u/Used-Departure9606

Hey guys!

I was wondering if top colleges care if you don't have any extracurriculars in school? Some say that it looks bad because your high school is your immediate community and if you don't contribute there, how will you contribute to the college campus

All my extracurriculars are out of school and do contribute to my community though.

Thank!

Hi guys! I have a few questions about the college process and I’d really appreciate any help!

1. If I apply to QuestBridge, become a finalist, rank schools, and don’t match, can I still apply to the schools I ranked through Common App RD afterward?
2. If I apply to QuestBridge, become a finalist, but choose not to rank, can I still just apply through Common App RD and list QB Finalist as an award/honor?
3. Can someone explain the QuestBridge timeline a bit? If you become a finalist, how much time do you usually have to complete supplements for the Match? And if you don’t match, how much time do you have before RD deadlines?
4. Does QuestBridge RD actually provide any advantage over applying through Common App RD?
5. Since the EC section is limited, are you allowed to upload a resume to QuestBridge?

Thank you so much!

I’m honestly tired of seeing people with a 4.8 weighted GPA and a 4.0 unweighted get into amazing schools, then score a 1000 on the SAT. It just shows how inconsistent GPA can be depending on the school.

Some schools have serious grade inflation. Coming from my school, where people are given B’s for A+ level work, a lot of students look “mediocre” on paper when they really aren’t. My school has 26 APs, our average GPA is around a 4.1 weighted, and our average SAT for the Class of 2027 is about a 1430. Nobody has gotten below a 3 on an AP exam since freshman year in my class (co 2027)

Meanwhile, someone from a less competitive school can have a 4.4 weighted GPA, be valedictorian, go test-optional with a 1000 SAT, and still have a huge admissions advantage because of rank or auto-admit policies.

And don’t even get me started on top 10% direct admissions in Texas. At my school, a 4.4 weighted GPA could put you around rank 327/987, while at another school that same GPA could make you valedictorian. Yet one student gets automatic admission while the other doesn’t. That system feels incredibly unfair.

In my opinion, GPA is only a somewhat reliable measure of academic ability because grading standards vary so much between schools. America honestly needs some kind of standardized academic metric starting earlier in high school.

And yes, I know the SAT and ACT are flawed. They’re not perfect measures of intelligence, and prep definitely matters. But I still think they’re better indicators of raw academic readiness than GPA alone because at least everyone is taking the same test.

That being said, I don’t think colleges should focus only on grades or scores. There are many different types of intelligence. Especially for state schools, I think extracurriculars, essays, leadership, work experience, and initiative should matter heavily too because those things reflect how someone will actually contribute in college and beyond not just how well they can use Desmos on a math section.

Hi, I’m CO 2027, and stalking this subreddit, listening to TikToks, and seeing my friends’ college decisions honestly makes me so pissed.

College apps feel basically pay-to-win now with random nonprofits, tutoring companies, organizations, etc. Very rarely does a student actually do what they say they do, show real passion, and successfully start something meaningful. Most of it feels like fluff, and some of these kids genuinely do not have what it takes to be at these top schools.

Maybe I’m biased because my school is basically a private school disguised as a public high school (it’s ranked top 75 in the country) and is full of rich kids.

I’m low income and haven’t had access to a lot of opportunities. Everything I’ve gotten, I did myself.

Freshman and sophomore year, my parents couldn’t afford my marching band fees, so I created a Roblox clothing group. It grew to 40k members, had 32,000+ sales, and I made around $700 through DevEx.

I also created Mercari and Poshmark accounts and made 149 sales.

I opened a social media account, partnered with Jolly Llama Co., and made around $300. Ive been paying for my stuff since 8th grade

My passion is politics (FYI, IF YOU’RE READING THIS, PLEASE GET INVOLVED IN POLITICS — IT CONTROLS OUR WHOLE LIVES, FROM WATER BILLS TO GROCERIES). Also please look into district redrawing.

Anyways, I have a TikTok with 10k followers where I educate younger people about politics.

I started working sophomore year to help provide. EVERYTHING I DID, I DID MYSELF. I basically paid my own way through high school.

And it’s so frustrating that my accomplishments don’t seem as impressive because “Mr. Founded a Nonprofit” with daddy’s money and parents running everything wins.

(Not saying this is everyone — it just feels like everyone at my school.)