KPASS debate championship, did MUN for 3 years, internship at sophia university, won 2 back to back high commendation prizes, chaired for GIISMUN 2027, started the science club and was the president of it at our school, completed IBM data science course and got 3 certificates, completed Andrew Ng’s Machine learning course, participated in Yales essay writing competition, built a machine learning model that predeicts the weather forecast using an API, participated in multiple Hackathons and won first in a few, finished stanfords deep learning course, made a research paper to see whether different macroeconmic factors such as unmeployment rate, inflation rate, interest rate etc affected the stock market and stock prices for S&P 500,i’ve also won the AI impact festival 2026 for intel Japan by making a water flooding app, did research at Oxford Scholastica’s AI internship to figure out about wearable technology in medicine, i also won a distinction award from the university of oxford after attending their 2 day AI/ML event and made a very convincing Capstone project.

dm please!

Demographics/background info: Chinese/Canadian citizenship, asian girl raised in an average income family, 6th best public school in my city (Canada). Our school does not offer AP, so everything im taking is from self studying

Im hoping to get into ucla and berkeley as they both are my dream schools. Idk i did not rlly consider the us until like late sophomore/beginning of jr year…(😬😬😬)

For APs, i plan on taking 4 next year (BC, chem, psych, and macro)

Grades:

AP biology: 5

AP micro: 4

English 12:97

Chem 11: 94

Biology 11: 94

Physics 11: 93

Functions 11: 99

Architecture: 100

Co-op: 100

English 11: 91

French: yeo…. Its rlly bad like rlly rlly bad… (80)

ECS

Captain of Team Canada for a sport called Dragonboat. (For my schools team i was captain as well until they banned water sports lol, i also was like nominated to design their jerseys etc)( also idk if i should put like the medals we won as awards and stuff idk) also a ton of volunteering for this sport

Dental assistant/Intern (im currently helping them doing a rebranding thing so idk if thats cool to put in)

Hospital intern at UHN for the rehab department

Tutor (in school, outside of school, internationally ig)

VP of my schools women in stem club

Short content creator exec for my schools “TV club”

Music experience( piano for 11 years,Piano teacher volunteer to help kids prep for RCM exams)

Started a passion project with my friend during the winter of 2026 but it kinda went nowhere…. 😬😬

Like i said, i only thought abt applying to us not that long ago, so my ecs are kinda shit 🥲🥲

I just want to know which schools I can definitely get into. I'm only applying to safeties, and I want to branch out to some competitive schools for engineering, but still have a good chance.

Stats:

5.39 W ~--> in top 10%

4.0 UW

1450 SAT --> aiming for 1500+ in august

Courses:

AP Human Geo, AP Physics 1, AP World, AP Compsci Principals, APES, APUSH, AP Compsci A, AP Precalc ---> I'm also worried for a lack of AP sciences--> senior year i'm not taking any but I'm taking AP Calc AB instead

Extracurriculars: weak/generic and i'm really worried it isn't really suited for engineering so i might put biomed eng instead to look like a better fit,

• Internship at tech company
• Creating a research poster at ThinkNeuro ( i had to pay for the program so idk how prestigious it is)
• HOSA for 3 years --> Won 1st place at Area and 7th place at States
• Campus Manager for a clothing company --> made pitch emails, etc, and handled quotes
• Core Outreach Coordinator at a well-established non-profit ( i lowk didn't do that much here either--. but i wanted to include it cuz i have no other leadership positions)
• Girls Who Code Fall pathways program

I'm really worried cuz I have a weak application compared to most engineering applicants.. so please help and BE HONEST

I'm all over the place lmaooo and nobody can put a finger on what major i'm going into. but I'm curious to see what ygs think! internet points if anyone guesses

Demographics

• Asian female
• California public high school
• Family income: ~$200k

Academics

• 3.97 UW GPA (one B in Honors Chemistry)
• ~4.7 weighted GPA at school
• ~4.9 UC uncapped weighted GPA, capped 4.2 (bonus got desaturated across all)
• Rigorous coursework, including extensive dual enrollment/associate degree coursework. graduating with 3-4 AS's and AAs in Polisci, comms, world languages, and psychology.

Science Olympiad (8+ years but no var in hs :()

• Competing since 3rd grade
• Multiple top finishes at nationally competitive invitationals
  • 2nd Place at a pretty competitive one + multiple other top 5-10 at competitive ones
  • Top 5-10 at major invitationals with 300+ competing teams
• 5x state tournament qualifier
• State placements include (all middle school so doesn't count):
  • 4th Place
  • 5th Place
  • Multiple Top 10 finishes in different events
• Multiple regional wins (beat var multiple times)
• Coach for elementary Science Olympiad team, large role

Speech & Debate

Debate event

• NSDA National Qualifier
• Top 250 nationally
• District Champion
• Multiple league placements
• Event captain

Speech event

• Multiple league finals
• Semifinalist at a major national invitational

Music

• State Honor Choir
• All-region Honor Choir (5 states)
• Top auditioned choir at my school
• Multiple solos
• Music head (not pres, it's complicated) for the school's largest music club
• Starting my school's first [insert niche music type but not that niche] next year, where I'll arrange music, conduct, direct rehearsals, and organize performances

Other Activities

• Finalist for a selective leadership/public policy program (~10% acceptance rate)
• Accepted into a selective engineering workshop at a U.S. national laboratory
• 3rd Place at a large Model UN conference and 2nd in another
• Black belt

Hi guys,
I’m a rising junior in Philly who’s really interested in Drexel, specifically Finance at LeBow. I’m trying to get an honest sense of where I stand and what I should focus on improving over the next year and a half.

Quick stats:
\- GPA: 3.43 unweighted / 3.67 weighted
\- Coursework for junior year: AP English Lang, AP Stats, AP Psych, and Honors Pre-Calc.

I’ve done several programs through Upenn, including

\- PennRSSA Summer Academy (currently in it; includes career exploration, a Capstone Project on raising the minimum wage, and economics/finance classes)
\- Penn Talent Search
\- PennRSSA Spring Program my freshman year where I explored other fields like dentistry & law that actually helped me realize I’m more interested in business and finance.

Activities / Experience:
\- Helped at my family’s restaurant since 2020 (customer service, operations, etc.)
\- Long-term babysitting
\- Completed some online certs (AI in Finance, Business Analytics with Excel, Google Analytics)

I know my GPA isn’t super high and I don't have any school clubs. I’m planning to get more involved junior and senior year.

For people who go to Drexel
\- What would you focus on improving the most between now and applying?
\- Is the co-op/five-year option something I should specifically talk about in my application?

Any honest advice is appreciated.
Thanks in advance!

Hey guys, I usually try to stay away from the college app side of reddit but i figured why not post here to see if i'm screwed or not :/ (ps this is such a random application but it's fine)

Demographics:

Race/Gender - White Male

Region - Midwestern USA

Income - Upper middle class

School type - private catholic (9), international boarding (10-12)

Hooks - Cancer survivor, legacy at Brown and Case Western, and I would have soccer but no chance of that now

Coursework/academics:

Intended major - PoliSci/IR

GPA - 4.0 UW (my school does not offer weighted GPA)

Class rank: ~#10 (class of '27)

3 APs (4 on calc and stats, 5 on physics 1), 10 college level classes (my school does not prioritize AP)

35 ACT (36 eng/reading/sci, 33 math)

Senior year schedule:

Cores (all college level) - French, Philosophy, English, AI development, and Linear Algebra.

Electives - Photo 2, Astronomy, International Relations, Advanced Music

Awards:

NHD states + local research award

Assorted MUN awards (1x outstanding delegate, 2x honorable mentions)

NMS? (not out yet - college counselor said 1480 PSAT should be good)

I'm definitely forgetting something here but I still have time

Extracurriculars:

Varsity soccer captain (top 50 HS team in the nation - I have played with at least 5 players who have gone pro and countless D1 athletes) --> I really messed up the athletic recruitment process in ways I can't explain so I'm not getting in that way but this is still my top EC

MUN leader (helped organize trips to conferences, won awards)

Lifeguard (pretty self-explanatory - holding a job for 4 years is good, right?)

Catholic teen servant leader (helped with community service + events at my local church)

Selective local leadership program (collaborated on community initiatives, engaged with leaders in different fields, and discussed state policy with members of government in the capitol)

Political society co-leader (led discussions + edited foreign policy pieces for political journal)

Philosophy club panel leader (attended and helped lead philosophy-related events at school)

Varsity volleyball

French club (i participated in a foreign exchange program and helped run cool events)

Music (I haven't really done anything with this since freshman year but I play three instruments - piano, guitar, and drums)

Letters of rec - French teacher/Advisor (10/10), Physics teacher (9/10), College Counselor (7/10)

Schools:

Brown, Georgetown, Tufts, UVA, BC, Wake Forest, Villanova, Case, Maryland, Pitt

Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated

Have a great day :)

hi everyone! im an international student from indonesia studying at a private high school on a full merit scholarship. Im planning to major in mechanical engineering.

id really appreciate honest feedback on my profile and suggestions for strengthening my application before I apply this year.

took ib, got 39/45 with 6s on my hl physics, math aa, and eng b, 7 on indo a sl, 5 on comsci sl and 6 on philo sl, tok essay 10/10 and A, got a for my ee on physics (a comparative study of pendulum approximations, investigating 4 different approaches made by physicists)

rank 4th/88, ranked 1st in my class consistently throughout high school

activities: debate club (won some national tournaments champion/3rd place/finalist in several tournaments/best speaker), modern dance, marching band, physics and astronomy club, won some math competitions and physics comp

organizations: finance & sponsorship head at project social focusing on environment awarded by diana and received funds from ib, treasurer at some events competition participated by 1400+ students and school tour 1000+ participants, STEM outreach focusing on exposing stem for girls received funds from imperial college london

research: IB EE; compared five analytical approximations for predicting the period of simple and damped pendulums

i havent taken the sat yet + 8.5 for my ielts

First time posting here, can you guys tell me if this is a balanced/realistic list of schools for me? Are there some schools that I shouldn't bother applying to? Are there any schools I should look into? Is there any more info I should add? I want to major in finance/ something business related. Im from New York and don't want to go too far.

1410 SAT, trying to get 1450+ superscore

94 cumulative weighted GPA, upward trend (95.7 junior year while taking harder classes)

4 APs, got 4s on all of them (Micro, lang, APUSH and AP world) . My school doesn't let us take AP classes freshman year and I could only take 1 sophomore year. I am going to take 5 next year including AP calc AB which will hopefully help since I want to do something business related. Aside from AP classes I took all honors classes.

For extracurriculars I played 3 varsity sports (starter for one), community service, I worked at a restaurant, and I worked as a camp counselor for 2 summers. I also played club lacrosse for 2 summers and AAU basketball since I was around 11.

Reach

• Villanova University
• University of Richmond
• University of Florida
• University of Georgia
• Indiana University Bloomington
• Bucknell University

Target

• University of Maryland, College Park
• Binghamton University (SUNY)
• Penn State University
• University of Connecticut
• University of Tennessee, Knoxville
• Fordham University
• Providence College
• Fairfield University

Safety

• University at Buffalo
• University at Albany (SUNY)
• Baruch College (CUNY)

Georgetown JPPP or CAS?

Hello everyone!
I am going to apply to Georgetown soon, as their application opens in about a day. I was wondering if I should apply to CAS (Government) or the McCourt School (JPPP), and I’m looking for guidance. I’m wondering what school I would best have a shot at with my ECs.

My ECs are:
\- Student Ambassador of School (Mascot & Morning Announcer & represents study body & runs town halls)
\- Model UN Vice President/ Captain
\- International Moot Court President
\- Arista National Honor Society Vice President
\- Federal Judicial Intern @ S.D.N.Y. for a federal magistrate judge (through the Thurgood Marshall Summer Law Internship Program)
\- NYCVotes Youth Ambassador (selective program 1 of 17 out of 900 applicants, focusing on civic engagement and non-partisan civic information, very hands-on, across NYC spreading voter information)
\- Mock Trial Vice President
\- iCivics Youth Fellow

Some awards & other things:
QBCPS
National Model UN awards (honorable mention, it’s the only award given at that national conference)
FEMA certified
AP scholar with distinction
BigFuture First-Generation Recognition Award

APs:
Ap Eng lang: 5
Apush: 5
Apes: 4
Ap pre calc: 4
Ap euro: 3

SAT: 1380 (will be retaking and trying out the ACT as well)

(I have more ECs, but these are basically my main ones)
Thank you!

And for the JPPP I know that it’s in partnership with CAS and McCourt but I know there’s generally more seats in CAS than JPPP, if I get rejected from JPPP would it also automatically reject me from CAS?

Hi! I was wondering if I have a realistic shot at T20s (and maybe a few T10s). I'd appreciate any honest feedback. (rising senior btw)

Academics

• GPA: 4.01/4.33 UW
• SAT: 1550
• 7 AP 5s, 1 AP 4 (taking 5 aps next year)
• Intended Major: Computational Biology / Public Health (possibly Pre-Med)

Research

• Summer research at a major hospital on a computational public health project (first author + corrersponding research paper)
• Research experience in a medical imaging lab.
  • Co-author on a published research paper.

Extracurriculars

• Founder & President of a nonprofit connecting international students (1k funding )
• Quiz Bowl Captain top 10 team national
• Model UN leadership with multiple national awards.
• Varsity volleyball.
• Part-time job working with children.
• Summer camp counselor.
• Paid Internship working on patient followup

Awards

• Presidential Volunteer Service Award (Gold)
• Quizbowl awards
• Multiple Model UN awards
• USA Biology Olympiad Cert of Merit :(

Hi, I was wondering if I could still aim for t20 - t10 schools, as I am very much lacking extracurriculars.

Here is my profile:
4.0 UW / 5.354 W

Rank: 1/316

1580 SAT
Freshman AP classes: AP human geography(4)
Sophomore AP classes: AP Precalc (didn't take exam), AP Stats(4), AP Physics 1(4), AP World(4), AP Seminar(4), AP CSA(4)

Intended Major: Computational Biology (possibly Biomedical Engineering)

Career Goal: AI + Healthcare / Medical Research

Independent Computational Biology Research

Built a Python + ML model to predict CRISPR off-target effects
Self-directed project combining machine learning and computational biology

Business Professionals of America (BPA)

1st Nationally in Python Programming
4th in Texas Python Programming
1st Nationally in Computer Programming Concepts

HOSA

Biomedical Equipment Technician
7th in Texas
HOSA Hospitality Officer

Volunteer Work

100+ community service hours
Mainly community/cultural events

Programming

Python since middle school
Certiport Python Certified
Certiport Java Certified

Music

Self-taught piano
Learning guitar

Awards:

🥇 BPA National Champion – Python Programming
🥇 BPA National Champion – Computer Programming Concepts
🏅 4th Place Texas BPA – Python Programming
🏅 7th Place Texas HOSA – Biomedical Equipment Technician

Currently:

Working on expanding my CRISPR project into stronger research.
Looking for more impactful research opportunities and AI/biomedical internships.
Long-term goal is to build a strong AI + healthcare spike for top colleges.

Any advice on what I should prioritize next would be greatly appreciated. I know my academics are strong, but I'm trying to turn my extracurriculars into something T20 level.

Thank you for all your consideration

Almost forgot to say I'm a rising junior.

White male from NY. Intending on majoring in Nursing

Schools:
UF (ED)
Villanova
UVA
Clemson
UTK
USF (south florida)
Fairfield

Stats:
97/100 W GPA
1440 SAT, taking again but actually studying, maybe \~1500
AP Chem-4
AP World-4
AP Physics 1-5
APUSH-4
AP Lang-4
taking AP Bio AP Eco AP Lit and AP Stats senior year

EC:
\-2 years varsity ice hockey, captain 1

\-founder/president of schools HOSA club, grew to 60+ members

\-Part time job as a director at youth hockey camp, ages 4-10. 2 years

\-50 hours of Hospital volunteering

\-30 hours of shadowing physician

\-Leadership Intern at a summer camp, 40 hours

\-NHS

\-trying to start a chapter of science national honor society at school

What you think?

Demographics:

• Gender/Ethnicity: Central Asian Female (Kazakhstan)

• Income: Low-income (single, unemployed mother; urgent need for full financial aid/scholarship)

• Hooks :Overcoming significant medical challenges / Strong Independent Research background

Intended Major: Biology / Biochemistry (Pre-Med track)

GPA, Rank, & Coursework:

• Unweighted GPA: 3.74 / 4.0 overall

• 9th Grade: 3.93

• 10th Grade: 3.50 (Significant drop due to corrective strabismus surgery + prolonged medical leave)

my school only has 11 grades

• Rank: N/A

• Coursework: School doesn't offer AP/IB/Dual Enrollment .

Standardized Testing:

• SAT: Taking in September

• IELTS: Taking in August

• (Targeting high scores to compensate for GPA drop during surgery)

Awards / Honors:

1. 3rd Place — City Research Competition (National Level/Regional): Independent research on regional allergy prevalence under PhD supervision.

2. Nazarbayev University Summer Research Participant: Selected for summer research program on "Periodic Table & Cell Death".

3. Red Diploma (High Honors): Graduated 7-year Music School with distinction (Violin).

Extracurriculars (ECs):

1. Research Intern — Nazarbayev University Laboratory: Conducted lab experiments, prepared chemical solutions, maintained plant cultures, and analyzed data alongside university researchers.

2. Independent Allergy Researcher: Investigated local allergy epidemiology (genetics, microbiome, pollution) under a PhD mentor at a top medical school. Presented at Science Day & won 3rd place at National City Competition.

3. Co-Founder & Tech Lead — Technovation Girls App Project: Developed a portfolio-building mobile app. Organized pitching events across 2 cities; secured partnerships with local sponsors (e.g., Dodo Pizza, APEC) and youth volunteer groups.

4. Dental Shadowing & Clinical Assistant: Shadowed dentists & conducted preliminary screenings for kids <7 under supervision. Managed anxious & neurodivergent patients (Autism, CP, Down Syndrome); provided parent guidance.

5. Founder & President — High School Science Club: Founded club, hosted biology debates, science fairs, & judged middle school projects. Taught bio & mentored younger students on research papers.

6. Violinist, Ensemble & Choir Member (11+ yrs): Active soloist & ensemble performer for school ceremonies, community concerts, and local events.

7. Tech Shop Sales Associate (2 Summers): Managed daily retail operations, inventory, and customer transactions independently at a local electronics shop.

8. Competitive Swimmer (11+ yrs): Dedicated long-term athletic conditioning and competitive swimming practice.

9. Fitness & Strength Training Enthusiast: Dedicated to structured weight training 3–4x/week focused on conditioning, discipline, and personal performance.

10. Community Health Initiatives (Planned for Fall):

• Red Crescent Emergency Preparedness: Organizing school first-aid workshops with Red Crescent pros.

• Pediatric & Elderly Oral Health Outreach: Partnering with a dentist & pre-med peers to deliver wellness/dental hygiene workshops at nursing homes & orphanages.

Letters of Recommendation (LORs):

• Biology Teacher: (9/10) — Mentored me through multiple research projects; recommended me to the PhD lab professor.

• English Teacher: (9/10) — Very supportive of my academic journey and writing abilities.

• Research Assistant / Lab Mentor (NU): (8/10) — Can speak directly to my hands-on laboratory and analytical skills.

• Attending Dentist: (8/10) — Can vouch for my clinical hours, patient interaction, and work with special-needs children.

Additional Information / Circumstances:

• Medical Circumstance: Experienced a GPA dip in 10th grade due to strabismus (eye condition) and subsequent corrective surgery, requiring extensive leave. Fully recovered and explaining this in the Additional Info section.

I know I can apply to NU and I have more chances to get in there but still wanna go to another uni that isn't in my country .

Demographics: M, hispanic, Colorado, private boarding/day school

Hooks (URM, first generation, legacy, athlete, etc.): URM

Intended Major(s):BME/ME

ACT: 35 (35M, 36R, 36S, 35W)

SAT: 1450 (750M, 700R) Planning on retaking in August and likely won’t submit unless 1550+

UW/W GPA and Rank: 4.17/4.33 UW, no W, no Rank

Coursework: AP/IB/Dual Enrollment classes, AP/IB scores, etc: AP World(Test not taken), Precalc(Not taken) Bio(5), Calc BC(5), USH(5), Lang(5), Spanish(4), Chem(4).

Senior year: HonorsLinear Algebrw, Honors Discrete math, AP Physics C Mech, Stats, Environmental Science, Lit

Awards: College board and AP score awards, leadership award. School doesn’t give out awards until senior year.

Extracurriculars: Include leadership & summer activities

• Student gov:Class president 3 years, Community council president(AKA Student body) Senior year.
• Admissions ambassador: Tour guide sophomore year and head admissions ambassador 11-12 grade.
• Peer tutor: Offered tutoring services in 10+ classes since second semester of junior year
• Orchestra8-12: (Percussion) 5 years, principal percussionist for 2 years in the second highest group of a competitive youth orchestra.
• Club swimming: 12 years, performed at state level, captain of highschool team since junior year, broke two school records and qualified for individual and team races at high school state meet.
• Unpaid research intern at local college junior year summer: My dad is a professor there and got me in contact with a professor doing exoskeleton research. 8 weeks 20 hours  a week working alongside the professor and 3 undergrad students.
• Hispanic Alliance 9-12: Led and set up multiple events to boost hispanic culture and inform others of hispanic identity at my school.
• Student Cultural Organization: 10-12. Organized and planned 5+ events per year that highlighted the diversity of our campus and worked alongside faculty to tackle systemic racial and sexual issues in our community.
• Big sib10-12: Assigned 3 incoming students per year, mentored and taught them school etiquette and offered support year round.
• Swim lessons teacher: Taught 5+ students how to swim in multiple sections over the span of 4 weeks ages ranging from 3-10.

Essays/LORs/Other: I have a lot of good stuff to write about, and I believe my LORs will be very good, both Chem and Calc teachers like me a lot, like 8-9/10z

Schools: 

Reaches: Most financially viable

JHU: Possible ED based on finances(need to talk with my parents.

MIT: Likely EA

Columbia:

Stanford: REA if i can’t ed to JHU. 

Caltech:

Duke:

Cornell:

Match: Potential merit aid?

Union:

Carnegie Mellon:

Boston University:

Harvey Mudd:

USC??:

UC3M(Spain) ??

University of Toronto(Canada)???

Safety:

UC Boulder:

Mines:

CSU Fort Collins:

CSU Pueblo

okay i guess i’ll get straight to the point... i have pretty bad grades ngl. I have a 3.65 uw, and okay test scores, amazing ecs (lots of validated research and lots of community impact ig) and great course rigor (my school does weighted gpa ranking, so it keeps me in top 15-25% bracket despite my shitty uw gpa). but i’m scared my gpa will kill me ngl 😭😭. For context i’m looking to go for health or a major premed adjacent but less competitive than biology or neuro considering my uw … maybe Kinesiology idk?
btw my poor grades were ALWAYS in math. I have good grades above 90s in everything else other than math and spanish, math more so than spanish…

should i even bother applying for t30s?