u/strawberribubbles

Hi! I wanted some advice for stopping myself from binging and viewing food as a scarcity.

Every time I have food around me, I feel like I need to eat everything as fast as I can to “get my money’s worth” or not let things go to waste. Then I end up feeling extremely full but I keep doing it.

I’m an incoming college freshman so I’m still living with my parents for now. They’re better off financially than when I was a child-early teens, so they can naturally buy more snacks and “special foods.” Every time they have these around, I just feel the urge to eat it all while it lasts and it’s been causing me to unintentionally eat in a surplus, even though I’m trying to lose a little weight.

Also it doesn’t help that I’ll be attending a school with the #1 college dining hall and feel guilty that my parents are paying money for me to eat. Thank you in advance for any advice!

rising freshman @ ucla

Demographics:
socal girl from semi-large public high school

Intended majors:
cog sci, neuroscience, and cognitive neuroscience

Academics:

GPA (UW/W): 3.96 UW, 4.67 WGPA
* Rank (or percentile): top 9% by UC ELC but not sure about actual rank
# of Honors/AP/IB/Dual Enrollment/etc.: took 11/14 offered APs at school and full DE math seq
Senior Year Course Load: mostly light APs (apes, ap stats, etc.) + calc 2 & linear algebra

Standardized Testing

SAT: 1550 (750 RW; 800 M)
All 5s on APs except one 4

Extracurriculars/Activities

1. independent cog neuro research, worked w/ niche animal model & produced preprints w/ mentorship at a big UC
2. special ed nonprofit founder
3. research internship at a UC for molecular bio
4. regional first chair band
5. school band leadership
6. thinkneuro (💀)
7. state-level band ensembles & summer conservatory stuff
8. writing for fun (wrote fanfic lmao)

Awards/Honors

1. scholastic art & writing national silver medal + regional keys
2. national band recognition award
3. first chair in regional honor band
4. trash lowk fake poetry competition 😭 (poetry nation)

Letters of Recommendation
had my AP Physics and AP Calc teachers write me recs + band director. i liked them a lot + asked for academic and career advice from them so they were familiar w/ my complete lack of knowing what i wanted to do w/ my life lol. other than that, i would assume normal but not outstanding letters.

Essays

personal statement: lowk “I’m 14 and this is deep” slop; wrote about fanfic and fandom culture and connected to growing in how i use writing. okay writing but i cringe looking back at it

UC PIQs: okay-ish, kind of gimmicky w/ hooks and “stories” but i tried to be concrete about my experiences. a little too flowery and self-promotional at times.

supplementals: sooo trash, like, really bad. i was so stressed and running on 4 hrs of sleep and energy drinks and crammed them all over winter break. didn’t have anyone proofread except a crappy AI “essay reviewer” (collegebase) that just made my writing an echo chamber of slop.

Decisions

Acceptances:

- UCSB
- CSUs
- UCD

Waitlists:

- UCLA
- UCB
- WashU
- Cornell

Rejections:

- the rest of the Ivies
- Stanford

and i’m committed to… >!UCLA!! go bruins!!<

good luck kids and lock in on your supps.

First year turning down my commitment to UCSB for biopsych. Go bruins! Good luck to everyone on the waitlist :)

i didn’t realize it would reflect my student email so i randomized it. it’s a scramble or letters and numbers (3 letters, 3 nums, 3 letters) that doesn’t spell out anything.

how unprofessional is this & how much will it hinder me in applying to jobs, internships, etc.?

I got in at 8 AM today. Lmk if you have any questions! I’d also be happy to share my LOCI.

i’m an incoming freshman wondering about how ppl dress like to class & if there are any other events i should prep clothes for. what styles, clothing items, brands, etc. are popular? what are essentials I should get before arriving on campus? i’m also a girl. thanks in advance for any advice!

when i visited ucsb everyone was soo attractive and had really great style & i wanted some tips from the aesthetic ucsb ppl on a few things:

- how much space do you have in your dorm for clothes / jewelry / accessories, and do you rotate them between quarters?
- where do you shop or thrift for clothing?
- how do you find your style on a broke college student budget in an expensive town?
- how / where do you do your skincare and makeup, especially if you have communal bathrooms?
- do the majority of ppl have a coastal, put-together style (as the 2030 instagram pages seem to suggest…) & what styles are popular actually at sb?

also drop workout tips bc i feel like everyone is so fit lol. i run for fun and i’m worried about being too locked out for running, surfing, or workout clubs. when do you guys do outdoorsy things and in what format (by yourself, w/ friends, or in structured clubs)?