College applicants worry about application competitiveness

“Hi everyone, I am looking to ED to a college this fall and I am currently deciding between Vandy and Dartmouth. I am a white, female from the UK so I am an international student. I'm looking for a school with a good balance between academics and social life, strong STEM programs, good dining halls, and just an overall good student experience. I am not involved in sports at the moment but I would love to get involved at college. I would also love to get involved in research at some point. Hon”

“Hello, i'm a high school senior applying to college. I have not submitted any applications yet and my list is currently 17+ schools, which is unreasonable. I have a high number of reaches (8-16% acceptance rate) and I am wondering if it is even worth the application fee. I don't know much about college admissions and I am looking for honest advice. A little background: I am looking to apply for environmental science, sustainability, conservation, or forestry (based on the specific school”

“if anyone got rejected, what were your stats? i want to apply ED there for Electrical and Computer Engineering (perhaps test optional). i only took one AP test because the rest of the classes my school offered were college courses and wasn't paired with an AP exam, but I'll take 4 this year. i'm in the top 4% of my class and have a lot of random ec's (school and state recognized) that have nothing to do with my major but play a significant role in who I am as a person. i also got”

“I was bored so i decided to put my stats into collegevine and it listed Princeton as a target for me?? My stats are good but not crazy so idk why it did that bc princeton is definitely a mega reach for me. How inaccurate are these admissions calculators generally? submitted by /u/sunflower_sunset_1 [link] [comments]”

“My current SAT is 1460 (not retaking it) and I was wondering if being FGLI will help cover up my SAT score. Last year, 3 guys from my school applied to Vandy ED1 and all three got in with around 1470-1520 SAT. (No idea if any of the <1500 scorers went TO) Should I submit it or go test optional? submitted by /u/Cringe_Usernames [link] [comments]”

“So im applying from a t20 hs in the nation, and im wondering if that makes admissions officers look at my application any differently, positive or negative? submitted by /u/punekaryog [link] [comments]”

“i have pretty solid stats (3.99 uw, 35 act, 10 ap's) but from what i've gathered my ec's are dogshit so i'm trying to gauge whether it's even worth it to apply to some of the more prestigious schools on my list...please be honest (also- any advice on which activities i should cut would be great) -volunteering at a barn that offers riding lessons for kids with disabilities- i help give pointers during the lessons, occasionally handle the horses, 30 min/week -mentoring program”

“Applying ED to Brown (international, need full aid) for CS. and I think my stats are pretty competitive (please be omg😭😭😭) I keep seeing people say admissions at this level is "basically a lottery" once you're qualified. I get the logic like everyone in the pool is strong, seats are fixed, so from the outside it looks really random. But this actually bothers me because its basically saying that effort and quality stop mattering past some invisible threshold. Is that actually tru”

“I’m 22 and Stanford GSB has been on my mind for may years now, but I don't know how competitive I am. I have some decent expeerience and things I’m working on, but I keep seeing impressive profiles from other and I'm a little bit confused. Those who applied or got accepted, what did you guys focus on the most? Is there anything you wish you knew before applying? Also, is hiring an admissions consultant actually worth it? if yes , which one would you recommend? Or do you think it's be”

“So my counselor told me that I should not even worry about applying to Stanford/Ivies/T20s because my stats are not good enough. Let me know if I should. I plan to go into CE/EE and double major is poli-sci and want to do patent law for computer hardware. STATS: -4.5/4.0 W 3.96/4.0 UW GPA (little below because Band limited my APs) -34 ACT (36 STEM score) -10 APs (APUSH, AP Physics 1, Physics C Mech, Physics C E&M, Lang, Sem, Precalc, Calc BC, Music theory, Lit) Large high school south suburb”

submitted by /u/Junior_Macaroon2085 [link] [comments]

“I’m currently looking at different MSF but my main problem is my GPA, last semester I had 2 classes that dropped my gpa by a lot. I currently have a 3.35. How are my odds looking at the MSF program on Vanderbilt? I don’t have any internships done since I have been running my own business and growing it from 0 to over half a mill in revenue in the past 3 years. Will the office take this into consideration? And should I even bother to apply? submitted by /u/Ok_Communication4932 [link]”

“I’m getting recruited for a sport at UChicago and my preread was green / positive; does anyone know if that means I’m in?? Thanks! submitted by /u/Local-Plenty8304 [link] [comments]”

“I’m applying to mostly t40s and have a 1400, also applying to some test optional schools and some insane reaches to see if I have a shot. Do I submit this? Is it too low? I have good stats other than the sat, my gpa is high, and I have good course rigor + ap scores and ecs. It seems like my sat is the only thing holding me back. I also come from a pretty competitive area. submitted by /u/United-Life128 [link] [comments]”

“I've been looking around at some schools for a year now for my senior to possibly apply to. we live in Michigan. His stats are over 4.0 weighted and a few aps with scores in 3 to 5. sat was about 95%. he’s very motivated to do well in school, but it has always come easy, but he hasn’t really been participating much in the process of college and looking into majors. it’s difficult because I understand you don’t always know what you want to major when you are a teenager, but it does come in ha”

“I'm applying to some uber-competitive schools with the hope that my spike as a musician will help me get into some good music programs. I have a 3.89UW, 36 ACT, a national award, and some leadership positions. I'm a really good writer so my essays are good, and all my recs are pretty strong as well. I'm also applying as a music major. The main blemish on my application is that my academics are fairly weak compared to the standard in my school. It's a hyper-competitive school wher”

“Guys thank you so much for your feedback on my previous post! I’m wondering if someone can review my profile for the Knight Hennessy Scholarship! Because if I don’t stand a chance then I’d actually give Stanford the due attention it needs and apply in R2 and not do a rushed R1 just for KHS 🙂🙂🙂 Idk if I’ll have enough time but in R2 I can consider working on my GRE as well. Thank u sooo muchhhhh!!! Reallly stressed rn submitted by /u/laphing_4eva [link] [comments]”

“I want to improve my highschool stats to be competitive for college my main concern right now is my gpa. I dont need anyone in the comments telling me im cooked. Im about to start junior year with a weighted gpa of 85 and uw is about 84. I feel like I have decent extracuricular with journalism and club leadership, reasearch and clinical expierience at nyu langone and lectoring. I also am a part of debate and model UN. I have not yet taken SAT. Any positive advice to make my stats wayy more compe”

“does your college application get compared only people from your school or around the region? there are schools around mine with way more ecs and better course rigor so it would make my profile look way weaker than someone from the better schools submitted by /u/Repulsive_Level_1236 [link] [comments]”

“Rising senior, US citizen, SABIS network school honors for the last 3 years and in my senior year the courses are all AP even though not stated on transcript GPA 80-84/100, 800 Math 700 English 1500 (aiming 1550+) SAT. Applying for mechanical engineering. **•** (KAUST / SRSI — lead on a sketch-to-CAD generation pipeline: fine-tuning TripoSR to reconstruct editable 3D CAD parts from hand-drawn sketches, with plans to extend to multi-part assemblies and physics-informed self-correction. Working pa”

“Does anyone have any insight into how the Vanderbilt reporting works. It allows superscoring and self reporting through their portal. If self reporting, then the admissions site says they "encourage" the applicant to submit all sittings. Does encourage mean that the applicant should or is it truly optional. Would love feedback especially if anyone has real actual experience. submitted by /u/Upset_Eye1625 [link] [comments]”

“For example I know it doesn’t improve your odds to ED to yale since athletes/legacies skew the stats and only a handful get accepted/deferred while the rest get rejected submitted by /u/OkExplorer4727 [link] [comments]”

“Hi everyone, just looking for some advice as I’ve been ruminating over this for a while as application season approaches. I’m not sure if my grades are even good enough to apply and if so, where would my best bet be? I am currently a grad student looking to get into a MA program for psychology/ counseling psychology. My main issue is my GPA which is roughly a 2.7 from the last 2 semesters / 60 credits as I know mostly all programs are a minimum 3.0. The main schools I’ve looked at that look the”

“Hey everyone I was just wondering how you guys figure out which colleges to apply to. I have mid-overall stats and am wondering if it's plausible to try applying to top-caliber schools. submitted by /u/Aggravating-Two-4855 [link] [comments]”

“How do y’all decide which colleges to apply to for early decision and which for regular decision? Some colleges have high admissions rate for early decision but i heard it’s top priority for athletes and legacies, so how do y’all decide which action y’all actually have a shot at? Edit: Sorry if my explanation wasn’t enough but what i meant by early decision or or early action was the non binding ones, so if you have any knowledge please inform me! submitted by /u/Fancy_Illustrator_95”

“Demographics: Hispanic Male (Mexican) from middle Georgia Low income First Generation Notes: Small (<700) uncompetitive high school Academics: Intended Major: Industrial/Civil engineering GPA: 95.08W/93.3UW Rank (junior year): 19/166 Test Scores: 1260 SAT (650M/610RW). Have a SAT retake planned and ACT Course Rigor: Dual Enrollment: 4 Completed and 6 in progress AP: 0 (Only 2 are offered at my school) Honors: 10 completed Notes: My High Schools most advanced math thats offered is AP Precalcul”

“Is it worth applying Vanderbilt RD. Don't get me wrong, great school - just thinking if it's actually worth it considering the super-low acceptance rates for this past cohort. submitted by /u/Feisty_Asparagus3439 [link] [comments]”

“I am a rising senior looking to get into Wharton, Stern, UMich Ross, Cornell Dyson, Columbia and other top schools for business and Econ. I have a 1510 sat with a 790 math and 720 English. I am upper middle class and Asian American with a 97.0 GPA and 5s on all the APs I have taken including Calc BC, Lang, CS A. My question is if my SAT score is good enough for these schools or if I would need a 1540-1550 to have better odds since a 1510 is on the lower end of the middle 50th percentile for scho”

“Freshman and Sophomore year was a good student (A,A- student throughout). Got a 1440 SAT after my sophomore year, will take it again this week aiming for 1500+. My first of two junior years I failed literally every class, complete mental health breakdown, zero purpose in life, everything was going wrong. My next junior year (after reclassing) I got back on my feet, had abt a 3.8 gpa, and am set to take almost all AP classes my senior year. How does my failed year affect me, and any advice on how”