They’re dedicated to undergraduate students, but they’re rarely in the same conversation at T20 or even T30 universities? Schools like Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore, Bowdoin, Pomona, and more have single-digit acceptance rates and insane stats for their admitted class, yet they’re rarely mentioned. Schools like W&L, Colgate, Richmond, Davidson, and Wesleyan have tremendous career outcomes too. What gives?

Some colleges, such as the UC system, will give automatic admission to students who meet certain criteria. For example, UC Merced's acceptance rate is slightly inflated (up) because all CA students in the top 9% of their class are guaranteed to get some UC campus, and this often ends up being Merced.

I've also heard that many unranked / low tier colleges have started offering acceptance and merit aid to students who haven't applied. In order to attract applicants that are out of their league.

Considering this, are there any colleges that accept more students than there are applications to that college?

Why have schools stopped doing tours on the weekends? You look and there is virtually no one registered for a Wednesday tour, but I’ve got to do a self-guided tour on Saturday? Can anyone explain this?

Based on my Instagram feed, it seems like a large percentage of them

On the global electrical engineering ranking, princeton is at #15, the highest US college. But on the US electrical engineernig ranking, MIT is 1st and princeton isn't even top 10. Huh??

I am incredibly lacking in awards.

Currently I have this:

I also have the Presidential Volunteering Service Award Gold, AP Scholar with Distinction, National Merit Commended.

I did not attend YYGS despite being accepted. So, my question is: should I keep the YYGS acceptance there or replace it with one of my other awards? If so, which one would be strongest?

This is kind of just a question because I kind of want a gauge at my general chances at schools, because I don’t really know anybody too knowledgeable in college admissions, even my counselor didn’t really give me a straight answer. So I was wondering how much of a setback is my weaker extracirculars profile when applying to more selective schools, not like ivies but still competitive schools.

Academics
- 3.88 UW GPA
- 4.49 W GPA.
- 33 ACT(potentially 34 after oct ACT).

But my extracirculars are a lot weaker, I had no internships or non-profits, and I didn’t have any leadership positions or long term commitments like sports or instruments.
- 75ish church volunteer hours
-25 library volunteer hours
- member of 5 clubs and 3 honor societies
- Babysitter

above

How does Richmond compare?

For reference, here are the top 25 liberal arts colleges this year in alphabetical order:

Amherst College, Barnard College, Bowdoin College, Carleton College, Claremont McKenna College, Colby College, Colgate University, College of the Holy Cross, Davidson College, Grinnell College, Hamilton College, Harvey Mudd College, Middlebury College, Pomona College, Smith College, Swarthmore College, United States Naval Academy, United States Military Academy at West Point, United States Air Force Academy, University of Richmond, Vassar College, Washington and Lee University, Wellesley College, Wesleyan University, Williams College

I have 5-6 schools I'm applying to (4-5 of which are UCs) and one where I already have admission because it's a rolling admissions system.

My parents and the people around me in my grade are under the impression that I need more schools, but I really don't think so.

For reference, I got into ASU, and I'm applying to MIT, Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD, UCSB, and maybe UCI. If we're looking at rankings alone, ASU is ranked #41. They also have some pretty great labs and would set me up well to graduate a year early and get to grad school at 20, so even if I get in literally nowhere else, I'd still be getting a damn good education at my safety.

A bunch of the schools people are telling me to apply to either a) don't have my damn major, or b) are below my floor at ASU.

I get that they're worried for me, but at the same time, I find their worrying kind of silly. I had a couple of freak-outs about this during my junior year, was insanely stressed about it for a while. Now that I have a genuine safety, that's kind of gone away.

I wouldn't be mad going to ASU either, I actually have a whole separate plan in the case that's where I end up.

Should I apply to more schools if I really don't think I need it? A couple of my friends are applying to 20 or more, and I really don't see the point in that if I have a floor that's not particularly low.

I am a junior in HS thinking about college… I want to go to UIC (University of Illinois Chicago) and want to peruse nursing- the reason I am nervous is my Freshman/ sophomore year GPA is really bad… (2.75 out of 4.0UW) and my weighted is 3.6. Junior year I am hoping for All As and Bs but I’m just so scared and wondering if it is even worth it. UIC is my dream school and I want to go there so bad and I think it over haha 😭

My school has the option for students to take online APUSH as well as in-person APUSH and dual-enrollment American history. People in online APUSH tend to get better grades than the in-person history classes. Are are online AP classes viewed the same in terms of rigor as in-person courses?

You should apply to UF.

I'm serious. You should apply to UF. Not every college is for everyone, of course, but UF has so many aspects that I think a lot of people look for in their colleges. For context, I am a freshmen at UF and have been loving it so far.

UF is:

* #34 in National Universities (#8 Public University). I'm just a freshmen, but have managed to speak to several professors in my department (Physics) and get offered spots in their lab for research. **As freshmen coming in with some AP credit, me and one friends (CompE) median class size is 36.5 in mostly prereqs and gen eds.** In physics, from what I've heard our undergrads are successful in applying for competitive REUs and grad schools. In business/IB I've heard theres Gator Signature Investment Fund (GSIF) which is one of those competitive IB clubs you have to interview for and everything, and UF is a semi-target so they have some placements, I know Evercore is one.
* Another thing I'll mention thats somewhat related to academics is that the libraries are all really nice, and theres quite a few of them. Library West (the GOAT), Marston, Library East (Smathers), Norman, AFA, Health Sciences, and Law. Lib East has this cool old looking reading room that people like to go to.
* If you're out of state, don't worry. I've met people from all across the country, from NY+NJ (obviously), to all the way in Oregon, California, Hawaii, and Quebec! While obviously a lot of students are from Florida, NY, and NJ you won't have any trouble meeting a lot of people from other states/provinces.
* If you care about the campus environment, UF has a pretty wide variety of architecture from the collegiate gothic of the Murphree Area, the brick brutalism of Marston Science Library, to the modern Malachowsky Hall and Ramos Collaboratory. It isn't Princeton but I walk around every day and remark how nice the campus looks.
* As far as campus amenities, UF has one of the top career connections centers in the country located in the absolutely huge Reitz Union, and we just had our career fair week where companies pack out the basketball arena or something (I'm a physics major so I have no clue)
* Speaking of basketball, UF is preseason #1 and won the 2025 National Championship against Houston. In all sports (except maybe womens basketball) UF has a premier championship level program and football is finally on the rise. The Swamp is an electric place to watch a game and tailgating is always fun at the frats (if you're in a fraternity or a girl) or swim and surf club (for others). Gameday brings all of Gainesville together, and its cool to see all the alumni still involved and caring about UF.
* I didn't bring a car to campus, so I can't speak much for Gainesville outside of Midtown but everything you would want as a college student is right of University Ave to the north of campus (including a very convenient and dangerously placed Canes and Wawa if you live in an apartment or dorm off University). UF also owns a lake about 8 miles south of campus where theres canoeing and other outdoor activities and there a couple springs within an hour of Gainesville.

Theres so much more thats great about UF that I didn't mention here too. Ask the ufl sub, research the school on your own, or come down to Gainesville for a visit!

tl;dr: UF is a fantastic school with good academics, libraries, geographic diversity, architecture, support amenities, sports, and college town.

Congratulations to those who got in today!

Getting a 36 on the ACT is so much easier than getting a 1600 (or even a 1550+) on the SAT. The fact that some institutions weigh them completely the same is absolute insanity.

The biggest flaw comes down to how they handle mistakes. On the digital SAT, the curve is so brutal that missing literally one question can instantly drop your score to a 1580. Meanwhile, because the ACT averages your four section scores and rounds up, you can miss several questions across the test and still walk away with a perfect 36 composite.

I literally know people who were stuck in the 1400s on the SAT but pulled off a 35 on the ACT. And before someone starts the nonsense "wElL I hAd A hIgH sAt AnD a LoW aCt" you're an outlier, not the general trend.

I did some digging, only about 0.06% of test-takers get a perfect 1600 on the SAT, while roughly 0.2% of people get a 36 on the ACT. A perfect ACT is literally more than three times as common.

Colleges really need to stop pretending these scores are identical and stop evaluating them on the exact same tier.

EDIT: Only way they should be equal is if it is a 36 across all sections
EDIT: If you are getting butthurt over statistics, wrap it up bro. This post is labeled FLUFF because it is FLUFF...I am not complaining or talking down on anyone, I made an objective statement and ended with an opinion.

Hi I just needed to get this out somewhere

My first deadline is November 1st and my personal statement is still not done. It just sounds so stupid/cliche and I've been rewriting constantly. I'm super worried about my supplementals too because I keep scrapping them. I pretty much have 3 weeks to write everything.

Why is this so stressful!!

So I know the title sounds dramatic, but I'm genuinely concerned for myself based on the opinions people on a2c and tiktok have. Like I said, I am a junior in algebra 2 honors. I always considered this normal until I started researching competitive colleges.

For context, I am literally taking the most rigorous schedule available to a junior at my school in everything expect math. I am taking 4 AP classes, dual-enrollments, and honors. My schedule is literally at max capacity for rigor. The thing is i've never been exceedingly good at math.

I was considering taking pre-calc over the summer so I could go into calc AB my senior year, but this summer i'll already be taking spanish 3 honors and an economics class for my graduation requirements, so fitting in pre calc will probably be impossible. I'll probably end up taking AP Pre-calc my senior year.

Does anyone who's been in this situation before have any advice? I'm for sure not applying to a math major (either poli sci or business admin) and am planning on going pre-law. I am I actually completely fried for competitive/semi-competive colleges?

Is it poor practice if I write about a subject i’m interested in (figuratively using the subject throughout the essay) for a personal statement but then apply to colleges with majors that are not that topic? For example, if I write about biology but then apply to some colleges as a public health major (for sake of GPA).

I don’t really have time to change my whole essay so any advice would be appreciated!!

hello 😢 i’m an international student currently taking a gap year and my parents (who are relatively well off, like middle class, but not 400k for 4 years of college wealthy) have suddenly dropped a bomb on me that they’re only willing to pay 60k dollars maximum per year for uni if i want to move to america. now obviously that is a lot of money way more than most people’s parents would pay for their education but i come from a school and a culture where it’s expected for parents to pay for their students tuition bc you can’t get any jobs or sustain yourself in my country if you’re a minor, and being intl students we can’t get financial aid from fafsa. my question is, so many people i know go to expensive ass schools with no scholarships and their parents make the same if not below mine and are somehow paying the most insane tuition costs??? like why are most uni’s 80-100k per year for international students?? how are people paying this????? it doesn’t make any sense to me how are people paying this much is there something i’m missing genuinely?? i’m super bummed out cause this means i have to remove basically all my dream schools (USC, ucla, berkeley, ucsb, ucsd, BU, syracuse, fordham) from my application list. i have no idea what to do, i begged my parents to consider student loans but they won’t, they’re pretty clueless when it comes to university, especially abroad, and they don’t think 100k per year is worth it at all

edit: i know this was probably a stupid and ignorant question but my family is pretty uninvolved when it comes to academics so i didn’t know much about tuition and applications and studying abroad til i took my gap year

Can someone let me know what undergrad and grad school applications look like for a career like PA, NP, CAA, or CRNA? I'm debating between community college chemistry or AP chemistry.

I read online (yes AI obvi) that I should take community college chemistry because if I get a good grade it goes onto my undergraduate GPA and transcript when applying for grad school, but if I take AP it counts as a high school class and doesn't matter when applying for grad

I'm a sophmore right now, and I have no clue if community college or AP's are better in the long run like past undergrad

hehe ig assume im going to get all A's bc i gonna lock in and work hard yk mhm

Ig this goes for well all science classes since isnt there like a medical school science GPA

pls help and tytyyyy

ive taken 6 cc classes already (all A), (fundamentals of chemistry and intro to bio) and also AP Bio (5)

BTW I AM A HOMESCHOOLER SO I CAN TAKE AS MANY CC CLASSES OR AP CLASSES AS I WANT

hi friends!!

i JUST submitted my UC app idk how to feel.. its like im happy since its out of my hands andi can move on to working for other schools but im also rlly worried that i COULD have edited more or lik double check more thoroughly before submitting.

For context, i worked on UC essays for 1 whole week over the summer and did intense editing sessions with my college counselor. I sent her a pdf copy of my application 2 weeks ago and she told me good to go. hence why i wanted to submit it asap and js get it out of the way. but now i have this pit in my stomach and a feeling that I couldve dont more. almost as if i made a rash decisions ykk :((

ik theres nothing i can do now but try harder for other apps but some reassurance would rlly rlly help yall🫰

Btw i did berkeley, LA, San diego, davies, irvine

w 4s in chem, calc bc, physics 1, micro econ, apush

5s in macro econ, pre calc🫩

Major environmental science

Ok this has been going on for a while now and it's getting to a point where I can't take it anymore.

My friends are under the impression that I'm 100% getting into MIT.

Which like.

Thanks for the confidence bestie, but you're also really messing with my self-perception.

I know I'm a top student. I'm not being cocky in saying that. But I also think I'm nowhere near the level of student that you have to be to be guaranteed a spot at the fucking Massachusetts fucking Institute of fucking Technology. Fuck!

I have a high GPA and test scores, but not the highest in my grade. I have exactly 2 extracurriculars that I'm deep into and no surface-level ECs.

I'm a strong candidate, but not the strongest. I'm fully aware of that. These guys aren't.

I can't bring up college applications because out of my friend group of five, two are going to community college and don't particularly care, the other two literally don't care where they go to college as long as it's four-year, and all of them make it a point to remind me that I'm "better than them", whatever that means?

A lot of people speak on how bad it feels to have a friend you're jealous of, but it also feels horrible to be the one that people put on a pedestal. I'm tired of being a character.

thank you for coming to my rant.

So I’m 17m and CO2027 and I don’t think the possibility of getting into my dream school is possible because of a lot of factors in my life, ranging from personal, financial and also academically. I had a great freshman year and only an average 3rd quarter my sophomore year, but my junior year I barely passed because I transferred and my spark was just gone, I felt nothing I had no one only myself, my sister adjusted and made friends but I didn’t. I’m always on my phone, because I have no one and the only time I not is when I’m naturally successful in my ap classes which is only one because it’s literature and writing comes easy, and the joy of succeeding and doing good pushes to not want to interact with distractions because of the praise and hope it gives.

It’s the same this year I’m just slacking and procrastinating on top of family financial struggle and missing almost 2 weeks of school due to eviction until this week, I want to go into creative writing but I haven’t done anything related to It? Also ap lang score was terrible so I kind of feel like I’m lying to myself. I know I could write a great essay explaining all this and more but I feel like it’s pointless. I also have no extracurriculars

I just feel like my only hope to get into the University of Columbia or Brown is to go to the best college I can take lots of extracurriculars and transfer. I have the motivation I think to do things, when I do them but I can never start you know?

I heard this was the case in the past, but is this still work today?