u/WatchForward1318

I completed an independent physics research project during 11th grade, and submitted it to a high school journal, and it got accepted and published. I did this during the school year, while managing home responsibilities, academics (homework), and other extracurriculars. Honestly, I didn't really count how many hours or months I spent on it. This was my first time doing a research project, and I had no mentors or labs, so I pretty much learned everything by myself and did several corrections and draft edits etc. Overall, I estimated 6-10 hours/week for 4 months (16 weeks), which I think is more or less accurate. I was wondering how this compares with other people who may have also done independent research or something similar? Do my hours look too inflated or too little to be taken seriously? Tbh my paper wasn't something groundbreaking but it was just an interesting, organized investigation.

my question is in the title. I want to include it as an honor/award in the NCM application.

Hello everyone. I was filling out the NCM Appliication form, and I came across the honors/awards section. I was wondering if you could include peer-reviewed reserch publications as an honor/award? For example, I put mine in using the format -

(Journal name), Peer-reviewed Research Article

Or is it preffered to put in actual honors there like national contests and stuff like that?

I looked at the big spreadsheet with all the writing prompts and there’s a section for awards and honors Can someone please explain this section in detail so that someone can draft it? The spreadsheet only says approx 100 words and 4-5 blank fields. Does that mean 100 words for all the fields or for each field? Do they have sections or is it free write?

I was looking at the spreadsheet for the college-specific supplements and found this for Brown -

Help us get to know you better by reflecting briefly on each of the questions below. We expect that answers will range from a few words to a few sentences at most: What is your most meaningful extracurricular commitment, and what would you like us to know about it?* (100 words)

and it just looks really really similar to QuestBridge’s Activities Section prompt, which is this -

Consider all of the ways you spend your time outside the classroom and tell us about the thing that matters to you most and why (100 words)

Now while QB’s one is more in-general, I’m planning to write about an extracurricular. in that case, if my response fulfills both QB’s and Brown’s prompt, can I use the same response in both places? Or would it be better to write 2 different ones for them?

I looked at the big spreadsheet with all the writing prompts and there’s a section for awards and honors Can someone please explain this section in detail so that someone can draft it? The spreadsheet only says approx 100 words and 4-5 blank fields. Does that mean 100 words for all the fields or for each field? Do they have sections or is it free write?

I just got my AP scores back today and I had some questions for people who matched via QuestBridge to top colleges. My high school is pretty strict with AP policies and doesn’t allow students to take like many APs. In my junior year, I took AP stats and AP mech. I got a 5 in stats but a 4 in mech. I want to major in astrophysics and that’s what worries me. I have an A in the class, pretty good physics-related extracurricular projects, a 790 in the SAT math, and I’m taking AP calc bc, AP Physics E&M next year too. I think every other part of my application is solid, it’s just this single score. How does an AO from top colleges (like Harvard or MIT or Brown or Princeton etc.) view it?

Hi, I am drafting some parts of the activities list, and I know you can only include 5 for the activities list. But im also aware that there is a separate area for home responsibilities, and I wanted to get a headstart on that too. Can someone give me the exact format of what they require for home responsibilities? I know they have these prompts -

Describe task(s) for which you are solely responsible or own a large portion of the responsibility (if any) (100 words)

What does your help with the task(s) mean to you and/or your family? (100 words)

hi, so I was looking at a post that contained a spreadsheet with all of the past year’s prompts. I see that the main big essay, smaller topical essay, and smaller 50 word supplements are more or less the same every year. But are these questions the same?

What question would you want us to ask you? (75 words)

How and why do you think this question can be a good application question for you? (75 words)

Answer the question you proposed above. (200 words)

I checked on the college essay guy website and it said this -

Topical Essay (400-word limit) Please write on ONE of the following topics: 

• Option 1: Tell us about a time you learned something new and were excited to uncover more information about that topic.
• Option 2: Our behavior is often shaped by our values. Tell us about a value you hold.
• Option 3: Tell us about a time when your perspective was different from someone else’s.

is this accurate? how likely is it to stay the same for this coming august?

my family has finances in the US and in a foreign country.

total income (both countries): $54,000 (family of 4)

We don’t own any assets in the US, where we live. We own a foreign home and business.

foreign home asset value: $200,000

debt on the home asset: $185,000

We don’t have any rental income or anything of that sort from this house. We just live there sometimes when we visit the country.

my father owns 50% of the foreign business, their total income is $28,000 and my father gets $14,000 (that’s part of the total household income, mother makes $40,000)

The net asset of the business is also very low (value - debt is around $10,000)

I just had a quick question about activities. So my family immigrated to the US in the fall of 2021 and because of the pandemic i was still doing online classes of my previous native country school. Then I formally joined the US school in 8th grade (fall of 2022). I was involved in some activities in 9th and 10th grade but it was an adjusting phase (another new school) so I wasnt AS invoved AS 11th and 12th grade. My 5 main activities are all 11th and 12th grade (most impactful), and my counselor letter speaks of this adjusting phase. I'm just wondering if that seems like a weakness or point of concern for top colleges because I took time to adjust etc. Most have the best impactful activities from 11th and 12th grade, so by mentioning this adjusting phase am I creating an issue out of a non-issue?

MCQ: 35/40

FRQ 1: 2/10 (or 1/10)

FRQ 2: 7/12 (or 6/12)

FRQ 3: 6/10 or (5/10)

FRQ 4: 5/8 or (4/8)

Hello. I am someone who’s going to be doing the questbridge NCM soon. I wish to major in astrophysics/astronomy and in some places it’s classified as Bachelor of Arts and in some places is bachelor of sciences. I am thinking of whether or not to rank Amherst College. I consider myself to be competitive and I am aiming for top institutions like Harvard, MIT, Brown, Dartmouth and Yale. I just recently learned more about Amherst and I was willing to learn about their prestige relative to other top colleges (like Ivy League). I would really appreciate it if someone could shed some light on this and even provide some links if possible for me to research. thank you!

hello, I am a junior and I come from a low income family (40k for a family of 4 approx.). I was wondering how the EC’s looked for NCM finalists who matched to ivy leagues and other top schools. due to my low income and other factors, I didn’t really have guidance to get into ultra selective programs (like RSI, or MITES), and some I was even ineligible for (MITES). But I did strong community stuff within my school and with an international program (quantifiable impact), I did independent research and published it in a journal. I did physics demonstration video and entered a contest where I won a plaque. and I took the free harvard CS50P online course where I built my own python simulation for astrophysics. As you’ll see, most of my ‘technical’ activities are independent and don’t have the selective programs. How important are those/how damaging is it to not have them? I requested my physics teacher to speak about these projects in his LOR to kind of validate them and speak of it (we are very close).

hello everyone.

i am going to apply to the NCM as an international applicant (doing high school in the US), and I was wondering if that means my chances of matching or receiving aid are lower? I know this differs school to school, and my top 3 that I’ll rank are - Harvard, MIT, Brown. from my research, they’re all need blind and admit regardless of citizenship. does anyone have any experience with this?

I just wanted to ask about the activities section of the NCM. Apparently I’ve heard that it’s like a bulleted list format, and you can list a maximum of 5 extracurriculars. Is there a word count for each entry? I know after that there’s a 400 word prompt asking for which commitment was the most meaningful to us. And is there a separate section for home responsibilities? or is that part of additional information? Is that also a bulleted list? I just need the word count for each entry. any extra info would also be very helpful.