r/CollegeAdmissions

Students today have access to unlimited information online, but many still feel confused while choosing careers, colleges, and future opportunities.

Do you think students need more information now, or better guidance to actually make decisions properly?

Current senior, accepted Early Action to UNC chapel, All As with the very uncommon B throughout freshman-junior year...this year had All Bs and Cs, with one A, and failed an online course...how worried should I be about being rescinded and what're my options. Does UNC rescind for this type of stuff? Do you know anybody from UNC or other schools that have been in a similar position? What did they do?

Still super commited to going to the school and have worked very hard in several other facets of my life, just let the online course slip majorly and got 80% of it caught up in a weekend, did fine on the AP exam for it as well.

Hi everyone!

Just had my last test for AP Chemistry.. and it did NOT go as planned. I studied for HOURS, was confident in what I was doing, got over a 100 on the unit quiz, but still failed the test.

This was not my year with chemistry that’s for sure! I did honors chem and physics last year, but still managed to get an A in both classes. However, this year just killed me. I might end with a B-.

I have no idea what to do. For someone trying to get into Georgia Tech OOS for materials science, this is definitely NOT ideal. After contemplating for a bit (freaking out), I thought maybe taking a community college chem course over the summer can balance it out?? Or should I just accept it, hope the colleges see that I tried my best, and move onto the next (Physics C)?

That being said, I still have a 4.7W GPA and am getting a rec from my honors chemistry teacher (hopefully). I also tried the hardest I could and I’m sure my teacher knows that. This doesn’t erase the B- I will have on my transcript tho.

Anyways, any advice is appreciated!! Has anyone been in the same position as me?

I'm a high school senior and I'm getting ready to graduate high school and next year I'm going to a community college because I was rejected everywhere that i wanted to go to. I applied to 5 colleges as a California resident: UC Davis, UC Santa Barbra, UC Santa Cruz, University of Washington, and San Jose State University. My intended major for all colleges was Neuroscience (Or some sort of biology variation if the college didn't have it)

Stats:
Gpa 3.7 (I don't remember if this was unweighted or weighted)
8 APs (Chem, World History, Physics, Calc A/B, US History, Stats, Gov, French)
Extracurriculars: 4 years of high school wind ensemble, marching band, and jazz band. 5 years of Orchestra, 2 years of All state, 4 years of county and district honor bands
CNI-X participant and graduate
Student of the month last year out of entire school in March.
Founder and president of Chess Club (4 Years) Car Club (2 Years)
Hours of volunteering at Red Cross, also CPR certified there

I also put my college essays though several scanners and i got "Good" to "Very Good" results, whatever that means.

My goal is that the people reading this see my application that was sent to the schools and help me formulate why I was rejected from everywhere except for San Jose State University. I should mention that I am a white male from a middle class family with a single father as my sole parent.

I know it's ranting at this point, but I can't stand seeing my classmates getting into UCs when I was rejected from the 3 that I applied to, my sister attends UC Davis. My hope of course is that everyone gets into the college they want and has a good life, but why can't I also get into these colleges? I busted my ass for years trying to prepare myself for college. Yes, I also know that my application is very music focused, but I felt that with good grades, several APs that I all passed the exams by the way, I would have a fair chance at the students who have a GPA above a 4.0 I belive that is the main reason why I didn't get into these colleges, yet again however, I have classmates that are getting into UC Santa Cruz with GPAs that I know for a fact that are below or at a 3.5 because they joke about it, they regularly skip class because of being "sick" and in our music bands they don't practice, yet these kids are going to UCs. I know that life has a funny way of changing your path, but what the hell happened to mine? I'll go to a Community College for a year or two and transfer to a UC so I guess in the end it doesn't matter? But damn this really really hurts being with everyone going off to a UC while I had a theoretically better application and i'm going to a Community College.

Sorry to rant, if someone could review my application and explain a flaw or something that would be great so I can improve my application for when I transfer to a UC.

Hi guys, I got off the waitlist for UIUC for CS at the Grainger college of engineering, and I am committed right now to UT Austin for CS + Linguistics (an x + cs degree). Do you guys know if I should pick one or the other? It seems really confusing with the different degrees and all. I will say that I am leaning towards UT for campus life, but I might want to go to UIUC if the opportunities are better. Lmk if you lean towards one or the other.

hi!! posting here just because i'm soo worried about college for applications next year,

i just ended the year with an 88 in one of my classes and it's lowkey spiking my cortisol, so hoping to see if anyone could chance me/if i could get advice as to how i could change my portfolio to make the B negligible
Intended Major: Biology/Public Health on the Pre-Med track

Asian Female, Single family income/it's just me and my mom, ~40k household income

Going to apply for questbridge, but also applying through commonapp

Schools:

Safeties: A&M and UH

Target: UT

Reach: Rice, JHU, Yale, Stanford, UC Berk (probably going to apply to other schools as well via QB – hoping to match with rice, but I don’t really have a dream school... )

Stats:

Rank: 49/550

GPA: 3.8/4 (?) somewhere around there

SAT: 1530 (800M, 730 RW), going to retake next year

i read a lot of manwha so i hope that'll make my essay a banger 😁

Rec Letters:
Hopefully going to get one from my lab head this summer, but on top of that

- Calc Teacher: taught at GT and went to Northwestern, have had his class for the past four years

- AP Lang teacher: have had her course just this year only, letter might be weaker

- for rice specifically, between me and my counselor we have meetings often (i'm pretty indecisive and i like to talk a lot) and we've been meeting since i was a freshman

Courses:

AP Physics 1, AP Physics 2, AP Physics C, AP Bio, AP Calc BC, Multivariable Calculus, Linear Algebra, APUSH, AP Capstone Seminar, AP Capstone Research, APHUG, AP CSP,  AP Lang

Next year, plan on taking AP Chem, AP Psych, Pharmacy Technician Course, AP Lit

didn't take a lot of ap exams, 5 on seminar, 5 on aphug, 4 on apush, couldn't take anymore than that cause no money 😔

-           Taking Macro and Econ over the summer through offered course

-           Got Two Bs throughout all of highschool, one in freshman year (APHUG, like a 89 my freshman year), one in junior year (ended the year w/ 88 in anatomy honors)

Awards:

Grand Award Winner @ Regional Science Fair

Award Winner @ State Science Fair

ISEF Qualifier

X3 Debate State Qualifier

+15 Medals/Trophies in Debate under LD & WSD

X2 Best Delegate Model UN

X2 ICDC Qualifier

X3 State Finalist for DECA

X1 HOSA ILC Qualifier

Passion Project:
Designed and created a medical device that aims to help patients with a neurodegenerative disease; worked directly w/ local physical therapy center to test and implement, presented @ ISEF

this isn't really a passion project but i am also very passionate for league & valorant, i've hit rank1 on valorant back when pro city was happening, and then i'm masters in league;; not really relevant but i mean it's cool

Clubs/ ECs:

-           SNHS Historian

Club has over 100+ members

had to do a lot of networking for guest speakers and mainly managed posts for the club, club helps provide students with opportunities for outreach (i.e. internships and olympiads), mainly helped with providing resources to underprivileged students that were interested in the sciences

-           DECA President

Chapter has 50+ members

raised over 20k in the past few years as an officer while also qualifying to icdc, mainly helped students gain access to alumni/others that are in business because i hope to open my own practice one day, furthermore also helped raise students going to state by about 25%

-           Debate President

Tournament brings in over 15k, have to help manage that money

helped students state qual this year as part of a wsd debater, have also debated on the international circuit when i did LD, made it to outrounds but then my debate coach stopped offering ld so i only ever ended with a bid and no at-large when i was a freshman, haven't gone to any progressive tournaments since

-           Model UN VP

won delegate awards and a couple of other things here and there, this club is mainly just for shits and giggles

Research/Volunteering:

Doing research as a paid intern this year with notable professor at #1 public university within my state for ~2 months (june & july), not through a program or anything I just cold emailed; his research mainly focuses on protein engineering

Volunteered for local STEM club, taught elementary students STEM concepts since freshman year, 2 meetings 3 hours each bi-weekly, about 70 hours in total throughout all of high school

Volunteered for blood drives & and local foodbank a total of maybe 40 hours throughout highschool

Going to get my pharmacy technician certification during the school year, also hope to volunteer @ local hospital/clinic to get more volunteer hours throughout the school year

i lowkey think it's looking like a gg go next let's go to a safety but i'm open to hearing anything other

I’m a high school senior trying to figure out if taking a gap year before college would actually help financially, or if it would just delay the same debt problem by a year.

Right now my best college option would leave me with a $27k/year gap after financial aid. My parents can maybe help with $4k-$5k a year, and I have about $3k saved from working part-time. Even if I work this summer, I’m probably still looking at taking out loans for tuition/housing, and the total debt over four years could easily be $110k+ if nothing changes.

I’ve been thinking about taking a gap year, working full-time, living at home, and trying to save maybe $12k-$18k before starting school. I’d also use the time to apply for more scholarships and maybe retake the SAT/ACT. But I’m wondering if that actually changes the math enough, or if I’d just start college one year later and still end up borrowing a lot.

For people who took a gap year mainly because of money, did it meaningfully reduce your debt or give you better options? Or did it just postpone the same financial stress?

Hey everyone,

I just finished the college application process this year and I’m committed to a t10 for the fall. Now that app season is over, I feel like I learned a lot about essays, extracurriculars, and the whole process in general.

Honestly just need something to do rn and figured I’d offer free help/advice to anyone applying to college. I’m not a professional by any means but I’ve been through process and feel like I have a pretty good grasp on it.

Feel free to comment or DM me with questions!!

I’m a senior in high school (alr accepted into fau), planning to go for pre business - finance, i have good grades (all As and high bs) but my math grade for the final year will most likely be a d+ instead of a c, am i gonna get rescinded ?
someone please respond im stressed 😭

Help i only have 5 hours to decide between emory oxford or rutgers buisness school for finance at both. I am in state for rutgers but the cost for emory first year is the same as ru but years 2-4 is a lot more expensive. idk which one to pick for the best career outcomes. additionally i am planning to try to transfer sophmore year from both, so which one would make transfering easier or is better to graduate from.

Hello all! I was wondering about out of state options, America and worldwide. Problem? The 2.5 gpa. Ever since I started school, I have never, and I will repeat this, I have NEVER, even when trying, gotten bs and as. Always all Cs. Maybe I am not the smartest person ever, sure, but I just don't like where I am located, and want to go out of state. I really do not wish to take community College. I want to study IT

So yeah, basically the title. I applied for bacterial genomics, and just got an email that I got off the alternate waitlist. But here's the thing. I'm in a really odd position.

To keep it short, I live in a homestay in the States, and come home to South Korea every summer to meet my family from June to august. Going to SSP would cut this time that I get to spend with my family in half, and would ruin my plans to go to the gym and really better myself. I really don't know what to do in this situation.

On the other side, I know it would still help me with my college application. I have good stats (7/554 rank, 1550SAT), but lack some ECs especially in research, and my dream school is Stanford, so I know this is the most logical choice but still... I do not know what I should do. If I don't do SSP, I'm still doing a short research camp with a professor from a T10 based on a personal project that I am doing, and guaranteed getting a rec letter from him, so its not like I'm not doing anything either..

So my questions for ya'll are:

Do you think it is worth doing SSP in my situation?

How prestigious is SSP still?

Thanks for reading my post.

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Just finished my freshmen year with a 3.92 gpa at my local college in Northern VA. Ik spring sophomore transfer is pretty difficult but I'm hoping to transfer asap😭. Pretty mid but not bad student in HS, 3.72W with like 11 APs, 10 Honors with an upward trajectory.

30 credits including some classes I'm taking over the summer, should have around 42 when applying(Prioritized my GPA so that's why I didn't take as many courses)

Planning to apply for either Economics or Finance

EC's: Tax assistant for the IRS, Economic development internship, Equity Analyst for a investment fund at my school, Director of AI and Co-Director of PR for an accounting club at my college, Experiential Learning Program with a Big 4 firm, Secretary for Econ club at my school(Little hard to gain big leadership positions as a freshman but I feel I've done the most that I can as a first year)

I feel I like I have a good shot at colleges like UMD and W&M but how do I fair at like UVA(Top Choice), NYU, WashU, Notre Dame and other top 20s?

I think I can get some pretty good LOR's from my connections and write a good essay(Don't want to make the post too long lol)

Any advice would be highly, highly appreciated!!

I’m probably taking 3-4 ap classes next year and the others are all dual enrollment or honors so I don’t want to take all these tough classes just for nothing.

I’m a rising junior interested in cs/data science and I was wondering if there is anything I should be doing to improve my chances in getting into a top college like stanford/mit (im dont have many stem-focused ecs)

i took ap hug freshman year and got a 4, and have finished ap chem and world this year. I plan to take ap csp, calc ab, lang, and stats next year.

my gpa UW and W is around 3.9/4.5 respectively and im like top 20/500 in my class (also in a public school in socal)

The only notable ec I have is co-founding a non profit that has raised over $5k for orphans in need (not 501c3 status yet would like more advice in applying for that if anyone knows)

Some questions I have include:
What important CS/data science ecs I should be starting rn?

What are things that would strengthen my
profile greatly?

Should I try doing research? And if so, how should I start?

Should I try to compete in competitions like hackathons with my little knowledge in coding or is it too late to start?

Any and all advice/shared past experiences are appreciated.

Hello everyone,

I am currently a Junior in HS who will graduate as a part of the Class of 2027 and UT Austin is my first choice of school after I graduate. I have some people that tell me I have a shot at getting in and others that tell me to not apply and I want all of your opinions on this. Just like the post says, please be honest with me and if you have any tips, I would love to read it.

Who am I:

Race: Asian/Vietnamese

Finance: Low Income

Generation: 1st Gen

Intended Major: Computer Science

Here are my stats:

Rank: 83/504

GPA: UW = 3.4 and W = 3.7

SAT Score: 1050

RW= 560 and M = 490

I am also expected to graduate with an applied associates as I also take dual credit classes.

Extracurriculars:

Key Club President: 1 year

Coding Club President: 1 year

Student Council Public Relations and Education Committee Chairman: 1 year

Rotary Board Member/Treasurer: 2 years

Asian Student Alliance Event Coordinator: 1 year

National Honors Society Board Member: 1 year

Internship with a non profit organization called Keep Rowlett Beautiful during my sophomore year summer and my upcoming summer as a Junior.

That is all and like I have said before, please be honest with me and if you have any advice/tips, please share them with me.

Hi there!

I have a son that is finishing up his Freshman year in high school (TX). He would like to attend either UT Austin or Texas A&M, and major in Aerospace Engineering with a minor in Astrophysics.

He is in all GT classes, and is currently in AP Human Geo. Despite our urging, he has not joined any clubs this year.

He is taking at least one, 4 point class every summer. Next school year he will be taking 2 AP courses, be in the Aviation program through our district, and would like to join the astronomy club. He also has an opportunity to intern for a ‘rocket ship company’, the summers between his junior and senior years.

His unweighted GPA is a 4.0, weighted is a 4.98 (sorry, was off and had to change that) (as of last semester). We don’t have his rank yet. I’m hoping he will know when he gets his report card.

What type of advice could you give me as a parent to help guide him:

A: In the right area as far as clubs he should join?

B: Which classes would be most beneficial?

C: If he were accepted into both schools, which would be the best pick, and why?

Any and all other information I might need would be great as well! Thank you so much in advance!

Hello, I've recently have mainly four different choices right now. Well, I am an international student from East Asia and my parents are currently worrying about my job opportunities.

Since youth, I've strongly have experiences in designing software and web, and I'm personally into studying human cognition. Yet, in college, I have this some kind of dream of like college student life where I can freely study and engage in clubs of interest, which I have not back in high school.

Well, I'm currently left with four different choices but I'm not sure what would be right for me.
- UCSD: I got into the AI major in Muir College
- UCLA: Cognitive Science
- UCI: Software Engineering
- Waterloo: This is Canada but I did get in as Software Engineering (Honors)

Well, I and my parents do kind of care about prestige, but I mainly focus on the social and personal life aspects, like the dorms or clubs or the food. So, are there any facts to consider?

Hi all, I am currently committed to UCSD for Mechanical Engineering but just got off the waitlist at UCLA for Chemical Engineering and am unsure what to do. I slightly prefer MechE to Chem but would be fine pursuing either one.

I’m on an Opportunity Plan so cost isn’t really a factor, but the Regents Scholarship comes with extra benefits at SD like research opportunities and priority enrollment. However, I understand that LA is generally considered more prestigious.

Any advice would be appreciated!