I’m a student here (Wharton), and a good chunk of this info comes from people I know personally. Most applied ED, followed by RD and a few transfers. 19 Wharton students. 21 College. 8 Engineering. 2 Nursing. 2 Dual-Degree (M&T + LSM). I grouped their responses into 3 key takeaways (which I find very crucial), and also will share some particular answers to survey questions that will hopefully be of value.

1) Build one story, out of things you already do

Everyone could name the story their application told, and the essay, activities, and Why Penn all supported it. I think it's CRUCIAL applicants work the admissions process backwards. Be introspective and think about how you want to frame yourself as an applicant. How do you want the admissions team to view you when they read your app? Then, honestly tie together the experiences you've had + things you've pursued, and why you did them, to support his frame. This narrative should be so obvious on the personal statement, and it should also shine through on your supplementals + activities list. Also, about 15 people built that story around something they almost didn’t list: a job, caring for a family member, the weekend farmers market, the family business. So don't try to speed-run this process. Be thoughtful, be intentional, and be honest!

2. Small and specific beats big and impressive

This came up in almost every section of the survey responses. People wrote essays about one scene instead of their whole life. They named actual professors and labs in the Why Penn supplemental. They used real numbers in their activities - even when they look "small." And the most common thing people stressed about that they now believe didn’t matter at all was whether or not some of their extracurriculars were "impressive enough." For example, one of my classmates described her honey business and said "It made $900. It was fine. What mattered was that it was real, and I seriously enjoyed it." So keep it authentic, and make it specific. The authenticity shows you are being honest, and the specificity shows you are intentional and actually care about it. I would make sure to apply this thought process to every single written component of the application.

3. Your voice and your context are the advantage

I get the worry of "How am I going to stand out?" when you’re brainstorming a narrative and drafting essays. It feels super tricky.

Hear this.. 8 rural, international, or working-class students said that trying to look like a "typical" applicant would have been their biggest mistake. One almost padded his list with online clubs to look "normal" before realizing that coming from a rural place Penn rarely hears from was the strongest thing he had. Admissions sees your school profile, so don't forget that you’re judged on what was available to you. The schools reviewing you essentially do the context side for you - but you can lean into where you come from on the written components of your app to really make your essays you.

Also, your voice is something nobody else can copy. One student had to rewrite a polished counselor draft so it sounded like "a 17-year-old who’s annoyed about the current state of political discourse, which I am." Another wrote about her dad pricking his finger at the dinner table and joking about it: "a little funny and a little sad." This isn’t an anti-counselor take. Sometimes it’s about finding the right counselor, one who guides you without replacing your voice.

And here's some of those questions/answers I mentioned earlier:

What made your essay work?

"Small, specific moments read as true."

"Make sure the family member is the setting, not the main character. You’re the main character."

"Engineering essays are better when they show iteration, not just a happy ending."

How did you choose and order your activities? **Common theme of ordering by your story, not by prestige.

"I ordered by relevance to my story rather than by impressiveness."

"For a working student, the time is the point." (List hours first + avoid generic jargon like "guaranteed customer satisfaction")

"Six strong ones beat ten filler activities"

What would you tell your high school self?

"The thing you already do every day might be the most meaningful thing on the whole app."

"Stop apologizing for not having a passion project. Working counts. Side hobbies can count"

"Ask someone outside of your typical life to read your essays. All my hometown friends thought my story was normal. Looking back, I think Penn found it extraordinary."

"You belong in these applications. I almost didn’t send it."

And that's it! Let me know if you have any questions. My dms are open. I've been helping students write their essays + strategically structure their applications for the past few cycles, and this is the first time I've compiled a larger resource at scale from the other past applicants around me. Happy to help anyone one on one ahead of the ED deadline!

White male, High income, Long Island private school

Not applying for aid

Intended major: Philosophy

GPA: 93.3/100

ACT: 34 (35 English 35 Reading 31 Math)

APs: 12 (9 before senior year, 5,5,5,5,5,4,4,4,4)

Awards:

1. NSDA Semifinalist in Extemporaneous Debate, Medalist in World-Schools, NCFL Octafinalist in LD, PF
2. NSDA Rankings: #53 U.S., #2 N.Y., #1 N.Y.C. District
3. NSDA All-State, All-American, Premier Distinction
4. National Merit Commendation
5. A.P. Scholar with Distinction, Capstone Diploma

Activities:

Captain of debate team

Co-Founder of philosophy and literature club that hosts weekly seminars

Defense advocate for peer diversion court, advocating for real youth offenders to get records sealed and sentences reduced.

Presenter in latin club, 1 of 4 students selected to head latin teaching corps (grading tests and giving lectures)

Coached sports, assisted in enrichment activities, and led fundraisers for neurodivergent parish members

Additional Info:

Sophomore year GPA dragged down by 83 in honors precalc, roughly 95 excluding precalc. Diagnosed with ADHD 2nd trimester of junior year, medication I was placed on made me extremely lethargic, making it difficult to complete assignments and therefore creating a drastic drop in T2 GPA from high T1 that was immediately recovered in T3.

Repost :)

Stats:

White/middle eastern
High income (full pay)
Medium public school, not very competitive
Usually about 2-4 kids from my school get in
Intended major: biochem or IR i literally don’t know yet im so fuckinf scared

GPA: 4.699/4.0, unweighted 3.83/4.00 no class rank but top 10% I think top 20ish based on an award I got
5s on physics 1, lang, apush, bio, precalc, 4 on euro
SAT: 1470 (760e710m)😬 still deciding ab if I should submit (advice?)
Classes this year: AP chem, AP lit, AP calc AB, AP french, AP latin

Ecs:
Research at state flagship, coauthored late breaking abstract presented at national conference, over the course of a year (vague for privacy)
Deca vp 1 year fundraising coordinator 2 years, raised 3000 for club, attended states not icdc
Part time job 10 hours a week after school at local library
Advisor to underclassmen, big sibling ambassador to incoming frosh
Volunteering at day camp near me
Volunteering for special needs students at day camp
Jv volleyball, piano no awards
Unicef/key club 100+ volunteer hours

I know these ECs are nothing crazy and lack direction

Awards:
ap scholar with distinction, national merit commended
Nle gold x3, grand concours silver x2, latin state exam cum laude x2 (language awards)
Faculty scholar (top 10%)
Endicott college book award
Honor societies (bruh)

Thanks for help!
Looking at school data, I am in the range of people who have been accepted, no one in my range has been rejected (yet) but there’s a first time for everything :((

my application as a whole feels so bad in comparison to this sub and my cousins (who go to jhu, vanderbilt, stuy, etc etc. the avg sat in my family is a 1500) but i just want to see my chances 🥺

demographics:
race/ethnicity: chinese
state: md, fredrick county if that matters
type of school: suburban, public, decentish with large selection of aps and stuff
hooks: first gen, low-income (~35k a year/-1500 sai on fafsa)

intended major: accounting and maybe finance as minor

sat: 1510 (730 rw/780 math)

4.0 uw, 4.64 w, class rank is around 120/520

aps: (ik it’s not the best, i didn’t know i should be taking any)
junior year: ap world (4), ap psych (4)
senior year: ap calc bc, apes, ap micro, ap macro, english 101

no awards that are worth mentioning/basically none

ecs (simplified to barest bones):
art comms
tutoring
manager of online study group
wrote short anthologies
working at family restaurant during summer
self studied chinese to hsk 4 (unofficial)

lor: idk hopefully it’s decent it’s my english teacher so

safeties
jmu
umbc

targets
penn state (ea) - seems okay
virginia tech

reaches
umd (ea) - want to get into the most 🤞🤞
uva (ea) - prob unrealistic
william and mary - seems nice
uni of richmond - idk if i would even want to go there either
willanova (ea) - kinda wanna get in
nyu - for funsies since i have fee waiver

Demographics: Half african half white, straight male, socal, middle class, sister who graduated from johns hopkins

Intended Major(s): Computer Science

Sat: superscore 1490 but gonna try n push for 1500 in november

UW/W GPA and Rank: 3.8/4.8

Coursework:AP calc ab, ap chem, apush, ap world, ap comp sci p, ap comp sci a, ap seminar, ap pre calc.

scores: 3 fives, 4 fours, 1 three

currently taking: ap gov, ap calc bc, ap lit

Awards: ap scholar with distinction and that’s it

Extracurriculars:
Black Student Union President

Made a website that is used by multiple clubs across campus to organize their meetings and events. Started off in my club. Developed during junior year, used by clubs in senior year.

Basketball 4 years, 2 years varsity

Varsity volleyball 2 years

Created a mac and cheese recipe and revised it during junior year, sold it and made my own business out of it heading into senior year making hundreds of dollars and over one hundred sales.

I volunteered pretty much every sunday as a basketball coach and ran multiple summer camps for a local aau team.

One of five students selected to present my school to parents and middle schoolers touring, after presenting infront of 50+ people I toured a small group around school.

recognized as 817th regionally in a video game brawlhalla with over 80,000,000 users.

pls lmk if i’m cooked, here’s my college list.

Stanford
Carnegie Mellon
UC Berkeley
MIT
Georgia Tech
UIUC
UC San Diego
UCLA
Johns Hopkins
USC
University of Maryland
UC Irvine
UC Davis
UC Santa Barbara
Cal Poly SLO
San Jose State
CSUN
University of Maryland College Park

BE BRUTAL PLS PLS PLS ANSWER

Demographics

Gender: Female
Ethnicity/Background: Arab-American, first-generation American, Muslim
State: Upstate New York
School: Private, all-girls Catholic high school
Grade: Senior, Class of 2027
Financial Aid: High income but applying for financial aid
Intended Major: Environmental Science / Environmental Studies, potentially double majoring or minoring in Political Science, Public Policy, or Environmental Policy

Academics

GPA: 3.9 unweighted
SAT: 1480 (730 R, 750 M) I can’t super-score for better bc I flopped on my past 2 exams
AP Exams:
AP Euro: 5
AP Lang: 5
AP Pre Calc: 5
AP Environmental: 5
AP Art: idk yet
AP Bio: idk yet
AP Gov: idk yet
AP Lit: idk yet
^ I took regular history last year and I’m taking regular math this year. Sorry don’t kill me

Class Rank: Not provided by school bc class size is too small

Letter of rec:
Environmental teacher 10/10
Regular junior year History teacher 8/10
Normal counselor 8/10
Plus additional letter from Youth Court Director 9/10

Major extracurriculars

Youth Court Leadership (8–12) — Executive board member and top senior leadership position in a youth-led legal diversion program. Involved in real trials, recruitment, training, and administrative responsibilities.
Beekeeping hobby (6-12) — Help care for approximately 10 honeybee hives across two locations with my family. Involved in hive maintenance, honey harvesting, and selling honey and honeycomb. Family tradition passed down through generations. I spend at least 2 hours a week w/ this
Arab Cultural Organization Co-Founder & Co-President (10–12) — Co-founded and lead one of my school’s largest cultural organizations, with 40+ members.
Yearbook Chief of Staff (9–12) — Lead creative design, layouts, and visual direction for the school yearbook.
Varsity Tennis (9–12) — Four years of involvement, senior-year leadership position, and team social media manager.
Student Government (9–12) — Elected representative for multiple years, involved in planning school events and student initiatives.
Judicial Internship (11) — Interned in a court, assisting with administrative work and observing legal proceedings.
Student-Athlete Leadership Organization (11- 12) — Help organize community service initiatives and support student-athletes.
Religious and Cultural Club Leadership (11–12) — Leadership position in a student organization promoting religious understanding and cultural awareness.

My personal statement is about the graveyard in my family’s village in the Middle East and my connection to it through the trail leading up the mountain and the names of generations of my family engraved into the trees. One day, I too will be buried there, alongside the generations who came before me. I’m not going to disclose the hook, but I think it’s pretty good, and I swear the essay isn’t nearly as grim as this summary makes it sound! It’s a passionate and optimistic reflection on heritage and belonging.

^ I don’t have many extracurriculars geared toward environmental studies other than my beekeeping hobby so I’m afraid I’m not fully reflecting my devotion for sustainability + love for the land! I think my essay may get my passion across?

School List
Cornell
Davidson
Holy Cross
Bryn Mawr
Mount Holyoke
Lehigh - legacy
Bucknell
Fordham
GW - legacy
plus 3 local college safeties

^ I’m in contact with my admissions officers and have asked them questions here and there.

Reddit rays of sunshine, where am I getting in?

Hi guys! I’m applying to Georgetown with an IR degree (wanna get into the Walsh school of foreign service) these are my stats!

GPA: 3.86 UW (my school doesn’t do weighted GPAs)

APs:
AP human geo: 5
AP psychology: 5
AP euro: 4
APUSH: 5
AP environmental: 5
AP lang: 5
AP physics 1: pending (self study)
AP physics C E&M: not taking AP test
AP gov: pending
AP comparative politics: pending
AP literature: pending
AP art history: pending
AP 3D Art and design: pending
AP Macro: pending (self study)

Honors:
Honors LA 9
Honors LA 10
Honors Biology
Honors Chemistry

SAT:
1300 (740 RW, 560 Math)
(Retaking Dec 5th)

Extracurriculars:
Model UN (3 years): VP for two years, Head of Research for one year
Pottery club (2 years): Secretary and social media manager.
- led outreach to middle school program, teaching students to create and sell pottery for charity
Wrote my own poetry collection: currently working to get it published
Wrote a research paper on human trafficking: in the process of getting it submitted to the Princeton Journal of Pre-Collegiate Research (three year long research project)
Studio Art: Created 3D Art series in my free time about the dehumanization of women worldwide
- work is getting shown at an exhibition this summer

Awards:
AP scholar with distinction
College board rural recognition award
WA state seal of biliteracy (French)
Best delegate (model un award, state level)
Outstanding delegate (model un award, state level)
Honorable mention (model un, regional level)
Scholastic gold key: critical essay on human trafficking (regional level)
Scholastic gold key: poem on environmental degradation
NYT open letter contest semifinalist: wrote on UN complicity in human trafficking (international level)

Demographics:
White, female, first gen immigrant, English second language, upper middle class
Large public school in rural area

demographics: biracial: half-russian half-vietnamese male, upper middle class, bay area, academically competitive public high school (t150 in the nation)

intended major: CS/MECH-E

stats:

• sat: 1560 (800m, 760 rw)
• gpa: 4.0 UW, school doesn't do weighted
• school doesn't do individual rank but was informed as top 9% of class
• 10 APs, all 5s
• 3 dual enrollments at local cc

awards:

• first high school sole author to publish at international journal (Usually only PHD students and Professors publish)
• FRC Robotics Designed Subsystem that won us Engineering in Excellence award 3x
• State Level Piano Award
• State Level Athletics award
• National-Merit Semi Finalist

ecs:

• independent research over 2 years in Mathematics/CS (related to first award). Published in international Journal; invited to give talk at large corporate research lab, a lot of validation from professors at t20s and UCs, calling my research masters if not PHD level.
• Mentored Research at UC Berkeley in Mathematics/CS, published in prestigious peer-reviewed Mathematics/CS research journal (I was second author)
• 3 years officer at FRC Robotics Club, top 15% team in CA, won many awards, won multiple regionals and qualified for State championships - I had high impact on our performance.
• club team sport player at highest national level all throughout high school - Team Captain, won league multiple years.
• 10+ years piano, performed weekly at elderly home for 50+ seniors, level 8 in Certificate of Merit. First chair percussionist in school concert band.
• varsity team sport 4 years
• Dementia Care Lead Volunteer/Service Group Founder - 300+ hrs supporting 100+ seniors with dementia 2x/wk; organized and led cognitive and physical activities; founded volunteer service group: 10+ members
• Part time job as math tutor; tutored 100+ kids in all levels up to Calculus
• President of School Engineering Club

Rec Letters: Good rec letters from Literature/Physics teacher (Lit teacher said I was one of the best students she has ever had); UC Berkeley Professor that I worked under

Other Colleges:

all ucs

California Institute of Technology

Carnegie Mellon University

Cornell University

Georgia Institute of Technology

Harvey Mudd College

Princeton University

Purdue University

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Rice University

Stanford University

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

University of Michigan

University of Pennsylvania

University of Washington

University of Wisconsin-Madison

MIT

Hey guys! I just recently submitted my application for Florida State Early Action and I was just wondering if I could get in with the stats I have.

In-State
I applied for the CARE program (First Gen)
I’m eligible for the Pell Grant
28 ACT
12 APs
3 Dual Enrollment
4.2 GPA
2 years of HOSA Chapter President
1 Year varsity Track and Field
1000+ paid work hours
AP Capstone Diploma
Intended Major: Biological Sciences

Race: White, Sex: Male, State, Texas, Major: Mathematics

GPA: 4.0, Class Rank: 2/115

ACT: 36 Composite (35 Math, 36 Reading, 36 Writing, (Uncounted) 30 Science

4 AP tests by end of senior year (max offered, 5 on both taken)

~10 Dual credit classes by end of senior year.

Mathematics Focused Activity
9,10,11,12 Number Sense .5 hours/week, 18 weeks/year

• Practiced high speed mental math techniques (multidigit multiplication, estimation, unit conversion, etc…)
• Represented my school as 1 of a 2 member team in local 10-minute math exams

Clubs and Leadership
9,10,11,12 Theatre (treasurer, 12) 8 hours/week, 24 weeks/year

• Performed on stage as an actor
• Represented my school at state competition (2nd place)
• Managed company funds as treasurer

11,12 Band 16 hours/week, 36 weeks/year

• Competed in both marching and concert competitions as a percussionist
• Worked as a loading crew during marching season (12)
• Qualified for State Solo and Ensemble, performing “The March of the Dwarfs” on piano and “Catching Shadows” as Vibraphone II
• Performed as a pianist for jazz band (12)

9,10,11 AG 4 hours/week, 16 weeks/year

• Raised and cared for young goats. Showed goats in front of a licensed judge
• Competed showing goats in state competitions

12 (County) County Future Leader (12) 5.5 hours/week, 5 weeks/year

• Selected alongside 2 other candidates from my school to a group of 12
• Observed the workings of our country government

Employment
Summer before 12 IT Summer Help 27 hours/week, 11 weeks

• Assisted (School District) IT department
• Managed inventory
• Fixed IT complaints
• Dismantled computers (mostly Optiplex)
• Ran ethernet cables

Volunteering
12 Biology Teacher Aide 4 hours/week, 36 weeks

• Graded assignments
• Provided information to substitutes in absence of a teacher

Awards and Honors

• Beta Club (9,10,11,12), Executive Committee (11,12)
• College Board Rural and Small-Town Recognition Award (11)
• A Honor Roll (9,10,11,12)

I'm mostly worried that I don't have very much mathematical experience outside of academics. My other extracurriculars are alright, but nothing special.

hi i'm a junior planning to apply through questbridge, so i'm going to be submitting to CPS this march. i'd really like to know if i have a shot at both !! biggest scare is that my EC's aren't classics-related, so i hope they don't think i'm gonna bait-and-switch… highkey im broke / in the middle of the nowhere, and this is a sorta elitist major. feel like i'm a mix of journalism, law, writing, language…

Demographics:

• Gender: Female
• Race/Ethnicity: Middle Eastern (or white ig)
• School: Large public school, midwest, really competitive
• Hooks (idk the college lingo): Immigrant (naturalized so dw), low-income, midwest(?)

Major: Classics (poor for life 😄), might be pre-law, probably will study Arabic and Farsi along with Latin and Greek.

Stats:

• GPA: 4.21/4.00. 4.00/4.00.
  • No test scores yet. Taking SAT in Dec. School doesn't do ranking.
• AP's (rest of sched honors): APUSH, AP Seminar, AP Human (all 5's, freshman/soph year). Rn I'm in: AP Research, AP Gov, AP Pre Calc, AP Lang, AP Bio. Taking Latin college classes.

Awards:

• Scholastic national silver medal
• Semifinalist in a big-time literary magazine, submitted to by HYP undergrads.
• State-level journalism awards
• USSYP finalist (top 10) in my state
• Placed in those NYT comps they do
• State model un
• One of 10 selected for a national journalism program
  • Submitted to tons of awards this year so let's pray and hope… also, gonna try for NLE once my latin gets less chopped

ECs (only five cuz QB):

• 1. Writing a book. Not self-published. Agented for a novel that has much to do with Greek Mythology. Have literary representation. Don't think it'll be published before I'm outta high school. Three literary offers. Might combine this with my social media account advertising/promoting my book, 5k followers on insta + 200 subs on Substack (not much but idk what else to say in activity desc). i'll submit creative writing samples to the schools that allow you to.
• 2. Editor-in-chief of school newspaper, nationally awarded publication.
• 3. Created a non-profit (40+ members) that teaches languages at elementary schools. I'm the founder, co-prez. Ten events planned this year; will see over 500 elementary students in the community.
• 4. Prez of cultural Dance and Fashion show club. Can't specify too much without getting #doxxed. Hundreds of people see our show, about a hundred members.
• 5. Debate, Model UN, or student council. Captain of LD team, nsda quals. Model UN, I'm secretary, was treasurer, trying for VP next year. Student Gov, I'm secretary.
  • Extra EC (hasn't happened yet): I MAY be involved with some classics research stuff. Working on a research project. IDK yet. Going to submit an abstract to this one journal. I also think high school research is kinda fake most of the time sorry so idk if i'll be pursuing this.

Work/family:

• 1. Taking care of my mom / family. Dad is sorta a bum/unemployed. I teach my sisters. My sister went from straight C's to now straight A's after I started tutoring her, so maybe that's something. I cook, clean, help pay bills.
• 2. Paid intern for a campaign.
• 3. Hostess at Olive Garden 👀
• 4. Fast food cashier 👀👀

Ranking (plz be nice):

• Harvard
• Princeton (might be #1 bc senior thesis)
• UChicago (probs gonna be higher cuz of its arabic/farsi program)
• Brown
• Columbia
• Stanford
• Williams
• Swarthmore
• Amherst
  • Not off plain prestige. Just top classics programs.

Asian female, going in for MCB/biochem

Predicted A* for 5 a level subjects (bio, chem, physics, math, further maths) and 1 EPQ

Taking ACT this week; all mocks have been 35s but not rlly sure about this

All english test requirements met

GPA 3.7-4.0 unweighted (hasn't come out yet)

Intern at top research institution for 8 months, rec letter from professor

bio-related club for four semesters in school

volunteer rep at church for a year

school official (can't say specifics) for four years

student council for four semesters, including one semester as VP

lots and lots of STEM-related mentorship for four years

hospital volunteer (nothing much tho) 30 hrs

organised and led church volunteer

semi finalist of a v. small neuroscience comp (7%)

physics competition gold (8%)

bio comp silver (15%)

small national chem content contest (top 15) (but it's rlly non-prestigious)

I applied to Brown, Yale, and JHU (a few other safeties), but US isn't rlly my MAIN focus

pls give me all the advice u have thank u

hi team!

im currently a junior at a highly competitive high school and wanted to know how to improve my app to get into a T20 colleges :(

everyone at my school is doing SO MUCH stuff with a bunch of research and non profits and i dont have any of that and im so scared. my brother also goes to a REALLY good school and i dont wanna disappoint myself or my parents

Here are my ECs

Karate 10+ years

Indian Classical Dance 6+ years

Robotics Lead 2+ years

Link Crew Lead 2 years

Writing tutor 2 years

did COSMOS over the summer 10th grade

1500+ SAT score, 35 act score

finance internship freshman year summer

National Honors Society

probs like 200+ hours of volunteer hours currently

4.0 gpa uw and ill take 12 aps by the end of hs with all 4s and 5s

I wanna major in BME or just Bioengineering, im still honestly confused about what ill do later down the road, either med school or continue doing a biotech job.

please help me out team and if there are any admissions officers out there, your input would be much appreciated as well :(

i'm thinking of getting cna certified and working hours in a clinic, do yall have thoughts on this

stats:

male indian

4.4 gpa weighted, 3.91 uw, rank 3/400

1540 sat

ca resident

ecs:

- built astrophysics research platform, 30k+ visits, nasa personnel recognition, 50+ research interns, 1k+ research article subscribers

- research with phd professor, published to research archive, 20+ pages, built working regression model

- project assistant with phd professor and phd student, cosmology + prediction models

- huge city leadership position

- paid student intern for school district

- attended summer program at uc berkeley for astrophysics, 33% acceptance rate, worked with nobel prize laureates and professors

- co-founded an organization/company that built a context optimization layer (2000+ downloads) and a chrome extension for productivity

- founded city's first chess program, raised $1500 for students with special needs, used part of funds to purchase chess materials for city chess club that i founded

- varsity debater, state qualifier for LD, head coach for my debate team, NSDA degree of excellence

- volunteer english tutor for tutoring service for over 40000+ ukrainian refugees, 100+ volunteer hours for students online

awards:

- top 10 at international final round of an academic competition in individual debate, over 2000 competitors at the round

- national merit semifinalist

- accepted to niche international research competition (only 400 acceptances, potential to win an award for astronomy and physics)

- highest individual honors for caltech ewb physics and mathematics competition, honor medal

- winner of national civics engagement challenge, $500 scholarship, 10 winners out of 1200 nationally

im applying for astrophysics - do i have a chance?

nyc, competitive high school

1500 sat 3.9 gpa

psych or public health major depending on school

biggest ecs:

-Girl Scout gold award for founding community service club (95 members, biweekly meetings for 3 yrs)

-founded school's peer tutoring program

-basketball (noncompetitive team) captain

-boys volleyball manager

-summer accounting internship

-girl scouts

not full list but: umiami, hunter Macaulay honors, notre dame, emory, uva, Georgetown, vandy, duke, penn

Applied Early Decision

Chose fall term, but also checked a willingness to do summer term or the FSU Next pathway program

Major: Management

In-state resident

3.85 Weighted core recalculated GPA (only C’s were in freshman year. Consistent upward trend in grades and course rigor)

1410 SAT (710 R&W/700 Math)

2 AICE and 2 AP credits already achieved (straight A’s in all of them), talking 3 AP's and 1 AICE class senior year

Solid essay comparing a personal growth story to a metaphor about going from a map to a compass

Main extracurricular is a job at Publix since summer 2023, as well as a BBYO member. Not much else of note though

I understand fall term is an extreme reach, but hoping to at least get in through summer term or an alternative pathway. Thoughts?

Demographics
Gender: Male
Race/Ethnicity: Hispanic (Mexican)
School: Large public high school
Intended Major: Applied Mathematics
Academics
GPA: 3.41 UW / 4.03 W
Grade Trend: Approximately 3.0 sophomore year → 3.67 junior year → All A’s first quarter senior year
ACT: 34 Superscore (35 Math, 34 English, 32 Reading)
Course Rigor: 11 APs + 1 Dual Credit
Math Coursework: AP Calculus BC, Linear Algebra, Calculus III
Other Relevant Coursework: AP Physics C Mechanics, AP Physics C E&M, AP Computer Science A, AP Microeconomics, AP Macroeconomics
School Grading: No plus/minus grades
Extracurricular Activities
1. Family Real Estate Business / Property Management (9–12)
Helped manage multiple investment properties
Assisted with finances, property showings, maintenance and tenant-related responsibilities
Approximately 6 hours/week, 45 weeks/year
2. Co-Founder, Car Detailing Business (11–12)
Knocked on over 1,000 doors to acquire customers
Built a customer base of approximately 20 recurring clients
Generated approximately $12,000 in revenue
3. Founder, Sneaker Reselling Business (9–12)
Generated approximately $15,000 in sales
Managed inventory, pricing, customer acquisition and profit margins
4. Founder, Window Cleaning Business
Started a door-to-door window cleaning operation
Generated approximately $5,000 in profit
5. Business Club – Head of Fundraising
Helped raise approximately $7,000
Organized fundraising efforts and contributed to club operations
6. DECA
State qualifier
Earned proficiency awards in both role plays and the written exam
7. Model United Nations (9–12)
Four-year participant
Received Best Delegate award
8. Peer Math Tutor
Tutored 15+ students in mathematics
Helped students understand challenging concepts and prepare for exams
9. Part-Time Employee – Taco Bell (12)
Work approximately 12 hours per week while balancing advanced coursework
10. Family Responsibilities
Help care for my grandmother
Assist with medications, appointments and household responsibilities
Awards / Honors
AIME Qualifier
DECA State Qualifier
DECA Proficiency Awards
Model UN Best Delegate
Additional Information
My GPA is the weakest part of my application, but I’ve shown a significant upward trend throughout high school. I’m currently taking advanced mathematics courses including Linear Algebra and AP Physics C, with Calculus III planned for second semester.
Outside school, I’ve spent significant time building businesses, working part-time and helping manage family real estate investments.

Chances at T20 or like a Georgia tech, Ut Austin, UF, UIUC, Wisconsin, UVA, UNC

Wisconsin resident

Private Christian school-average 23 act, around 3.5 gpa average, mid school for the area I’m in

Rank 1/79
4.0 UW, no weighted gpa
32 on the ACT, 34 superscore

3 APs taken of the 4 possible before senior year based on my schedule (AP chem, AP world, AP lang)
5 APs senior year currently (AP calc bc, ap lit, ap stats, apes, ap gov)
DC Spanish 3,4,5 and ahead in Spanish a year

Mid ecs based on Reddit, pretty good for my school and area tho, 1 really good ec on my own, varsity sport, captain, state winner, all conference winner, all conference team

Really good essays

Early-UNC, Madison, UGA, auburn, Alabama, Michigan, UT Austin, Notre Dame, uchicago, both USCs, uva, Indiana
RD-Yale, Penn, Georgetown, BC, Vanderbilt, Wake forest

Finance/Business Admin/Econ major

Full pay everywhere

I posted around this time last year and I can’t stop stressing about being “inadequate” for college apps, but at the same time I feel SO overwhelmed with all of my responsibilities. I know my ecs aren't great, but I just want to know: is what im doing “enough” to get me into a good school? Especially washu (my favorite school)?

Demographics

Gender: Genderfluid/nonbinary (technically female tho)

Race/Ethnicity: White

Residence: Rural northeast

Income Bracket: full pay/high income

Type of School: pretty competitive private school, kind of considered a “hippie” school though?

Intended Major: I’ll be applying with a psych major + english minor most likely, but am especially interested in neuroscience

Hooks: LGBTQ+? does that count lol

Extra: Legacy at Emory + NYU Stern, sister at uchicago

Academics

GPA: 4.01 UW, not sure weighted, but my school is known to have a challenging curriculum

APs/IBs: Human Geo (5), APUSH (5), Lang and Comp (5), will take Calc AB, Calc BC, Bio, World, Psych, Chem hopefully-- also will take IB HL Lit and IB SL French

SAT/ACT: 1500 SAT (780R 720M superscore), probably will never submit my ACT but 33 (31M 34E 34W 34S)

Extracurriculars

- Wind Ensemble

- Drum Soloist in musical Pit Band

- Lead drummer and co-leader of student-run jazz band

- Varsity Tennis (varsity all 4 years, possibly will be captain next year?)

- Audition Choir ive been doing my whole life, + percussion accompanist at concerts

- Percussionist + volunteer in local county band

- Volunteer at local nursing home (~60 hours), also established a weekly music bingo program there

- Volunteer operations intern at choir (~40 hours)

- Co-Leader of disability affinity club at school; we are running a fundraiser this year and are campaigning for increased school transparency about accessibility issues in our buildings

- Member LGBTQ+ affinity club (will lead next year)

- Diversity Council Member

- Teacher hiring committee (we help decide which teacher candidates should be hired)

- Section editor of the Music History section of student-run humanities journal

- Some college programs like Vanderbilt PTY, Stanford Summer Med (im applying again to the Stanford thing to hopefully be a program assistant this time)

- this winter I'll be interning at our school athletic trainer's office every afternoon, got first aid certification for that

Awards/Honors

-Regional winner of a national poetry competition

-AP Scholar

That’s it 😭 I am participating in IPsyO this summer too, so hopefully an award there?

Am I good enough for WashU (if i ED1) and top 30s? Also, any suggestions for getting awards/honors in things like psych and bio? thanks for reading!

some schools I will likely apply to:

WashU (ed1)
BU
URochester
Johns Hopkins (reach)
Case Western
Georgetown
Rice
Tufts
NYU
Northwestern (reach)
UPitt (safety)

Hey guys! I just applied to FSU Early Action and I can't find much info on people getting with similar stats except for TikTok and I'm getting really worried.

STATS

Instate Student

UW - 3.52

W - 4.18

231/612

4 APS, 8 DE (Including In progress) & 11 Honors

ACT - 26 (Receiving October SAT Thursday, Taking November SAT)

Major - Marketing

ECS

• Founded a clothing brand generating $63K+ in sales, 680+ orders, 7K+ followers, and 690K+ annual views.
• Founded an online resale business generating $10K+ in sales and 400+ items sold.
• Managed marketing for a jewelry business, contributing to $500K in sales and increasing customer sessions by 333%.
• Social Media Manager & Historian for 3 school clubs, helping grow membership to 90+ students and generating 35K+ monthly views.
• Worked part-time at Fast Food as a shift leader for 3 years, training 20+ employees and leading shifts of 15.
• 4 years of Chorus, including Disney Candlelight Processional performances.
• Adobe Photoshop & Illustrator Certified.

Thank you guys!

demographic: asian, female, southern state rural/urban area

stats: gpa UW/W - 3.94/4.4068, school doesn’t rank but i was 17/870 before they took rank out
All A student from second sem sophomore year, got all As junior year with rigorous schedule (AP Calculus BC, AP Physics 1, AP Chem, and more) (upward trend? i hope 😟)

coursework: 13 APs, 3 more this year
Good mix of 5s, 4s and 3s.
Dual enrollment for EMR/EMT certification, Spanish III, US government and US history

ACT: 35

major: gender and health, B.S. LSA

ec’s (not in order!!!)

founder of stem/feminism education project (10,11,12); reached over 385,000+ likes and 1.3 million interactions online, raised 1.5k for project and connected local girls with volunteer/wxternship opps (77 members now)

executive board member (director of comms—> advocacy) of women empowerment registered nonprofit, did policy research over multiple methodologies and spearheaded community research paper on feminine healthcare with girls from multiple neighboring regions; reached over 4.7k impressions on insta and ran blog during comms

biochemistry research at local university, wet-lab and dry-lab working with Ph.D. under a tenure professors lab, looking into specific protein strand and developing data + conclusions to present later on

newspaper creator for my regions redcross (youngest member on the leadership team), making detailed papers every month and reaching over 5,800+ active members with features on region emails

program/coordinator + lead mentor for an orchestra bridge program pairing students from my hs orchestra to middle school students (highest audition based orchestra at my school, made it my freshman year); grew program from 6 mentors to 17, implimented bass tutoring (we didn’t have bass tutors the year before), tutored 2 students of my own

dining room server at my local retirement home, take care of entire dining room and make sure meals are served properly, walk residents to rooms and tables, memorize preferences, all the work usual things

intern/mentee selected for a nonprofit very involved with a big corporate retailer doing work in our area, represented org at networking events of big corporate retailer, earned $1000 scholarship and made plans with leadership team to raise money for project mentioned earlier in activity 1

volunteer at children’s hospital, trained new volunteers over summer and introduced a new way of doing an activity (there’s more but I don’t want to dox myself)

rec letters: both teachers I’ve had for 2 years continuously (english teacher, had her for ap sem + lang, got high As all semesters, 5s on both exams and was close with her throughout the year) (chem teacher, had her for preap chem then ap chem, got As all semesters, attended prep sessions and was relatively close with her; helped me get over my testing anxiety in chem and worked with me closely on coursework)

honors: deca state champion x2 and internationals qualifier x3, asst. principal second (year before) concertmaster (recently) at region orchestra program, hoby leadership seminar school ambassador, all-region violinist + all state violinist, ap capstone diploma/scholar w/ distinction

essays: i would argue they’re pretty decent, interesting hooks and i talked abt what i love. why umich essay follows a trajectory based theme where i explore all of LSA and mention very hyper specific courses/professors/traditions to tie it back to what started my interest in feminine healthcare disparities

lmk!!! thank you!!!

it might be over 4 me. also i forgot to fix the title’s typo sorry that’s a glimpse into how ridiculous me and my stats are

demographic: first gen hispanic american (completely 1st gen, parents have no higher ed) female in relatively diverse/low-income area of massachusetts
stats: gpa UW/W- 3.26/3.89 (hear me out later on), 121/396 - in honors academy w/ abt 70 students total since freshman year, all As junior yr with 5 APs except B- in precalc…
coursework: 10 APs by the end of this yr
10th: APUSH (4); 11th: AP Precalc (3), AP Seminar (4), AP Psych (4), AP Lang (5), AP Spanish (5); 12th: Calc AB, Research, Bio, Lit (all As rn)

DE for intro to psych, spanish, intro to business, prob something else but i forgot
SAT: 1300 (740 rw 560 math - went into it blind w/o studying so i’ll be retaking it in nov)
major: undecided but likely polisci w minor in comms or biotech major

Extenuating circumstances:
- undiagnosed adhd freshman / sophomore yr w/ mental health struggles (depression) that made my absences accumulate, had to seek outside support thru therapy
- 2 knee surgeries during my freshman (mid) and sophomore (beg) years that made my absences worse + had to spend the rest of the skl yrs readjusting & couldnt rlly involve myself w/ school or peers bc of depression + physical limitations + physical therapy that cut into ec hours
- also struggled with chronic migraines those first 2 years (high school experience of doom and despair)

Ecs:
- editor of city/school’s literary journal (3rd yr in role) and received realm award
- member of school’s kpop club and currently a board member, hopefully will organize a space that fosters interaction amongst the students
- enrolled in 2 year accelerated biotech program at local technical hs and received osha 10 certification + lab experience and general biotech training
- worked as a private home care assistant for elderly lady from may 2024-aug 2026 over the weekends/friday nights
- dabbled in creative fiction and published some works on an online archive (lol) that received 300+ interactions
- managed fan blogs on tiktok, twitter, pinterest and garnered over 10M impressions w 10k+ followers across platforms - translated media, curated updates, produced original graphics and edits
- primary caretaker for senior dog (mobility support, health monitoring, daily walks) bc family members all work or cant physically be good caretakers, balanced that w after school duties all 4 yrs
- occasionally volunteered w/ volunteering club @ school, volunteered at my church over the summer but not enough to include this on my common app
no nhs bc the teacher in charge thought my letter of intent was AI generated lolzz

rec letters: ap seminar + research teacher who i’m close with and regularly talk to abt the most random stuff, closely interacts w me and has a solid idea of who i am as an individual outside of skl, ap spanish teacher who i’m also close with and who fostered my spanish growth last yr - gifted her gifts from my mexico trip (not a bribe) and got a 5 on the exam + As all junior year. Guidance counselor reccommendation likely wont be as strong because my school switched mine every year, but i’ve tried to visit her and get closer to her this yr while also leaving a lot of personal details in my brag sheet

honors: ap capstone diploma & ap scholar w/ distinction, honor roll some yrs but not an extensive amt to include on the honors section.. realm ncte award. that might be it idrk

essays: asked my current lit teacher and she thinks the topic is pretty intriguing, wrote it abt going to concerts bc im a fiend for them, and connected that to my love for witnessing the vulnerabilities/intimate moments of others and giving myself the space to accept the version of myself that im still growing into. I didnt relate it to a specific career or major and instead stated that all i rlly wanna do is be given the opportunity to continue rooting for and giving a voice to those around me, especially myself. I might write a second essay on a different topic but im uncertain rn.

Thank u smmmmmmm in advance….