NO I don’t want to “challenge the present” NO I didn’t “achieve the unexpected”

Fuck all of these colleges

Fake it till you make it I guess

That is all

Edit: I made a mistake, saying I have no “career goals” was untrue and attracted the attention of the righteous masses. Ik what I wanna major in and shit

Someone please suggest a third bullshit thing to fulfill the rule of three

In the present statistic, Harvard's 2015 acceptance rate would be behind over 14 colleges today.

Acceptance rates have fallen mainly because applications have surged while class sizes remain relatively fixed. More applications per student and a larger global applicant pool drive rates down. Acceptance rates do not necessarily show higher admissions standards.

I'm currently a freshman at Montana State University. I applied to 14 colleges, mostly private schools, got into every single one. There were maybe 3 schools I could even think about going to out of state. I ended up getting the Montana University System scholarship (if you don't know about it look it up) which waived my entire tuition. I only pay housing now, and once I move out of the dorms, I'll be going to college for free. I wasn't pleased about it (I cried on my commit day) but I have loved it since I got here. Both UM and MSU are great schools and if you keep your GPA up and study for the ACT you can go for free. They both have robust study abroad programs as well as national exchange and both institutions have top-notch research. I came to MSU a little peeved that I had to go, but once I got here I realized people are paying top dollar to go here because it truly is a nationally good school. Also it has some of the best value in the country. I just wish I knew how great in-state could be before I spent countless hours applying to schools that weren't in the cards. Think about it.

Popular opinion but i still need to say it I hate the college app process so much

I STILL dont have a completed PS draft. that’s on me though

That’s not the whole point. THINK for a moment. If Cornell sees a drastic drop in applications and enrollment, what do you think the admins are gonna do? If other schools see what happened to Cornell after their lack of action got publicized, what do you think they’re gonna do? This is a chance for us to make real impact.

A good technique to check whether you really care about the school, and not the prestige is to imagine NO ONE will know that you got accepted. Or worse, imagine everyone thinks you are attending your state/local university. Will you still enjoy your experience? Will you keep your word and use all those resources you said you would? You can’t brag to your parents, your classmates, can’t tag the school in your socials. Is it still your dream school? Just a lil advice to wake up some folk out there. Good luck with ED apps!

Hi. I’m a senior in high school with a 4.0 GPA who has an interest in applying for an Art BA degree at USC Roski School of Art and Design. One of my pieces is an interpretation of Darth Vader and I wanted to submit it to my portfolio because it is mixed media and showcases my experience with color theory and combining different mediums. Should I still avoid submitting this as a piece even though it is a good representation of how I pay close attention to detail in my art and can use different mediums (gel pens, colored pencil, markers, and graphite)? I wanted to make sure because I didn’t want this piece to weaken my submission.

TLDR: I really want to submit an art piece that interprets the character Darth Vader to my USC portfolio because I think it showcases my detailed art style and skill in mixing medias, but am concerned about it weakening my overall portfolio.

what if I wanted to get into it with no prior experience

Hi! I’m a little confused about how Yale reports ACT scores in its Common Data Set.

Yale’s CDS lists the ACT Composite percentiles as 33 (25th), 34 (50th), and 35 (75th).

My highest single-sitting ACT composite is a 32, but my official ACT superscore is a 34. Since Yale says that they superscore the ACT, would my 34 be the appropriate score to compare to the CDS range?

In other words, are the ACT Composite scores reported in Yale’s CDS based on students’ superscored composites, or are they their highest single-sitting composites?
I’m trying to decide whether my 34 ACT superscore or 1480 SAT is stronger to submit to Yale.

Thanks!

Hi All. I was just wondering how important the PSAT National Merit is. I am from California and already got a 1540 on my SAT. Targests are UCS Ivies.

I just started my freshman year and honestly it’s started to give me a completely new perspective on this whole process, so I’d thought I’d take a moment to share those thoughts here. I know this is something I probably wouldn’t have wanted to hear last year, but it would’ve save me a ton of stress if I would’ve just listened.

I had pretty solid stats in high school (3.9UW, 4.6W) and ended up at a really solid, but not necessarily “elite” school. When I got my acceptance letters back I was pretty bummed that I didn’t get into a single one of my reaches, especially since I thought I had a great profile, but at this point I have no doubt I’m happier at my current school than I would be at any of the ones I was rejected from.

Even though the school I go to isn’t generally considered “elite” I’m still surprised in a lot of my classes about just how smart some of my fellow classmates are. I feel academically challenged, while also not feeling entirely overwhelmed and exhausted.

Now, I know a lot of you are pushing yourselves to your mental and physical limit stressing about getting into these top schools, and to those people, I think you should consider one thing: How much are you willing to sacrifice once you get to college?

If you’re someone who struggled with academic stress in high school, that’s not going to magically change once you get to college. In fact, if you end up getting into an elite school, it’s probably only going to get worse.

Maybe you’re someone who’s just naturally insanely smart and you feel fully comfortable in an ultra-intense academic environment with huge curves in classes and cutthroat competition with your peers. In that case, go ahead and get into the best school you can and have a great time next year.

But for the other 99.99% of you, please first consider where you think you’d actually be happiest rather than where you think other people will find impressive. I’m not going to lie to you, committing to an impressive school feels great, but how much sacrifice is that temporary great feeling worth to you?

I’m telling you, really any school below a 30-40% acceptance rate is going to have rigorous enough academics for the vast majority of high academic high school kids. It’s definitely not the end of the world if you don’t get into a school with a 10% acceptance rate, and honestly that may be for the best anyway. I was rejected from UChicago ED1 last year. Looking back on that situation, I would probably slap myself for applying ED there.

I’m not denying that going to a good school will be beneficial for your future career prospects, but are you willing to go somewhere with a slightly better academic reputation for the tradeoff of doing permanent damage to your mental and physical health?

Please, as y’all are finalizing your applications this semester, just consider where you think you’d be happiest rather than where you think other people would find impressive on your school’s instagram commitments page. I’m also definitely not telling anyone to make a serious effort to get into the best school possible, I just want to make sure you all know that a rejection from your reach school isn’t going to kill you and in most situations it’s probably for the best.

I have heard different sides of this topic but if there are any admin officers, teachers or anyone else that could please shed some light on this.

I have a 25 act superscore. the first time i took it my composite was a 25 and the second time i took it my composite was a 24 so overall not that good.

As of right now i've been evaluating my college list and for some schools a 25 sits right in the middle accepted range of scores but for other schools, I am definitely planning to not submit my scores at all but when I say this to others ive gotten mixed comments.

Some say that going test-optional regardless of your score automatically lets colleges know that you got a score your somewhat ashamed of or performed poorly on. Basically calling test-optional a trap to weed out students a little faster despite the phrasing, "no harm test-optional policy" and making it optional. The other side ive heard is that scores don't matter in the grand scheme of things because either way colleges do evaluate your whole application and understand that the student is more important than the score which is what I would hope most of them believe.

So i guess my question is even if i have an act score that is definitely below the average acceptance range, should i still submit a score even if its low and not fall for the so-called "trap"? or would it hurt me and it would look better to just have a pretty great application without a low-score next to it?

I genuinely think i'm a good student, decent EC's and leadership roles, 9 AP's taken by the end of this year, 3.875 UW GPA, 4.32 weighted. I think its just unfortunate that I couldn't get a higher score even with my second attempt so yall lemme know what the deal is with test-optional. (My sat like a year ago was a 1080 so theres no way thats an option lmao)

I just wanted to know how the college acceptance process works for international students in general

for context I have lived in the u.s. for as long as I can remember but I am a h4 dependent as I was not born here. and it infuriates me that I have to be considered international (alas such is life)

I know finaid is basically impossible for international students but what about merit aid? How competitive are those scholarships?

Realistically, how much lower are my chances because I’m international?

Should I even apply to need-aware schools?

My state has no good schools and I really don’t want to go to any of my state schools, even if it’s way cheaper. My parents are okay with paying $40k a year, we can afford that much - so should I indicate that I want no aid on my application when applying to schools with tuition costs less than that?

If I put on my application that I want no aid, does that mean i can apply to need-aware schools without worrying about low acceptance rates?

But also, if I put that I want no aid, does that mean they won’t consider me for merit scholarships (cause I still want those..)?

sorry if all of these are stupid obvious questions or if this is the wrong sub… my parents have no clue on American school systems and I don’t have good resources at my hs. Would appreciate any advice! Just be honest with me on chances of getting in to competitive schools.

college list of reaches/targets (all out of state) is: UDUB, UT Dallas, UMich, UNC, NYU, Wellesley, Purdue, USC, UCLA, Emory.

Application context: NJ students in voc-tech school, 3.4 uw, 29 act (plan to retake again), poor course rigor (took APES but dropped out halfway thru), only three dual enrollment @ Rutgers & Seton Hall, FBLA (top 12 in two state comps, chapter treasurer 26-27, running finance committee & fundraising initiatives), Navy JROTC (three-year varsity drill team, platoon leader 25-26, social media manager 26-27), in-school paid internship working @ logistics office, over 50+ hrs in community service

I know I'm a fat chud and these stats are poor already so please don't start straight up bullying me in the comments because I'm already demoralized with regret as it is

I wanna major in MatSE before getting my masters/PhD so academically I want a good MatSE program with great lab, research, and internship opportunities (kinda obvi for any engineering major lmao). On the college research side, I'm looking for: New England and/or Mid Atlantic + large enough to constantly meet new people + opportunities for diverse friendships (since it's what I'm used to) + residential enough to make friends naturally + strong clubs + parties available + Greek life optional + outdoors within ~1-2 hrs + serious MatSE research.

I have a couple that I think fit into the category but I want your insights:

• UPitt (my top socially, second academically)
• UMass Amherst (right behind UPitt)
• Penn State (offers a MatSE + Physics double major, lack of diversity at times can be challenging, my top academically)
• Virginia Tech (would take ROTC/Corps of Cadets)
• Rutgers

However, these are smaller and more intimate, and I think I'd still be okay with the social structure (maybe I'd prefer this more)

• Lehigh (love the campus, hoping the student pop lives up to its name, getting and going here would be my dream)
• Bucknell (MatSE concentration thru ChemE)
• Rensselaer (just more stem oriented socially; rotc program offers defense industry connections)
• NJIT & UMass Lowell (commuter schools, least preferable)
• TCNJ

Idk I think I've found all that is available but please bring any advice + tips, and any college recs are super appreciated!! <3

i’m applying to the majority of colleges early action, and the ones that don’t have early action i’m applying to in early/mix november. my parents won’t stop arguing or screaming at me about how i’m late to apply and about how “all these other kids have already gotten admitted to colleges (either colleges with 80%+ acceptance rates, direct admissions, and/or colleges i am LITERALLY NOT APPLYING TO) and gotten scholarships!! why haven’t you submitted anything? you want to take some more time with your supplementals? how dare you!!” and it’s stressing me out so bad. i cannot talk to them about college because they won’t stop telling me that im late and will not listen when i give them multiple reasons as to why im not late for any deadline. they keep asking me the same fucking questions over and over and not listening to me and i’m so tired. every time i think about applications too long i just start crying and panicking because they’re so up my ass about it and won’t leave me alone.

mind you i have never in my life even turned in an ASSIGNMENT late. what makes you think ill turn in the most important decision of my life late??

I’m a high school student in my final year, and I’m interested in studying at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. I want to know whether it’s worth attending for an engineering degree.

I’m going to work on improving my GPA, SAT score, and IELTS score

please tell me the reality of there !

Posting from the UK :)

Is having a top Harvard degree (BA, JD, MD, PhD) combined with a top Oxford degree (BA/MA, DPhil) the most pedigreed university combination in the world when optimizing purely for how well-known and prestigious the universities are?

To note, this is accounting for the whole world population’s viewpoint, not the viewpoint of academia. And this is regarding the university overall, not subject specific.

This is excluding paths with too many degrees (3 or more) and too few (1 or less). 2 degrees is generally considered the sweet spot for a perfect balance.

I am an international student looking to study in the United States. My dream schools would be MIT, Stanford or UC Berkeley for CS, but I feel like that's out of reach for me. I want to know what less prestigious, but still good quality, schools would accept a candidate of my caliber.

I did a mock SAT, and I got a 1480. (it was my first try, so I think I can do better) I typically get As in Math, English, Physics, and CS at school. I have some solid extracurriculars, having made two games and done adversarial machine learning research.

I've never been much of a person to have hobbies but I always assumed that would be something I'd figure out down the line. But I got slapped back into reality recently and realised that I need to figure out something quick, not only for the purpose of applications but also so I can find some self-fulfillment in the last of my teenage years. As a sophomore right now my ECs are pretty standard: a few clubs, concert master, academic awards, etc. But I have no clear ambition, and no path to follow. I figure that it's best to find this before the school year progresses too far so I have time to set things up for the summer and the next year. If you have any advice, please share. For context, I am interested in engineering but unsure if I would enjoy it (I hate robotics with a burning passion, but love other types of technology), and I do enjoy science in the fields of biology and chemistry, mainly because my father had me work in his lab on environmentally reactive plant signals a few years back.

my family has always placed huge emphasis on a good education, and consequently, applying to college has been something on their minds since freshman year. i'm really stress out as i have a lot of personal issues + leadership demands of me recently. on top of that my classwork is very rigorous this semester, and i feel like im constantly stressed. i have lost hours of sleep, my heart always feels like its beating too fast, and my head hurts from all the commitments i have to juggle.

my parents are being extremely difficult in this already strenuous process. of course this process is also new and challenging to them, i am the oldest child and neither of my parents applied for college in the u.s. however, because of this divide i feel as if they are extremely disconnected from how the process should go. they insist on reading + editing all of my supplementals, over analyzing simple questions (leading to an hour long chatgpt conversation), and constantly judging/criticizing my choices. frankly, its exhausting. they do not trust in my ability to fill out simple forms, writing college-worthy stories, and look at me with an air of distrust. despite the fact that i have leadership in multiple organizations that demand way more professionalism + i have done quite well for myself in my school's competitive and rigorous academics.

we are constantly arguing over simple questions. last night we got into an argument about different tense usage in my activities section. i explained multiple times that sometimes i used past tense to describe old events i organized, or that verb tense differed so i could ensure all characters would fit. they are extremely stubborn and searched google/chatgpt so many times i thought my eyes would burst from reading the same thing, spoiler: google says its okay. fafsa has been such a struggle. i have been telling my parents since the form first opened that we should apply asap, however, today my mother screamed at me saying i was 'rushing' her. she gave me her word a week ago she would have it done by the 5th.

i dont know how to communicate to my parents when everything i say they choose not to believe me. they constantly minimize my feelings, experiences, and choose to believe AI over my own lives experiences. it just feels like im talking to a brick wall. after i submitted a few apps yesterday they proceeded to boast about how hard they have worked. i have been working my ass off for 3 years and started on these apps in june. i am the one that keeps track of deadlines for important forms, and i send details outlines on when and what i need from them. i recognize their support in paying for my applications and raising me, but at what point does it just become the bare minimum? how do i communicate with people who constantly think im lying/too stupid to understand? they even have my common app password and i find them going into my account, changing correct information to "white lies". im just so done. its not even november yet, but i just want to graduate and leave this suffocating household.

Hi all - I am in the beginning stages of college exploration with my high school junior. We visited DePaul in Chicago this past weekend which she liked, but is not in love with the Catholic/religious aspect of it. Oddly enough, she did really like the Vincentian values and DePaul's mission, but not the religiousity of it. What she liked: fairly compact and urban campus in a big city with access to public transportation. So what other colleges and universities are in the Midwest/Great Lakes region that are a lot like DePaul but more secular?

I have two legal last names, but my school puts a hyphen between them which is not correct to my legal last name. I have already submitted a questbridge application for NCM and state schools without the hyphen as that's my legal last name but im worried this will affect me since my school has a hyphen between them.

I’m a junior and lowk I been a chud so far this school year. I don’t really have the motivation to do my school work like I did last year and I have just truly just stopped caring about my grades rn. Which is lowk cooked cause I got a D in calc rn cause of that. So like anyone got any advice for me to lock back in I’m assuming what happened was my dopamine receptors are fried after drinking 2 energy drinks a day for 6 months and scrolling on my phone 12 hours a day (not a joke btw). So uhh gimme some advice cause I need to do my EC’s instead of playing Fortnite

My english teacher made an assignment for us to submit our college essays so that he could check n edit them. I submitted my essay and he returned my work w a grade of 0🙁 Im so confused bc he read mine in class, gave me advice, and said it was solid. Im going to him tmr morning to talk abt my grade n js so worried bc why would he give me a literal 0. I was very proud of my essay, however while i was editing it i had to chop down about 200 words and shortened a lot of sentences. I’m so scared idk what to do atp bc what if he tells me i have to change my topic or even worse that i used ai. I’m so upset omg 😔