Hi, I'm former Harvard admissions + a Harvard graduate and founder of r/ivyleaguecollege . I want to start an AMA thread where you can post any question you would like me to answer about Ivy League admissions or college prep. Please stay on topic.

(Also, please be patient if it takes me a few days to answer -- I will answer!)

Meanwhile, if you're applying to the Ivy League and want 1:1 help with your college admissions essays and applications, contact me via my website for a free consultation! IvyCollegeEssay.com

https://preview.redd.it/ninx7e7e1ibh1.jpg?width=600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6729a936f2353ff9380d4d45bd567482ba5a9498

Hi everyone, I'm conducting a survey my academic research project on sustainable packaging.

I'm studying what consumers think about everyday packaging and whether they'd be willing to switch to more sustainable alternatives if they're practical and convenient.

I would really appreciate the help!

Hi everyone, are your current grades what you anticipated this semester? what happened?

The Impact of Social Media Marketing on Consumer Buying Behavior Among University Students

All responses will be treated with strict confidentiality and used solely for academic purposes. Your honest feedback is essential in helping us better understand the topic under investigation and achieve meaningful research outcomes.

Hi everyone. I’m an 18-year-old girl from Pakistan, and I honestly don’t know what to do anymore. I feel trapped between what I want for my life and what my family expects from me.
I know this is going to be long, but if anyone reads it all, I’d really appreciate it because I genuinely feel like I’m suffocating and don’t know what to do anymore.
Being a eldest daughter: growing up, I’ve always been known as the “perfect child.” I never really rebelled. I got good grades, stayed respectful, helped around the house, tried to make everyone proud, never argued, and always tried to meet every expectation placed on me. Despite that, it feels like every time I meet one expectation, another even bigger one replaces it.
About a year ago, I had just migrated from interior Sindh to Karachi. It was already a huge adjustment for me. My father wanted me to apply to universities outside Sindh. I didn’t want to leave so soon after moving, but I agreed because he promised he wouldn’t force me to go abroad immediately and that I would have time make up my own future by myself.
For the next year, my entire life revolved around university admissions. My classmates applied to one or two universities. The strongest students around me applied to maybe three or four. I ended up preparing for around twenty different admission tests and actually appeared for eleven of them. Every university had a different syllabus, different pattern, and different preparation. I spent months studying almost every day under constant pressure.
My dream university was IBA. In my first attempt, I scored 192, and in my second attempt, I scored 188. Unfortunately, I still couldn’t get in. Considering I came from a very small school in interior Sindh and was competing with students from some of the best schools in Pakistan, I was heartbroken but still proud that I gave it everything I had.
I also received admissions from a few other universities. My father rejected them all.
Then, as soon as all my university admissions were over, my father suddenly brought back the Australia plan.
It felt like everything I had worked so hard for no longer mattered.
Now everyone in my family expects me to prepare for IELTS in just one month and score at least a 7–7.5 band, even though many people spend months preparing for it. The exam itself costs over 80,000 PKR, so there is enormous pressure to do well on the first attempt.
The hardest part is that I’m not refusing to move abroad forever.
I actually want to settle abroad one day.
My own plan has always been to complete my bachelor’s in Pakistan, become more independent and emotionally mature, and then apply abroad for my master’s. I want to leave when I’m ready, not because I was pressured into it.
I’ve explained this to my parents over and over again.
I’m not saying, “I’ll never go.”
I’m saying, “I’m not ready at 18.”
To me, those are completely different things.
But every time I say that, the conversation becomes aggressive. I’m told I’m ruining my future, that I’m emotional, immature, and don’t understand how the world works. Eventually I start feeling guilty for even expressing what I want.
Another reason this has become so difficult is because of what happened during my first trip to Australia last year.
I spent about two months there with my grandmother and aunt. It was my first time leaving Pakistan, and instead of becoming a happy memory, it became one of the most traumatic experiences of my life.
My uncle had worked in Australia for almost 12 years. During those twelve years, he only came back to Pakistan three times—twice for his own wedding-related events and once when I was very young. He worked incredibly hard to build a life there.
Then his marriage completely fell apart.
There was constant family conflict. I was caught in the middle while relatives spoke negatively about my mother and expected me to take sides when we all were in the same side and should support each other.
Things became even worse when legal issues followed. My uncle and my grandmother both ended up spending time in custody during disputes with his ex-wife’s false accusations. Watching everything unfold while being so far from home was terrifying. Whether or not people agree with how the situation was handled, it left me deeply shaken.
Today, despite all those years of hard work, my uncle and grandmother have lost their home and are living in rented accommodation.
I love my uncle very much, but watching everything he went through has left me terrified of facing something similar before I’m emotionally ready.
That’s why I don’t think my fear is irrational.
Even if I moved to Australia, I wouldn’t be living with my uncle or grandmother anyway, so this isn’t about avoiding them. It’s about realizing how overwhelming life in another country can become and understanding that I don’t feel ready to carry that responsibility alone at eighteen.
Another thing that makes this harder is that my family talks as if my future doesn’t really belong to me anymore. They constantly tell me that I need to settle abroad so I can eventually help everyone else including my younger brothers to leave Pakistan too.
I understand wanting to support your family. I genuinely do.
But sometimes it feels like my entire future has already been assigned responsibilities before I’ve even had the chance to build my own life.
I also don’t feel emotionally supported by my parents.
They’ve provided for me financially, and I’m grateful for that. They’ve given me opportunities many people don’t get. I don’t deny that at all.
But emotionally, I often feel unheard.
Whenever I say I’m overwhelmed, anxious, or scared, I’m usually told I’m being dramatic. My mother believes someone my age can’t really have trauma or depression because this is supposed to be the happiest time of my life. when i got rejected for the 2nd time from iba she said “I should leave these matters to my dad only and she has nothing to do with all and i should have worked harder”
I don’t know how to explain that gratitude and emotional pain can exist at the same time.
For the past two months, I’ve barely been sleeping. Almost every night I end up crying. I have separation anxiety, and the thought of suddenly moving to another country before I’m mentally ready makes me panic. I’ve even started struggling to eat properly because of how anxious I’ve become.
I don’t want to disappoint my parents.
I don’t want to seem ungrateful.
I don’t want to waste opportunities.
But I also don’t want the biggest decision of my life to happen because I was pressured into it.
I keep asking myself one question:
If Australia was always the only acceptable option, why did my father make me spend an entire year preparing for so many Pakistani universities? Why let me invest so much of my life into something that I was never actually going to be allowed to choose?
My ideal plan has always been simple:
Finish my bachelor’s in Pakistan.
Become more confident and independent.
Apply abroad for my master’s on my own. (I know I can do it)
Move when I genuinely feel ready.
Instead, I feel like everyone around me has already decided my future for me.
So I’m asking people who have no reason to take sides:
Am I being unreasonable for wanting to complete my bachelor’s in Pakistan first, even though I fully intend to move abroad later?

If you were in my position, what would you honestly do? (main question because whatever chatgpt does not sound convincing to me, I feel like because its chatgpt it give you the positive part no matter if ur incorrect) i want to know it from real people

I have been set on getting a mac for university for a while now, but I’ve recently been heavily advised against it because universities operate entirely on windows and they’ve heard stories from students who have really hard times using certain programs…I had heard something like this as well but it was mostly for engineering students, I am in biomedical sciences which I thought would be fine.
Am I better off to get a windows based laptop or am I just being fear mongered?

I would appreciate any advice and especially feedback from current students who use a mac!

Hi everyone, this is probably a long shot but I'm taking a statistics course and we have a project where I need at least 35 people to answer a few questions:

1. On average, how much time do you spend attending class each day?
2. On average, how much time do you spend studying and doing homework each day?
3. On average, how much time do you spend watching tv?

Please please post your answers below!
Thank you to anyone that helps me out!

Hi everyone,

I appeared for the NIOS On-Demand Examination (ODE) for English (302) on 17 Feb 2026 at Port Blair, but my result is showing “Absent” even though I attended and wrote the exam.

I have already:

Filed a grievance on CPGRAMS

Submitted an appeal after it was closed without resolution

Contacted school/exam centre

Collected attendance-related proof

NIOS asked me to submit documents to the Regional Centre for verification

I’m trying to follow the official process, but I’m confused and not getting clear guidance.

If anyone has experienced a similar NIOS result/attendance issue, please share:

What steps helped?

How long did correction take?

Which office responded?

Also, if anyone is familiar with the NIOS Regional Centre in Kolkata or lives nearby and knows the process for document submission or follow-up, I’d really appreciate guidance.

Thank you.

Tell me why you have the easiest job in the world and you guys still need to find ways to make it easier on yourselves? I pay x amount of money for my tuition just to be hit with another bill when class starts because the teacher is too lazy to make and grade assignments on their own that they need to use a third-party website which causes us the students you need to pay for an access code for the semester. Meanwhile, all this website does is make the professors job way easier. So the students pay more money The professor‘s job gets easier and the learning experience becomes way worse than it would be. This is like the fifth time I have experienced this if you are an online professor doing this, just know you are an awful person. College students are broke as it is stop hiding bills outside of tuition, especially ones that are just there to make your life easier as a teacher. Pricks you all are

So I am a student in 12 class I am indian an also study ina government school and I have been getting beaten up by my teachers a lot in school and they beat me for little things like even smiling in class or not having a proper hair I got humiliated by my teacher in assembly ground today and slapped by my teacher today and the problem is that he only slapped me and no other student with long hair in school and I have been targeted by 2-3 teachers a lot of times i tried telling my parents but they would just ignore me and tell me that I am making a fuzz for no reason they don't take it seriously and a teacher in my school also know my a relative of mine and a few family member of mine so he beats me up for little things cause he knows that my family wouldn't take my side. I thought of complaining it to child helpline but I am scared that if somehow my teachers found out about it and again beated me up I am too scared what should I do

Hi everyone!
I’m currently in the final year of my Master’s degree, and I’m conducting this survey as part of my thesis.
My research focuses on how major international sporting events influence a country’s image, attractiveness, and reputation (nation branding).
The survey takes about 10–12 minutes to complete, is completely anonymous, and there are no right or wrong answers. I’m simply interested in your personal opinion.
I’m currently looking for as many responses as possible over the next few days. Your participation would genuinely make a huge difference and help me reach the number of responses I need to validate my Master’s thesis.
Thank you so much for your time and support! ❤️
I’m also happy to complete your survey in return, just leave your link in the comments.