^^^

feel free to ask me (and u/keithberman) ANYTHING about the college app process in the comments below, we are more than happy to help!

I've been pretty sick all of this week and I don't think it's gonna get better until at least a couple more days, I can't even muster the energy to concentrate on any AP exam material/videos much less do any practice problems. I was wondering if MIT would rescind me because of this?

For reference I have 3 AP exams this week, and I'd say I will get a 2, 4, and 5 WORST CASE scenario. I have two more next week, and if my sickness persists, probably a double 4. Also, I have all A/A-'s in my classes, showing that this is a one-time issue. Thank you for any advice!

I'm self-studying and haven't even started studying yet lol. instead of reading books, what movies are close enough to the plot of the book, and are publicly available online?

This subreddit was created as a place for honest, high-quality advice about the college admissions process, without the slop, misinformation, fearmongering, or empty reassurance that often spreads in college admissions spaces online.

Here, our goal is simple:

Give students better advice. Help families understand what actually matters. Push people to improve their strategy, writing, school list, and overall application approach.

We, as a community, are especially focused on competitive applicants aiming for selective and highly selective universities, but anyone who wants thoughtful admissions advice is welcome here.

You can post here for feedback on:

• Your college list
• Your extracurricular profile
• Your intended major strategy
• Your essays and essay ideas
• Your activity list
• Your awards/honors section
• ED/EA/RD strategy
• Waitlist or LOCI strategy
• General admissions questions

What This Subreddit Is

This is a place for advice that is:

• Honest: not everything needs to be sugarcoated.
• Specific: generic advice like “just be yourself” is not enough.
• Strategic: college admissions is not just about having good stats.
• Evidence-based: advice should be grounded in how admissions actually works.
• And most importantly, Respectful: direct does not mean cruel.

If your profile needs work, people should be able to say that.

If your school list is unrealistic, people should be able to say that.

If your essay topic is cliché, underdeveloped, or not revealing enough about you, people should be able to say that.

But the goal is never to tear people down. The goal is to help people see what needs to improve.

What This Subreddit Is Not

This is not a place for:

• Random doomposting
• “Am I cooked?” posts with no context
• Prestige obsession without strategy
• Blindly telling everyone they can get into Harvard
• Blindly telling everyone they have no chance
• Misinformation about race, hooks, essays, test-optional policies, or admissions readers
• Low-effort profile dumps with no actual question
• Essay theft, plagiarism, or AI-generated application writing

We are not here to sell fantasy. We are also not here to crush students for no reason. We are here to give better advice.

How to Get Better Feedback

If you want useful feedback, please give people enough context.

For profile reviews, include:

• Grade level
• Intended major
• GPA / course rigor / progression of courses on your transcript
• Test scores, if available
• Major extracurriculars
• Awards
• School context, if relevant
• State / domestic / international status
• Demographic information / stats
• Current college list
• What kind of advice you actually want

For essay feedback, include:

• The prompt
• The idea or draft
• What you are worried about
• What you want the essay to show about you

For school list feedback, include:

• Intended major
• Academic profile
• Financial constraints, if relevant
• Geographic preferences
• Size / campus / culture preferences
• Current list divided into reach, match, and likely if possible

The more specific your post is, the better the advice will be.

A Note on “Chance Me” Posts

Chance-me posts are allowed, but they need to be useful.

No one can give you an exact percentage. Admissions is too contextual for that with a lot of "black box" institutional priorities. But people can help you understand whether your list is balanced, whether your profile supports your goals, and where your application may need stronger positioning.

A good chance-me post should lead to strategy, not panic.

A Note on Essay Advice

For essays, the strongest feedback usually goes beyond grammar.

Good personal statement feedback should ask, for example:

• What do we actually learn about the student?
• What values and insights come through?
• Is the topic too common? Does the essay need more personal detail?
• Is the reflection specific enough?
• Does the essay show growth, complexity, or self-awareness?
• Is the writing serving the student, or just trying to sound impressive?

An essay does not need to be dramatic to be strong. But it does need to reveal something meaningful about the person writing it.

Community Expectations

Please be direct, but don’t be lazy.

“Mid profile” is not advice.

“You’re cooked” is not advice.

“Just shotgun T20s” is not advice.

“Your essay sucks” might be frank, but it is disrespectful and is only useful if you explain why and what the student can do next.

Good advice should help someone leave with a clearer sense of what to improve.

Final Thoughts

College admissions is confusing enough. Students and families do not need more noise. You do not need more noise!

We're meant to be a place where people can ask serious questions and get serious answers that is honest, thoughtful, practical, and respectful. Welcome all, be good to each other, and good luck!

Before you start reading, please make sure to join r/CollegeAppsAdvice , where I aim to build a community (without the slop from ApplyingToCollege) that provides useful, to-the-point advice about anything college admission-related! Thank you!

General Information

• Intended Major: Computational/Applied Math + Computer Science
• Grade: Senior (Class of 2026)
• Background: Asian (Indian), Male, Upper Middle Class
• High School: Public, semi-competitive
• Hooks: None

Academics

• GPA: ~3.9 UW, ~4.5 W (1 😎
• Class Rank: 10/500
• Standardized Testing: 36 ACT
• APs (by graduation): ~14, including Calc AB/BC, Stats, CS, Physics 1/2/C/E&M, Chem, Macro, Gov, Lit, Micro, Psych
• Dual Enrollment: Linear Algebra, Multivariable Calculus, Differential Equations

Extracurriculars

• Math Research (x2): Co-authored and sole-authored papers in combinatorics on generalized Catalan numbers; both published/accepted to arXiv and a math journal
• Computational Summer Program Research (~7% acceptance): Researched register machines and recursive functions; published functions for widespread use, featured on their website
• Math Outreach: Lead coach and curriculum designer at a nonprofit serving hundreds of students; managed a large team of instructors
• MATHCOUNTS: Founded a chapter at an underserved school; assistant state coach with students achieving record state results nationally
• Chess Organization (Founder): International student org teaching chess to K-8 students; grown to 15+ chapters and hundreds of volunteers
• Math Team (Captain): Led team to multiple state championships; developed curriculum and mentored teammates
• CS Club (President): Doubled club size; trained members for USACO and ACSL with measurable competition results
• Swimming: 13+ year competitive swimmer, varsity captain, multiple state meet appearances and top finishes
• Cultural Education: Curriculum designer and teacher at a large Indian cultural school

Awards

• USAMO Bronze Medalist; 5x AIME Qualifier; 3x AMC Top 1%; College Competition Top 1%
• USACO Platinum, 3x ACSL 1st Place
• Multiple 1st place state math competition wins; $11k in math scholarships
• Coca-Cola Scholars Semifinalist; 2x Presidential Volunteer Service Gold Award
• 2x DECA International Qualifier, 2x Top 3 State Finishes

Letters of Recommendation

• Math Teacher - 8/10 (Worked a lot with her but she didn't really mention a lot of those things)
• Research Mentor - 10/10 (Phenomenal, was able to get my entire "narrative" out of him.
• Humanities Teacher - 7/10 (Talked about my struggles in her class and how I changed my study habits to improve my grade, could be seen as a strength or weakness depending on the AO)

Essays

• Focused on math/research/teaching narrative throughout, making sure to highlighting specific instances of such.

RESULTS!!!

✅ Accepted

• MIT (EA)
• Caltech (RD)
• Columbia (RD, Selected as 1 of 10 for the Rabi Scholars Program)
• CMU SCS (RD)
• UCLA (RD)
• Georgia Tech (EA, Honors program)
• UIUC (EA)
• UT Austin (EA)
• UNC Chapel Hill (EA)
• Northeastern (EA, Honors program)
• UMaryland (EA)
• UMass Amherst (EA, Half tuition off)

⏳ Waitlisted

• UMichigan (EA)
• UC Berkeley (RD)

❌ Rejected

• UChicago (EA)
• Harvard (RD)
• Princeton (RD)
• Yale (RD)
• Stanford (RD)
• Duke (RD)
• UPenn (RD)

🔙 Retracted Application

• Rice (RD)
• Tufts (RD)
• Northwestern (RD)
• Cornell (RD)
• Johns Hopkins (RD)

Committing to Columbia or MIT!

So let me know what you guys think; do you think its deserved? Also feel free to ask me questions on anything or if you want to join my non-profit!

^^^

feel free to ask me (and u/keithberman) ANYTHING about the college app process in the comments below, we are more than happy to help!

hi, if you post your chanceme on r/CollegeAppsAdvice (and join the subreddit of course!), then my moderator (who worked at Yale as an AO previously) and I (senior who got into 6 t20s, including mit, caltech, and columbia) would be more than happy to reply to you on our subreddit and give you specific feedback and advice for your application as a whole. lmk if you have any questions 😄