u/Afraid_Animal7113

I keep seeing so many people with very competitive applications so I started doubting whether I had good chances or not ;;

I am applying for Pure Math major, currently taking IB Bilingual Diploma

Pre-Predicted (A little different from PGs)

Spanish A Lang and Lit SL: 6 (anticipated diploma, this is the final grade)
History SL: 6
English A Lang and Lit SL: 6

Music HL: 5
Math HLAA: 5
Physics HL 4

Core: 2

Total: 34/45

My most relevant EC would be leading a competitive math club (but I will participate in the actual competition after I submit my application, so I have no awards to report)
SAT still pending, will be taking it soon

Other ECs are very focused on math and music+taekwondo

I know that I can easily raise my music to a 6 and english to a 7 but I am worried about math as I want to major in it but I don't have an outstanding score (nor am I confident that I will be able to raise it a lot in the next couple months)

Given my current stats, how are my chances at being accepted looking like? With how competitive HKUST sounds like I'm really unsure

Felt like I needed to share this somehow so here I am

My father tried to buy me some clothes and noticed that I didn't really like them/they weren't my style (I was still greatly appreciated the gesture but I'm not good at faking my emotions so he could tell right away I didn't love them ;w;). He instead proposed that I show him examples from stuff that is closer to my style so he could try and get something closer to my style next time.

So I assembled a small pinterest board that contained clothes that align more with my style and showed him the images.

Where I live, my style isn't very common (kind of a combination between kawaii tenshi and coquette, a loooooot of pink for sure) and the idea of fitting in and ostracizing people who look or act differently is very prevalent. Years ago when I had just started to find my style my own father had told me that I was giving people good reasons to bully me if I dressed the way I did (emphasis on years ago! We've come a long way since).

Yet his reaction this time was so supportive, he was thanking me for letting him know of my clothing preferences and we had a very nice conversation. I even showed him a picture that had 8 different styles of pants and told him I really liked 2 of them compared to the others but he had to guess which ones. He got 1 correct and his other guess wasn't too far off!

I really feel like this interaction made me grow a little closer to him. Him showing genuine curiosity for my likes and dislikes when it comes to an area he doesn't care for a lot honestly made me feel like a kid again (even if it hasn't been that long since I was a kid lol).

For any parent that may be reading this, I can tell you it is absolutely worth asking about the things your kid likes/dislikes, it shows them that you care to get to know the person they are :)

Also! Just in case it wasn't clear, I do really appreciate his initial gesture of getting me clothes in the first place (especially since neither of us tend to like shopping so him going out of his way to get me any type of clothes was already sweet of him) and I will be wearing the clothes he got me since they are comfy (a sweatpant and a jacket). At the end of the day clothes are meant to be worn, even if they don't necessarily suit my taste.