Iowa state!! Just something that made me happy :]

I am an incredibly boring person. I have no intrest, I've never traveled. I have never had any deep, meaningful character arc in, well, ever. Theres only one thing im good at: telling a story.

So here I am, staring at the blank Google doc on my laptop, mind completely blank. Then it comes to me: they want a story. It doesn't have to be true, it just needs to sound true. The poor overworked underpaid bloke who will be reading this could care less about me as a person. They want to be told a story, so why not give them one.

I think the best way to approach this is by not looking at it as "an essay that will determine if i get into college and therefore the rest of my life", but as 500 word first person short story. I think this will sound a lot more personal than if I wrote about me. I hate writing about myself because I am a very private, and as before mentioned, boring person. But I do love to write stories.

Any advice (or just telling me this is a really shitty, terrible, idiotic idea) is appreciated.

To finish the Common App and see a .pdf spit out of the last four years is really jarring. I've never felt so dehumanized. Where do I talk about all the friends who saved my life and are the spark of my world? Why did my orchestra experience get dumbed down to a handful of words and not the everlasting memories that I made? Why is my SAT score the first time and not the second time I took it? I studied CRAZY amounts just to get a lower score? My firefighting experience is the only thing that gets put into 650 words, but that's still not enough to show the brotherhood and the trauma I experienced. My dream school is far away, but it's the one I want. If I go to my dream school, will I see my brothers and sisters again? Will I step into my firefighting gear again?

I've cried so many times and lost so many hours just thinking. EA is around the corner. I dislike this process. I wish I were good at something. I wish I did something that would show better on a college app. I wish my studying didn't leave me barely short of a 1500 SAT. I wish my parents knew that I'm not built for T20 schools.

:(

It's been a guessing game to determine which schools have the most clout around the country, mostly because A2C has its own opinions, but the question has finally been empirically answered. Now, Americans from all over the country were asked to determine which universities are perceived as the best overall and have the greatest public sentiment and goodwill. The results (https://yougov.com/en-us/ratings/universities) were:

1. Stanford
2. Johns Hopkins (makes sense because Hopkins is synonymous with medicine and became really popular due to their leadership with the CDC during COVID, remember this is about positive public sentiment not just who heard of the school)
3. Harvard
4. Yale
5. Oxford
6. Princeton
7. Duke
8. Berkeley (I think people on here forget how prestigious Berkeley is especially for grad school)
9. MIT
10. Cornell (The results were compiled BEFORE the recent scandal became national news, so expect that Cornell has dropped significantly now)
11. Columbia
12. Cambridge
13. Caltech
14. Northwestern
15. NYU (Being in the most famous city in America has its perks with recognizability)
16. UCSD (this is the biggest surprise on the whole list for me, but great school)
17. UCLA
18. UMich
19. UPenn
20. UChicago

Okay ive been bawling my eyes out for the last like hour so I have a pounding headache sorry if this is written crazy. But basically I had been getting consistent 1500s on my practice tests but sOMR how I only got a 1380. I also only have a 3.6 gpa uw and BARELY 4.0 weighted. my parents also only have 15k in my college fund. I have crazy good ECs but that’s it. I live in a pretty rural area so my SAT is very good for it but not my gpa. I really wanted to go to UMD but I’m not going anymore I guess my chances are shot. here are my options pls choose I’m tryna be diplomat or lawyer. I guess I should mention I’ve taken like 9 aps and gotten all 4s and 5s, max rigor and duel enrollment. So yeah

My class rank is like 30 out of 200 i was kinda surprised because I have a bad gpa but idk if that’s helps I’d whatever

- Go to a smaller, less prestigious college (don’t have enough money for a masters after that so idk)

- Take the SAT again in November and apply everywhere but my safeties as regular decision

plese let me know where I can get in. I lowkey had a mental breakdown my freshman year which is gpa is very bad but like I’m not writing than in extenuatinf circumstances I think

um also i have a one income household and a little brother who is also going to college in a couple of years so idk I feel so ashamed and stipid there’s no hope for me idk Ive been cryjnf all monring

Disclaimer: These are general questions I have received from friends and some of my own.

1. Testing - At what point does a lower than typical testing score genuinely bring up a red flag? Yellow? Orange?

2. Personal Statement - Are you looking for different attributes from different majors? A unique quality? A unique story?

3. Favorite - What are your favorite essays, activities, or genuinely standout parts on an application that has even the most average student gain admittance?

hi! My daughter was accepted to all 4 colleges she applied to - even her dream one! 3 of the 4 offered merit scholarships - the dream one didn't. FAFSA says we don't get any grants - how do we find out if the school will offer Financial aid before deciding on if she is going there??

Current senior here - happy to answer questions!

Is imperial college really better than all U.S schools excluding MIT or are the Brits coping

I lived basically my whole life in North Carolina. I moved to work in colorado for a year but I moved back to North Carolina. I returned a year and a half ago and have been living in my childhood home.

When applying to UNC chapel hill they made me confirm my NC residency through a third party, a third party which claimed I am not a resident for some reason. I appealed and provided many documents supporting my residency. I filled out my application except for that part and waited for my appeal to come through.

Eventually the application deadline arrived without hearing back so I was forced to send it regardless of the third party getting back to me about the appeal. I said I was a resident and applied just without filling out a confirmation number.

I got an email from UNC saying that since I didn't provide a confirmation number that my application will be considered out-of-state. I AM SO MF MAD RIGHT NOW. It seems the likelihood of my acceptance went down completely on a simple misunderstanding.

Is it unreasonable to contact UNC directly and ask for an exception? I honestly don't know if there's anything I can do other than bite my tongue and accept it.

anyone gotten any post ed form? i’m scared if i haven’t already gotten it im already rejected

hi guys! I'm currently trying to decide which Ivies I should apply to. I really want to apply only if my character type seems fitting for the school (obviously not the only thing, but a big part for me). For example, Brown is known for its artsy/quirky kids. So my question is: what is the average personality for each of the Ivy League schools?

Disclaimer: I know I'm not a legacy!!

My grandfather did a non-degree certificate at Columbia. So can I put yes (in the common app part)? or does it not count.

thanks!

edit: they also ask how many degrees X family member got from there and there's an option to put no degrees so that's what I'd do. (but idk if that's only for dropouts)

Is it possible to get into top schools or any ivies with weak ECs
I have a summer job, tutoring, newspaper club, and key club that’s basically it. No leadership

4.0 UW gpa, top 10% in the class, 7APS, 1510 superscore

Can my essays and academics be enough or is it a waste of time?

Im a first-gen so I’m not too sure how all this is supposed to go. I’ve already got accepted into some colleges and i’ve been seeing a lot of other kids post their acceptances on their insta stories. However, when I would watch like college decision reaction videos on YouTube, they would always be in the spring, or at least after November. Is this like a new thing? Or am i just not the smartest?😅

1480 SAT 4.55w/3.97uw Valedictorian/First-Gen from Arizona

Maybe I'm just dumb lol but it seems like all of the schools offering scholarships to out of state have bad engineering? (Except bama)

Do you guys know what schools I should apply to for aerospace?

MIT tends to keep the acceptance rates for EA and RD the same. So, what difference does it make if I apply EA or RD, where I have slightly more time to build a stronger application? Is there some other sort of advantage other than the raw acceptance rate?

Some backstory: My asian mom really wanted me to go to Duke and Northwestern, but turns out they were unrealistic reaches for me. Then we settled for Rice and Emory. But now someone from my school also wants to ED Rice which lowers my chances, especially with his demographics and background.

So talking with my counselor, he said Barnard is actually a great fit for me in all aspects, with maybe the exception of its location. NYC is highly competitive and requires constant hustle. I got expelled for nic and weed and she’s got confirmation bias towards my living and studying habits. So Barnard is a strong no for her. But I truly love it and I love the hustle when it’s working for something I want, not something she wants.

What do I do?? I don’t want to say anything hurtful like “your mind is too rigid” but I REALLY want to go and I have pretty high chances too. Plus Barnard is like ranked 100+ in the US and she keeps telling me I’ll have to take care of my own tuition for anything below 30.

Sorry for the long rant!!

Hello, i'm a high school senior applying to college. I have not submitted any applications yet and my list is currently 17+ schools, which is unreasonable. I have a high number of reaches (8-16% acceptance rate) and I am wondering if it is even worth the application fee. I don't know much about college admissions and I am looking for honest advice.

A little background: I am looking to apply for environmental science, sustainability, conservation, or forestry (based on the specific schools I am applying to and the programs they offer). I am planing on applying regular decisions to all schools.

I have a 3.98 unweighted GPA and three -A's which counts as 4.00 but show as -A's. I took the ACT twice with a 31 both times and a super score of 32 and 33 science. I took 5 AP's (two 5's and three 4's) and all my classes were honors or AP, except for a few art classes freshman year.

I have pretty weak extracurricular's, especially for the first two years of high school

- part time job at a thrift shop for all of junior year (20-25 hours a week)

- volunteering at local national park (like 4 hours a month)

- Girl scout for all year of high school, did not do much with this really. I did work a little with the county parks and hosted a invasive plant removal event.

- a little peer tutoring with my school for junior year

- i won a fairly well respected national writing contest junior year (there were two groups of winners, I was in the second)

- probably the biggest, I got a full ride for an exchange year with a well respected program I am currently going to school in Germany for my senior year.

It would be a dream to get into and be able to go to any of the more prestigious schools on my list or to live in a city , but I don't have my whole life hung up on it. I think that I could be happy at my state school which is a good and affordable option (though I really don't want to move back to my hometown). I also am considering taking a gap year and finding an internship, doing seasonal work, or related things to get life experience reapplying for 2028.

I know college admissions can be very random but any advice would be appreciated.

I’m honestly really struggling and I didn’t know where to post so I ended up here lol. I’m from Minnesota but my parents grew up in North Dakota so with all that they want me to go to school at UND because I should be able to get it for basically no money at all and it’s new facilities are modern. But I loved the sports and big school vibes from UMN also with all my benefits it should only cost myself 4k a year. I’m also going to be a psychology major so UMN in the 3rd ranked psych program compared tk the 300 something ranked UND program. Idk also the small town vs urban city is hard. Anyone have any tips to help me make a decision? Also forgot to mention the UND is 4 hours from my home while UMN is 1 hour and all my high school friends will be closer if I went to UMN. Ik I’ll make college friends but I would still like to see my high school friend’s from time to time.

rejected

I made this post last night:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ApplyingToCollege/s/7ZJJuNV9Jw

Following the advice of Redditors, I called the financial aid office directly. Financial aid said that I can verify my identity in person, and I made a plan to come to campus and do that with them.

The admissions rep was not correct and I’ve sorted it out!

Thanks everybody

I am an intl student from Asia, and i am genuinely upset about my Oct SAT score..it was my first attempt and I got 1460 (800 maths, 660 r & w)..I am planning to apply REA to Princeton. Now, I am skeptical about whether I should go test optional or submit my score? My major is astrophysics and my LoR, honors and ecas are pretty good and math/physics centric. Will low SAT score affect how AO view my profile.

whats so different of w&l that makes it stand out from other schools?

im applying for ED1 this november and i just cant make out the supplemental essay, i need help

So I’ve been looking into college since I’m trying to plan out where to go and how to make it easier for myself when i finally have to apply, and I keep coming back to the idea of community college.

To give a little bit more context I’m a Jr in high school and my unweighted GPA is 2.8 and I want to go to med school in another state.

I realize that my GPA is low and I’m trying to raise it before i graduate but not too sure if I’ll be able to get it high enough to get accepted into my dream school. SO I’m thinking of doing my bachelors degree at a community college so that’s it’s cheaper and I can raise my GPA to better my chances of getting into my dream school.

I’ve talked with some family and I’m getting mixed responses about this, some say it’s pointless and will just waste time while others think it’s a good idea.

Any advice?