Hi! I'm 24 and graduated cum laude 2 years ago with a BSBA in Finance. My_qualifications: I received a merit scholarship worth $56,000 from the university I attended and I applied for $110,000+ in external scholarships and won $74,000.

I applied to 18 universities and was accepted to 14, the best one being NYU (which I couldn't attend due to financial reasons).

Profile at the time of applying: AICE AS/A Levels from an international school in Bangalore, 3.74 GPA, ACT score of 31.

Activities during high school: 2 internships, volunteering for 2 years (part of high school curriculum), Crowdfunding, organized 2 events for cancer research and 2 blood drives

Rejected from: Stanford (Grades not good enough), UC Berkeley (I think my essays were not too great. The prompts were tricky), UCLA (Grades not good enough), and Brown University (Probably grades too).

I personally found the essays and extracurriculars to be the most important. A lot of universities are ACT/SAT optional, so you have a little leeway when it comes to grades since you can choose not to submit your scores. But on the other hand, your essays and extracurriculars need to be on point. I was lucky where my school helped us out with internships and volunteering work but I know a lot of schools don't which makes it kind of tricky.

The hardest decision for me was turning down NYU. It was my dream school but the finances made it impossible. Even with aid, I would have had to take on a large amount of debt which is something I was not willing to do. Instead, I attended a private university on the west coast and had a very good time there. I don't regret not going to NYU at all. I'm sure living in New York during my 4 years of college would have been fun, but not worth taking on so much debt.

Happy to answer any questions!

Hi! I'm 24 and graduated cum laude 2 years ago with a BSBA in Finance. My_qualifications: I received a merit scholarship worth $56,000 from the university I attended and I applied for $110,000+ in external scholarships and won $74,000.

I applied to 18 universities and was accepted to 14, the best one being NYU (which I couldn't attend due to financial reasons).

Profile at the time of applying: AICE AS/A Levels from an international school in Bangalore, 3.74 GPA, ACT score of 31.

Activities during high school: 2 internships, volunteering for 2 years (part of high school curriculum), Crowdfunding, organized 2 events for cancer research and 2 blood drives

Rejected from: Stanford (Grades not good enough), UC Berkeley (I think my essays were not too great. The prompts were tricky), UCLA (Grades not good enough), and Brown University (Probably grades too).

I personally found the essays and extracurriculars to be the most important. A lot of universities are ACT/SAT optional, so you have a little leeway when it comes to grades since you can choose not to submit your scores. But on the other hand, your essays and extracurriculars need to be on point. I was lucky where my school helped us out with internships and volunteering work but I know a lot of schools don't which makes it kind of tricky.

The hardest decision for me was turning down NYU. It was my dream school but the finances made it impossible. Even with aid, I would have had to take on a large amount of debt which is something I was not willing to do. Instead, I attended a private university on the west coast and had a very good time there. I don't regret not going to NYU at all. I'm sure living in New York during my 4 years of college would have been fun, but not worth taking on so much debt.

Happy to answer any questions!

Hi! I'm 24 and graduated cum laude 2 years ago with a BSBA in Finance. My_qualifications: I received a merit scholarship worth $56,000 from the university I attended and I applied for $110,000+ in external scholarships and won $74,000.

I applied to 18 universities and was accepted to 14, the best one being NYU (which I couldn't attend due to financial reasons).

Profile at the time of applying: AICE AS/A Levels from an international school in Bangalore, 3.74 GPA, ACT score of 31.

Activities during high school: 2 internships, volunteering for 2 years (part of high school curriculum), Crowdfunding, organized 2 events for cancer research and 2 blood drives

Rejected from: Stanford (Grades not good enough), UC Berkeley (I think my essays were not too great. The prompts were tricky), UCLA (Grades not good enough), and Brown University (Probably grades too).

I personally found the essays and extracurriculars to be the most important. A lot of universities are ACT/SAT optional, so you have a little leeway when it comes to grades since you can choose not to submit your scores. But on the other hand, your essays and extracurriculars need to be on point. I was lucky where my school helped us out with internships and volunteering work but I know a lot of schools don't which makes it kind of tricky.

The hardest decision for me was turning down NYU. It was my dream school but the finances made it impossible. Even with aid, I would have had to take on a large amount of debt which is something I was not willing to do. Instead, I attended a private university on the west coast and had a very good time there. I don't regret not going to NYU at all. I'm sure living in New York during my 4 years of college would have been fun, but not worth taking on so much debt.

Happy to answer any questions!

EDIT: Accidentally wrote "AMA anything" in the title oops.