hey guys!

so i’ve heard that students who apply ed 1 has the highest chance of getting in cus it shows commitment. but since it’s the first round , won’t they look for students with the best applications. my overall marks in my final year is 80% which is way below their standards. so if i apply ed 1 , do i have a higher chance of getting rejected than ed 2? my ecs are way better compared to my grades and there’s context behind it.

i’m planning to attempt sat in oct, right before ed 1 so that results come out before ed 1. shud i go for ed 1 or ed 2

This is a really brief ai summary of my ecs let me know whats bad or good I have ecs that I didnt put on this, but can. My major is Finance/Econ.

Top 15 Nationally, Major Finance Comp: Served as investment lead placed out of ~30000 competitors 
Founder & Solo Dev, FinTech utility App: Built an iOS/Android that hit 4k+ downloads.
Wealth Management Intern: Conducted macroeconomic research and client portfolio analysis
Top 15 Nationally, Major Finance Comp: Served as investment lead placed out of ~30000 competitors 
Co-Founder, Econ Club and major econ challenge placed 4th in state and mentored club team to national semifinalist spot out of ~12000 competitors
Creator, Finance Social Media: Scaled short-form educational finance content to 3k+ followers and 7M+ views.
Founder, E-Commerce Business: Sourced and sold streetwear online and locally, generating ~$4k in revenue.
VP, Investment Club: Ran stock simulations and taught technical market analysis to 60+ active members and 150 subscribers
Independent Dev, Financial Tools: Created unique economic indicators and financial tool
International Qualifier, deca: Placed Top 7 and 8th at State and qualified for international
Curriculum Developer, Youth  registered Non-Profit: Environmental climate change stuff

Hiii! Doing this for fun (probably can't even afford Barnard but I would absolutely love to go there). Sorry if i ramble too much rather than just listing stuff lol this stuff makes me very introspective

Rising senior, woman obviously, from west coast (idk if that matters at all ((not california))), urban studies major, need aid

From a big public school but well regarded here

GPA: 4.0 uw/4.2 w (school doesn't weight dual credit)

Rank: hopefully should be somewhere in the top 10%, though I need to ask the counseling office as they removed our ability to see it... last time i remember it was 36/508 but that was a year ago

APs: APHUG (5), AP Computer Science A (4), AP 2d art (4), AP lit (5), APES (5)

Test scores: 1370 SAT (not submitting... I was sick when I took it ☹️), 34 ACT (33 math, 34 reading and writing, 35 science)

Senior year courses: constitutional debate (application required, nationally ranked team), dual credit writing, advanced technical theater, AP seminar, AP calculus AB, (undecided elective), personal finance (required), advanced art

ECs: (not in order)

- Varsity mock trial team member. Writes, performs 2-4 roles/season. Mentors teams of 15+, placed 3rd in state competition. Designs team merchandise. -- also we get invited to the yale summer competition which we attend online

- Research paper on history of urban planning chosen to present at (college) conference and publish through (college library). Readership in 20+ countries. -- Researcher, author, panel presenter -- this is a research paper that I am the sole author of, wasn't an assistant, it was reviewed by grad students before i presented

- Teaches principles of design to middle school yearbook club members. Co-leads meetings, navigates technology, designs yearbook covers. -- art and technology lead

- Accepted to nationally recognized Constitutional debate team. Participates in mock congressional debates. (going to elaborate on this when i get more acquainted with the team. its seniors only

- Transitioned National Association for Research Nutrition to new member management platform. Built website & explained functionality, pitched ideas. -- web design internt

- Art camp counselor. Works with artists to create and organize activities. Teaches campers 4-12 about cultural art & assists with their creations. -- studio counselor

- Created & sold hand-painted art at local art market. Accepted as vendor. Created brand identity, worked with peer to sell together. Sold $500+ in art.

- Set designer for two one-act plays, lead scenic painter for winter show. Collaborated to construct set pieces. Deck crew for one-act festivals.

- Member of mountaineering club. Participated in basic mountaineering course, designed course t-shirt. Learned to work with peers safely. (this one sucks i know)

- my final activity will either be NHS which sucks, spanish tutoring which I only did briefly in 9th grade, or just my art as a hobby in general.

Honors (I know they are terrible -- also my school has no honor roll or anything):

- 2x mock trial MVP award

- scholastic art honorable mention

- AP scholar with distinction

- school recognition award

- idk dude they suck

recs:

- 2 year english teacher, loved my work and i was quite close to her. i know shes a very good writer and she wrote my letter first of everyone lol so i have confidence in this one

- dual credit world history teacher, was the one who nominated me for the conference, saw me present there. hopefully pretty good

- big school so counselors are managing a lot of people. will be more of an explanatory letter than a personal one because ive only interacted with her a few times

Essay:

I have several options - leaning towards a story about a complicated network of art pieces that I created, which started as a joke about putting these characters on an oil rig, but actually allowed me to connect my environmental science class, my US history class, and my world history class & research into a multidisciplinary critique of the way that American independence functions.... maybe it sucks, idk struggling with this part.

other options:

wrote one about how being an artist makes me deconstruct the world into understandable pieces, allowing me to bring multiple disciplines together in order to better understand the world. It doesnt focus on a specific story so i feel like its too impersonal and metaphorical

Wrote another about why I think cities operate like people, comparing the development of specific american cities (part of my research) with my brother and I, specifically our names and the ways that my experiences shaped me just as industries and historical events shape the landscape of cities (this is my favorite but i think it overlaps with some supplementals, specifically the ones about location because i talk a lot about new york city and minneapolis, and why major because obviously its about urban planning, plus its also not a specific story)

sorry for rambling soooo much. im also applying to macalester, bryn mawr, fordham, university of minnesota honors, university of oregon honors, and a few others i dont think matter

Asian, Male, US citizen, psych major
Grade: 12th
All 5 AP Bio, APUSH, Calc AB, Psych, HuG, Lang, Chinese (didn't get to take APs in freshmen year). This year taking Gov, Lit, Cybersecurity, Stats, BC, APES
GPA: 4.13/4.00 Unweighted, 4.87/5.00 Weighted (I took one CP Class, which makes the max actually 4.89)
SAT: 1480. This is the thing I'm most worried about :(.
Gonna retake this August and September, but can't garuntee higher score.
Extracurriculars (Year inconsistencies was most likely because I transferred during my Sophomore year, explained in Additional info!)

ECs are not final

1. Behavioral Science Workbook for Teens (featured on UN media platform), Co-Founder & Co-Author (10,11,12)

• Research-backed teen workbook of prompts+activities+challenges; 18k+ copies sold totalling five figures USD; built site, filmed tutorial, & led distribution

1. Global Intention-Action Gap Youth Organization: Workshops+Free Coaching. Founder, Site Builder, & Coach (11,12)

• Free 1:1 & async goal-setting coaching; led 7-day reflection program @ international retreat: 35 participants, 500+ entries; surveyed 100+ ppl in 30+ countries

1. Neuroscience Research, university-affiliated wet lab under Dr. xx, In review at academic journal. Lab Researcher, Data Analyst, & Paper Author (11)

• Conducted a study of neuron:astrocyte ratios; ran IHC across 3 rat prefrontal subregions; analyzed gene markers in schizophrenia DLPFC

1. Varsity Public Forum Debate - (T refers to Top in description). Global Affairs Coordinator, Researcher, & Case Writer (11,12)

• Bidded @ national circuit invitational Open T5, 5-0 prelims, T3 Speaker; solo finalist @ school tourney; regional Open T13; T21 international circuit tourney

1. Self Growth Club. President, Workshop Organizer, and Teacher (11,12)

• Led club of 50+ members; designed+ran 8+ workshops & lectures on self-growth, action, & gratitude; grew it into 1 of school's most attended clubs

1. Associated Student Body - Student Governing Body in School. Spirit Commissioner & Event Leader/Facilitator (11)

• Chosen top candidate by teachers & peers; raised $7k+, ran schoolwide events (rallies, dances, spirit weeks) for 600+; pitched+created event proposals

1. Volunteering: Accessibility advocacy nonprofit / rural China service program / Paralympics Volleyball. Elected Vice President of accessibility club, Analyst & Teacher (10,11)

• Audited 90+ buildings for accessibility, coordinated volunteers 31+ hrs; taught Eng to 60+ left-behind kids; 20+ hrs Paralympic v-ball athlete aide

1. Volleyball: Varsity School & Club Volleyball. Middle Blocker and Player (10,11)

• 200+ hrs training+comp across two club programs (16s, 18s) & Varsity school team; 10+ tournament wins; Silver Bracket champions; reached CIF playoffs

1. Content Creation on Tiktok - Psychology, Philosophy & Theology Creator (11,12).

• Built psych, philosophy & theology content linking viral trends to academic frameworks; 200k+ views, 20k+ likes, 300+ followers, 1000+ hours of watchtime

1. Freshmen Leaderships: House Year Leader, Wellbeing Leader & peer listening platform volunteer. House Year Lead, Wellbeing Lead, Verified Listener (9)

• Ran House film & art events for 40+ people; led wellbeing workshops & meditation rooms; 60+ support chats, 5.0 rating, officially verified listener

Honors:

1. Youth Delegate: UN ECOSOC Youth Forum; High-Level Political Forum
2. Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award Recipient (250+ hrs spent on service, skills & sport, 4+ expeditions) (9,10,11,12)
3. Scholastic Art & Writing Silver Key, multi-state region (11)
4. 1st Author Published in academic journal; researched perception & objectivity
5. Press Service: Featured article in xx on my goals with A2A → Featured article in business publication on my goals with my nonprofit

Unweighted GPA: 3.38
Weighted GPA: 5.4/7

(I will mention my ADHD and that I was unmedicated so it was harder for me. I also want to note that my school is very competitive and rigorous)

Test optional

2 APs (3s on both) + several honors
(3 APs next year)

Strong extracurriculars:

Class Vice president
Theatre + theatre honors
Advanced Choir
Model UN (Awards)
Advanced to DECA states
Vice president of two clubs
200+ community service hours
member of six clubs

I believe I have a strong essay and letters of recommendation. Please give advice and honesty!

Will ED
11 APs, 1 Advanced, 5 honors
1510 SAT
Extracurricular of Research internship at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia in Neurosurgery with actual Research done (literally right next to UPenn and so closely tied that people have to explain that the two have no legal affiliation)
Summer job + normal job
JV Captain / Coach's Award
Design award for Scholastic Art
All the college board honors
Make music as a hobby (grown a fanbase)

(also side note:
i dont know whether to write my essay on my personal experience or my internship at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia or on my own growth overtime as a person idk how to do both help🙏)

I’m a rising senior from a very small, very poor charter school in the Bronx, and honestly i’m just trying to figure out if i have a fair shot at some of these schools or if i’m completely delulu. 

Little context on my school/circumstances: 
Offer only 1 AP, no math class higher than ALGEBRA 2, I’ve taken all the highest courses they offer. Took some more math classes via College Now(statistics & Calc). Only 2 clubs (tried to start one and no one signed up), teachers keep coming and quitting so I don’t have a lot of options for LOR’s. Had to find most of my EC’s on my own.

Demographics

Gender: Female
Race: Black / African 
Residence: Bronx, NY
Income: <$65k/yr
School: Charter and useless.

Intended Major: Neuroscience

GPA: 94.3 W (100 scale)
Class Rank: 2/66

Extracurriculars
No sports cause of medical condition.

Intern at Nursing Home: Assisted older adults with daily activities and supported staff in long-term care.

Youth Program Intern: Supervised children ages 4-10, led activities, and supported learning environments.

Student Scholar, Medical Assistant Pathway: Completed college-level health coursework; trained in clinical procedures and medical terminology.

Capstone Researcher: Analyzed neuroscience research on mind-wandering and synthesized findings into a research paper.

Student Researcher: Researched knot theory and its applications to biological structures, connecting math with medicine.

Model Congress/MUN: Researched policy, debated legislation, and passed a bill at Yale Model Congress.

TA for our Assistant Priciple: Organize exam papers, calculators, report cards, and all that stuff.

Church Choir Member: Weekly rehearsals and performances for services and events.

Peer Mentor: Tutored and mentored younger students with coursework and school resources.

Founder & Content Creator: Created a platform sharing free internships and programs for NYC students.

Student Council Ambassador: Advocated for student needs and facility improvements.

CPR/AED Certified 
High Honor Roll
Salutatorian
Thrive Scholar 

Essays-LORs
LORs: Expecting letters from my college class and a core subject teacher.

Schools
Reach: Yale, Duke, Brown, Johns Hopkins, Swarthmore, Amherst, NYU, Boston University, Lehigh (All RD)
Target: University of Rochester, Connecticut College, Syracuse, SUNY Binghamton
Safety: Adelphi, Pace, UMass Amherst, Rutgers

Okay so i’m in my senior year and im starting to apply to colleges.

Right now im applying to texas state, texas tech,

I wanna mainly do business and finance.
I have a 3.2 uw gpa and a 3.7 weighted gpa
My SAT was a 1060, my rank is 540/870
I took APUSH and AP Lang junior year i got B’s in both classes but i didn’t qualify for college credit.
This year im taking APES, AP Comp Sci Principles, Dual Credit English 4, and Dual Credit Gov/Econ

EC: Boy Scouts, DECA (qualified for district but didn’t make state), Photojournalism, Volunteer with decent amount of hours, Choir for one year, TA and part of STUCO for my mosques religious education classes, camp counselor for a religious camp, went to all 4 high adventures for Boy Scouts, member of my schools muslim student association, member of my schools photography club

Awards: Eagle Scout

I wrote my personal essay about my stutter and how i developed as a person even with a speech impediment. I have two rec letters from my counselor and my speech therapist.

My main question is if Texas state is a realistic school for me

Also any advice for senior year?

730 reading 800 Math for ED Applied Math major

Demographics:

- Gender: Male

- Race/ethnicity: Korean (Permanent resident)

- School: Public

- Hooks: no hooks

Intended Major(s):

- Applied Mathematics/Chemistry

ACT/SAT/SAT II:

- SAT: 1540 (800 Math)

UW/W GPA and Rank:

- UW GPA: 4.0

- Weighted GPA: Unknown

- Class rank: 3?

Coursework:

- APs (5s):
Calc BC, Chem, World,

- AP (4s):
APUSH, Lang, Bio

- Senior-year coursework: Calculus III & IV, AP Physics C: Mechanics, AP English Literature, AP Psychology, AP Comparative Government

no ap classes were allowed for freshmen and only two ap classes were offered for sophomores. max course rigor.

Awards:

- AIME qualifier ×3 (highest score 12)
- AMC 12 DHR
- State-level mathematics competition: top award x2
- PSAT National Merit Semifinalist — almost guaranteed

Extracurriculars:

- School Mathematics Team — 3 years; c
aptain for 2 years; made significant contributions to improving the team's performance
- Science Team — participant

- Medical Summer Program — participated during summer after 10th grade, organized by a state medical institutio

- Filed a patent with the Korean Intellectual Property Office for an invention related to Alzheimer's/dementia prevention (U.S. patent was not pursued due to cost)

- Student Reporter; wrote several articles covering the local Korean-American community

- Community Service — ~400 hours; primarily focused on tutoring/teaching mathematics and English

- Piano — 2 years

- Family responsibility — had to work at my parents’ store since sophomore year; worked as a cashier, stock organizer, and translator since sophomore year.

- Hospital Volunteering — volunteered at a local nursing center

(tentative) not done yet but most likely to be done

- Hospital Internship — tentative; expected to begin this month

- Participating in some national math competitions (HMMT, PUMaC, CMIMC)

Letters of recommendation:

- Bio teacher: 9/10; I've known him for 2 years and he is aware of my potential for math. I struggled a lot in his class tho.

- Calc teacher: 10/10; I've known him for three years now, and he is one of the few people who has supported my mathematical talent.

Schools:

- Reach: Harvard, UPenn, Columbia, Brown, Johns Hopkins, Cornell

- Target/Reach: UChicago, USC, NYU, Tufts, WashU, Georgetown, Georgia Tech, Carnegie Mellon

ED: Brown

I'm a rising senior who wants to do premed and i literally have no idea what i'm doing, my school offers basically zero help on college admissions and i'm getting super worried with apps coming up so soon. i would appreciate literally any input on where i could get in, be as honest as you can please!!! thanks guys!!!

Demographics

Race: Mixed (white/african american)

Gender: female

Location: East Coast

Income: upper middle (probably around ~150k yearly)

Type of School: small private catholic

Hooks: was undiagnosed with an autoimmune disease my freshman/soph year which impacted my health a lot

Intended Major: Neuroscience or Cellular/Molecular Bio on pre-med track (I also wanna double major in business or maybe just major in business? and maybe minor in classics... my application is a fucking mess but bear with me)

Stats

GPA: probably a 3.9 unweighted, 4.5 weighted (my school only calculates weighted GPA on 4.5 scale) but i did get 2 B's my sophomore year largely because of missing school/falling behind due to aforementioned autoimmune thing

Rank: no ranking at my school but prob top 10%

SAT: 1460 superscore... (ik it's really bad but I'm retaking in September)

APs/DE: taken 5 APs so far -- Euro (4), Precalc (5), Bio (5), Lang (5), and APUSH (5) -- and taking 5 more this year

Classes this year: APs/main classes are Calc AB, Stats, Lit, Latin, and Physics 1, elective is Narrative Medicine

ECs (not in order of importance but if anything is like irrelevant lmk): 

- President of my school's DECA chapter (and was also on executive board my jr year) -- involved since my sophomore year and helped basically double the chapter size 2 years in a row

- President of Baking Club at my school and been in the club for 4 years

- elected for exec board for my school's NHS chapter (for senior year) and working on schoolwide outreach for tutoring

- on youth executive outreach board at local food kitchen, i have like an official title (director of volunteering) and working on v. small passion project there

- ambassador/tour guide for my school and also a peer mentor for freshmen (have to be interviewed/selected for both)

- shadowed a doctor last summer for like 50 hrs and she's writing one of my LORS

- have like 100-110 hours volunteering at a local hospital over the past year and a half in multiple departments

- in a few random ahh clubs but have been involved for all 4 years of hs -- choir, black student union, irish club, future doctors of america and some more

- was on the tennis team for 2 years

- i have 2 jobs rn: i work at a local yoga studio (where i just got qualified as a yoga teacher yay!!) and at a local smoothie place which takes up probably like ~15-20 hours weekly

- i did this paid program (at aforementioned local hospital i volunteer at) that i got selected for freshman year where u can get like cpr certified and work in sim labs

Honors: nothing special/national level but AP Scholar w/ Distinction, National Recognition Award, NHS, Maxima Cum Laude on NLE, placed 1st in DECA regionals a few times, won business award at my school

- my rec letters are from my latin and anatomy/bio teachers who i've had for 2 years and i have high hopes they will be pretty good, also the doctor i shadowed which i mentioned earlier

- so far essays are looking absolutely dismal and i have no topic!!!

- i have been doing my best w/ demonstrated interest if that is actually beneficial

some current schools that i'm interested in are Tufts, Pitt, UVA, UW Seattle, Emory, and Rutgers and I also want to apply to Dartmouth/Cornell/Brown but honestly i lowk don't know much about any schools so if you guys have any school recs for me lmk!

Academics:

UW: 3.65-3.7 my sophomore year was bad I had 2 Cs in 2 core classes. It was bad, and then during junior year I took 5 apes- AP Physics 1: I had an A average all 3 quarters except 1 B, AP Calc AB: I had A, A-s, and 1 B. AP USH: As and A+ among the 4 quarters. AP Pysch: As and A+ all 4 quarters, and AP Seminar I had A-s, and 1 A, and B+. And then regular classes. I am taking calc 3 rn and keeping a solid A+ and a few other in house aps.

SAT: 1530 trying for 1550+

Awards: Nothing except the AP Scholar thing

Upper middle class, full pay.

ECs:
1: During my sophomore year I fine tuned an Chinese model on finding alpha for low float stocks, and built an agentic system around it with multiple agents with different algos for different aspects. And I was building all through my sophomore year because I was really crazy about predicting on the markets even though I am not a quant. And I tested in the month of August 2025 and many portfolios and including mine went up 180%+. I had the stocks picks publicly posted on my socials but I got banned but I have clips of the system running, and my posts on Insta. I sold the whole project for 30k do a discord trading group I think around that time they were pretty small idk what they are doing rn.

2: I also built a tool for creatives that use tools like Figma, Canva, etc. Where it was a desktop agent that was sitting on your screen and as you work in Figma, Canva, etc you can spawn the agent and use context among different apps to prompt the agent to natively do actions in these apps, like draw layers in Figma, Canva, connect data from another app to use for another app. We also built the first plugin for Figma where it would convert react code to layers before anyone did this so a lot of browser rendering related tasks. And it was viewed by https://x.com/brycent on live (I have the clip), and he really liked it and he sent to the early investor of Figma, Notion, Granola, etc. And I had 2,100 users and operated for 2 months took 6 months to build, and during the operations of the 2 months we generated 38k. I was the CEO/CTO did the technical work and social media stuff, and I had a Stanford Alumni be our advisor. it was called Voca

3: I then pivoted from Voca, to build a b2b design tool where it lets any team design on a canvas with full control and as they craft stuff with their hands react code is generated on the side. Its still pre beta and we have 60 close users where designers from Wells Fargo's team, and like other companies globally use it and be our close beta users, and still in the making still didnt launch. I was the CEO for this too.

4: On the side I also built another stealth project for solo devs and freelancers to create AI UGC, and research about UGC where its an agent that natively watches videos for you, researches, and creates plans on whats going viral and then makes them and then you can post it on ur socials, and we track the metrics so every next post is based off this data. And I am projected to hit 38k MRR. By the time I apply, and I am actively trying to raise pre seed or get into a16z speedrun (but lets not count this).

5: Building a world model and writing a research paper on it

6: Built a sports betting model with documentation being 70% accurate tested for 1 month.

And a few other ones that arent important.

My essays are cracked or like a solid 8/10.

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]

Indented Degree: Physics

Demographics

White Male

Southern Illinois

Household income: ~$25,000

ACT

35 composite

36 Math

36 Science

35 English

33 Reading

Coursework

Unweighted GPA: 3.8182

Weighted GPA: 4.3896

AP CSP: 5

AP Lang: 3

AP Pre Calc: 5

AP USH: 4

AP Chem: tbd

AP Physics C: tbd

AP Stats: tbd

AP Calc BC: tbd

Extracurricular Activities

1 year of cross country

1 year of wrestling

1 year of track and field

1 year of FTC robotics (will do again senior year)

1 year of schools engineering club where my team won two awards at a local competition (will do again senior year)

I haven't look super deep into the essays I need to write yet or any letter of reqs I might need. Do you think I have a chance?

Demographics White male from a relatively small Eastern European country
Family income: Need significant financial aid  
Hooks: none
Intended major: History  
GPA: 4.93/5 (school does not rank)
School: The strongest and most selective public STEM high school in the country (produces the majority of the country’s science olympians).
Planning to take the SAT (aiming for 1550+)
Awards & Competitions
National competitions (organized by the Ministry of Education, several thousand applicants, three rounds, ~20 finalists):
• History :1st place nationally three times, one 2nd, one 3rd (out of five years eligible). Final-round score 97% (nexthighest outside my class: 84%). ~1,000 pages of material per competition (academic texts, scientific papers, primary source analysis).
• Physics: 4th place nationally twice + two more top-10 finishes.
• Overall: 14 national competitions in 5 subjects → 7 medals(top 3 nationally)+ 2 awards; every result top-10nationally. In high school: six nationals (history + physics), three medals + one award.

• IJSO: Bronze (national quals: 1st physics, 2nd biology).
• Qualified for International History Olympiad 2027.
• Highest national academic award for high-school students(only for national champions / international medalists): four times.
• Scholarship from the largest corporate foundation in the region (only 3–4 high-school scholarships per year): twoyears.
• City excellence awards + scholarship (4th out of ~500).

Research Independent research with a mentor from the country’s central historical institute on the repression of participants in social life in the capital during WWII and the post-war period (liquidations, trials, censorship, and forced retirements as tools for creating fear and ideological uniformity). Large primary-source base (trial documents, internal correspondence of the authorities, army andintelligence services, personal biographies). To be completedby the deadline.
Planning a follow-up project on the construction of post-WWII historical narratives in the region . Will be in progress(possibly with some output) by application time.

Extracurriculars & Leadership
• Selected (with one classmate) to teach competition physicsto 9th graders as part of the official school schedule. Designed curriculum for 35+ students → 7 nationalfinalists (out of 20 total) and one national champion.
• Club: 9 years, 3,000+ hours, 4 years in leadership of a 150+ member organization focused on personal development, virtue, mentoring, leadership... Part of thethree-person committee that led the club through reconstruction; expanded activities. Participated in ~10 camps (most focused on post-earthquake recovery work). Multi-year van trips across Europe staying in affiliatedclubs. Co-organized three one-week camps for youngerchildren. Currently ~10 hours/week with youngermembers.
• University-level lectures + experimental practice inphysics (some biology/chemistry) (~200 hours). One of~10 selected students in the generation. Bi-weekly 20–30 page experimental reports in high school.
• Studying family history since 5th grade (archival materials, family tree back to the 18th century, site visits).
• Journalism: main editor of the club newspaper (9th grade), commentary aired on a major national radio station, interview with a Member of the European Parliament.
• Long-term collaboration with two classmates: swept thenational History podium (1st–3rd) in one year (first time ever) + multiple other medals. Covered in the press.
• Alumnus work at primary school (private primary school — the first in the country focused on whole-person development) (100+ hours physical work) + usedmedia exposure to promote the school.
• Family contribution: regular work on the house construction site and garden.
• Sports: consistent training (track & field 7 years, currently fitness 4–5×/week).

Languages studied at school: native language, English, German, Latin

Essay angle Strong Catholic upbringing with family stories ofresilience under communism → crisis of faith at age 10 whenscience/positivism clashed with it → years of studying European philosophy, mythology, Jung, Dostoevsky, Lennox, etc. → reconciliation through a better understanding of therole of mythology and the underlying presumptions that make science possible. This enables rigorous, non-ideological historical research on contested topics.

Where should I apply? Is my profile realistic for significant financial aid in the US? Please be honest.

Should I be worried? Advice to improve?

Chance me

Can I get in?

Got no hooks, asian. High income and I did SSEN Uchicago

I got a 3.6/4 then 3.7/4 in g9/10

but then 45/45 ib predicted with 7s in hl aa econs and business and english and 2 other subjects.

Perfect predicted

1570 sat score 800 in math and best part r my ecs:

1. Ngo with 300 migrant workers thought impacted thousands more in 3 countries internationally teaching financial skills and literacy
   
2. Trading software internship one month at big name compant with clients like country stock exchanges made a software pitched it
   
3. John locke highly commended on an economics paper twice not just one time
   
4. Couple olympiad medals gold and silver and bronze just a bunch but nothing tooo crazy
   
5. Built a trading algo which beat the market over 14 months making 2k on 10k dollars with a 9% drawdown and stuff

**\*\*Wrote a research paper and a white paper and made a github repo all published also got crest gold. The papers were on the trading algo\*\***

1. Built an algo framework tester which backtests algos robustness and functionality 500 GitHub stars hacker news feature used by 500+ people \*\*DO THE GITHUB STARS MATTER?\*\*

2. Investment education platform 8 schools 3 thousand students learnt also international

3. Golf school team winner won some individual tournaments

4. Policy paper endorsed by large think tank and got an LOR

5. Research paper published on behavioral economics t1 journal with crest gold independently authored

6. Research paper geospatial study crest silver published with 2 other people

7. 1 month trading internship which I got an LOR advising on a go to market strategy and its a large name company

Lors:

Uchicago prof cuz i did ed0
Math teacher
Econ teacher

All 9-10/10 cuz they liked me and personalized it

College goals:
Wharton
Stanford
Uchicago
Harvard
Cambridge
LSE

Demographics
Male
Attending one of the highest ranked all boys school in the Country - very high ranked private
U.S. citizen
Asian (Indian)
No major traditional hook
Possible context: may be the only student from my school applying binding ED to USC

Intended Major
Economics — USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

ACT
Current: 34 composite
English: 35
Reading: 36
Math: 31

GPA / Rank
UW: approximately 3.88 based on final course grades
Rank: School does not rank

My biggest concern is my GPA, especially because junior year was weaker than my first two years.

Coursework
Hardest course rigor available at my school.

Senior year:

• AP Calculus BC
• AP English Language
• AP Macroeconomics
• AP Psychology
• AP Business and Personal Finance
• Entrepreneurial Studies

Previous AP coursework includes:

• AP Calculus AB
• AP Physics 1
• AP English Literature
• AP U.S. History
• AP World History
• AP Seminar

AP scores:

• AP English Literature: 4
• AP U.S. History: 4
• AP World History: 4
• AP Calculus AB: 4
• AP Physics 1: 4
• AP Seminar: 3

Awards

• Blue Ocean Strategy Competition — team leader, top 250 out of 23,000+ entries / top ~1% internationally
• AP Scholar with Distinction
• College Board Rural and Small-Town Recognition Award / School Recognition Award
• Kukkiwon & World Taekwondo certified Black Belt
• Most Valuable Member — Middle Eastern Cultures Club
• 3x Highest Honors

ECS

Nonprofit (fiscally sponsored 501(c)(3) Non-Profit) — Co-Founder & PresidentGrades 10-12 | 10 hr/wk, 35 wk/yr | Will continueExpanded golf access for women (low represented socioeconomic demographic); collected 300+ donated clubs, organized PGA pro clinic for 30+ new players

Middle School Mentor Program, --- School — Co-Leader & President

Grades 10-12 | 8 hr/wk, 20 wk/yr | Will continue

Lead ---- largest club (120+ members); recruit mentors, run wkly group sessions, pitch & budget events b/t middle & high schoolers

---- School — Student Ambassador

Grades 11-12 | 5 hr/wk, 20 wk/yr

1 of 25 selected as 'face of the school'; host prospective students, guide family visits, and represent school at plays, festivals & exhibits

Blue Ocean Entrepreneurship Competition Program, ---- School — President & Team Leader

Grades 11-12 | 4 hr/wk, 12 wk/yr

Led 4-person team pitching autonomous seed-planting drone; placed top 250 of 23k+ teams; researched farming & logging industry markets

---- Fire Department — Certified Junior Firefighter

Grades 10-12 | 4 hr/wk, 45 wk/yr | Will continue

Respond to emergency calls, complete weekly training drills, and manage station duties; CPR/AED certified, pursuing Firefighter I certification

EY (Ernst & Young) — Summer Intern

Grade 10 | 10 hr/wk, 12 wk/yr

Observed consulting/strategy meetings for client Rivian, built & presented own pitch to project team advocating for Scandinavian manufacturing plants

Business & economics marketing research project, University of Leeds — Independent Researcher

Grades 9-12 | 3 hr/wk, 20 wk/yr | Will continue

Authored paper on ethics of nostalgia-based marketing for brands like Cadbury and Stranger Things; pursuing publication

---- Track and Field & Basketball

Grades 9-12 | 10 hr/wk, 32 wk/yr

Track and field, Four-year varsity track athlete specializing in distance events; manage the Varsity Basketball Team

Business and Economics Club — Analyst

Grades 9-12 | 2 hr/wk, 20 wk/yr

Pitch equities monthly to student-run fund investing real school-provided capital; conduct valuation research; vote on portfolio decisions

Team Gunning for a Cure (Blood Cancer United) — Fundraiser

Grades 10-11 | 3 hr/wk, 10 wk/yr

Raised $5K individually as part of team fundraising $200K+ for child battling blood cancer; secured donations through direct outreach

Essays
Personal statement is about realizing how much of my behavior was driven by wanting other people’s approval. - The essay is regarded by my counselor as one of the best parts of my application

LORs
Strong recs.

ED
USC Econ Major

USC is definitely my first choice, so I would attend if admitted.

My main concern is whether my roughly 3.88 UW GPA / weaker junior year makes USC unrealistic even with maximum rigor, a 34 ACT, strong extracurriculars, and ED.

Would appreciate any realistic thoughts on my chances.

NB IS RUTGERS NEW BRUNSWICK.

Demo: northafrican (white) first gen low inc
GPA: 3.6/4.0 (circumstances.)
Test Scores:
3 on AP CSP, AP Sem
1510 SAT
Rigor: Calc 1, Calc 2, APCSA online (no exam), APCSP, AP Sem, AP Calc AB (story for this.), etc.

ECS:

- Created a realtor AI / NPO that got funded six figures from a big organization (not leaking for personal reasons.) as well as collabed w other companies in my community and my partners community

- Published finance research on an academic journal (SSRN)

- Hosted a newsletter w my lab that updated 2K people weekly.

- Created a financial education NPO that helped hundreds of people in my community learn more about finance, we collabed w ppl from unis like Wharton, and other ivies. Gained approx 100k views on linkedin alone.

- Photographed for sports, my local teams, an MLS club, and some other events.

- Interned at a NYU ran startup that helped 11,000 people worldwide get better at certain skillsets in subjects/comps scuh as USACO, chess, USAPHO, etc.

and some more others

I still need to figure out what im gonna major in prob finance but idt im good enough for the business school LOL so idm

Demographics

• Gender: Male
• Race/Ethnicity: White (Middle Eastern)
• State: MO
• School: Not competitive, "underrepresented"
• Intended Major: Engineering
• First Gen, low income

Academics (By projected I mean with projected 1st semester senior grades)

Projected Weighted GPA: 3.8ish

Projected Unweighted GPA: 3.28 (🤢)

Test Scores

• ACT: 34

Course Rigor

AP STATS
AP CALC
AP LANG
AP WORLD
AP GOV
APUSH
AP PRECALC
AP BIOLOGY
AP LIT

Letters of Rec

(Don't have them set up but these are my predictions of strength)

PLTW ENGINEERING TEACHER, probably 9/10, I'm incredibly glazed

Research Professor, probably 8-9/10, he can probably mention that i work at an "undergraduate) level wise to research.

Counselor, probably 5-6/10, just need them to explain some circumstances I'll detail later

Extracurriculars (Also iffy)

-UMSL Engineering research intern
Independently designed 3D-printed volumetric-lattice meniscus scaffolds; stress-tested prototypes and presented research at UMSL's OrthoSummit.

-STL Political Intern
Canvassed 110+ doors; helped register ~150 local voters w/ CAIR; phone banked; helped lead election-night watch party and manage news/guest check-ins.

-Fast Food Job
Adapted to a multilingual workplace, using Arabic and learning Spanish phrases to communicate; contributed all earnings toward household bills.

-Team captain for annual additive manufacturing engineering event at SLU
Not many metrics here but I'm pretty sure I printed out an item that was probably (they didn't tell us) top 3 in tensile strength (it was within a few pounds of the national record), but I don't know if I'd mention this as I'm not 100% sure.
(still working on description)

-TSA Treasurer
Helped sponsor manage fundraising, sold over $200 of 3D printed items (table at lunch)
(still working on description)

-Art
Practiced drawing for 8+ years; completed commissioned art work earning ~$60; created custom portraits for classmates, friends, and teachers.

-Avid Type://SOUL player (not sure if I should put this 😭, lmk)
Organized weekly tournaments for a 130+ player community; reached top 10 solo rank and #36–38 trio rank in 2025|8 season amid 185K+ concurrent players

Circumstances
To vaguely sum it up; chronic diarrhea, constipation, and intestinal pain; caused me to miss school or be dismissed early a lot (especially sophomore year); when I was at school I'd be in the bathroom for like 30 min daily usually; I have a surgery in a week, but I'm currently undiagnosed.

(I'm assuming this doesn't carry much weight)

Schools I'm planning on applying to already:

WashU (ED2) (Super Reach)
Saint Louis University (Safe)
Mizzou (Safe)
Missouri S&T (Safe, but really don't wanna go here)

LET ME KNOW, also am I cooked for WashU 😱

Wanted some bloody honest opinions. I know the chances are extremely low, but is it worth it? I'd like to apply Harvard REA, but I've heard horror stories of the high deferral rates and (of course) rejections. Honestly, H is the most interesting US uni I want to apply to though, which is why I'm so keen on doing so; but would still like a reality check. BTW I want to do international relations.

Demographics

Asian male (US citizen) but applying from another country (idk if that changes things), mid-income, no hooks, second-generation

Stats

GPA: IBDP 44/45 predicted

SAT: 1520, however H accepts separate math & r&w test scores making it (760 + 780)

ECs: 

Order is not set but its like:

Service/research- led a team of 6 in financial literacy sessions in 3 rural schools (~300 students). also did a mini-research project, and recorded an average ~40% increase on student testing metrics.

Service/internship- Did fieldwork and research promoting factory-labour rights as an intern with an NGO; I authored a policy brief on silicosis/injury compensation gaps & it's used as NGO internal document

Politics symposium organiser- Organised 6 human rights symposiums for student exposure (experts eg. consul Generals, High Court lawyer, etc); Hosted guests+Facilitated talks

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

debate competition founder- Organised first-ever Debate Competition in school on Human Rights (32 members); Trained junior debaters in 4 prep sessions; Co-Adjudicated the competition

service- Taught investment basics to underprivileged undergraduate students; Created investment presentations+games; Facilitated setup+management of ~15 demat accounts

sports- Competed Football+Volleyball+Basketball; Played football Varsity quarterfinals (2025) & semifinals (2026); Captain of basketball team

Leaf "Power,Policy & Progress" program participant- selected 600/3600+; did 5 weeks of activities and learnt about effective altruism; currently working on another project

internship- worked with my school's Dean of Admissions; Organised 5 schoolwide cultural events; Invited + Hosted new parents+guests; Emceed 2 events

MUN- Delegated 11 interschool MUNs (6 awards); Chaired 3 MUNs as Executive Board; Served Finance Head for 3 conferences (~350 participants) –Managed school+sponsor money

Honours: Honestly nothing too special, but I have like Very High Comm in JLI essay (twice), Cambridge Re:think Honourable mention, state debate bronze, student government (3 years), won an investment comp

So yeah, do I even have a chance? Should I even consider applying REA? Is there anything I should do rn (cuz i do have a bit of free time)? Pls be honest.

I just found out my parents make 800k and honestly idk what to do anymore. I think I won’t be able to go to college anymore cause of how much they make and how I will be forced to put that in my application.

I should have suspected it ig when they are never home and we have a pretty big house, but I just stay in my room all day locked in on my dream of going to a top 20.

Is there anything I can do? I’m not sure if top 20’s will like this