Just curious how many of y'all have done research in hs. it's becoming more and more common and basically a stat padder in my opinion.

I might be biased, though, in my school, at least 100/500 of the graduating class has done research at real universities.

What are your guys's thoughts? Are conference submissions even worth anything? I hope papers are still somewhat valuable.

EDIT: Curious if you guys had thoughts on my situation as well. I did four years of research at a T20 university, initially through a free competitive program, then through a funded fellowship. In that time, I have coauthored 3 conference submissions to a niche/specific conference for my field. I also presented my work as an ISEF finalist through a competitive state fair. Would this situation, especially the free application based program, help me avoid being considered BS?

title basically. right now i'm sitting at my desk at 11:45pm at night. tomorrow i have two tests that i've barely studied for but i want nothing more than to just go to bed. ive gotten nothing above than a b in half of my classes for the past month which is incredibly out of character for me!! i'm usually a straight a student with an occasional b on an assignment. i literally havent gone to sleep before 2am once for like three months.

my teachers decided to give me 6 tests the week before ed and ea is due. i'm so so tired of studying for hours upon hours and getting mid grades. im taking 5 aps this year and i underestimated how difficult it would be, like i'm struggling in every single class and i genuinely have no friends in any of my classes so i can't ask anyone for help.

and i still have no clue where i'm gonna ed to the point that i'm questioning submitting an ed application at all, even though my parents have been pressuring me to ed to a school literally for TWO years. i had my heart set on uchicago and last minute i started doubting myself and decided to back out of that. oh and don't forget scholarships, on top of 7 ea applications due in 1 week! i'm applying to 18 colleges and my parents still want me to add schools too.

mind you, among all of this i have to keep up my extracurriculars, get half my grades back up from b's while maintaining the a's i have, and treat college as like a part time job at this point cus i spend over 20 hours a week on it at least with no end in sight.

the cherry on top is that ill be up for 2-3 more hours trying to understand econ which i dont understand at ALL even though ive been studying for the past 5 hrs. fmllllll

nothing profound here, just trying not to cry.

it hurts when you've spent hours upon hours (years, really) devoting your time to things that are practically useless in this landscape, only for people who are actually smart and worth anything to blow you out of the water. even with tears and endless all-nighters, my ecs and awards are still shit. i don't even know what career path i want. i didn't think i'd make it to 16, let alone my senior year. it's too late now.

and even if any of these schools liked me, i probably wouldn't be able to afford any of them.

7th grade me would be really, really disappointed.

my life could honestly be much worse, though.

ok bye now

I'm not that old myself but I see these kids genuinely on crack in terms of EC's, spitting ivy league level shit from day 1. I see college application work starting from 7th grade, thing is it used to be never this deep but now I see the most cracked apps going downhill. College has become a joke and the students trying to play jester to pay high tuition and barely get a job in this shit market.

I’m almost done with early apps (1 essay left) and everything just feels so hopeless. It sucks knowing I didn’t put in nearly as much effort during hs as I should’ve and thinking about all the things I could’ve done that would’ve improved my application. I knew this was gonna happen too, I’m not stupid but lazy and unmotivated which might be worse. Then I look at my friends who actually did do cool stuff and I imagine them getting into their dream schools and growing up to be successful and idk I just can’t do the same for myself. Feels like delusion.

Yes ik you can be successful no matter where you go to college and maybe I’ll look back on this in a few years and laugh, but rn it’s hard believing. My life atp just feels like a conglomeration of wasted potential. I’m dreading in a month and a half when everyone’s talking about “so where did you get in early” and I’m gonna have to say some shit like “don’t worry about it” and everyone knows what that means.

Whenever I think about this I get a sinking feeling in my stomach that I’ve never felt before. This is the worst I’ve ever felt mentally in my life and I have a feeling it’s likely not getting better, since now there’s at least still hope.

Run on sentences to encapsulate my run on thoughts

I was supposed to finish my last essay today but in this state Idt I can

How much do 9th-grade grades actually matter in college admissions?
I moved from South Korea to the US in 10th grade. In Korea, 9th grade is the final year of middle school, so I honestly didn’t take academics seriously at all. I ended up getting grades in the 70s in pretty much every subject.
However, after moving to the US, my academic performance improved significantly. I’ve earned almost all A’s since 10th grade, and by the end of senior year, I’ll have taken 12 AP courses.
I also have some decent extracurriculars, including a corporate internship, and my SAT superscore is 1480.
The biggest problem is my GPA. When my Korean transcript was transferred to my US high school, all 12 subjects from 9th grade were included in my cumulative GPA calculation, even though many of them were relatively minor classes. As a result, my cumulative GPA is only around 3.0, despite my much stronger academic performance since moving to the US.
My question is: Am I basically out of luck when it comes to getting into highly ranked colleges because of my GPA? Or do I still have a realistic shot at some good universities given my upward trend, course rigor, and extracurriculars?
I’m genuinely curious how admissions officers might view a situation like mine.
I’d really appreciate any honest opinions or advice!

Everyone in this subreddit talks about being recruited for NCAA teams, but people don’t realize how hard it is to just make the high school team. You can’t make the basketball or baseball teams without starting at 5 years old. “Rich” sports like lacrosse or water polo have massive skill barriers for entry. Lacrosse requires you to be a fast runner with extremely good hand eye coordination, and water polo requires you to tread water in your sleep. Even cross country has a big genetic barrier to entry since most varsity teams only have room for the top 7 fastest runners. You can’t get there if you didn’t start running from a young age.

It just sucks when sports are an interest for you, but you just don’t have the genetics or background needed to be successful.

title. i literally don’t qualify for financial aid anywhere but my parents cannot support me all the way through college/keep up with cost of living/pay for siblings. genuienly what do I do. they want me to go to state but I’ve worked really hard and ik my academics should be good enough to get into some target private colleges. the thing about state too is ive already accumulated a ton of merit scholarships/other stuff so it’ll be really cheap, but I feel like with all the stuff I’ve done I have the capacity to go somewhere better and I really want to I just can’t afford it. what should I do

I’m a high school senior applying to colleges for Fall 2027, and I just realized I made a pretty stupid mistake.
I listed “AP Scholar” in the Honors section of my Common App because I misunderstood what the award meant. I recently found out that you need scores of 3+ on at least three AP exams to qualify, and I haven’t earned the award.
The problem is that I’ve already submitted applications to seven universities with AP Scholar listed.
As soon as I realized the mistake, I started emailing the admissions offices to explain what happened and ask them to remove or disregard the honor. I haven’t even gotten the portal for most since I applied like this weekend except for upitt and usc.
For context, I have a 1510 SAT and a 3.85 unweighted GPA. Everything else on my applications is accurate, as far as I’m aware.
I’m genuinely worried that admissions officers will interpret this as dishonesty rather than an honest misunderstanding, especially since the mistake appears on multiple applications.
My questions:
Could this mistake alone get me rejected?
Does voluntarily correcting it make a difference?
Has anyone experienced something similar and still gotten accepted?
I’m not trying to make excuses. I know I should’ve verified the award before submitting. I’m just trying to understand how serious this is from an admissions perspective.
The colleges are:
University of South Carolina (USC Columbia)
University of Pittsburgh
Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT)
Drexel University
Temple University
Miami University (Ohio)
Case Western Reserve University
Smbody reassure me cuz I’m genuinely freaking out.

Title, i have 6 semester Bs but a 3.9 unweighted gpa, ranked around 26/500 of my class. most ivy admits from our school have been top 10 people of our class but we have sent people to stanford and northwestern in the past that were ranked like 15-20.

Consider the following as a public service announcement and share it with everyone that you know that is thinking about going to school, specifically online.

These programs are absolutely notorious for inviting you in with a lot of social media ads that talk about you getting thousands of dollars toward tuition. If you provide your information because you are more interested in getting that money, you will get a flood of phone calls. Everyone is going to try to enroll you in less than an hour and I am warning you that you should do your research, specifically on places like CTU. Look up lawsuit information regarding the program. If they are known for doing things in an unethical way, why would you connect yourself at all with them to begin with?

Don't think for one second that you are not going to pay back whatever financial aid you qualify for. If you don't have a computer, they will help you to get one and you will pay for it as part of your financial aid. If you have a history of failing in past attempts at being an online student, ask yourself if you are ready to try this again. If you owe financial aid from the past, it is not going to go away and these places will not bother with you because you owe. If you are not good with technology, you will struggle. Don't think for a minute that you are going to be able to do your degree on a cell phone. They do not have classes that will help you to learn how to be a faster typer. Whoever you speak with, they are going to do everything possible to sound relatable to you. That's because they need to make their number. You are a number, not a friend. They will latch on to you like a virus getting you to post attendance over and over and over again until you are totally locked in. Once you have decided that this is not for you, you will get warning emails about how you owe. If you already have bad credit, you are going to owe the financial aid back. Forget about applying for a credit card after that, trying to get a vehicle after that, or trying to fill out an application to get an apartment or a mortgage after that. It will affect your credit score. If you're pursuing a degree because you want to be a businessman, look into what it takes to start a business to begin with. Getting a business administration degree does not make you a business person. You will end up probably getting a secretary job after blowing a ton of money on an outdated degree. If you think that you want to be a counselor, you can forget about thinking that you're going to get a degree that leads to being certified in some sort of way. These places don't lead to any sort of certification. If you are not a person that has good communication skills, be real with yourself. Let's sat you do get a degree, when you go to interview, one of the first things that companies look for is you being a great communicator. Most people are not. They lack social skills. Be realistic with yourself.

I think it's fantastic that a person want to get an education. Try a local program first. Sit in a classroom what other students and raise your hand with other students. Read actual textbooks, not virtual ones. Feel a part of the experience, not online all by yourself. Do your research first about what degree you want. Make certain that it is specifically tied to where you are looking to accomplish professionally. Places like CTU have an 11% graduation rate for a reason. 11%!! That is a formula for failure. That means that most people withdraw or cancel. Go to a school and maybe pursue an actual trade. Mechanics are needed. Plumbers are needed. People that do carpentry work, or electricians are needed. Go back to your roots when it comes to being a student. These places will lead to you being even more devastated than you probably are already now.

Share this information with everyone. Copy and paste it everywhere. Love yourself and your family. Take back control of your life. Be proud of your efforts. You were meant to be amazing.

I've been writing my personal statement for months. I wouldn't say it's bad; it provides insight into myself/who I am, but it's not necessarily creative or the greatest, and it's a little mundane. I would call it average at best.

I heard the personal statement is usually just something to keep u in the applicant pool unless its super good or super bad. Can you still get into schools like Duke, Stanford, Princeton, etc with just an OKAY personal statement? Ik this might be a hard question to answer bc holistic admission and all but just something i'm wondering abt

Hi there, any tips that I should take into account before I send out my application ? I’ll most probably study in the field of finance, and I’m aiming for a scholarship for undergrad. I’m currently studying in the UK, under the national curriculum (A-Levels). What grades do I possibly need for my application to be taken seriously?

Thanks a lot !

1400 applying ED to rice university should i go test optional

So, one of my graduated seniors from the class of '30 got into Purdue for Robotics Engineering test-optional with, at most, a 70% four-year average as a full-paying international student. How in the world?!

I admit his ECs were crazy. Not only that, but he also had major robotics winsss. (Intl level)

But how in the world did he get into Purdue? Not only that, he also got into Georgetown, umich 2nd campus, some top-ranked universities in Australia, and more T50 and T40 schools in the USA. But how?

And I can confidently say he got a 70% average because he wasn’t a gifted kid, nor was he naturally good at these subjects—he was my peer in a lot of competitions.

He even failed 11th grade! 😭 I swear I am not making this up. Either he absolutely cooked in his essays, or I don't know what, but how?!

the schools idrc about are pure poetry and my dream school im writing like i've never seen a pencil before

Completed the FAFSFA and got barely anything in Pell, and the loan we have to pay is genuinely too much for us. Middle income family that for the sake of not getting to specific, literally cannot afford to send my brother and I to college and also pay for everything else.

I want out of NY. It’s so toxic here and while I’m glad that my in states are far from where I am (Ithaca, Fredonia, etc.) Travel costs are going to annihilate me.

Also academic scholarships are NOT happening. 3.6 weighted, 1390 SAT. I unfortunately have the dumb and middle class combo (even if I can get like… neurodivergence scholarships?).

Also I’m a music ed major so if I want to be able to receive admissions and actual scholarships I have to travel all over the east coast (and Michgan!) to audition. These travel costs are wrecking my family. No fee waivers bc I don’t go.

I’m also missing a ton of school which is why using a ton of money sucks for auditions. Not the smartest, so missing school for the thousands of field trips and auditions I have is detrimental.

Just wanted to get this off my chest.

Yes, Community College is an option, but I’m trying to get my undergrad done fast so that I can get into the field. Teaching music is hard to find. Also I don’t want to go to CC as that would kill my mental health.

This post was honestly dedicated to the fact that WMU, a relatively cheap-ish school, might be too expensive. I went to a summer camp at WMU and want to actually enroll (if I don’t get Berklee ofc) but yeah

just got like 3 more essays and a lot of personal statement work to do but ive had zero motivation to finish and ive got it all due in a week. i need some encouragement help me out guys

 found out about international college admission process like a couple of months ago and now I am genuinely panicking about it.

i’m honestly so stressed for college apps. i haven’t done any supplementals and my essay is a rough rough draft. i’ve been feeling rlly depressed lately so that’s why i’ve procrastinated so much and it feels like everyone at school is ahead of me. what’s my best bet right now? do i just apply to state schools and avoid supplementals? the thing is though that i’m in the top 10% of my class w a 3.99 gpa, but i feel so lazy. and i feel like no one’s helping me and i can’t ask anyone for help..

What do AOs want in the resume section of the maker portfolio? Is it ok if I include things beyond engineering?

So the hours on the common app are for the busiest parts of the year - what about weeks/year? I have this internship I did for 40 hr/8 weeks over the summer and I'm still doing it now just way less per week, so how would I fill the hours/wk and wks/hr?

Specifically for the orientation ones. The race/ethnicity part is just part of the common app, and the gender (name and pronouns) stuff is for like documents and letters and class rosters and such. What does putting your orientation (lesbian/straight/bi) do? And also will it harm your chances at certain schools bc of discrimination? Especially worried under this administration.

If i do put it down (im lesbian) will it get back to my parents. Ik it will for the gender ones bc of the documents but like when will sexuality come up if ever.

early action is due on nov 1st and i havent started college essay yet, i already got an idea on what to write but i have been feeling demotivated that now im procrastinating. thats the last task im doing other than that ive finished everything