Don't chance me, I have a question. I keep seeing stuff like 'oh the competition amongst Indians is really high because many people apply to t20s', but how does the intl country application really affect the chances of getting in? Do they compare you to other students of the same country and call it a day? I mean, within reason of course, after you have the 4.0 GPA and whatnot. I'm from singapore, so I would like to know how this affects me, especially since I am not from the 2 feeder schools (but I am in one of the 2 local ib schools)

I’m in the US but I’m Chinese and female. I took 4 AP my freshman and sophomore year and now I go to early college program where I get my associates degree 2 years early. My weighted GPA is 3.71. My ACT is a 24. I want to major in either bio or chemistry. I have 2 passion projects that are international. I’ve won 5th place in the state two years in the row for marching band. I don’t need financial aid. I’m thinking abt Case revere, Ohio state, and university of Michigan.

(Or any top 20-50 schools)

Class XI (Commerce with Mathematics)
Expected Graduation: 2028

Academic Highlights:

Grade: 11th
• CBSE Class X Result: 96%
• Cambridge FCE: Distinction (184/190)

E X T R A C U R R I C U L A R S

Winner - Asian Regional Space Settlement Design Competition 2026
• NASA affiliated competition, Thailand - Ranked 1st in Asia
• Developed financial plan and cost model for the proposed space settlement.

First Runner-up - International Space Settlement Design Competition 2026
• NASA global finals, USA - Ranked 2nd in the world.
• Only 13 students selected from India.

International Award for Young People - Gold, Silver and Bronze Medal - Duke of Edinburgh International Award
• Contributed 91 hours of environmental volunteering through tree-planting and conservation initiatives.
• Dedicated 52 hours to economics and personal development reading to strengthen analytical thinking.

Social Media Award - Asian Regional Space Settlement Design Competition 2026
• Increased content views by 541% through engagement strategies.

Cambridge FCE 2026 - Distinction
• 184/190 - C1 level proficiency

High Commendation - PVOLVE 2025
• Committee: INTERPOL - Ranked 2nd out of 110 participants.

High Commendation - ISMUN 2024
• Committee: UNEP - Ranked 2nd out of 110 participants.

Quarterfinalist - Delhi Football Zonal Championship 2024
• Captained a 15-member team.

Core Member - Eco Club, Amity International School
• Organised environmental awareness campaigns and educated 50+ school support staff on energy conservation practices.

L E A D E R S H I P

Head of Operations and Cost Modelling 2025 - NASA Space Settlement Design Competition
• Coordinated operations across multiple departments to support project delivery.

Vice President - Amity Space Settlement Design Competition
• Coordinated team strategy and project execution while leading a 20-member team.

Social Media Manager - Asian Regional Space Settlement Design Competition 2026
• Managed the team's digital presence, winning the dedicated Social Media Award.

House Vice Sports Captain 2026 - Amity Student Council
• Responsible for inter-house sports scheduling of 300+ students and representing the house at council meetings.

Football Team Captain 2024 - Amity International School
• Captained the school football team throughout the competitive season, coordinating tactics and on-field leadership.

COO - Oxford Saïd Climate Tech Challenge
• Coordinated team workflow, delegated tasks, and monitored project progress to meet competition deadlines

County: Armenia
No curriculum
3.9/4.0 GPA
SAT 1520
IELTS 8.0
Intended major: economics
Extracurriculars: international level athlete with awards from national championships.
No financial aid needed
College considering: UCLA, Caltech, USC, Stanford, Berkeley

BACKGROUND:

• From Vietnam (intl applicant)
• Needing substantial aid
• Intended major: Astrophysics, astronomy, theoretical physics

ACADEMICS:

• No curriculum
• GPA: 9.2/10
• Gifted High School (one of the best in Vietnam): No AP or IB offered
• Course rigor: Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Math, Vietnamese Literature, English,... (literally all of the hardest courses in my school)
• IELTS: 8.0
• SAT: Not yet (projected 1500+, not sure if I can get 1550+)

AWARDS (I'm trying to stack more):

• Bronze Honor: International Astronomy and Astrophysics Competition

ECs:

1. 3-week Internship at Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (No.1 spike): Selected as 1 of only 7 students worldwide, work on professional astrophysics research tasks (mostly computational)
2. Member of Professional Astrophysics Research Team: The team consisted of bachelor's and PhD students from various well-known universities (UMich, TU Munich, UF,...). I'm only a high school student, so I'm not allowed to be co-authored but I do work on research tasks about black holes and their hosted galaxies (also mostly computational)
3. Selected for the REACH Online program: An online astronomical research program for high school students hosted by CIERA - Northwestern University (also mostly computational astronomy)
4. Laboratory Assistant at a local university's engineering physics lab (top university in Vietnam for natural science)
5. Founded and coordinated an initiative promoting scientific social media content: reached 150,000+ views, managed operations across departments with 75+ members, coordinated collaborations with 5 nonprofit partnered organizations, organized hands-on community STEM outreach events for 100+ underprivileged students.
6. Physics Division Leader of my high school's science club: hosted physics-related seminars for 50+ club members, contributed to the organization of 6 STEM events attracting 300+ gifted students.
7. Selected for ASEAN Youth Organization's Next-gen program: 1 of 4 students from Vietnam selected, trained in project management, youth leadership, and digital literacy.
8. Member of a research department of a science translation platform: Contributed 10+ science communication posts for a page reaching 32,000+ followers.
9. Few more activities that are not as prominent

ESSAY & LOR:

• Pretty confident with my writing and storytelling ability
• Can ask for LOR from professors or highly regarded mentors that I have worked with

PLAN:

• Stack more awards (John Locke Essay Comp, GQMC, Regional Science and Engineering Fair)
• High SAT
• Tangible research output (papers, publications, conferences) -> Still the most uncertain

SCHOOL CONSIDERING:

• Need-aware: Vassar, Lehigh, Macalester, CWRU, Haverford, WashU, Wesleyan, Carleton, Grinnell
• Need-blind: Notre Dame, Bowdoin, Amherst, Dartmouth

Appreciate any insight, I'm still very uncertain about my chances

Demographics: Indian male, CBSE, Rising Junior (Class 11)

Want to apply to Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Stanford, UPenn (Wharton), Columbia, Duke, Brown, Amherst, and a few targets/reaches. I know these are all reaches, but I'd like to know where I currently stand as a rising junior.

Intended Major: Economics (Mathematics minor)

STATS

Academics

• CBSE Class 10 Boards: 99.6% (School Topper)
• Class 9: 97.13% (School Topper)
• School Rank: 1/185
• Current subjects: Economics, Mathematics, Business Studies, Accountancy, Computer Science, English
• SAT: Taking later this year (targeting 1550+)
• APs (planned): Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, Statistics (May 2027)

ECs

1. Lodha Genius Programme (2026)

• Selected as one of 300 students from 21,000+ applicants (≈1.4% acceptance rate).
• Fully funded residential summer programme at Ashoka University.
• Completed undergraduate-level coursework in Number Theory, Advanced Geometry, and Group Theory under university professors.

2. Organising Team Lead, National Student Summer School

• Led delegate affairs, operations, marketing, and social media for a nationwide summer school with 300+ participants in collaboration with major youth organisations.

3. President, School Model United Nations Club

• President of the MUN Club; previously served as MUN Secretary in the Student Council.
• Expanded club membership by 2×.
• Director General of the school's 10th MUN Conference (200+ delegates).
• Participated in 12+ conferences, won multiple awards, and chaired conferences.

4. Student Council

• Elected to one of the top four leadership positions in the Student Council (Sanskar Samriddh).

5. Captain, School Basketball Team

6. Girl Up (School Chapter)

• Volunteer supporting gender equality initiatives and awareness campaigns.

Awards

• Special Award, 25th International Convention on Students' Quality Circles (Street Play)
• World Scholar's Cup Regional Round: 12 medals and 1 trophy
• Multiple MUN Awards (High Commendations & Special Mentions)

Planned Activities (Junior Year)

• Economics research project
• Finance/CA firm internship
• IOQM qualification attempt
• Wharton High School Investment Competition
• Hult Investment Competition
• AP Exams
• SAT (1550+ target)
• Additional economics competitions and leadership initiatives

Essays & LORs

Planning to obtain recommendations from my Mathematics teacher, Economics teacher, and a professor from the Lodha Genius Programme.

I'd really appreciate any honest feedback.

Questions

1. Assuming I achieve a 1550+ SAT, where would I stand for T20S?
2. What are the biggest weaknesses in my profile?
3. What should I prioritise over the next 18 months to maximise my chances?
4. Is there anything that stands out as a red flag?
5. Which colleges do you think would be the best fit for my profile?

Hey so I'm an international student from Greece that is asking for aid (Tuition, my family can afford the rest). I know its still brutal. Anyways:

I plan to apply for Music (Music production and business). I know my CV is mainly focused on STEM but I went through a change of heart this past year.

Academics:

1510 SAT super score(740 reading 770 math), 8 ielts, 19.5/20 grades (no aps or ib classes offered at my school.

ECS:

I have a youtube channel were I post covers of songs and other original songs (Currently I have 22k views but if I keep going like this I believe I can reach at least 50k by ed1).

I am part of a local music group and we perform 4-5 times a year to a crowd of about 100-200 people.

i am currently preparing for RockSchool Vocals Grade 6 (It caps at 8, and I am also awarded UCAS points if I decide to go to the UK!!).

I am learning production and am working on a couple of songs at the moment and I hope to be done with at least 5 for my portfolios.

I have done an entomology research internship at a USDA lab (just 3 weeks) where I actually participated in research. I was responsible for dissecting a large sum of the samples of mosquitos we received which were then scanned under a machine called PCR to look for RNA of West Nyle Virus.

I placed 20th (tied for 19th) nationally (greece) on the chemistry olympiad

I did a 2 month internship at a local microbiology lab(non research cause people often confuse it) where I was repsonsible for running the blood exams and we roughly had 10-15 patients a day for 4 days a week.

I plan to apply:

NYU Clive Ed1 (I think I qualify for NYU Promise so if I get admitted I can get aid)

Umiami Ea

Fordham Ea

Drexel Ea

American University Ea

my regular decision list has not been finalized yet but it should include:

Vanderbilt

Brown

and a few safeties

Right now NYU and Umiami are my top choices so I hope I get in

Demographics

• Gender: Male
• Race/Ethnicity: Asian (Non-US Citizen)
• Residence: International
• Income Bracket: Full pay - no need for scholarship
• Type of School: Competitive private feeder school
• Hooks: None
• Intended Major: Math+Linguistics/SymSys for Stanford

Academics

GPA: 3.91 UW GPA

Rank: school does not rank

SAT: 1560

Coursework: 6 IB + 1 AP
IB HL: Math AA, Econ, Phy
IB SL: Comp sci, French B, English Lang Lit
AP: Calculus BC

First term grade 39/42
Second term 40/42
Predicted will be around 42-43 / 45

Honors

• AIME Perfect Score (15/15) + National Math Olympiad Qualifer (no camp)
• Asia Pacific Linguistics Olympiad - Honourable Mention
• Silver at Research Math International Competiton (can't name it as ill get doxxed), represented my country with 5 others, fully-funded, in-person, held in Europe
• International Math Modeling Challenge (IMMC) - Meritorious - Invited to Harvard University for international summit, fully funded by Harvard, representing my country
• Iranian combinatorics olympiad - Bronze

Extracurriculars (I am keeping it vague)

1. One of PROMYS/SUMaC/Ross
2. (Engineering/Fluid Dynamics): Invented and prototyped an energy-saving pipeline insert; deployed it in residential systems to reduce water transport energy costs.
3. (Linguistics Olympiad): Top national linguistics scholar; selected for an elite training camp (<5% acceptance) covering advanced mathematical linguistics.
4. (Athletics): National-level minifootball player and vice-captain; scouted nationally and played extensively across elite regional and school leagues.
5. (Tech/AI Intern): First-ever paid technical intern at a tech startup; engineered an AI chatbot and designed core product features that scaled platform traffic.
6. (Disaster Optimization): Modeled graph theory and flood simulation data to optimize emergency shelter placement, receiving local government validation
7. (STEM Publications): Authored 2-3 peer-reviewed papers in international journals covering network security vulnerabilities and mathematical text readability
8. (EdTech Nonprofit): Founded an AI-driven digital tutoring platform, partnering with local NGOs to democratize advanced math education for marginalized youth
9. (Math Fellowship): Multi-year scholar at a prestigious national STEM institute; trained in university-level real analysis and abstract algebra under top professors
10. (School Leadership): Math Club President; designed algorithmic infrastructure solutions for school systems and organized large-scale NGO fundraisers

Possible Letters of Recommendation

• Math Teacher (8/10)
• CS Teacher (10/10)
• Math Research Prof. (9/10)

Essays

Writing on a unique topic, might say its 8/10. Taking essay help from mentors.

Colleges

• Stanford
• Harvard
• MIT
• Oxford
• Yale
• Princeton
• UPenn
• Cornell
• Imperial
• Columbia
• Caltech
• Brown
• UC Berkeley

Note: Where should I ED/REA for the maximum chance of acceptance, also my list is too top heavy because I have safeties in other countries, I only want one of these so please recommend a school out of these (or any other school if there is a better match) so I can be done in Early round only. Thanks!

I am a 17 year old from India , just did my 12th in commerce from cbse board

my academic profile is

10th-94.4%

12th-87% (before reval., expecting 90%+ after revaluation)( Got 97 in English)

PTE-90 overall

Speaking -90

listening -90

writing -82

reading -72

what are my chances to get a scholarship in undergraduate degrees in New zealand and Australia

1420 sat
7.5 ielts
9 gpa
BGL (global law)

Hey everyone — I’m a rising DP2 senior and I have questions about my GPA and predicted grades. My school bases predicted grades only on DP2 mocks and IAs, so despite poor DP1 performance, I could still get very strong predicted grades (42–45). My school uses trimesters; here are my DP1 grades:

Term 1

• Higher Level: Math AA 2, Physics 2, Business 5
• Standard Level: English Lang & Lit 5, Chemistry 5, Arabic B 6

Term 2

• Higher Level: Math AA 5, Physics 7, Business 7
• Standard Level: English Lang & Lit 5, Chemistry 3, Arabic B 7

Term 3

• Higher Level: Math AA 3, Physics 6, Business 6
• Standard Level: English Lang & Lit 6, Chemistry 6, Arabic B 7

My Grades 9 and 10 transcripts were also mediocre. My question: if I earn very strong predicted grades in DP2, can that effectively override my weak DP1 grades and earlier transcripts? Will elite universities be willing to overlook the bad Math performance if I show strong DP2 improvement?

Some extracurriculars, for context: Finance Director at a startup that raised $4.6M, 5-figure B2B SaaS founder, internships at a quant hedge fund and a venture capital fund, founded a consultancy that generated five figures, and Top 50 in the ARC-AGI competition (global AI competition with PhD participants).

Do I still have a shot at places like Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Yale, Princeton, Oxford, or should I realistically be aiming lower (e.g., Duke, Carnegie Mellon)? Any advice appreciatedl; thanks for reading.

Demographics

Indian citizen, Male

Family income ~ $20,000 (requesting full financial aid)

Type of school: CBSE(non attending 'dummy admission', I'm living across the country, away from my family, to study for JEE)

Intended major-

Computer science(primary)

Electronics and hardware/cybersecurity/ai(secondary)

Academics-

9th grade - 90%(dip due to health issues)

10th grade - 98%

11th grade - estimated~92-95%

SAT- 1510 one sitting - june 2026, planning to give again in September 2026.

Awards and honours-

School level-

-Scholar badge holder- 4 consecutive years( aggregate 90% academics)

-Blue coat holder- scholar badge for 3 consecutive years

-Won the best delegate award at a school hosted MUN.

-Helped setting up a 3d printer at the school lab.

-Incharge of the school electronics and hardware lab.

District level-

Internship at a local startup, maintaining their website.

State/Regional level-

-Qualified IOQM(open to everyone), Qualified RMO(regional level - for qualifiers of IOQM), couldn't give INMO(national level- for qualifiers of RMO) due to health issues.

-Won a state level tech expo. The project was based on the problem that handicapped students need a writer to write exams. So I made a speech to a physical writing solution.(Explained further in the projects section)

National/International level

-Won 1st place representing my school at highschool organised IT Fest, for a self designed 3d printed drone(explained in detail further), schools across India and CBSE schools of middle East were also invited(over 500 schools participated)

-Won 2nd place representing my school at a hackathon(about 400 schools participated across India)

-4th position(runner up) for representing my school at a national level robo soccer competition, self designed car type robot(discussed in the projects section)

-USACO- gold division

-Tech team lead at a worldwide mental awareness club- Calm Minds.

Projects-

-Voice to physical writing CNC- An ESP32 based project with steeper motors, uses a microphone module to detect speech and converts it into commands for the cnc made with steeper motors, which write on a paper with a pen. Original design and implementation(no kits used)( i just have a few photos, maybe a video of i m lucky, my brother destroyed it RIP CNC)

-Self made drone- Original 3d printed design using ESP32 , one on drone to control motors and other functions, one on remote as transmitter.

-Self made Car type robot using Rpi involving, actuators and complex mechanism in the front, to pass around the ball and kick it to score a goal

-Smart glasses that help blind people navigate around the world, using a rpi and camera module, it helps and object detection and gives directions to blind people. I have emailed a few NGOs maybe I can partner with one of them

-Made an entire full stack website for a non profit calm minds - helping manage their face on the internet and managing their content. Currently for members only, where they write their articles (the website has inbuilt workflow to write articles, editors edit them, head writers approve publishing), the website will be open to the public soon.

-Made a biometric based attendance system, for my JEE coaching, solving the problem of proxy attendance, using a rpi, camera module and fingerprint scanner. Will be deployed very very soon like next week, will be used by over 180 students regularly.

-A network scanning tool called Lemon trace - for home labs and enterprises, a python scanner scans the network, react based local dashboard shows the result and any anomalies. Currently in early stages of development.

I plan to make a startup out of the Lemon trace project.

-Also i do pc building on commissions, made enough to buy my own macbook. -Also just felt like mentioning i have been doing programming for 6 years- web dev (react, next etc), python, java, c++, basics of rust, sql ,mongo db, firebase. Is it worth yo mention the Udemy courses I have done to build these skills. -I used to do CTFs for fun but i absolutely suck at it.

Schools I plan to apply -

Need blind schools-

MIT

Harvard

Yale

Princeton

Dartmouth

Brown

Need aware-

Caltech

Stanford

Or any other top school which can cover my financial needs.

Imaging here my essays and letter of recommendations to be 10/10. Is there even vhance I can get into any of these schools.

Also I still have 1.5 years before applying early.

I am an Irish student currently doing the Leaving cert. It is a points system based off all of your subjects I score about 98th percentile. I do Maths English Irish French Biology Accounting Physics and Computer Science.

I want to do pure Math or Finance/Economics.

I just did a practice in the SAT and got 1490 with 800 in math 690 in English (never done any study) all the things I got wrong bar 2 were "standard English conventions" according to the Bluebook. Not sure how improvable this is or if I am just cooked.

I went to a DEIS(school for disadvantaged areas with extra government funding and disable support school) I then went to a middle of the road public school.

I got a scholarship to a local college in Ireland as I built a website that helps DEIS schools access education as I saw the differences in opportunities. i.e digital aids that people in the public school bought that DEIS school couldn't. So I replicated the aids using AI and my comp sci skills to build a website. I scaled to 4000 users won a scholarship worth 10k a year (chump change here I know lol but big thing in Ireland give out about ten a year and take in 22,000–26,000 students). I won a national award AIB future sparks against over 100 schools winning individual prize and won 1000 euro. Won some maths competitions here and done some tutoring. I have classmates that I incorporated onto my business that promoted it on TikTok.

I played GAA our national sport on a regional level and for my school.

I have also moved schools about 8 times moved house throughout all my childhood do not know if this matters. Parents make about 120,000 combined and there is 9 people in my family so need Financial aid. Working at an accounting firm over this summer and have worked through all my education and that's the main things about me! Looking at these other people I seem to be cooked but let me know! If I do not have a 35%+ of getting into one of the above schools(cumulative chance) will likely stay at my local college and enjoy. So let me know guys.

Hi everyone,
I’m an international applicant from Pakistan applying for **Computer Science** this admissions cycle, with **NYU Abu Dhabi** as one of my top choices.
I’m not necessarily looking for a full chance me (although opinions are welcome). What I’m really struggling with is whether my extracurricular profile tells a coherent story and whether the project I’m considering would strengthen it. (Ignore the ecas and awards if you want to)
**Academics**
Cambridge curriculum
IGCSE: 2A\*, 5A, 1B
Predicted A Levels: AAB
SAT: Currently scoring around **1480–1510** on practice tests (official test upcoming)
**Extracurriculars**
Head of IT & Design
Vice President, Debate & Declamation Society
Secretary General, Arts & Dramatics Society
Founder of my college’s Talent Show
Graphic Designer & Lead Video Editor for my school’s MUN
Peer Tutor for students from different educational boards
Digital artist since 2017 - freelanced, participated in the Bow Seat ocean awareness contest
Joined Global social leaders and built a small project especially towards helping poor laborers with food that work in harsh conditions with low pay, engaged students via speeches and contests like art contests.
volunteered in multiple breast awareness events
Microsoft Hackathon participant
**Awards**
Gold Medalist, International Bebras Computing Contest (IBIC) (Highest National)
Silver & Bronze Awards, Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition
4× World Scholar’s Cup Global Round Qualifier
Top Position in Science & Technology National, World Scholar’s Cup
Top 10 in Writing, World Scholar’s Cup
Special Mention Award, IBA MUNIK
Parliamentary Debate Champion (2×)
International Art Competition Winner
Winner of one module, RMC Science Olympiad
HIPPO English Olympiad Semi-finalist (2×)

Initially, I planned to study Engineering, but over the past year I realized that Computer Science is what I genuinely want to pursue. I’m currently learning Python through CS50P (still fairly early in the course).
The thing that’s bothering me is that my ECs don’t seem to have one obvious “spike.” They show leadership, communication, design, and academics, but I’m not sure they connect well enough for a CS applicant.
Instead of forcing myself to build an AI/ML project just because many competitive applicants seem to have one, I’m considering creating a multilingual (Pashto/Urdu) digital platform that helps women in northern Pakistan access verified information about legal rights, NGOs, shelters, helplines, and other support resources. My goal would be to combine programming, design, and social impact into one meaningful project.
**My questions are:**
Does this seem like the right direction for my profile as a CS applicant?
Would this project strengthen my application more than a generic AI project, assuming it’s well-built and genuinely useful?
Does my current profile feel too scattered, or is there already a narrative that I’m not seeing?
I’d really appreciate honest feedback. I’m less interested in whether I’ll get into a specific university and more interested in whether I’m spending the next few months on the right kind of project.

Also: Most likely ill be writing an essay on how i developed my passion for cooking in addition to how i express my happiness with it after my mother went through severe preeclampsia and suffered with extreme post partum depression after which i had to become a sole caretaker for a family of 5 for over an year whilst managing my AS levels, i wont make it a pity story, but will mention how it helped me realise the importance of not overburdening oneself, and finding the good even in such tough circumstances (something like what neitzsche said,”**He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.)**

Thanks!

Demographics: Indian male, first-gen, first in my school to apply abroad for the US, need lots of aid

Background: I grew up almost entirely in the US, moved back to India when I was 11. Parents separated at the same time, basically lost my entire life in one go. Academically and socially suffered from 6th through 8th grade, had to rely a lot on introspection because no one else could help. All this stuff is what introduced me to neuropsychology, and it's what my entire application revolves around.

Could speak but was illiterate in Hindi, every teacher accused me of incompetence and malice when I couldn't learn. New Hindi teacher in 9th actually saw me and helped, and that's what finally ended the years of regret.

Test Scores:

1. SAT: 1530 (780 EBRW, 750 Math)
2. TOEFL: 112/120 (though my being a native speaker probably means this'll be waived)

Grades (CBSE): Four years science, three years math, English four years, social studies two years, psych two years, foreign language (well, domestic language here) two years.

9th: 85%

10th: 92%

11th: 95%

12th: 99%

Class rank: 1/200

Gap Year: I've already graduated (Spring 2026) and am applying for Fall 2027. Basically giant family kerfuffle which resulted in me having to delay college and take up a full-time job. Hopefully isn't a malus.

Activities (Common App order):

1. Founder & Director — Cross-Cultural Youth Mental Health Initiative
2. Research Assistant — Adolescent Psychiatry Lab
3. Volunteer Crisis Counselor — Child Crisis Text Line
4. Independent Research Thesis: Identity Collapse & Adolescent Neurodevelopment
5. Medical Assistant Intern
6. Head Boy (Student Government0
7. Hospital Volunteer
8. Editor-in-Chief — School Newsletter
9. Academic Tutor — School Service Club
10. Customer Service Associate — Amazon (this is the full-time job)

Honors:

I know it's not too good compared to other Indian applicants, best I could do.

1. Cambridge Re:think Essay Competition — Finalist
2. Published Article — "Cultural Identity & Adolescent Mental Health," Indian Journal of Youth & Adolescent Health
3. International English Olympiad — National Rank: Top 50
4. Neuroscience Summer Program (state university, not too prestigious)
5. Research Poster Presenter — High School Research Conference (not prestigious at all)

So my essay really just talks about my background and specifically learning Hindi like a five-year-old when I was a teen, and how much of a necessary embarrassment that was. Talks about how I went unassisted during my later childhood and how I don't want it to happen to others. Not a trauma dump, more of service to others.

My counselor was also my psychology teacher as well as the licensed psychologist in the mental health initiative, so that's probably going to be a great LOR. The two teacher LORs come from my Hindi teacher (probably another great one, though her lack of English skills may underplay it a bit) and biology teacher (she didn't know me much beyond class, so this is going to be mid). The non-academic LOR will be coming from the neuropsychology professor I worked with in the research lab and summer program, so another good one I'd say.

College List:

Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, Yale, Brown, Columbia, UPenn, UChicago, Duke, Dartmouth, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, Vanderbilt, WashU, Rice, Notre Dame, Cornell, UC Berkeley, Tufts, Emory, Rochester, NYU, Tulane, UMiami, CWRU, Wisconsin-Madison, Georgia State.

If you need more info, just ask!

Background Info:
21, Hispanic/Latino & Jewish, full IB Diploma, ACT 35, prospective Philosophy major, 4.0 GPA or 97 unweighted (top 8% of class)
American applicant with USA passport and citizenship and graduated from an American High School
Will do Stanford REA and no financial aid

ECs: Chose to serve 3 years as an NCO in 8200 after high school in America (Israel’s elite cyber-intelligence unit with pipelines to elite universities, <1% acceptance rate, kind of like NSA); founded an education platform used by 50k+ students; founded an academic tutoring company tutored 20+ clients and made low five figures and sent around 10-30% to my nonprofit; co-founded that nonprofit I mentioned raising five figures and serving 5,000+ people; founded and president of school economics club; philosophy club president (secretary sophomore year); DECA secretary & ICDC qualifier; BBYO New York State Secretary leading statewide operations; venture capital fellow evaluating startups for a small VC in NY; previous national-level rower, trained with one of the top rowing programs in the U.S., then transitioned to recreational rowing after realizing I would not be recruited at the collegiate level sophomore year.

Honors: Think Essay Competition Top 3 (\~750 entrants), John Locke High Commendation (Top 3% of Philosophy), published ambient AI research in the Journal of High School Science, philosophy research with a Rutgers professor (published paper + formal acknowledgment), 3 philosophy op-eds published in Plato’s Journal, and 3rd place Somers Science Fair, ICDC Qualifier (Top 0.5% of Stock Trading Competition)
Open to clarifying any part or adding context if helpful to anything

Story and how it all ties together for me:
My application begins in high school, where I trained in rowing at a high level with one of the top programs in the U.S., before stepping away when I realized I would not be recruited, and shifted my focus toward building and academics. After that, I founded an education platform used by 50,000+ students, created my school’s economics club, and built a tutoring initiative, while also co-founding a nonprofit focused on food access that raised funding and supported thousands of people. These experiences led me to think more seriously about systems, which I explored through economics as a way to understand incentives and philosophy as a way to examine ethics and decision-making. That trajectory continued into my three years of service in Unit 8200, where working in cyber intelligence made those questions real under high-stakes conditions, and I later pursued philosophy research at Tel Aviv University focused on ethics of intelligence and technology, continuing to connect economics, systems thinking, and moral philosophy into a unified framework for understanding human impact.

At the moment I am 16, born in 2010. I want to enter in an elite university of Computer Science (specialized in AI) or AI engineering. My goal is to achieve the top universities.

I am a white male. I live in Murcia, Spain. I am the younger of 3 brothers and my family anual earnings without taxes are 50.000€. I am half spanish half french.

Stats:

Never had a lower average than 9.1/10 which I think is 4.0 GPA.

Never had less than 9/10 in math or physics. (The first time I didn't have 10/10 in math was this year)

I know Python, C and Scrath. (Programming languages)

I've been 3 times in the semifinal of the french national programming and algorithms contest (Concours Algoréa). I will still try next year.

I am currently working on a serious AI project that consists in neuronal networks and simulations with big amount of data. This AI will predict football (soccer) results and standings probabilities.

I have native spanish and french level. I have C1 English level (Advanced).

I have done a 3 day internship in a tecnology enterprise that use programming in 2025.

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Please rate me and tell me what can I do to be better. You can be straight, I want the truth.

Profile:

Age:22, Nationality/Ethnicity: Indian

Indian CA (one of the hardest exams in the world and a USCPA equivalent but 4x more rigorous)

Corporate experience of 2 years (since practical training in the form of internships are mandatory to quality for the final exams of the CA)

Undergrad GPA: 2.4-2.8GPA on a scale of 4 (undergrad GPA is low because I was managing the undergrad as well as the CA simultaneously)

1-2 letters of recommendation

I hope they don't mind the undergrad GPA because it was really hard managing both the undergrad and the CA exams together, most people qualify CA at the age of 24+ anyways because of multiple failures)