u/Future-Egg-2851

I saw some similar posts to this from other countries, so idk what's in the water of international Indian dads right now, but my dad literally wants me to study for college in India even though I have literally not lived in India since I was one year old and am not fit to live in an Indian dorm (I legit can't even hail a cab, like I am INCOMPETENT enough in the US, but in another country is just too much 🥀). The worst part is that I am literally so competitive for US universities and I go to a feeder for a T20 where most people get in, so my baseline is very solid, like I will get worse college results in India because again, I literally don't know a single thing. My parents' main reasoning is because they're sick of the US and want to move to India, so they don't want me to live in the US alone if they go. It lowkey might be misogyny, since I'm a girl and they think girls shouldn't go places by themselves. They kind of have low expectations for me in general for some reason, like I got into a really good MIT program, but they actively discourage me from doing it. 🥀 WHAT DO I DO????

I got a week of lunch detention with a reflection assignment for talking about a test outside of class. It was technically an AIP violation, but I didn't get any grade punishment or suspension, like my parents weren't emailed either. Is this going to be reported by my counselor on my college app? I'm class of 2027 btw. I heard common app changed its rules recently about what gets reported, so I'm not sure.

So on May 1st, decisions were released for MIT BWSI and I was rejected. That devastated me, but I got over it. I actually applied with a friend (hi if you see this) to quantum and we both were rejected, so we started making jokes about how they just sent the wrong email because we couldn't find anyone that was accepted. TURNS OUT THEY DID SEND THE WRONG EMAIL FOR QUANTUM! We got in!!! It was so unexpected.

So I only applied to three summer programs: USC Bovard Scholars, MIT WTP, and MIT BWSI. I knew I wasn't going to get into USC Bovard or WTP because I'm not at all first gen or low income, but I was really counting on BWSI. I've attended a previous program by them and have applied three times already.

For those who don't know, they have an extensive application process with prereq courses required before you can even apply. I feel like I've wasted so much time on that, since I honestly have been setting aside time for that and neglecting other things every March. In freshman and sophomore year, it stung, but at least I knew that they favor juniors. But now, I got rejected as a junior, so I don't know what to do. I genuinely don't know what I'm doing wrong, since I completed 100% of all the prereq courses, had good grades in them, my recommender likes me, and I thought my essays were the best they've been in three years. I think my ECs are pretty good too.I've never felt insecure about them and I have some really strong ones, so I was pretty hyped for real colleges.

This is making me reconsider that, though, since I have no idea what's going wrong in all of my applications and most programs don't give feedback. BWSI was my last chance, since I'm not eligible for 90% of opportunities for a personal reason. I think this might just be compounded with me not getting many wins lately in general. But like, if I can't get into BWSI three years in a row, how am I going to get into real prestigious colleges where the pool is wider? I actually don't have any more ideas for what I can do; I have sole authored research, I have nonprofits, I have startups, I have VC stuff, I have APs, I have published literature, like I don't know what else to do or even what else I can do. Does anyone have any advice?