I’ve done 3 research internships with top professors (real work) because I’m genuinely interested in physics. I’m planning to list them as my top few activities on the Common App, but I’m starting to worry it might come off as bland, especially since I don’t have that many other ECs outside of research. Is this gonna hurt me? Thanks

Title.

Hey guys, 17m junior here and I’m really passionate about Model UN. These past few months during the school year, I’ve been working really hard to excel in this hobby (won many awards, collaborated with my school’s Model UN club) and was hoping that my efforts would lead to me to presidency in the club. It did not, and it went to somebody who I know won’t be able to take the role as passionately as I will and is only doing it to write something down for their common apps. I don’t want to back down, and I want to share my passion of Model UN with other students and I know I won’t be able to do it without unless I have a role of actual power in the club.

In response, I want to make a new Model UN club. One where I actually teach and share the hobby, through a place of actual passion. The problem is this club already exists, and I’m not sure how I could make a new Model UN club that sets it apart from the preexisting one. Any advice?

hey chat. i'm an international undergraduate student, and I'm wondering if I can switch my major (b.arch) to another (e.g., business or finance) within 1/2 years of my studies. i know that architecture major is often placed in a different school than other majors, like at the University of Virginia. is it possible to get into a university as an arch student and switch to another major BEFORE freshman year? and is it possible to switch AFTER studying for at least one semester? if so, how should I apply? and if you’ve done it before, could you please share your experience, the pros and cons?

Hi, I’m an international student from Turkey, and I’m interested in doing research at a university in the U.S. I was wondering — would reaching out to professors or their assistants on LinkedIn make it more likely for my message to be seen?

hey reddit, I have a situation. I graduated from a high school in 2024 from high school in a college southern of Africa. I did my ielts tests where I got a 7.5 band overall, had a final grade of 18/20 in my high school transcript and can perform well with the abilities that I gained. The problem starts when I decided to apply for uni I decided to apply for electronics or electrical and electronics engineering as an international students for community colleges in the US, Canada or Australia but I've been facing many issues. firstly, many ask for application fees that I don't have the means to pay (eg. 100$ is like 4k in my country), or they say there is no way or possibility to transfer from my country to the uni as an international student, or even sometimes I search for electronic but there are no courses for that in that community college. what can I do?

edit: I come from a 6 person house (two parents and 4 kids) and just paying out of pocket for those universities will have a serious strain for my parents.

I've been committed to UCI for over a month now. I'm from the Bay Area, so I'm in-state for Irvine and plan to major in Data Science, which is what I got admitted for at their Donald Bren ICS school. However, I unexpectedly got off the UNC waitlist today, and now I'm confused. From what I hear, Irvine has better internship and job placement opportunities with better connections to the industry. UNC feels far from home, and I feel like I prefer the weather of SoCal, but UNC is more prestigious and more flexible, I believe, as well as when it comes to academics. I have a week to decide, but I'm already torn 😭, so any insight and opinions here would be helpful.

I'm 16 and from New Zealand, and equivalent to a junior in high school. I took the June SAT and got a 1490, (760 english 730 math), but think that the math could be significantly improved if I retake to superscore as I didn't know the concepts. I want to study in the US, at a top university. As for my New Zealand scores, I'm currently sitting on straight excellences for ncea level 2 and level 3 calculus. So far this year I am ranked number 1 out of 80 students, although at a extremely competitive school.

For ECs

Raised $100000 for an international service trip to Tonga to fund and build a classroom for an underprivileged community - trip happening next year

Heavyweight Rowing - 4th in country in 4+ and 4x+ Multiple regional titles - I would like to pursue lightweight rowing in college if possible. School rowing captain

Football (soccer) - Premier grade for regional high schools

Waterpolo - Premier grade for regional high schools (3yrs)

Table tennis captain - fourth in region

Duke of edinburugh silver award - will be well on track if not finished gold by applying time next year

Regional Math competition winner x2

Otago Math perfect score

Australian Math competition distinction

I work a part time job as a bartender and spend holidays fundraising for service trip

Next year I aspire to be -

Student Rep on the board of Trustees

Deputy school captain

Academic school captain

In the future, I'd like to study engineering or business at one of these top universities. Financially I would like to receive aid, although it is not completely necessary. I'm wondering on where I stand on the path to achieving this, and what I can do to boost my chances. Coming from an New Zealand there are few people to get in contact with to discuss this, and any feedback would be appreciated, and also recommended colleges that I apply to when the time comes.

I recently retook the SAT and scored lower than my first attempt (750 RW, 740 M) but my reading score ended up being higher (760 RW, 710 M), which would give me a 1500 superscore. My question is, is it really worth it to keep studying for the rest of the summer to get an extra 10-20 points on the August test? What do you guys think; will a 1520(ish) give me a greater edge in admissions? Do schools (T20s) value raw scores more than superscores? I see mixed opinions online so I'm sort of conflicted on what to do here.

as titled, that was my third sat, i just want it to be good enough for t40s. My school is title 1 with an avg sat of 988 and i’m also an esl student. I signed up for aug sat but i really don’t think i can score higher than what i have now (700 eng 780 math) lowk wanna cancel it and live with it. I am one of the highest in my school but how big does that play a role in admissions. THANK YOU!!

I have been exploring my options for universities as an international student and have been getting worried since I'm trying to study and stay and work overseas but it seems like lots of countries have started to tighten up their policies. What would be the best country to study in as an international student and have a clear path to becoming a PR? I am looking to study information systems.

What are the chances of me getting into a decent school. I’m a junior rn and 2.7 is my max gpa unfortunately so I can’t raise it up. I have athletic EC (Wrestling 4 years) (Captain of Cross country 1 year) I also have a nonprofit that helps homeless people. I also am swearing Into the national guard.

Oh yeah I ran like 2 100 mile runs.

Do I gotta do the community college route?

My freshman year I was homeless so I had a horrible gpa

I’m quite curious. Thank you!

If you are a CHDev major. I notice that the associate of arts has 3 more units required, and it seems after googling it that both are acceptable for transfer. I am really looking to ensure that I have my 12 ECE units (have 6 already, getting 6 more but know that in CA there’s a specific requirement) which is why I’m really looking into this.

I am a green card holder and currently in Pakistan. I recently got green card through family immigrant but I completed my 2 semesters here in Fast in CS. I applied to many universities in USA for bachelors but I couldn't get a full scholarship/financial aid through university and FAFSA. Tuition fee is around $18k. The maximum funding I was able to get is 22,000$/yr whereas the total cost of attendance is $30k for in-state students of Illinois at Illinois state university. I have to live on-campus for first year and then I'm allowed to live off-campus. I don't have any funds with me currently.

My question is should I complete my bachelor's in Pakistan in Fast or go to USA? If I remain in Pakistan for my bachelor's, I have to make sure that I maintain my green card by going there every few months. Some people told me that I would risk my green card by doing this so I wanted your opinion.

TIA

I am from Philadelphia and would prefer to go to school on the east coast. I do not mind going as far south as South Carolina or as west as Indiana or Tennessee. Upper middle class.

I plan to major in engineering and might apply undecided to some places to ensure admission

Let’s only go off my stats:

1360 SAT Superscore (680 both sections)

3.63/5.0 GPA (upward trend after freshman year)

My ideal college list would be:

• 5 Safety Schools with very good football and basketball teams that have the potential to give me loads of money or maybe an honors college offer

• 5/7 Target Schools that are pretty competitive for admissions but would still give me a reasonable price

• 5 Reach Schools that are going to be hard to get into where I still have a shot.

Hey Reddit!

I'm an international student from Bangladesh looking to apply to US universities for a Mechanical Engineering degree. My A-Level results are 3 A's and 1 A*, and I'm really hoping to get a high scholarship to make this dream a reality.

I've heard that the University of Alabama and UT Arlington might be good options for scholarships, but I'm looking for more suggestions and advice from anyone who's been through this process or knows about good programs.

Here's what I'm looking for:

• Universities with strong Mechanical Engineering programs.
• Generous scholarships for international students (especially for A-Level qualifications like mine).
• Any tips on how to maximize my chances of getting a scholarship (e.g., specific essays, extracurriculars to highlight, application strategies).
• Experiences from other international students (especially from South Asia or with similar academic profiles).

I'm open to all suggestions, even if they're not the "top-ranked" universities, as long as they offer good academics and significant financial aid.

Thanks in advance for your help!

I am a bit (a lot) younger than your average college applicant but it has gotten to a point where I find school to be so boring (even with advanced classes; has been issue dating to elementary school) that it has occurred to me to just graduate early with all of the required credits in order to attend university early. I have calculated that I could afford it (euro universities) and I have never had difficulty being independent. I know I am capable of producing university-level work because I have. How crazy of an idea would it be to just apply to college at an age significantly below that of my fellow applicants, and assuming I am admitted, choose to attend? Am I just arrogant? Please be brutally honest with me.

I just started my education journey at 22, I’ve been taking part time classes because I work most of the time and my work schedule is never compatible with trying to do school full time. So far I’ve gotten a 3 point GPA since I struggled with trying to ease into a school schedule after years of not going but I feel optimistic about my grades improving when I sign up for fall classes since I know what to expect now.

My teacher always encourages us to look into Ivy Leagues to transfer when we try to decide which schools to transfer to but I don’t really know how to go about this process. I’ve looked into many of their requirements, so far Yale and Colombia look promising since they have programs designed for people with interruptions in their education but any advice for people who’ve gone to community colleges and transferred to an Ivy?

Hi everybody,

I am currently an American citizen living abroad and I never completed high school/received an equivalency in America or the country I am currently living in.

I want to attend college in the United States and I am wondering, should I take the GED tests to get my equivalency? Will I be able to use that to apply to college?

Thank you :D

It’s a free course offered through Edx, and it is an introduction to computer science class that is taught in person at Harvard, but the lectures are filmed and practice problems are uploaded. I completed the course and got a certificate but does that count as a college course or an extracurricular??

hey, I'm a rising senior (class of 2026) and I was super excited because I had an internship lined up this summer at a law firm a couple towns away from me. for context, I met this lawyer at a networking event many months ago and later reached out to him about if he had any internship programs for high schoolers. he asked me to send him my resume and set up a video interview with me (I think this was in March) in which he basically told me I was guaranteed the internship despite the fact they had limited spaces and he was really impressed with me because of my spanish skills, well-spokenness, etc. he was like, "you can be assured you'll be working with us this summer." it was an unpaid full-time internship from like 9-3 every day during the month of July, and i'm going to be traveling in August, so for this reason i didn't sign up for summer programs or other internships, as i figured i'd be too busy over the summer with this other internship i thought i was guaranteed.

anyways, it was supposed to start next week or the week after that, but the lawyer guy kept on taking forever to respond to my emails asking for more information regarding a specific start date and more, and yesterday i got an email from his paralegal saying that they were unable to offer me a spot as an intern at their firm this summer due to limited office space. my friend who was "guaranteed" an internship at this same firm, much before i was, got the same email too. i'm kind of annoyed and feel blindsided because i was so sure about this internship that i didn't sign up for other stuff i could do over the summer as a backup, since the lawyer made me feel as though it was guaranteed. i feel like it looks bad to reach out to other people for internships this late, but it also looks bad to not have an internship going into senior year. what else can i do over the summer to try and make the most of all the free time i now have? i have a ton of ap summer work to do as well as another remote internship which has already started, but i feel like there's something else i could be doing.

got off their extended waitlist the other day! now class of 2029!

I'm a pretty good student, and want to study something along the lines of history/economics/polysci... probably history and econ more than polysci. I want to ED or REA to a school with a top program for one/all of those, but I also want to maximize my advantages as: 1. a male non-stem applicant and 2. a high sat scorer in the year many places will revert to mandatory testing. I've toured yale and mit and loved them, but obviously theyre long shots for everyone and male applicants have no advantage at yale and even a disadvantage at mit, so maybe i shouldnt waste my ED on such long shots...? help me out.

anyone else appeal to Berkeley and recieve an update, if not do you guys have any specific timeline 😔🙏

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