So I attended YYGS (science/tech program) and was wondering how much push it really has for competitive colleges - T20s. How high school I put it? Does it look really good for the more competitive side of T20s?
For context I'm a rising junior OOS and I just now figured out that a fine art class is a REQUIREMENT for applying to the UCs. I really want to apply to UC Berkeley, UCLA, and USC but I'm wondering if taking a fine art like AP Art history instead of AP Macro/Micro , AP Stats, or AP french is worth it..
What I mean by worth it is if I take a random fine art when I apply to non UC schools will they take it negatively that instead of taking a more meaningful AP that corresponds to what I want to do as my major I took a fine art?
So my overall "narrative" of my ecs has been service/community (business+tech major btw) and I got offered a meaningful internship where I do a lot of real work at a tech nonprofit for 2 years. However, it is unpaid; I don't care about money at all but when I told some people I knew they said it was useless because it is not paid. lmk your thoughts.
Side note: I've been doing the internship for about 6 months, so far its been really great... I attend networking events, help revamp websites, lead end to end marketing, and a bit of data analysis.
To start, I want to make it clear that I am in NO way a college hater. I want to attend a T20 myself, and I’ve honestly been putting a lot of work into getting there.
That being said, this post comes directly from some of the responses I’ve gotten on other posts I’ve made. I genuinely don’t understand why so many people keep commenting that “if you were truly passionate about something, you would do it regardless of what colleges think” or that you should “never do anything for college.”
I feel like it’s pretty obvious that the real world doesn’t work that way.
If someone wants to become an actor, 999 times out of 1000 they aren’t going to drop out of school, move to LA, and pursue acting full time. Same thing with music and a lot of other careers. You could argue that they just aren’t passionate enough, but I think that ignores a pretty important reality. You can have a genuine passion for something and still recognize that pursuing it as a career comes with a lot of uncertainty.
The job market, financial stability, how difficult it is to succeed, supporting a family, being able to live comfortably, etc. all play a role. Those things can influence whether someone decides to pursue their passion as a career or take a more traditional and stable route.
I see college applications in a pretty similar way. You can tell me I’m not passionate about something because I’m asking whether it’s worth doing, or you can recognize that I’m trying to make decisions within the system that actually exists.
If there were no college applications and colleges didn’t care about achievements, ECs, awards, or anything else, I would probably pursue every single thing I’m interested in. Including the stuff i've been askinf questions ab.
But that’s not the reality. Colleges DO look at these things. I have a limited amount of time, and I have to decide where I want to put my effort. So naturally, I’m going to ask whether something is actually worth doing before I spend hundreds of hours on it.
That doesn’t mean I’m not passionate about it. It means I’m trying to be realistic.
Honestly, I think the entire admissions process has become so fear-driven that everyone is constantly worried about doing the “wrong” thing. But what can you really do about it? Pretty much nothing.
College admissions is a game that everyone is forced to play, and it’s an industry that everyone is buying into. That’s just the reality of it. I'm just so tired of everyone acting like kids are just doing stuff for the sake of doing it(i'm not saying ppl like that don't exist) but honestly nowadays its gotten to the point where everything you do even if its for fun needs to be catered towards the college lens.
Every time I go on TikTok or Instagram, I see people saying that starting a nonprofit junior year is basically useless. I’ve also seen people say that colleges like UPenn have specifically said they don’t view nonprofits very positively.
For context, I’m a rising junior interested in engineering/CS and business. I have what I think is a genuinely good idea for a nonprofit. It combines engineering/business with one of my niche interests, while also fitting into my overall EC narrative in edtech and community.
This isn’t one of those nonprofits focused on curing cancer, raising awareness, fighting poverty, food insecurity, etc. It’s something I genuinely enjoy doing and something I think could actually benefit my community.
So is this actually true? Would starting a nonprofit junior year actually hurt my chances or make it look like a forced EC? Or is it still worth doing if I genuinely care about the project and plan to stick with it?
If so, if anyone has any ideas for other ECs that would be better than starting this nonprofit please let me know!!
Every time I go on TikTok or Instagram, I see people saying that starting a nonprofit junior year is basically useless. I’ve also seen people say that colleges like UPenn have specifically said they don’t view nonprofits very positively.
For context, I’m a rising junior interested in engineering/CS and business. I have what I think is a genuinely good idea for a nonprofit. It combines engineering/business with one of my niche interests, while also fitting into my overall EC narrative in edtech and community.
This isn’t one of those nonprofits focused on curing cancer, raising awareness, fighting poverty, food insecurity, etc. It’s something I genuinely enjoy doing and something I think could actually benefit my community.
So is this actually true? Would starting a nonprofit junior year actually hurt my chances or make it look like a forced EC? Or is it still worth doing if I genuinely care about the project and plan to stick with it?
If so, if anyone has any ideas for other ECs that would be better than starting this nonprofit please let me know!!
Every time I go on TikTok or Instagram, I see people saying that starting a nonprofit junior year is basically useless. I’ve also seen people say that colleges like UPenn have specifically said they don’t view nonprofits very positively.
For context, I’m a rising junior interested in engineering/CS and business. I have what I think is a genuinely good idea for a nonprofit. It combines engineering/business with one of my niche interests, while also fitting into my overall EC narrative in edtech and community.
This isn’t one of those nonprofits focused on curing cancer, raising awareness, fighting poverty, food insecurity, etc. It’s something I genuinely enjoy doing and something I think could actually benefit my community.
So is this actually true? Would starting a nonprofit junior year actually hurt my chances or make it look like a forced EC? Or is it still worth doing if I genuinely care about the project and plan to stick with it?
If so, if anyone has any ideas for other ECs that would be better than starting this nonprofit please let me know!!
For anyone who did ENT individual series before, what made you stand out? what numbers did you need to place in what state/internationational? And what would you recommend knowing before comp this year?
I'm a rising junior and honestly I have a lot of what I think are incredibly solid and good ECs. The only thing i'm missing is those 1-2 standout ecs and I honestly dk where to start.
I'm thinking of applying to a lot of dual degree programs for business and tech (NYU BTE, Berkeley MET, etc.); is it possible to start standout ECs right now or do I genuinely have no time. If anyone has any ideas or would be willing to critique my current ideas PLEASE comment.
Tell me some of the most insane things you've done to place at ICDC for roleplay. lowk looking for tips for next yr...
I wanted to double major in Business & CS but was wondering how that works. When I apply to college is there a way to select both if there is no specific program for Business + CS?
If I apply only business (I have better ecs for it) how hard would it be to add CS or engineering after I get there?
If I only apply CS how hard would it be to add on business after I get there?
Hi!! I started a nonprofit called Opportunity Labs where we help make specialized education accessible to students (STEM, public speaking, high school skills, etc.) . Right now we're only known locally and basically have zero online presence.
I'm trying to build a following on Instagram by posting useful content like scholarship info, program deadlines, and college application advice. Eventually I want to help people start their own chapters in other cities and post more about the events we run.
If you're on Instagram, would appreciate if you checked out @ opportunitylabs and @ opportunity.labs on tiktok where I've started posting content. Hopefully in 1-2 months we'll have enough of an online presence to help people make their own chapters.
If you have any questions pls feel free to send me a dm :)
Hi!! I started a nonprofit called Opportunity Labs where we help make specialized education accessible to students (STEM, public speaking, high school skills, etc.) . Right now we're only known locally and basically have zero online presence.
I'm trying to build a following on Instagram by posting useful content like scholarship info, program deadlines, and college application advice. Eventually I want to help people start their own chapters in other cities and post more about the events we run.
If you're on Instagram, would appreciate if you checked out @ opportunitylabs and @ opportunity.labs on tiktok where I've started posting content. Hopefully in 1-2 months we'll have enough of an online presence to help people make their own chapters.
If you have any questions pls feel free to send me a dm :)
Last year I got to ICDC but didnt even make top 20; I got mid 80s on roleplay and a 91 on test
If you would be so kind as to do a private chanceme and give me advice on how to improve (im only a rising junior) that would be very kind of you. IMO I have pretty good stats and mid-high ecs rn.
for ANYONE who has done VSCS before (the summer academy) how were your interviews??? What are the based on what do you guys do during the program???
I have never written essays like this so lowk could use all the help i can get... For some context I plan to apply as a business major or CS to some schools -
The Law of Equivalent Exchange - was gonna start this one off mid scene when the character says this in a movie; connect it to various points in my life and then related it to entrepreneruship.
My 5th grade teacher during covid bringing rewards from like the classroom point system stuff to our houses during peak covid when it was online; transitioning to how that lowk changed my life (corny asl but i promise u it did)
The blanket I've had since I was 0 years old and how its seen me when nobody else has (yeah idk abt this one icl)
Basically the title but i'm torn over what to ED to. For the purpose of this post lets say I have max rigor, 3.97 UW 4.7 W, 1560 SAT, 3 standout ECS, and the rest ur usual stuff; basically what I'm trying to say is assuming I have a pretty good shot what should I do... Most of the rlly good business schools like Wharton are more finance based whereas my dream is having my own startup/company and more on the entrepreneurship side. What schools should I apply for for this.
I'm a rising junior and when I applied for summer programs this year I got rejected from almost all of them. I think it might be because of my essays but who knows. For those who got into really good summer programs (YYSG, BWSI, NASA SEES, etc.) how did you do it and do you think the price tag for them is valid, how did they help you in college admisisons?
So I am planning to apply business and CS in college. However, my ENTIRE application is filled with what i think are decent-great business ECS. My only CS ECS are these two free competitive entry on-site nasa programs and my app development. The app development at its core I feel is business tho because I use socials to promote it and generate a pretty good amount of revenue; we'll say 10,000+ so far. What can I do to boost my profile I take a lot of CS classes in schools - AP CSP, AP CSA, machine learning, AI, etc.