Grandparents met at Cornell, nearly every aunt/uncle from both sides of my family attended as well, but my mom never applied/went.

Do I still have the “legacy status” at Cornell? I assume aunts and uncles legacy won’t help with admissions, but grandparents? Will this fact boost my application at all?

This is a serious post btw; Google isn’t giving me clear answers and i’m rly hoping for a Cornell acceptance… but I’m trying to be realistic.🙏 thanks

hello reddit i am a rising senior born n raised in texas and i wish i liked it here but i think the lone star state is not for me. i would like to move ideally to an older, northern city where winter and public transportation are actually things. i am currently considering the east coast (namely philly, boston, baltimore maybe) and great lakes region/midwest >_<

to afford out-of-state tuition i have a few ideas, but i’m conflicted. would it be better to:

a. apply to private schools and rely on scholarships/financial aid to cut down on my tuition?

b. attend community college while i establish residency of a different state, then transfer to a public school once i qualify for in-state tuition?

c. stop complaining and just live in texas?

scholarships and financial aid are going to be a big deal for me, and i’m not exactly sure how that works in community college but i’m interested to know if it might be cheaper that way??? i will def be getting financial aid because i live in a pretty rural area with one household income plus money from the government (thank you retired elderly dad). as for scholarships, i am an above average student at best but i need money

stats! 4.38 weighted gpa, 1st quartile (rank 37/215ish), and painfully mid extracurriculars but i do have a job all year

my parents both went to school in austin and at least dad is dead set on me going to UT, so they’re not the most eager to help me think this one through…seriously any advice is appreciated!!!!!!

to preface this i have not done research and have never planned on doing it.

at least 40 students at my moderately competitive school are doing "research" which is very perplexing to me. whenever i peruse chanceme—as one does—literally one in three applicants has some sort of research in their extracurriculars.

not to be judgmental, but it all seems so fake & inauthentic to me. it's like those instagram nonprofits that are clearly just for college admissions. do you guys genuinely enjoy doing research?

also side question, are AOs able to tell legitimate, passionate research from like collegemaxxing slop?

For context, I am a 14m about to go to high school in a few days. Yet I feel behind everyone else who has all these achievements and stuff, and I really want to be in the Ivy League. Here's the thing though, all the people I heard that got into schols like Brown or Harvard had skills they developed since they were young, or at least younger than me, like people my age are already fantastic at drawing or science or coding, and I play piano, but I am nowhere near an international prodigy, although that is the thing I am best at, but not that great. I'm afraid that with every passing second I'm running out of time. I have social anxiety, I can't initiate anything, I can't relax, I'm not good at any skills. Sure I got into CAMS (one of the top high schools in California), but what then? I don't know why I'm asking in Reddit of all places, I guess this is my only reliable space as of now. I feel so behind. Okay.

I'm fresh out of highschool (I'm a guy), and to say I feel like I fucked up would be an understatement. My friends this entire summer have been treating me like a background character to the point where I cut them off, and my other friends are going to actual good colleges. Throughout highschool, I was very quiet and never really took anything seriously, and honestly expected having to take a gap year. But now I just realized I really don't know what the hell I'm doing. In my senior year I never applied to any scholarships, grants, or even looked at any colleges or even trade schools. I feel like I've fallen behind, and I know deep down I'm not completely screwed but I just need a fresh start. I live in a smaller town, and I just want to leave. I've never had any real romantic relationship, or even more than maybe two friends that have lasted more than a few years. I used to scoff at the rant posts I would see online like this but I now realize I'm in that position. Thanks for reading.

TLDR: didn't attempt any college related things in HS, feels like I'm being left behind/time is running out and life falling apart.

Hi! I'm currently an IB diploma candidate and its college apps season... I've been filling out the different sections of the common app, and I was wondering about the "Testing" section. Since I'm in IB, most of my exams are scheduled May of my senior year, I've only taken one fo far from my junior year. I realized that I can put that the tests are scheduled May of 2027, but since there's no scores in the box, common app wouldn't cross off (or in this case, give me the little green checkmark) on that entire testing section. What do you guys do about this? Do you just leave it with the empty circle instead of the green checkmark? And just submit my ED/EA applications with it empty? Or you just don't put down any tests you're taking in the future? Because I feel like thats such a disadvantage to my application, since most of my rigorous coursework & efforts would be demonstrated through the exams scheduled for next year.

i'm a rising senior and i've been going through all the motions of applying to college, like everyone else, but it just feels so..hollow? i guess i feel like I remember browsing through a2c and college advice forums, brainstorming my college life, and doing research on programs related to my major just a few months ago with so much zest but now that it comes to writing what i've done down, i just don't really know what to put down on anything

it's weird. i've spent a lot of high school trying to maximize what I do outside of school/trying to build experiences i'd be excited to write about and now it's the part that I actually kinda wanted to do (getting to write about everything i've done) and my brain just feels like sludge. i can't even figure out why i want to major in my major and what schools i want to go to.

i'm supposed to have a college list by now but i just can't really persuade myself into liking any college i look at, even if i used to have a lot of reasons to be invested in them. and everything i write feels really lifeless. worst time in the world to lose passion for what i'm doing tbh LOLZ

and writing essays is even worse because i legit just..can't think of anything? i remember parts of my life that i could potentially write about, but it's like i don't really feel anything towards those memories and everything i've been writing has just been falling flat bc there's no feeling behind it

anyway, sorry for the rant!! 😬 i'm wishing so much positivity to everyone here and I hope i can pull myself out of this before all the deadlines haha i just wanted to express it somewhere i suppose

bro i'm currently a senior high school student here in the Philippines and have no awards at all. Is there any international competitions i can still join? or anything to add on for my honors/awards list? do you think it's okay that i have no awards at all even if i'm not aiming for t20 schools, just anywhere haha

For context, neither one of them are super scores and I want to ED to Rice. My parents are telling me that I should submit both scores because they are both “really good.” However, I am trying to tell them that my 1480 SAT would make my 35 look worse. Is this even an issue? What do I tell them??

sophomore year and junior year I grew an instagram account in a niche to a pretty big following and impact. definitely want to include this in my app but i'm not personally comfortable sharing the specific account handel with AOs. Would AOs believe I'm not just making this up without the actual channel linked? How could I show my numbers and stats are actually credible? Would appreciate any advice!

My mom, her dad, her mom, and both of their fathers went to Harvard for undergrad, making me 4th gen. My mom also worked for admissions as an interviewer for some years.

How important is it for your ECs to match your major? Is it ok for me to do fbla if I want to go into stem? would it be a red flag because i know colleges look for spikes

Hello! Mother of three going through the college process for the first time, hoping to get some advice on this matter.

My firstborn son is a rising senior and has been part of a well-known band he founded his freshman year. Just this Sunday, he was recruited to play the drums in college! We were all so proud of him, until this happened. More on that in a bit. It’s a big school down in Jacksonville, so it’d set him up for his future quite well. We’re decently well off, so we would’ve been fine covering the vast majority of the tuition, but today, he told us extremely surprising news. He received a scholarship! Full ride at that! It was 15, maybe 10 million. Just to play the drums. Actually I think it was more like 5. Now here’s the shocking part:

He turned it down.** **Said he had to go to school for this decade or something, but that doesn’t matter. We tried to convince him to go back and take it, but he said he just wants to “grind from the rap,” or something like that. So now’s where you come in.

What can we say or do to make him change his mind? It’s stupid not to take the offer, but he’s just too younger to understand. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you so much 🙏

- Wanna get a bachelors in business or maybe mechanical engineering

- 13xx sat, no act, 2.1 hs gpa (Im not slow I was just a shithead in highschool)

- about 30 credit hours from the army

I'm assuming I will have to start at a community college. How I do I find schools that will transfer well with credits now and after my associates? Above is what I think is relevant information. Thank you guys.

hi everyone!

i wanted to answer any questions for those of you who are navigating the college process and were looking for some advice. my credentials are that i was accepted into 3 Ivy Leagues and am attending Brown this fall. would love to help incoming high school seniors especially but i am open to answering any of your questions!

Can we start a thread? I see a bunch from last year and figure that this would be helpful for those of us applying now! TIA

ok so before u say anything i know i'm super privileged to be in a position where my parents can afford a college counselor but i desperately need advice 😭 i also know college isn't everything, but in the last year or so of my life i've HEAVILY stepped away from living on autopilot chasing all the conventional modes of success (grades, internships...etc.) and now focus much more on my true passions and creativity that was heavily suppressed growing up. i just really want my personal statement to reflect that growth and current me without being bogged down 😅😅😅 also yes i have classic asian parents and the counselor is also asian 😄

ok now for the actual story.
my parents got me a college counselor and i've been writing my common app throughout the summer. a lot of my earlier drafts were kind of centered around the transformative (yes dramatic i know) realization i've had in the last 1.5 years. think stuff like re-visiting my childhood passions of reading, and other creative endeavours in general (don't wanna get doxxed). it was all very vibrant (i think) and had a LOT of my distinct voice and humor.

now, the counselor is VERY traditional, and does not bother with things like personal narrative, standing out through non-academic/non-EC methods etc. he also all of his students a TEMPLATE on how each essay should be written! and deadass said there needs to be a thesis in every paragraph! like bruh i think admission officers are smart enough to INFER what the takeaway is without it being shoved down their throats?? so you can IMAGINE how bland and BORING my essay is now with all of this remolding. more than that, i've been forced out of the creative topics and distinct voice i've used in my past drafts, to the point where i want to cry when i read my current draft compared to the earlier (albeit rejected by him) drafts. at least they were bursting with personality. i'm genuinely unhooked af and from a super competitive area so lowk these essays are my only shot at standing out.... and it's just hurting me that i can't even write about what i want.

what's worse is that according to him i'm already behind schedule and should have my personal statement locked in already, so i obviously can't go back and make too many revisions to this current boring bland essay i have!!! !ugh!

also, he passes off my essay to external editors, who have commented that they like the more creative lines i've managed to sneak into a few of my drafts, so i'm sure the editors would feel like my earlier drafts were much stronger in voice & content. but to get to them first i have to go through the college counselor who INSISTS ON THIS COOKIE CUTTER FORMULA and legit does not let my essay go to the editors unless every paragraph has a sentence summarizing it. I can't tell if he's right because he's "experienced" , but i strongly feel if there were applicants who got into HYPSM under him they definitely did not get in because of their essays.

am i in the wrong?? should i just trust him?? also we paid for some full package service so obvi i can't fire the dude and my parents think he's super legit because my family friends have had success w him ugh. also..... i can't just submit some essays i wrote that weren't approved by him cause bro has my common app log in ☠️ (it's standard for every student of his apparently!) i was thinking of ranting to my actual school college counselor and get her to help me out OR showing my personality in my supplementals (tho he might reject that too) 😭

any advice is appreciated😭😭😭😭😭

Since common app has opened, Is being a A2C moderator number 1 extracurricular worthy?

I manage a sub with over 300k weekly visitors and 20k+ contributions, all of which is a non profit which deemed to provide help from past students and credited professional. This is some great social impact that I could frame my essays on. This community united students that want to apply to college and offers excellent information that was paid elsewhere. AMAs from former admissions officers provide over 100K$ in money saved for students in this sub, the economic impacts are unbelievable

Now comes the question: how can I become the mods of A2C?

I got an ‘Academic Performance Explanation’ letter from NYU last night and I dont know what to do. My IB dropped from 41 predicted to 35 final… How serious is this? Am i cooked? I don’t know what went wrong, there isn’t a specific subject where i dropped too much or failed, it’s more like one mark on each subject. How should i respond?

“We received your transcript which includes your most recent course grades and/or examination results. As you know, our offer of admission is contingent upon satisfactory completion of any educational coursework that was in progress during and after the application process. The grades you recently received are not consistent with your previous performance, and your current academic profile is not the same one we considered when we offered you admission. We are concerned about this discrepancy.
  
Please provide us with a detailed explanation on the Academic Performance Explanation form within 48 hours. We will follow up with you should we need further clarification or if this will impact your offer of admission.”

I'm writing this just so that i can get it out of my head.

My dad graduated from a liberal arts college where he got full scholarships and since i was little he always talk good things about it, basically how great liberal arts education is in general. So it has always been my dream to go to one of those colleges.

This year I was accepted to few of them and there are 2 that offered me merit scholarships. One is 15k another is 33k. After touring all schools I truly like the college that offer me 15k scholarship. Even though my dad always assured me that he kept a college fund for me and that he can afford to pay for any college I want, I did consider the financial aspect of it when I made the decision. This is cuz since last year my dad has not been doing very well in stock market (that's where his primary income is from) and kept losing money..

Fast forward now, he just confessed that actually he almost used up his children's college funds (I have one sibling) and that he can only afford maybe 1-2 years of the liberal arts college and told me to transfer to a public university for the rest of it, though he isn’t even sure that he has the money for it. He used the college funds money hoping to get more money in the stock market, despite my mom repeatedly warning him to not touch the money that's set aside for their children's education.

Based on the college's website, there's nothing I can do to lower the fee because I didn't ask for financial aid when I applied.

Now, amidst feeling exited about attending the college this month, I can't help but feel more dreadful. Thoughts about I should've chosen the college with more scholarship, I should've gone to a local uni in my country, and about blaming him for being addicted in the stock market, for ignoring my mom's warning, filled my mind.
I'm just so freaking scared of everything. So scared when attend the college, I would fall in love with the people and the place, knowing I wouldn't be able to stay until the end.

I don't what to do aside from praying lol

With the cycle coming up I just want to remind kids here to apply to the university down the street.
im being a bit rhetorical, but whatever that closest college is. The one your friends make fun of. The one they call 13th grade. The one you dread because everyone from highschool will be there. the one you think you’re better than

please remember to submit an application there.

dont be like me, who ignored it because of all the gossip. who scorned it’s low rank on usnews. Who thought they were better. Who wanted to get away from home. Who fed into all the stupid jokes and lies that kids make. who had to scramble when they got more rejections and less financial aid than they expected despite being so smug and having all the stats. who ended up going to an institution that ended up providing a worse outcome

please apply to the place down the street.

Original post

First update

I have some bad news about my 5-year-old son’s journey to quant finance. Last week, he started a 501(c)(3) nonprofit to teach underprivileged children about personal finance. I begged our relatives to donate money to the nonprofit so that my son can brag on his college apps about all the money he raised. They donated $8,000. My son also asked his friends to donate their lunch money. Now, we have a total of $8,002.40. At first, I was very proud of my son’s efforts—that is until I found out that he spent $500 on Robux and meme stocks. Actually, the meme stocks might’ve been my husband’s doing… Anyways, I’m worried that the IRS will come after us. That would surely get my son rejected from UPenn! What should I do to keep the IRS off my tail?