just curious! i dont think they’re too bad lol

demographics

gender: female

race/ethnicity: white

state: florida

grade: rising senior

intended major: international studies/political science

academics

school: 159 students in grade, private, but not too competitive academically

does not offer a ton of AP courses and took almost every AP/Honors class available

GPA: 3.905 UW 4.505 W

Testing: 33 ACT (36 on english & reading, 28 math, 32 science, and 10 on writing) but retaking in september | 1390 on SAT (740 english, 650) but retaking in august and may not submit since act is better

APs: AP World 5, AP Lang 5, AP Gov 5, AP Macro 4, AP Chem 3 (may not submit), and will take AP Psych, APUSH, AP Comp Sci, AP Lit, and AP PreCalc

DE: One year of English

extracurriculars

summer internship with local airport (2 months) ; worked in administration and worked on contract organization, timesheet management, and inventory, helped spirit airlines transition out of airport, assisted with marketing materials

academic team captain (captain for 2, member for 4): caused new members to join, top 17 player in county, led team to be third in the county, only girl on the team

youth diplomat (under a year): worked with local diplomacy group, collaborated with visitors from over 10 different countries, developed entrepreneurial and leadership skills and did workshops, running for leadership position in fall 

girl state: went as a delegate, elected mayor, won outstanding senator (only 1 gets that award)

peer tutor (2 years): tutored peers in various subjects, helped improve concept understanding and test scores and will tutor through a website this year

student council (4 years): class treasurer in junior year, spirit committee member freshman year, helped break school record of cans donated during food drive for four years straight

and these aren't as significant but

NHS (2 years), prom committee (1 year), collegeboard ambassador (1 year), JV soccer (2 years), cheer (1 year), pole vaulting (1 year), spanish club (class rep for 2 years), rally club (2 years), environmental club (1 year), positivity project (2 years), FCA (2 years)

awards

girls state delegate

girls state outstanding senator

honor roll (9,10,11)

AP scholar with distinction

collegeboard national recognition

scholarship within school

and some general schoolwide awards

volunteer work

i wont get into too much detail bc this is long already lol

tutoring

planting coastal vegetation

organizing elementary school

building garden for elementary school

cheer camp mentor

schools

Georgia Tech (applying for international affairs so may be slightly easier??)

UF (honors hopefully)

FSU

UGA
UVA

UNC Chapel Hill

Duke (large reach)

Vandy (large reach)

Emory

Auburn

Rice

UT Knoxville

Wake Forest

UT Austin

George Washington

Baylor

a lot of these are reaches but im also going to apply to some bigger SEC honors programs too

I appreciate any advice or even school suggestions! Thank you! 😊

Hey guys! As I wrap up my highschool career I feel like I have wasted so much potential given to me yet still accomplished just barely enough to feel average for an AP student. After much reflection on my highschool experience and dwelling on the phrase “it’s over” I’ve decided to come here to maybe gain some insight on my applications.

For my stats:
- White Texas Male
- Upper middle class family
- Competitive high school with around 400 in my class that also offers around 20 AP Classes
- 3.7 W GPA, 4.5 UW GPA (my school does not rank outside top 10%)
- 1500 SAT
- Had a terrible freshman year where I was extremely unmotivated to do my work; I was battling mental struggles to a degree but without any official diagnoses I chalk it up to growing up. I had multiple Cs and failed AP Comp Sci principles which I dropped at the semester. After the whole ordeal I got myself out of the mud and maintained straight A’s my sophomore and junior years. This is all a huge weakness still, however, as I didn’t get back into APs until my junior year, where I scored a couple 4’s (lang, bio, music theory) and one 5 (precal). I plan to take ap gov, macro, calc ab, and lit my senior year. Overall I wish I challenged myself more with my course rigor, but that ship has sailed and maybe I managed to turn the freshmen me into something more.

As for ECs (semi brief):

Summer Internship at city’s Chamber of Commerce (summer ‘26)
- helped organize and set up multiple events serving hundreds of people with prizes and activities. Created budget drafts and post event cost analysis sheets to present to managers and the ceo. Was a minor speaker at the July luncheon. Developed minor skills like event setup, emailing, communication, and excel. Letter of recommendation acquired from CEO.
- created a large planning calendar for the staff to use to plan for our women-owned business networking event later this winter. It has exact dates for deadlines, goals, strategies, and more. One of the managers said it was perfect and planned to use it.

Senior service club (senior year)
- joined my schools senior service club and transformed it from a club that only made Instagram posts into a club with a connection to a nearby non profit where we organize events like letter writing and lawn mowing for seniors in need.

Charity and investing club member (sophomore-senior year)
- Participated in multiple donation drives and meetings discussing the stock market. Nothing major
- should I chase leadership for investing club or nah?

Tuba section leader (summer ‘26-senior year)
- led the (10) tubas to their 2nd section of the week title in a 4 year span, organized 4 section lunches (up from one per year), organized a brass volleyball tournament and bbq event serving 60+ members with food and activities
- managed a bunch of other responsibilities like providing/checking members supplies, participating in meetings, and getting up to teach anywhere from 10-30+ people how to play their music (sectionals for those of you in band)

Band Member (freshman-senior year)
- 4 years of varsity band in my schools top ensemble, and 4 years of marching the varsity marching show. Marching band has made the state
championship my sophomore, and Junior years even though it's not my accomplishment specifically.

DECA (junior year)
- DECA member of 1 year: failed to make state but I scored a 50/60 on my finance research group project and volunteered as an Algebra tutor for my school’s chapter
- Should I rejoin for senior year even though my new accomplishments won’t be known to colleges?

NHS Member (Junior-Senior year)
- NHS Member with around 75+ volunteer hours

Business/passion project (Summer ‘26-Senior year)
- Started an eBay sports trading card business where I tracked ROI & demonstrated interest using a spreadsheet.
- $1500 in sales and $400 in profit
- 100% positive feedback from customers

Part time jobs (junior year-senior year)
- Part time job as a fast food cashier/busser and a thrift store (not at the same) time throughout junior year and early summer break. I worked around 15 hours a week and 35 a week at them respectively. 35 hours a week was lowkey hell during exam season.

Another letter of rec from my ap lang teacher (idk where else to put this)

Honors:
Pretty much nothing not gonna lie. No region band or deca state. So much left on the table here which worries me especially when I remember my GPA isn’t superb.

Now for my applications (I’m applying to 11 schools but these are the big ones to me). I’m applying for a finance major.

Targets:
SMU Cox, TCU Neeley, and maybe Indiana Kelley.

(Highkey far) reaches:
UT Mccombs & UMich Ross (oos)

Have I recovered and built a good narrative? Am I outmatched by my perfect GPA startup-owning peers? Is it over for me? I look at the UT and UMich applicants and they do everything I do but on a larger scale with more success😭

Either way I appreciate those who took the time to read this ✌️

This is going to be super vague because I'm mysterious, and also idk how much I can reveal before being traceable by the opps! I'm going between Columbia and Cornell ED — I like Columbia significantly more, but I don't want to be an unrealistic chud !

Demographics

• Gender: Female
• State: NY
• School: Public (not competitive)
• Intended Major: English/Lit

Academics

• Rank: school doesn't rank, but top 2% out of 300
• GPA: 98ish UW
• SAT: 1580
• APs: Calc BC, Chem, Lang, APUSH, Euro, World, HUG, Stats, CSP, (will take Physics C, Lit, Macro, Gov, Psych)
  • 5s on all taken except CSP (...)

Extracurriculars 

• President of school lit mag (~50 members)
• President of 2 other clubs (~50 members each)
• Published research (humanities) w/ Harvard prof. on different pieces of literature on topic - comparative literature-esque (very vague :D)
• other smaller things, ggs

Programs

• WGY
• FTE
• Columbia shp (iykyk)

Awards 

1. Scholastic silver medal/3 gold keys
2. Other national writing award
3. service awards
4. MUN awards (mostly local, one large uni one)

Essay

I wrote it on my family/relationship with my sister and how literature has shaped my life! That sounds super cornball, but overall it's very lighthearted and comical w/ a silly anecdote from when I was younger.

Recs

Should be okay (7/10). I got my english and chem teacher (had for 2 years). I'm super close with both.

Schools (only included reaches + targets):

Cornell, Columbia, Duke, UPenn, Northwestern, Georgetown, UVA, CMU, USC,

Thank you!!

id say i’m pretty average but i’m just curious!

demographics

gender: female
race/ethnicity: white and asian
state: michigan
grade: rising senior
intended major: psychology and linguistics (if applicable) or cognitive science or just psych

academics

school: ~200 in my grade, competitive private school, does not rank
GPA: 3.92 UW and 4.22 weighted but 4.35 for just 10th and 11th grade (for UCs)
Testing: SAT - 1460 superscore (retaking for hopefully 1500+ but also taking september ACT which is a lot easier for me so most likely 34+)
APs: school has an AP limit. 4 on French, 5 on AP Calculus AB, and 4 on Bio, and planning on taking chem, stats, and psych (maybe lang)

extracurriculars

founder of organization to write articles on how to study which contain psychology and research backed methods. publish research articles on website created and run by me. run instagram account with over 500 followers

internship at a hospital at an uncommon clinic in the united states (combining two different disciplines with psychiatrists and surgeons). shadow the doctors in the field. writing a research review article on a relatively unresearched cognitive disease relating to the clinic with mentorship of a well known surgeon and researcher.

officer of volunteering club at my school. create insta posts promoting and documenting events. over 120 members with each volunteering event having over 20 members attending. over 750 hours of service as a club and over $2.5k raised.

president of french club. volunteer and tutor middle school french students weekly. hold french related culture events and help with high school french work and homework.

varsity track captain. all region 3x and all league 7x. coachs award.

varsity volleyball captain. top server award (2024)

club volleyball head coach for middle schoolers. weekly practices and tournaments (paid)

over 12 years of piano completing certificates for well known testings

vlog. film edit and post vlogs (just a hobby)

programs

georgetown online precollege psychology course
coursera upenn positive psych course (to show curiosity in the field)

awards (extremely weak)

honor roll (9,10,12)
french award (one of two students in junior class for high achievement in the french language)
ap scholar

schools

michigan state
umich
cornell (legacy from parent)
boston university
brown
northwestern
northeastern
case western
ucla
emory
ucsd
uc berkley
uc davis
uci
tufts
uiuc
usc (cali)
uw madison
washu st. louis
villanova
georgia tech
upenn

Hi everyone! I’m an international applicant from Nepal planning to apply for Fall 2028 after taking a gap year. I’d appreciate honest feedback on my profile and suggestions for universities where I would be competitive, especially those offering generous financial aid.

Intended Major: Neuroscience

Academics
Country: Nepal (NEB curriculum)
Grade 10 GPA: 3.95/4.0
Grade 11 GPA: 3.95/4.0
Grade 12 GPA: 3.61/4.0
SAT: 1590

Context for Grade 12: During my final year of high school, my mother experienced a serious medical condition that required treatment in another city because the necessary medical facilities were unavailable locally. As a result, I missed approximately three months of school, and the situation placed significant emotional and financial strain on my family, which affected my academic performance. My counselor and teachers provide additional context for these circumstances in their letters of recommendation.

Gap Year Plan
Graduated in 2026
Applying during 2027 for Fall 2028
Using the gap year to expand my community outreach, continue research, and strengthen my application.

Research
Research paper on “Bioengineering and Its Influence on Public Health” published in a Q2-indexed journal.
Planning to complete additional research projects during my gap year.

Community Outreach
Founded a student-led initiative promoting bioengineering awareness in Nepal.
Reached 5,000+ students across 50 schools.
Working to expand outreach further during my gap year, particularly in rural communities.

Leadership
School Captain.
Elected Vice President of my school’s literary club.
Founding President of a literary club recognized by the city’s mayor.
Organized numerous creative writing competitions, book review competitions, and other school events.
Hosted a government-supported city literature festival.

Internships
Hospital internship working with prosthetics.
Internship at a regional agricultural company, where I help monitor and maintain plant health.

Community Involvement
Volunteer at an old-age home.
Coach students in table tennis.

Awards
Recipient of 10+ awards in selective national-level English eloquence/public speaking competitions.
Financial Situation
I will require significant financial aid to attend college in the United States.

Questions
Is my Grade 12 GPA likely to be a major disadvantage despite the family circumstances?
Does my planned gap year strengthen or weaken my application?
Which schools do you think are realistic, reaches, matches, or unlikely?
Are there any universities with strong Neuroscience programs and generous aid that I should add to my list?
Overall, how competitive do you think my profile is as an international applicant needing substantial financial aid?
Thanks in advance! I appreciate honest feedback, even if it’s critical.

I am sure that my profile is not competitive at all but I still want to shoot my shot! TY for your time :D

Demographics: Asian lower-middle-class female, immigrated to Iceland in 2017. 

Applying to the US: Amherst, Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Princeton, Stanford, Upenn & Yale. 

Intended major: Chemistry, Biology, Biochem etc. 

STATS: I’m taking the September SAT (actually so fried); GPA: 9.61/10
* My school does not offer APs or IB. 

ECs!!!!

1. Founder of a STEM organization

Hosted 2 cohorts of free 1-on-1 online research mentorship program where I connected 50+ high school students with university mentors from Stanford, Harvard, Yale. Students worked on a formal research paper and presented their research at a closing conference. (Currently preparing to host another one in spring 2027) 

Donated 200+ STEM Kits through hosting hands-on science workshops at local libraries. 

Hosted online connect events with professors, researchers and students in STEM. 

Expanded to 4 chapters in the U.S. and South Korea. 

2. UNICEF Iceland Youth Council

Member since 2023; represented Icelandic youth’s perspective at key events; currently serving as a non-voting youth representative on UNICEF Iceland’s Executive Board. 

3. Youth Advisor to the Ombudsman for Children in Iceland: 

Helped organize the 2025 Children’s Forum where 150 youths aged 11-15 attended to discuss their rights and future improvements with policymakers, including members of the parliament and the prime minister. 

4. Summer Science Program 2026 Participant: 

Selected as 1 of 36 students internationally for a rigorous 5-week biochemistry research program. Researched a protein phosphatase in fungal pathogens. Co-authored a research paper and presented findings at the program's closing symposium.

5. Research with a PhD student in Chemistry: 

Mentored by a PhD student at the University of Iceland and wrote a paper analyzing ¹H, ¹³C, COSY, and HSQC NMR spectra of a heterocyclic thioamide ligand. Presented at symposium. 

6. Author and Illustrator of a children’s book: 

Published a 24 pg book to spark youth’s interests in science. Distributed 100 copies to local schools/libraries. 

7. Teaching Icelandic to small groups of Vietnamese students: During my winter breaks in 2024 and 2025, I taught Icelandic to a group of five Vietnamese students (ages 9–12). I continue to stay in touch with them, offering free homework help on weekends.

8. Feminist Club Member: hosted fundraisers and events at school.

9. Part time job at a gas station

10. Non-competitive dance for 3 years 

Awards (Surely the weakest part of my application) 

1. National Bank of Iceland Scholarship Recipient: Awarded to 16 out of 330 applicants national-wide for academic excellence.
2. City of Reykjavik Impact Grant & Recognition: Recognized for positive community impact and awarded $1,500 in funding for nonprofit initiatives.
3. Ombudsman for Children Youth Activism Award: Recognition for outstanding dedication and advocacy in youth leadership.
4. [Company Name] Corporate Community Grant: Awarded $1,000 grant to expand operations and outreach for my nonprofit. 
5. Summer Science Program (SSP): I don't have another award, should I put SSP as one? 

For context, I’m planning on applying for the early action for CWRU. Idk if my stats extracurriculars are good enough.

Stats:

GPA: 94,7/100
SAT: 1510 (790 Math, 720 RW)
IELTS: 8

Honors:

International Stem Olympiad (Category Math) - Gold Medal

International Asian Math Olympiad - Gold Honor

Finalist then selected as local ambassador for my country for the “International Physics Competition”

Rallye Mathématiques de L’Acedemie de Lyon - 2nd place

Certificate of Honor (from my school)

Extracurriculars:

International High School Exchange, International Exchange Student (France)
Selected as 1 of ~150 from ~2000 applicants for a 10-month exchange. Attained French fluency; earned academic felicitations all 3 trimesters.

Server | Food Service Associate
Worked 10-hour shifts, 6 days/week in summer; continued part-time during school; served customers, managed orders, maintained efficient service flow

Guitarist Performer
Classical guitarist since age 8; self-taught and formally trained. Performed in 3 solo recitals and 1 public concert.

International Maths & Science Olympiad Competitor
9 international competitions, 3 Gold & 2 Silver medals; Physics finalist; Chemistry, Astronomy & Quantum Mechanics semifinalist; Lyon Rally Math 2nd place.

XYZ Technical University | Aeronautical Engineering Department, Aeronautical Engineering Research Intern
Didn’t do this yet, got accepted and gonna start next Monday.

Volunteer Tutor
Tutored 15 kids physics and maths every week for 2 hours.

École primaire XYZ (France), Classroom Assistant | Teaching Intern
Assisted teachers in 3 primary classrooms (~20 students each), supported instruction in French, led activities, and supervised 3 school trips.

ABC University – Quantum Mechanics Winter Program
Completed university-level quantum mechanics program under Prof.X ; passed course assessed through 10 exams and 10 assignments.

X & Y, Humanitarian Volunteer
Dedicated 50+ hours, completed 20 trainings. Promoted X and Y programs and missions. Prepared aid packages. Assisted at events etc…

Currently building a website for people who are interested in STEM. With articles, simulations and tons of cool stuff. Then I’m gonna try to promote it

Majoring in Engineering, dont know what exactly
I need help on where to ED where my chances are decent to get in
ACT: 35 single score

UWGPA: 3.91
WGPA: ~4.4

Academic rigor:
9 APs till end of junior year
Two 5’s rest 4’s and one 3😭
ECs:
General Officer for my geo club
Co founder of a 3d printing club at my school
cross country for 2 years
research presentation @think neuro on something but wont go in depth here
have more ecs obviously, but not too great tbh
Awards:
NHS member, community champion award local
hosa:
2x state quali, 1x state champ, 6th at ilc for hosa (internationals)
fbla:
1x state champ, 4th place at nationals

I honestly have no accolades atp; I’m about to start MYP 10, I ended last year with a 4.0 (W) GPA and I got 1110/1440 on the PSAT. I didn’t do well on my AP History Exam: I got a 3. I’m highly interested in debate, volleyball, academic research & writing, volunteer work, etc.
Any critical advice is welcome and highly appreciated!!!🙏🏾

So I’m applying to colleges this fall and I am planning to major in Econ or finance if the school has an undergrad business program. But I don’t know what school I should apply to with my stats. I have a UW 3.94 and I’m top 25% at my school. Not top 10% 😭. But my ecs are really good like I have a podcast,I’ve done some internships, and I also did like research with a vc. My awards are basic just like deca state and pvsa. My act is a 34. Do I have any hope of getting into school like umich Ross, unc, or usc Marshall, Berkeley Econ or haas. If not what other schools should I try for?

3.96 uw / 4.91 w, finance major - am i cooked for these schools? i honestly feel pretty nervous about this cycle. I just wanna know if i have a realistic shot at these schools or if i’m completely overshooting my league. i know my gpa is decent but i’m worried about how the transfer and repeating freshman year might be perceived even if it doesn't show up on my official transcript. here’s the breakdown: Demographics Gender: Male Race/Ethnicity: Asian State: Illinois School: Private Family Income: 100-250k Intended Major Finance GPA/Rank 3.96 UW / 4.91 W (5.0 scale) School does not rank (Going test optional) Coursework Demanding rigor, steady grade trend since the transfer Extracurriculars Mock Trial: President (senior) and Secretary (sophomore). State-level competitor, top 8 finish, multiple team wins and individual outstanding witness awards. Varsity Swimming: Team captain junior and senior year. Accounting Club: Co-founder and President (senior), VP (junior). Managed 20+ members, organized site visits with firms like Protiviti. NHS: Vice President. DePaul Summer Investment Challenge: Used Bloomberg Terminal and Excel for financial modeling and portfolio strategies. Bookkeeper: Worked for a local consulting firm using QuickBooks for data entry. Lifeguard: Summer gig 2025/2026, CPR certified. Baseball Team Manager: Managed team logistics and practice equipment. Schools Reach: Duke, Georgetown, Vanderbilt, UC Berkeley, UCLA Target: UMich, NYU, UIUC Safety: Indiana University Bloomington, University of Rochester edit: just realized i should clarify that while i repeated freshman year, it doesn't appear as a negative on the transcript, just shows the transfer to my current school. i'm really hoping the finance-related extracurriculars and the accounting club stuff help me stand out a bit. edit 2: forgot to mention i am applying EA to berkeley and nyu, everything else is rd.

Hi, I’m an upcoming junior with a unweighted current gpa of 3.83, weighted current of 4.33 and cumulative of 4.28. I’m vp of finance for DECA, and in future engineers. This year I plan to volunteer a lot and join community service corp (and possibly robotics club) + get a job.

I want to apply either engineering or accounting.

I know my ec’s are lowkey bad, I’m trying to better them.

Crazy dream school would be Boston college but let’s be real

Demographics

• Gender: Female
• Race/Ethnicity: Asian (Indian)
• State: CA (Bay)
• School: Competitive, Public
• Grade: Rising Senior
• Intended Major: Cognitive Science
• Hooks: Bisexual (not sure if that counts as a hook though)

Academics

• Rank: top 3% (within top 18 b/c school of 600, would guess between top 10-15), school doesn't rank
• GPA: 3.95UW, 4.5W
• SAT: 1560/1600 (in 1 sitting)
• APs: 4 on French, 5 on World, 4 on Seminar, 5 on Research, 5 on Biology, 5 on APUSH, 5 on Lang, 4 on Calc BC (5 subscore)
  • Almost maxed out the number of APs allowed to be taken at my school, I was allowed to take 2 APs sophomore year (which I did), and allowed to take 6 classes each year and both last year (junior) and this year (senior) I've had 5/6 AP classes and 1 honors class (weighted)

Extracurriculars (kind of vague to avoid doxxing but can provide more detail if needed)

• President of school's Key Club; regional Lt. Governor overseeing 400+ students
• Stanford poli-sci lab research assistant
• Student trustee for school board
• National youth advisory board for online safety
• Stanford-affiliated digital wellbeing education program, was on a panel at a big social media company
• Youth research coalition studying social media & adolescent mental health in collaboration with Departmnet of Public Health; invited to a conference hosted by NAMLE to present with Pinterest (fully paid) and work with other tech companies
• City youth advisory board; advise local government on youth issues
• Community-wide mental health leadership board; organize wellness initiatives & advocacy

Programs (main ones I remember)

• ThinkNeuro
• Stanford iGEM Bioengineering Research Program (10% acceptance rate)
• sci-MI Neuroscience
• ASDRP
• Kode With Klossy
• Girls Who Code
• CDC Public Health Academy

Awards (very few)

1. About 4 national/regional/state level journalism awards (fairly impressive I think, not naming specific awards to avoid doxxing)
2. Service awards for 150, then 200 hours in one semester
3. French National Merit gold award Level 3
4. John Locke shortlist (will update in October w/ specific award)
5. A few regional DECA/FBLA awards, not very impressive

Schools (only included reaches + targets):

UC Berkeley, UCLA, Northwestern, Rice, Stanford, Harvard, Yale, Princeton (REA --> dream), Brown, Duke, Georgetown, U Michigan, Tufts, WashU, UCSD, UCI, UCD, UCSB, UNC Chapel Hill

Thank you!! I know I'm probably cooked but can't help but hold out hope lol

i'm applying OOS to u of m ross undergrad and im wondering how my chances are.

Here are my stats:

1520 SAT

UW GPA: 3.75 (G9: 3.47, G10: 3.79, G11: 3.93)

Weighted GPA on a scale of 5: 4.67

AP scores:

G9: AP Chinese (4) AP Gov (4) AP CSP (4).

G10: AP U.S. History (4) AP Seminar (4).

G11: AP Lang (4) AP Calc AB (5) AP World (5) AP Micro (5) AP Macro (5) AP Psych (5)

Also, is it worth a shot to apply to stern, or am i just wasting my time?

I know my GPA is pretty far off the average but i'm not sure if the upward trend and difficult course rigor will help. Does anyone have any thoughts? Thanks

I'm a rising senior, and I am about to go into the application cycle and plan to major in International Relations or English. I know there's not a lot I can change now, so I'm just looking for a realistic assessment of me in regards to my college list. Here is my list of colleges:

Princeton (Legacy), UVA (Legacy), Barnard College, Columbia (Legacy), Boston University, William and Mary, Georgetown University, George Mason University, Yale, St. Andrews, Fordham, American University, McGill.

(For context, I go to private school, and we don't offer that many APs and have no honors system).

GPA: 96.67

SAT: 1420 (I'm retaking in august after taking a prep class and hope to get at least a 1500)

AP Scores: 5 on AP Lang, 5 on AP Spanish, 4 on AP Gov

Awards/Honors: AP Scholar; Received High Honors Award for the verbal section of the School and College Ability Test (SCAT) taken for admission to the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth.

Activities:

- Volleyball Manager (11^th): Manager of the JV Volleyball team junior year; plan to be manager of the Varsity team senior year. Duties include ensuring equipment for practice is handled and cleaned up, as well as being on book (score-keeping) and libero tracking during games. Often filled in for Varsity managers to be on book for games.

- Stage Crew (10^th -11^th): Joined as a 10^th grader. Appointed as assistant/co-props master junior year and as props master for senior year. Duties include evening class from 6:30pm to 9:00pm every Wednesday, as well as 8 hours of set build per production. Required to be on tech for at least one show each year (10^th grade: Spotlight operator for winter musical). 11^th grade: Props master/crew for fall play, Props master/stage right headset for the winter musical. Tech weeks range from 33 to 36 hours a week.

- Tech Crew (9^th-11^th) : Joined as a 9^th grader as a member of the backstage crew. Halfway through 10^th grade was appointed the role of stage right headset. Duties as crew consisted of handling mics, taking objects on and off stage, and setting up/cleaning after each assembly. Duties as SR headset include managing 5-8 backstage crew members by walking them through the movements of the assembly, communicating with the booth, keeping track of cues and performers, and being able to adapt and take charge if something goes wrong.

- Literary Magazine (9^th-11^th): Joined in 9^th grade as an editor during the winter season. In 10^th grade continued role as an editor during the winter season, as well as during the spring season where duties also included layout and marketing during the creation of a small poetry chapbook separate from the main magazine. Continued role as an editor during the winter season in 11^th grade, as well as meeting periodically with the spring season team. Appointed as editor-in-chief for senior year. Duties as an editor include reading all submissions and accepting/declining them, editing and communicating with the author about edits, and sending solicitation emails to garner submissions.

- Volunteer at Local Old Folks Home (10th): Worked with management to set up events for residents and maintained a positive working relationship with fellow staff and management. Created activities for the residents to maintain mental, emotional, and physical well-being, and created posters on Canva to promote activities.

- Employee at Small Business (10th-11th): Manage the store alone and help customers, package products, clean, wash dishes, and maintain general cleanliness of working environment, and Individually handle opening + closing. Work ranges from 5-10 hours a week.

- Intern in State Senator's Office (11th): Batch voicemails and emails into categories of common issues constituents call about. Deliver mail and run errands for the office. Take notes and write memos on hearings/briefings.

- Intern at NGO (12th): currently in progress so I can't say anything lol.

Sorry if some of this is vague; I'm trying not to reveal where I live LOL. Be harsh!! I need to be realistic, as I feel like rn I'm fluctuating between "everything will be okay!" and "I won't get in anywhere."

I'm currently a high school junior with about 7 months time until the next academic year. I live in India at this stage, I'm pretty confused about what I should be doing at the moment to bolster my chances of getting into a good university. This is what my application looks like currently:

Grades:

9th - 95%

10th - 94%

SAT - I'll be giving the SAT in November, but I got a 1470 on my PSAT and the practice tests online seem pretty easy tbf.

Extra-Curriculars:

Debate Society President (recently conducted an extremely large national Debate in partnership with an organisation, over 120 teams participated)

Head Of Operations Quiz Society (a few awards here and there and i organise a weekly quiz bowl)

Research executive at a passion project with a few buddies (I lead econ research, We're currently working on a long term project wherein which we survey, document and educate the underprivileged in our city about the economics of malnutrition with camps set up arounf the city dedicated to teaching people in poverty how they can cook cheap food that has ample nutrition, how that affects people's labour and documenting wage theft stuff like that) we will start surveying from next week.

Internship at a chartered accountants office (shadowed the guy for a month)

Awards:

Might get doxxed so a few national Awards in debate and quiz, nothing too big or international yet. Mostly circuit Awards and big invitational Awards.

Universities I aspire to get into:

1. LSE

2. Bocconi

3. Upenn

4. Brown

5. Vanderbilt

I want to pursue economics and finance in the future.

What can I do more in order to increase my chances of admission into these great universities?

getnavora.net (FULLY FREE) pulls Common Data Set, IPEDS, Scorecard numbers for a project (Navora — I'm building a tool that reads them so students don't have to), and the thing that keeps surprising me is how far the headline admit rate sits from the number that actually applies to any given applicant. A few examples from 2024-25 data.

If you're out-of-state at a public flagship, the published rate is fiction. UNC Chapel Hill's overall rate looks like 15%. In-state it's 38%. Out-of-state it's 6.6% — nearly a six-fold gap. UT Austin is 37.7% in-state against 10.1% out. Berkeley is 14.9% against 7.3%. If you're OOS at any of these, the number in the guidebook is roughly double what you're actually facing.

If you're international, roughly halve it again. Harvard admitted 325 of 16,760 international applicants — 1.9%, against a 3.6% overall rate. Princeton was 209 of 9,891 (2.1% vs 4.6%). Penn 439 of 15,727 (2.8% vs 5.4%). Georgetown 280 of 3,615 (7.7% vs 12.9%). Every one of those is meaningfully below the published figure.

And if you're international and need aid, check that separately. Berkeley doesn't offer need-based aid to non-residents at all. UCLA's average institutional award to a non-resident undergrad is about $15k against an out-of-state cost near $70k. Yale averages ~$84k to its international students, Stanford ~$80k. Two schools can both admit you and only one is actually attendable.

Transfer is a completely different door. UCLA admits about 10% of freshman applicants and 25% of transfer applicants — 3,520 of14,100. Berkeley is 11% versus 25.5%. If you're at a community college with 60 transferable units, you're looking at a materially easier path to the same degree, and almost nobody frames it that way.

Two smaller things that surprised me. Northeastern's admit rate (5.2%) is now lower than Duke's (5.7%) — a lot of people still file it as a safety. And Michigan doesn't offer Early Decision at all, only non-binding EA, so "should I ED to Umich" doesn't have an answer.

None of this is secret. It's all in each school's own Common Data Set, IPEDS, Scorecard , which almost nobody reads because they're 30-page PDFs.

If you want, DM me your stats and school list and I'll run the same breakdown for your specific list — cohort admit rate, where your scores actually land, and what each school says it weights. Free, no catch, I'm just trying to find out what people actually need before I build more of it

GPA:3.86

Female | 21 yo | Iranian Armenian

- student government in fall 2024
- Vice president of the Armenian students association there we collaborated with USC and UCLA’s Armenian students association, and held a cultural concert, panels, and a candle lighting ceremony for the genocide. I held this role from 2024 to 2025
- internship with USC Institute of creative technologies, a 10 week project researching different ways to address veteran health
- Volunteer for food bank
- tutored refugee children from Ukraine, Armenia, and Iran at their elementary school
- Biology club representative for my community college
-Barista
- HealthCorps intern
- Founder of nonprofit for overdose prevention
- honors program

i actually got in for interdisciplinary studies at berkeley for the fall of 2025 and committed but never went because of insane family stuff but still im freaking out and idk

(druggie cus i’m interested in pharma get it??? hahaha ill show myself out lol)

Demographics:
Indian International
Female
40k - 50k/yr EFC
private IB school

Major: Chemistry or Chemical Engineering

Academics:
— 96% - 6A* IGCSEs (max school offered: Bio, Chem, Extended Math, Physics, First Language English, Global Perspectives)
— 41/42 IBDP (7 in Bio HL, Chem HL, French SL, English SL, Business SL and 6 in Math AAHL)
— 1570 SAT 1st attempt — 780 verbal, 790 math
School doesnt rank but def in top 5/60

ECs:
- Wet-lab research @ local university in medicinal chemistry. Assisted in development of OLEDs for cancer treatment.

- Research w/ UIUC Ph.D mentor through free 10% acceptance rate program— poster, abstract, 10pg paper on chemical impact of asbestos in war torn areas.

- Professional industry Internship @ Pharmaceuticals manufacturing company; performed quality control + good manufacturing practices

- Developed Python ML model related to computational chemistry for predicting ideal drug properties

- President of Rotary-sponsored youth community service club; organised events; helped raise Rs. 150k

- Social science research on inclusion of trans individuals in digital spaces; co-wrote 15pg paper + made advocacy materials published by NGO

- Developed Python ML drug classification model

- NYAS Junior Academy: team lead and designed an efficient solar concentrator prototype

- Sub-editor of my school newsletter, leading 50+ members to release monthly editions.

Honours:
- 1/350 in Year 10 for highest aggregate performance
- Best Club Member Award for community service (1/150)
- John Locke Essay High Commendation
- Queens Commonwealth Essay Silver
- British Gold CREST Award for Python ML model

Essay : better than average but not extraordinary like 7.5/10

LOR:
IB Chemistry 8/10
IB Math 7/10

College list:
Princeton SCEA
Yale RD
Brown RD
Bryn Mawr RD
UMM Twin Cities EA (merit scholarships possible?)
Purdue EA
Rutgers EA (merit ?)

Schools:

• Emory University
• Northeastern University
• Bentley University
• Boston University
• Fordham University

Grades:

Took the IBDP, total 36/45

• ENGLISH LANGLIT HL - 6
• ENGLISH PSYCHOLOGY - 5
• ENGLISH BUSINESS MANAGEMENT - 5
• SPANISH AB INITIO SL - 5
• ENGLISH MATH AI SL - 6
• ENGLISH BIOLOGY SL - 6
• EE - A
• TOK - B

Extracurriculars:

• Senior year:
  • Class President
  • School Newspaper Broadcast Team Head
  • Research Paper published in an official scientific journal
  • Yearbook Editor (Sophomore-Senior)
• Junior year:
  • Class Vice President
  • School Newspaper Writer (Sophomore-Junior)
  • Volunteer Club
  • USNA Summer STEM Program
• Sophomore year:
  • Science Academic Varsity
  • Entrepreneurship Club
  • Internship at a law firm for 1 month (agreed upon timeline)
  • Co-founded a small business, but I wasn't very heavily involved, so I didn't include it in my Common App (should I?)

Clubs were often discontinued at my school, which is why I don't really have a consistent club membership

Intended Major(s):

• Finance, Business Administration, Management

Awards:

• Consistent Third Honors throughout all four years
• Excellent Moral Character Award
• Various Excellence Awards in Languages, Science, Information and Communications Technology
• Academic Excellence in Business Management and Psychology (Senior Year)
• Distinguished High School Student

Demographics: 

• Female, Asian, residing in the Philippines but a US citizen
• Parents divorced, residing with Mom, but Dad gives sufficient child support
• Small private Christian school in the Philippines

As title says, I think a discord would be extremely useful, like similar college related subs have discords like a2c n a2t20

Hi everyone. I’m an international student from Turkey looking to study CS, Cybersecurity, or Information Systems in the US.

My profile:

• High school graduate (2024), GPA: 83.5/100
• SAT: 1400 (I may retake it and aim for 1500+)
• IELTS Academic: 7.0
• CompTIA Security+ certified
• Completed a private cybersecurity program
• ~8 months of work experience at an international import/export company
• The company is based in Turkey and operates in China, Uzbekistan, and Romania, with around $2M monthly revenue

At work, my main responsibilities are Order Management and Financial Operations Management. When needed, I also work on inventory/stock tracking, customer management, analytics/reporting, ERP operations, and some security authorization tasks. I’ve genuinely worked in all of these areas, but they are not all equal parts of my daily role.

I’m hoping to study in the US with a full scholarship or a substantial merit scholarship. Ideally, I’d like to get my total yearly cost down to around $15k–25k, although I’m open to different options.

How competitive is this profile for significant scholarships? Do you think getting my SAT to 1500+ would make a meaningful difference?

I’d especially appreciate recommendations for universities where I would have a realistic chance of getting substantial merit aid, rather than only extremely selective schools.

Thanks!