r/chanceme

Hi I’m an incoming junior looking to hopefully get into NYU or any of the UC’s as I am in Socal. Any tips or improvements would be greatly appreciated!

UW: 4.0 W:4.57
haven’t taken sat
Projected 11 APs and 3 DE
Low income, first gen, mixed race (half hispanic)

Ecs:
Planned: 100 hour passion project through Girl Scouts for Gold Award
Co- President for schools GirlUp club
Civic engagement youth chair and social media manager for local organization to get women to vote. Also on their youth council
Planned: Girl scout Girl Advisory board
Girl scout for 11 years
Planned: Civic seal of engagement project where I went to district to try and change policy
Planned: Editor in Chief and founder of school newspaper
3 years indoor volleyball
2 years beach volleyball
3 years national level club volleyball
mock trial member (most improved award and personal recognition from a judge)
planned part time job at local family owned cafe
Planned: Seal of Biliteracy

y'all i'm lowkey stressing 😭 UT austins my dream school and i can't tell if my SAT/rank are gonna ruin my chances. I'm convincing myself i have a chance one minute and absolutely not the next... chance me?

In state rising senior in Texas Major: Medical Laboratory Science (main) or biochem
• SAT: 1390 or 1400 (710M or 690M) - i'm gonna take another sat in august, weighted GPA: 5.56/6.0, rank: ~Top 13.5%
• 12 APs, main are Bio, Chem, Physics 1, Calc AB, Stats, Lang, Psych
• AP Scholar, National Honor Society

research / healthcare:
• Internship at big hospital (6 weeks)
• Volunteer at hospital (8 weeks)
• Independent research on bioinformatics with a biology professor
• UT Austin HSRA research program (bioprospecting, cell biology)
• 40+ hours shadowing a dentist

other ECs:
• Scouting America: Eagle Scout
• MCJROTC: Platoon Commander, Armed Drill Team; multiple drill/skills competitions with many first place
• Eagle/Passion Project: Leading design and construction of two big reception desks for a nonprofit clinic
• Volunteer & Team Lead for cultural organization (300+ service hours); also performed in dance and singing performances

awards:
• 2x DECA State Qualifier
• eagle Scout
• women marines association award
• multiple JROTC Drill/Skills Meet 1st Place Awards

rec letters:
Health Science teacher, AP Stats teacher, Marine Instructor (JROTC), research professor, Assistant Scoutmaster (7+ years), internship supervisor.

have a 3.756 unweighted GPA, a 1590 SAT, 13 APs, and 8 dual enrollment courses. I’ve helped raise over $100K in funding for a startup, placed at a national economics (fbla) competition thrice now placed 1 nationally in banking and financial statement analysis , published research with a Georgia Tech professor twice , published research on tactile sensors at uga attended MIT LaunchX, and interned at an educational startup where I served as the state head of outreach and workflow.isea international founder , main mech advisory board member
I’m also the outreach lead and mechanical captain for my robotics team, and we qualified for FIRST Worlds and won the most prestigious outreach award called inspire .Outside of that, I am a founder for an NGO that provides educational opportunities for underserved students and organize biweekly engineering and robotics demonstrations at adoption agencies and community centers, exists in 4 states in 30 major hospitals sent out stem kits and have reps there to support.I’ve also gained research experience at a national laboratory( govt ) and contributed to published humanoid robotics research with a foreign government research organization.

I’m hoping I have a chance despite my GPA. During my first two years of high school, I struggled with severe depression. I don’t want to go into too much detail, but things only started improving after I distanced myself from a few people, began therapy, and startsd getting better . Over the next year and a half, I raised my unweighted GPA from 3.32 to 3.74 and increased my average from an 87 to a 95 unweighted on a 100-point scale. I’m proud of the progress I’ve made and hope colleges will recognize the upward trend.

gpa: 3.77 UW/ 4.66W ik my unweighted is a big problem. APs: 13 (all 4’s and 5’s) SAT: 1550 (750 RW/ 800 M) Intended majors: Chemical Engineering or Math.

ECs: Science Olympiad (4yrs), FBLA (3yrs), Head Coach at local middle school for SciOly (4yrs), NHS, Spanish Honor Society, mural artist for my high school, Teachers aide for calculus bc, harvard precollege, summer and full year internship at johns hopkins lab for research, for last ec could put in filler clubs like Key Club or Speech and Debate.

Awards: Multiple SciOly regional awards (2,3,5), Scholastic Art and Writing Silver Key for Eastern Region, National FBLA qualifier (top 4 in my state), maybe AP Scholar and some other small awards.

LOR: counselor 6/10 don’t know her very well, bio teacher 9/10 known her all 4 yrs and she rlly likes me, physics teacher 9/10 had him for two yrs for phys c mech and emag, asked me if he could write rec for me bc he knew he could write it well sooo hoping it’s good.

I come from a single income household in a suburban area. I plan on ED I NYU in the fall. pls let me know my chances of getting in or for any t30.

hei guys ı'm an international student who got 8.0 IELTS 1550 SAT and 3.8 GPA can u please make some suggestions or judgements i need it i want liberal arts ı'm gonna study econ ı will submit to davidson,bowdoin and amherst college and other need based schools like vanderbilt boston or etc

here are the top three extracurriculars:

-Lead actor in a 700+ audience show. Managed the production budget & venue. Awarded School Honor Certificate for leadership & performance.

-Led a international club & spearheaded 3 international projects. Coordinated with European peers; awarded School Honor Certificate for intercultural teamwork.

-Worked 56h/wk to self-fund my PC & SAT exam. Managed table service, facility maintenance, and sanitation standards in a high-end, busy environment.

Hi! I’m a rising senior and Pitt is my #1 school. I have a 1290 sat score and a 3.7 GPA (I kinda have a downward trend in my grades but thats due to a chronic illness which i wrote about in my supplementary common app essay) I’m an out of state applicant. Some of my ECs are. volunteering with red cross at blood drives, member of HOSA, member of Student council, two part time jobs, and psychology club. I’ve taken AP world history and got a 4, AP chem and stats and i’ll get those scores back tomorrow, and i’m going to take ap lit and spanish lang next year. I’d love to hear from some current students and other applicants about their stats!

rising senior, asian male
hooks: fgli
school: public, non-magnet, mid-to-high comp, suburban

gpa: 4.0 uw/mid 4.6 w
sat/act: 1550, no act
class rank: no rank
ap classes: 9 up to junior year + 5 senior year (2 de, 2 av (weighted same as ap))
intended major: cs + env sci or env eng
4 years language
linear alg/multi var senior year school

spike: trying to be cs + social justice kinda, humanitarian side of ml/ai

ap scores: all five up to now

ec's

wildfire agent-based modeling research

• ABM of wildfire spread to protect reservation communities (27k+ sq mi, ~175k residents); team program secured five-figure grant; project was presented at a uni-affiliated conference and prolly another in the winter. more of helping to develop legislation/risk planning/resource allocation for these residents.
• with my local uni (t100)

ai hackathons

• built/deployed ai/ml projects across 8+ hackathons; 4+ hackathon wins. a lot of them were against undergrad/grad/professionals in the field. ~$2500 earned

RAG research paper

• first authored study on retrieval-augmented generation across 6 datasets, 9,000+ observations; ANOVA/Tukey testing; arXiv preprint in progress (prolly not going to submit to any conferences)
• might collab w/ northeastern prof soon

PPG biomed research

• first-author research on photoplethysmography + ML for low-cost health monitoring, targeting workshops (ml4h, among others) + publication (will be under review by apps)

ai Internship

• Built/shipped AI features for production platform; contributed to five-figure revenue and resolved six-figure process bottlenecks in a startup engineering team.

water quality filtration device

• ml + water filtration research for quinone 6ppd in stormwater drains, federal water quality award (1st) + wwema speaker invite (conference w/ industry leaders); continuing at a pretty good uni (t25 for cs) summer 26, prolly paper + conference as well. model 90%+ accuracy
• won 3rd at regional science fair (isef-related)

established refugee organization

• tutored Afghan refugee students in english/math (grades 1-12); 160+ hours supporting newcomers adjusting to US schools.

scioly

• vp + multi-event competitor, member three years now

wasdl pf captain

• public forum captain at my school, member four years now

vesss - nasa program

• selected as 1 of ~100 in my state for nasa earth systems program; studied remote sensing and environmental data analysis.

awards

xAI hackathon 2025

• accepted as 1 of 2 high schoolers among 554 college & professional competitors

yc startup school 2026

• selected 1/~2000 from roughly 30,000 applicants. 2-day conference in sf

fwqa + wwema speaker

• special award + invitation to conference

scioly

• state 4th place (x2) + regional 1st + regional 5th (x2)

nmsf

• probably, got 1490

recs

counselor: 9/10

teacher 1 (stem): 10/10

teacher 2 (stem): 7/10

teacher 3 (humanities): 7/10

prof (if i need it): 8.5/10

essays

beginning to start, i would say im an okay to good writer

idk im feeling so much imposter syndrome, esp for a cs applicant. let me know what i can do before apps. im gonna do regeneron + some fly-in programs. would love any advice at all, feel free to ask me anything.

I am co'27, wanting to major in Mechanical Engineering. I feel like i have decent stats and ecs but other than a few texas colleges (tx resident), idk where to apply.

I was planning on applying to only utd, ut, and texas a&m, but because I am not in the top 10% people have told me that all of these colleges (except maybe utd) are like reaches/hard targets for me. Where else can I apply out-of-state with a good/prestigious engineering and overall school with somewhat low to medium tuition (no private school)?

Here are my stats:
GPA: 4.0/4.0 UW, 5.257/6.0 W
SAT: 1460 (690 RW, 770 M) (Planning on retaking in Aug for at least 1500+)
PSAT: 1480 (720 RW, 760 M)

Additional Coursework: AP World History, AP Physics 1, AP Precalculus, AP Calculus BC, AP Physics 2, AP Computer Science A, AP Language, AP Chemistry, AP US History, Dual Credit Calculus 3, Dual Credit Differential Equations, AP Physics C: Electricity & Magnetism, AP Physics C: Mechanics, AP Computer Science Principles, AP Lit, AP Gov, AP Macro

Extracurricular Activities:

• Internship at an Engineering firm, modeling multiple CAD projects
• Internship at a non-profit ecological conservation company (made a report and researched ways to minimize the effect of mining on wildlife by using different engineering fields to design a solution)
• Aviation & Aerospace Engineering club president and founder for 2 years, making a club with 40+ members, holding biweekly meetings over aviation and engineering involved in it using activities, flight competitions, etc
• Varsity Choir section leader for 2 years, Social officer for 1 year
• Science Museum volunteer where I designed exhibitions in STEM (rocketry and Civil activities) and was a floor worker (150+ hours)
• Did Indian Classical Music for 7+ years, certified for 4 years; sang at community fundraising and general events with 1k+ people and represented TX at the Indian Embassy in cultural performances
• Science UIL Club Social Media officer and Science UIL participant (recruited 15 additional members using advertising and campaigns)
• Physics, Math, and STEM volunteer tutor on an online website reaching 25+ learners in 10+ countries (I only have 50 hours so far*)

Honors & Awards:

• NMSF/Commended Scholar (idk about NMSF cuz my score is a 220 and TX cutoff last year was a 222)
• TMEA All-Region choir and Area qualifier as an alternate; top ~6% of all participants in TX
• UIL Region Solo and Ensemble Superior ratings (9, 10, 11) and Texas State Solo and Ensemble Qualifier/Participant
• Math UIL 2nd Place team in districts for 3 years
• AP Scholar with Distinction

*should i apply a bit later to colleges (a month or two) so that i can get these hours up or is it not worth it (like 50 -> 100)

Here's my current list (just added random good engineering schools):

- Texas a&m, ut, utd, texas tech, uiuc, purdue, u wisconsin, cu boulder, umich, virginia tech

Demographics:
Asian male
Race: Indian
Citizen: USA
Low income: No income at all

Academics:
GPA: 97%
APs (Note: All self-studied; school doesn't offer them): 5s in AP Calc BC, AP Physics C: Mech and AP Physics C: E&M, AP Microeconomics, and a 4 in AP Stats.
1540 SAT (800M/740R) (Single Sitting)
Class Rank: 3rd of 110
Note: School doesn't focus on olympiads but rather on JEE. (I Live in India)

Major: Maths + Physics

Extracurricular activities:

1. Founder, Admin & CTO of Math Olympiad Guide (11-12): does 100k+ views monthly and has helped tens of thousands of students worldwide.
2. Author: Olympiad Math Prep Book (10-12): 20k+ Downloads across 40+ countries; Recognized for quality and usefulness by several olympiad coaching institutions. Also taught ~20 students personally into qualifying for AIME and getting decent scores there, to find what mistakes many students make.
3. Founder & Developer of Education SaaS Platform (9-10): Solo-built and launched an education-focused SaaS platform serving 500+ users; streamlined access to academic resources and student tools. Hosted several charity runs in which we donated 3000+ books to orphanages and government libraries within my city (got recognized by local news; did this one to solve an ongoing problem in my community back then)
4. Research: 1st author on a research paper done with Caltech undergrads on chess mech interp (AI/CS-related) (Ongoing, not published yet)
5. President at Speech and Debate Club that won 2 international awards.
6. Music (Lifelong): Self-taught Guitar/Drums/Keyboard played as well as sang (I do vocal + keyboard mainly) in local bands and several stage performances with audiences of 300+ on the usual. (Note: These are quite simple songs and performances; they won't be technically very hard) (Also have a YT channel with 3k subs and ~1 mil views)
7. Tech Intern - Tech Company (9th): Practically redesigned their whole website and made the user flow much more efficient.

Awards:

Representing USA at IOAA this year, NAC Gold Medalist.

Math Olympiads: AMC 12 x2 (DHR last year, and HR this year with a 144..... Bruhh)
AIME: 13 (top 5%), RMOx2 (AIME eqv of India), (Note: I can't qualify for USAMO under recent rules as I reside in India rn.)

USACO Platinum with a certified perfect score in USACO Gold.

PMC (It's a math contest conducted by UPenn): Ranked within the top 10 in Individuals, and my team ranked 1st, Purple Comet: Team got International 1st with a perfect score.

All INDIA Rank No. 1 in a very popular math contest here. Won a good cash prize + the Laptop I'm writing this from.

4x Merit Scholarship of 50% at school (maximum they offer) for exceptional academic performance. (for all years of schooling)

Sports:

Basketball - Played in the District team in 8th-9th grade
Chess - 2000+ Elo on Lichess Rapid

Note: This is probably my last chance-me post; I posted this here again with the updates only cuz huge updates related to IOAA recently.

I'm working on my grades cz it's below avg if I'm being honest and I do have a lot of set backs (not to mention i dont have much extra curriculars) . I want to give it my all , so how do i make my admission application one they can't look past? (fyi I'm in final yr of hs)

Hi, I'm a high school student from Belgium that just finished 11th grade going into 12th grade (it is currently summer break). I live in Flanders, Belgium and go to a catholic school (pretty standard in Belgium, not really a "religious" school).

Intended Major(s): Computer Science, (Electrical) Engineering

ACT/SAT/SAT II: Haven't taken the SAT yet, but I plan on doing this. (1550 is realistic, I have practised)

UW/W GPA and Rank: My school doesn't publish rankings and doesn't use the GPA system. 72/100 (average of my class is 66/100)

Coursework: My school does not offer AP/IB/Dual Enrolment classes, but I do follow the highest possible curriculum at my school (Economics & Math) with extra math.

Awards: None (my school doesn't organise competitions)

Extracurriculars:

1. Founded and managed a Dutch Minecraft server that has hosted over 3000 players and generated roughly 6000 EUR in revenue. Managed a team of about 8 people and did the development (software, coding plugins).
2. Currently building an app that lets student housing owners in Belgium easily manage their student housing.
3. Started learning Chinese.
4. Learned to program by completing CS50x.
5. Was part of the EYP (= European Youth Parliament) group at school, where we debated about topics concerning the European Union.

Essays/LORs/Other: I still have to write my essays. I do not know how to get LORs because this really isn't a thing where I live (advice?). I plan on taking the TOEFL test.

Schools: Stanford, Harvard, MIT, UC Berkeley, Caltech, UCLA, Cornell & possibly other Ivies.

I am aware that this may be unrealistic at this time, but I would love advice on how I can improve my profile so I can get into at least 1 of the mentioned schools. I feel like the education system where I live doesn't prep people to be competitive applicants for international schools like the Ivies. Advice and feedback is much appreciated!

Son I'll go to my safeties or CC but I just need to know if I'm wasting app slots on my reaches and if I should still apply.

Rising senior

Asian

Bay Area

Cooked competitive public school (Note: I've been to 3 different high schools and they were all cooked for various reasons, including a suspicious nontrad school, and some transfers were literally mid semester, so my transcript is like largely non interpretable)

Uhhh applying as physics major, ig maybe not the best alignment with my ECs and stuff but it's what I wanna do

Very high income

Significant extenuating circumstances I won't divulge here but trust they're really unusual but also prob bad optics (no like felonies or severe mental illness or whatever but even less straightforward)

My UC GPA is way higher than cumulative (like 3.8x uw / 4.1x w / 4.4x fully w) but it's still not that good relative to my school so I've sort of given up on big berk and UCSD

I'm applying to the following reaches: USC, Rice, UChicago, NYU. Yeah Rice and the big U of C are genuinely the WORST ones I could have gone with statistically (based off of scattergrams and common sense) but tbh there's no other lottery tickets I'm willing to take. Genuinely considering just applying to state schools and then putting the fries in the bag.

Academics:

There's like 3 dual enrollment transcripts my school doesn't count bro my HS GPA says like a flat 3.6 and 3.8x weighted or smth fried like that

I took a lot of external online APs and dual enrollment courses (calc 2, chem, econ, world history, art classes- my old school messed up my graduation requirements and i had to fulfill them somehow lol)

1530 SAT (760M 770RW) dawg I'm not retaking ts

I have a 3.8+ every single year except 9th grade, which I flunked. The only one I actually failed was a non college prep class I remedied, but I also got a C in a math class and Bs in almost everything else. SIGNIFICANT EXTENUATING CIRCUMSTANCES I was extremely sick the whole year and got into some crazy scandals at home and school (long story)

I lowkey have way too many Bs in STEM even after 9th grade but they were all under extenuating circumstances like medical issues and needing to cram after a suspicious undocumented LOA (long story, bad optics) and I also only have any rigor at all in STEM

I'm taking physics C senior year [skull] I was gonna take it in 11th grade but my transfer fucked up my schedule. Also taking linear algebra. I'll probably take multivariable and E&M too if the classes don't run out of space and my counselor doesn't mess up again. Also taking biotech, AP psych, English, gov, normal stuff (can't take AP lit bc my old school messed up my English course prereqs/sequencing, again long story)

5 AP exams (AB 5 Chinese 4 [skull] lang bio stats) dawg I prob got straight 4s on the last 3. I have like more DEs than APs which is maybe bad but hey uhhh saving time and money?

ECs, in no particular order (pls nodoxx):

My STEM ECs are all kinda fried, I had some debate and science/research ECs I was supposed to do throughout 10th grade and stuff but due to various reasons I wasn't able to participate. This also isn't what I'm putting on my commonapp but just to give a general idea yk

• Research thing since the end of 11th grade
  • Moderately selective non prestigious program, I was in a biophysics/ML lab working on a project with a PI and a tiny student team
  • Like an applied physics/math thing in comp neuro, lots of vaguely suspicious theoretical larpy stuff
  • I uhhh wrote math proofs, dug into primary literature, proposed computational implementation, etc
  • It's a megalarp and still very early stage, I'll probably have like half an inch of extra progress once app szn rolls around, like preprint/presentation type stuff if I'm extremely diligent and lucky
• Researcher, independent and at a university program:
  • So throughout 11th grade I worked on a project about applying computation and physics to predict the conformation and behavior of biological molecules (protein folding, protein IDRs, ligand binding)
  • Computational demonstration, interactive visuals, charts, paper, blah blah blah
  • I'm further refining it and presenting it at some summer program
• Mentored research program:
  • This is the most p2p thing I have but it's not that insane
  • Worked on a physics + CS paper with a PhD mentor, built a small computational model and also wrote a lit review, yada yada, pretty nothingburger
  • I doubt I'll get ts published but I'm gonna ask for an arxiv endorsement or some shit [skull emoji]
• Digital portfolio/passion project? for 5 years:
  • Basically it's a social media visual archive and blog type project with digital graphics and long form writing (both creative and scientific)
  • Around 600k monthly views
  • There's no rly coherent theme it's just been a brain dump since 7th grade
• Independent research:
  • So for a school challenge I made a demonstration of machine learning in statistical analysis by feeding it stuff from public bioinformatics datasets and having it run some extremely low hanging fruit algorithms lmao
  • I wrote a really long literature review about AI, ML, and public datasets in academic research and industry
  • I submitted ts for peer review at a minor student journal (cuz it was free and didn't require a mentor listed lmao) but ngl they're prob rejecting my ahh
  • Also submitted for informal review to my school's thing and some other online student research larp platform
• Community Service, multiple organizations for 5 years:
  • 400+ hours in total, 2x PVSA gold
  • Co-led at agricultural NPO thing for about a year, handled student signup logistics, reported at monthly meetings, did outreach in newsletters and local charity events
  • Led event with a cancer charity to create a large display at a public outreach event to spread awareness for research on rare childhood cancer treatments and financial constraints for affected families; handled like 30 people in coordinating event, signing forms, collecting materials, guidance, etc; handled proposal with partnered organization and outreach in community newsletter
• Local community service branch art education leader:
  • Started an art education popup chapter thing with my buddy at a local volunteering org, semester long weekly art classes with weekly mini-contests
  • Helping 6th-12th graders improve their art skills and gain placements in art competitions and galleries
  • We're gonna fundraise for supplies and nonprofit drives by hosting a student arts sale
• Tutoring with various organizations:
  • Online SAT and AP biology lectures, AP calculus homework help, 21 positive reviews
  • Made slides to teach elementary science for my buddy's mom's nonprofit
  • Selected as debate mentor for a middle school private program
  • Tbh I didn't do that much overall w this but I like to think I was still helpful
• Freelance art sales for 5 years:
  • Produced commissioned digital artwork, CSS/HTML web design, graphics, drawing commissions, and holiday cards via social media and local events throughout middle and high school
  • Most of ts was lowkey unpaid but I also did make a couple hundred bucks in 11th grade when I decided to stop freeloading lmao

   

• Debate participation since 7th grade
  • I got screwed over so bad I wasn't able to compete almost at all throughout high school
  • I did compete a few times, I have a tiny semis award and high speaker placements at a couple of them, but nothing to rly write home about

Zero awards other than the generic CB stuff, PVSA, 2 regional/state art awards including one first place with a monetary award, NMS commended prob, and semi finalist at some tiny student research paper thing. If I get anything else before I apply I'll put that obv- signed up for a few competitions that should have results out before RD.

LoRs: Transferring screwed me over so bad that I don't have anyone I have a decently established relationship with lol, but physics teach + lang teach + research mentor from the first thing I listed. They'll clutch trust just don't expect any crazy glaze.

Essays: I know it doesn't show here but they're probably gonna be a stronger point of my app lmao

College list dilemma: I mostly just want a sanity check on the four reach schools I listed above and whether I should consider ED. I don't think Rice ED helps, I'm not willing to ED NYU, so it's between USC and UChicago but I do NOT want to waste my ED on a lottery ticket so that narrows it to USC (ig I could still ED2 if USC just defers me anyway lmao).

I also have more "targets" on my list that are arguably way better for physics (UIUC, UMD, UCSB) and being so fr they're not likely either but they're likelier than USC lmao. I also don't rly want to apply to a program with no precedent but eh. USC is also preferable for a variety of reasons, like maybe more flexibility than some of my other options and family connections in socal, but eh maybe not the highest ROI use of ED?

If I get fried by freshman apps I could always CC+TAG to UCSB since I can reach sophomore standing relatively quickly, tho the major prep might still be inconvenient

Also I do have other reasonable targets I can weigh

To summarize:

Are UChicago and Rice too much of a lottery ticket to consider ED or applying at all, are Berk/UCSD/UCSB gonna magically become more "holistic" in a favorable manner despite me probably barely even being in the top quartile in terms of applicants' UC GPA from a school that sends a gorillion apps a year including from not just cracked kids but just normal mfs that are better than me, should I just ED USC and pray or should I put the fries in the bag and go to CC

Chance for T20s

**Demographics/Stats**:

**GPA**: 101/100 (school uses 100 point scale)
**Intended Major**: Economics + Applied Mathematics
**Course Rigor**: 14 APS (all 5’s so far) - AP US History, AP Computer Science Principles, AP English Language, AP European History, AP Chemistry, AP Computer Science A, AP Spanish Language, AP English Literature, AP Studio Art, AP Calculus BC, AP Economics, AP Physics C, AP Spanish Literature, AP Statistics
**SAT:** 1520

**Extracurriculars**:

*Countywide Nonprofit Founder*

Developed and promoted nonprofit platform, generating 2.8K visits, 2.2K unique visitors, and 5.9K pageviews, with website traffic up 343% year over year and unique visitors up 402% year over year.  

Coordinated and connected with 40+ other local charities and nonprofit organizations to stimulate reuse through awareness, events, and education.

Partnered with local food kitchen and brought together people from my school and others to volunteer to make free meals for the hungry.

*Research at University of Pennsylvania*

Research in Public Policy and Social Media Responsibility

Interviewed ~10 unique individuals in my area for their opinion and perspective on research topic

Mentored by Wharton MBA and worked with School of Social Policy & Practice

*Editor-in-Chief of Renowned Award-Winning Magazine*

Oversee a nationally recognized publication that has had 24 major scholastic journalism honors since 2014, with the magazine winning two of the highest accolades under my leadership.

*Elected Nonprofit Board Member*

Lead monthly junior board meetings and help shape outreach initiatives that strengthen volunteer involvement and support the food kitchen’s mission.

Organize 50+ weekly volunteering events each year, recruit younger volunteers from local schools, and promote the food kitchen on social media to expand community awareness and engagement.

*Upper School Peer Tutoring Program President*

Elected president of schools peer tutoring program. Oversee the tutoring of tens of kids daily with coordination with parents and faculty.

*Student Leader of County Youth-Led Organization*

Help lead a student-led youth organization in my county dedicated to empowering young people to create positive community change through leadership, civic engagement, and service.

*Admissions Ambassador for my school*

Responsible for acting as a face for my school, helping bring in prospective students and parents.

*AAA Hockey Player*

Invited to prestigious national tournaments and played in a competitive 80+ game schedule under a nationally ranked top team.

*American Red Cross Trained & Certified Lifeguard/Professional Rescuer with AED & CPR*

Trained in water rescue and immediate life-saving skills. Responsible for overseeing 50+ patrons and ensuring environment meets safety regulations.

**Awards**:
\- Lockheed Martin National Cybersecurity Competition, finished 5th overall
\- Columbia University National Scholastic Press Association, 2x Gold Crown winner (highest accolade)
\- National History Day Competition, second place regional & state qualifier
\- Sacred Heart University Science Olympiad, third place for ecology
\- AP Scholar Awardee as a Sophomore (only one of 3 in class to earn)
\- University of Chicago Research - Peer elected winner of the best overall research project on youth employment in the United States
\- High Honor Society

**Recs**
\- Computer Science Teacher 10/10
\- History Dept Chair 8/10

i know unweighted GPAs are based on a 4.0 scale. that said, do A+'s count as a 4.0 too or a 4.33? commonapp only has options for 4.0, 5.0 and others that aren't a 4.33.

in short, when reporting my GPA on a 4.0 scale, do i convert my A+'s to a 4.0 or a 4.33 (as my school does it). which one would also be considered unweighted, and which scale would colleges convert my GPA to? (4.0 or 4.33)

I wanted to know if its possible for me as an international from egypt to get into rsi if i didnt participate in isef or olympiads. I

expect to start 2 resesrch projects soon, im currently building 2 apps, i have a resesrch internship, i have a tech scholarship from the egyptian ministry, i founded 3 science clubs in my school for 200+ students, and idk but i was thinking on applying to nyas junior academy but idk if itll help.

I barely have any awards stem related as of now but i expect to join a big international/ national science competition in november and i hope i win an award.

I have pretty nice humanity things also

Am i cooked?

Demographics
Male
Middle Eastern
North Dakota
Public high school
Muslim
Intended major: Molecular Biology with a minor or focus in computational biology

Academics
GPA: 4.0 UW, 4.41 W (school doesn’t rank, top 10%)
SAT: 1520 (780 M, 740 RW)
ACT: 35 ( 35 M, 35 S, 35 E, 36 R, 10 W)
Coursework
AP World (5)
AP Biology (5)
AP Chemistry (4)
Self studied AP European History (4)
AP Calculus BC (waiting)
AP Lang (waiting)
APUSH (waiting)
AP Psychology (waiting)
AP Physics 1 (waiting)
AP Statistics (Senior)
Dual Credit Anatomy & Physiology (Senior)
Multivariable Calculus and Linear Algebra at UND (Senior)

Honors

1. North Dakota All-State Orchestra (Bass Trombone)
2. Accepted presenter at international research conference
   3.Student Congress National Qualifier Finals (2x)
3. Science Olympiad:
   - 4th State Chemistry Lab
   - 4th State Codebusters
   - 5th State Boomilever
   - 5th State Chemistry Lab
4. Outstanding Performance (Trombone Quartet) + Honorable Mention (Duet)

Extracurriculars
Most lacking imo
1. Biomedical Research
Accepted to join computational biology research lab at the University of North Dakota.
Developing an independent computational biology/cancer research project.
2. Research Presentation
Accepted to present at international conference(medium level, it’s only the conference’s second time happening)
Studied the relationship between generative AI usage and adolescent executive functioning using the TEXI survey and statistical correlation analysis.
3. National Honor Society
President
4. Band
Band Cabinet President
Former Member-at-Large
Co-founded trombone choir freshman year
5. Music
Bass Trombone
North Dakota All-State Orchestra
UND Honor Band
Top jazz and symphonic ensembles
6. Science Olympiad
Multiple top-5 state finishes in Chemistry Lab, Codebusters, and Boomilever.
7. Student Congress
6th place House 2 at state (sophomore year)
Competed in House 1 (varsity) junior year
National Qualifier Finals sophomore and junior year
8. Clinical Volunteering
Accepted Junior Volunteer at Local Health system
9. School Leadership Council
Selected through nomination from the band program
10. Academic Olympics
Top team multiple 2nd place finishes at regional events and finally got to state junior year.

College List
Princeton (REA)
Harvard
Yale
Stanford
Johns Hopkins
Duke
Brown
Rice
Vanderbilt
WashU
USC
Emory
Michigan
UNC Chapel Hill
Case Western
Ohio State
Minnesota Twin Cities
UT Dallas
Alabama
University of North Dakota

Final Remarks:
Do I have a chance at all at any of the higher schools on my list? Being the child of two professors who done their undergraduates overseas, and living overseas for 11 years of my life, the focus was always academics and not ecs, so I never knew how much I had to focus on ecs to get into the top schools. In hindsight, if I was in a better position, like if I started highschool with the knowledge I have now as a rising senior, I would’ve done ISEF, USABO, and started research much earlier than this summer.
However I’m not mad about it. Once I figured out what I had to do, I managed to get in a research lab and have a conference presentation and potentially paper if they publish it. Rejection is redirection and I know wherever I go, I know now how I should plan ahead to get into top med schools and hopefully get into my dream job which is neurosurgery.

Anyways, chance me.

Demographics/Stats:

• GPA: 3.3 UW 3.6 W (My overall final grade in Turkey is 80, I was like in top %3 in school)
• Intended Major: Evolutionary Biology for Undergrad
• ACT: 35
• I am a Turkish student and not an American citizen btw

Extracurriculars: (I will just summarize them)

1. I worked next to an electrician and learned how to fix electronics and used my new knowledge to fix my laptop that had been broken for 5 years

2. I lived in a village 150 km away from the nearest city and worked as a beekeeper and a shepherd for 3 months

3. I did research on local history, contacted villagers for the source of spolia material, and later on found an undocumented Roman structure beneath ground level. Then I reached out to the local university's archaeology department head, and they came to the site and documented the structure

4. I did research on geologic formations, learned how to read the maps and layers, and I used my knowledge to find fossils in the formation. I ended up forming a Devonian fossil collection, categorised every fossil, and found new species that hadn't been found in the formation before in Istanbul; I reached out to a university, and they took the findings in

5. I tutored middle school kids, and I wrote a novel on cosmic horror 400 pages long

6. I self-volunteered to work as a tour guide in Istanbul and gave tours to all kinds of people, some taking even more than 6 hours at single locations

7. I travelled to 62 cities in Turkey and met people from different cultures. I worked alongside them, I learned their history and their food culture

8. I read over 780 books in my life and studied Turkish and Russian literature. I also wrote some articles and published them on one of Turkey's most famous science platforms

I also worked in constructionS voluntarily, but that was literally child labour smh smh smh (I mean, I got to meet some Russian women, that was worth it)

These all feel lame omg, I could have done so much better in my free time 😭 (We dont have school clubs in Turkey, so sad, isn't it?)

Awards:

1. I was in the first %0.02 (255th out of 1.15 million people) in YKS's social sciences branch (YKS is Turkey's university exam)
2. I was in the first %4 in YKS's english branch
3. I was in the first %2.88 in YKS's literature + math section

For extra idk:

In primary school, I achieved a perfect score on the nationwide BİLSEM (I guess they are like the most perfect school in Turkey for primary education?) entrance exam, an institutional selection process designed to identify the top 1–2% of gifted and talented students in Turkey. And I achieved a perfect score on the Oxford English B1 exam during 5th grade (I learned English all by myself at such a young age, wow, am proud of myself right now). (Also, the school promised me a tablet. WHERE IS MY TABLET!!!!)

For recommendation letters:

I might get the head excavator of Troy and a professor from the uni I sent the fossils to write me recommendation letters? Maybeh? Would it be worth it?

Essay:

I am really good at story telling, so I trust myself with this one (The only thing I trust myself with)

The schools am considering:
Harvard, Yale, MIT, Brown, Dartmouth, Harvard, Yale, MIT, Brown, Dartmouth, NYU, UT Dallas and Texas A&M

Chance me!!

Btw, the reason my GPA is low is kinda sad. So you see, they used to hand us these tryout exams for YKS, and in every single one of them I was in the top 3 of the school in EVERY branch, and eh they didn't like it. Some arguments happened; they accused me of cheating blah blah blah. And they give us these "participation grades," you see. One time I got 80 on the first physics exam, 100 on the second, and she gave me 50/50 in participation, dropping my grade from 90 to a 70. And this was the case for most of my lessons, so yea, kinda disappointing.

Academics

• GPA 3.95 / 4.77
• Rank: school doesn't rank
• of APs/Honors/Dual Enrollment: 13 APs, 3 DE
• senior yr: physics c mech de, calc 3 honors/ diff eq honors, ap lit, ap gov/ap econ, French 4 honors, ap physics 2,

Standardized Testing

• 34 ACT, Taking SAT later

Extracurriculars/Activities

1. Taught myself ROS at university robotics lab to program robot for PhD level studies (internship) (prof will write a rec letter she is an alum)
2. Researched pddl path planning at same uni, submitted paper to 45% acceptance rate uni
3. Paid intern building drone with team at Fortune 500 company
4. AMC Math Club Pres + tutoring
5. developed therapy assistance app for local autism nonprofit
6. robotics club team captain
7. district advisory board (made podcasts + designed and researched radar sensors)
8. organized stem projects for kids at local science center

Awards/Honors

1. ap scholar w distinction
2. deans list nominee frc
3. impact + ei frc
4. peo star scholar
5. top science/math award in school

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

Demographics: Male, white, Alaska, public school, not low income

Intended Major(s): Environmental Engineering

ACT/SAT/SAT II: 35 ACT (36M, 36R, 33E, 34 Science)

UW/W GPA and Rank: 4.3W, 4.0 UW

Coursework: APs: Precalc, Calc AB, Seminar, Environmental Science, World History, Microecon, Lang and comp, Chem, US History, Psychology

(5s: 2, 4s: 1, other results still coming)

Senior year courseload: DE at local university (Thermodynamics, Linear Algebra, Differential Equations, Calc II and III, Writing A111, Intro to computer science, calculus based physics) AP Gov online

Awards: weak ik

Rensselaer medalist

Seal of Biliteracy (Spanish)

AP Scholar with distinction

Hopefully Coke Semifinalist

Leadership positions:

Junior Year Class President

Varsity Hockey Assistant Captain

NHS Secretary

Extracurriculars: 

1: United States Senate Page

2: Founded an environmental sensor company that deploys sensors in rural Alaska. Partnered with multiple bush companies, UAA/UAF data sharing, and testimonial letters from users. 6 sensors deployed and 7k revenue.

3: Worked at a mechanic shop for 3 years as a mechanic's apprentice. About 5 hours per week.

4: Interviewed 2 Yale professors on STEM specific environmental problems/solutions in Alaska

5: Varsity Hockey, 2 time tier II state champion

6: 7 years of piano experience, I sometimes play at my church.

7: Model UN delegate

Essays/LORs/Other: Essays I think are pretty solid, definitely not a weak spot.
Recs are going to be mid, I only had most of my teachers for a semester

Schools: 

University of Southern California

United States Air Force Academy

Yale University

Northwestern University

University of Notre Dame

Johns Hopkins University

Harvard University

United States Naval Academy

Boston College

University of Michigan

Dartmouth College

Princeton University

Rutgers University

Cornell University

Duke University

University of Pennsylvania

Brown University

Rice University

University of Virginia

Stanford University

University of California-Berkeley

University of California-Davis

University of California-Irvine

University of California-Los Angeles

University of California-San Diego

University of California-Santa Barbara