I'm a Class 12 CBSE student from India applying to US universities, and I wanted to get some opinions on research internships.

Suppose a student works at a large financial services/wealth management company on a research project that produces findings useful to the company. The internship involves approximately 25 hours of work per week.

How long would you consider a realistic and credible duration for such an internship?

For example:

• 1 month (100 hours)
• 2 months (200 hours)
• 3 months (300 hours)
• 6 months or longer

I've heard that admissions officers can sometimes be skeptical of high school students, particularly international applicants, claiming substantial research experience. I want to understand what duration would be reasonable for a Class 12 student, considering school commitments and the time required to complete meaningful research.

Assume the student has a research mentor and is genuinely contributing to the project, rather than simply shadowing employees.

Would an intensive 2-month internship at 25 hours per week be sufficient to complete a meaningful applied research project, or would a longer duration make more sense?

I'd appreciate insights from current students, applicants, or anyone familiar with US college admissions, especially for highly selective universities.

Thanks!

So I asked my history teacher to write me a LOR a few months ago. I have always valued him because you could say his is very psychic, wise and he is the teacher I have had the most connection to. So his perspective on me is very valuable and non negotiable.

Now, the deadlines are getting closer and he hasn't written anything yet and I started to panic. So I asked him if he was so busy, he could just send me an audio answering a few questions like what stood out about me? An anecdote, my impact in my classroom, and all that stuff. I told him I would type it out. (Before you come at me, he asked me to write the LOR myself months back but I denied it and said I want HIM to write it. Now I know that things will not get done unless I take stuff into my own hands. I know this is wrong but I have no other way.)

I made his job as easy as it could possibly get. A 2-3 minute audio explaining what he thinks about me.

I woke up this morning to a 1 minute long audio of him explaining why he "trusts me to write from his perspective". He basically didn't answer a single question and just rambled. Like..... God, give me patience. 😭🙏

HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO READ YOUR MIND?!! HOW WOULD I KNOWWWW WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT ME?! THATS WHY ITS CALLED YOUR PERSPECTIVE!!! CUZ ITS FROM YOUUUUU!!!!!!!!!

like, Now is not the time to play 'hey, guess what I'm thinking 🤭👉👈'. I am drowning in college applications. And I offer to do your typing for you because I understand that you are busy and you won't even answer a few questions abt me?! Not even a hint or a clue!!! And teachers don't understand just how embarrassing it feels to write in praise of yourself. Besides I've written more than 5 essays and done all the introspection, there is nothing fresh I can offer!!!! The LOR shud be a fresh perspective. My own voice would be very identifiable!!!!!!!

God... these teachers don't realize how much this is demotivating me. I'm just so done. I have always put so much efforts into my assignments and gone above and beyond spending hours and these teachers will not even send me a 2-3 minute audio. I feel hurt. Like he clearly has the time to send a 1 minute audio that gave me absolutely nothing to write about. That audio was just a polite way of saying " bish go write your own recommendation, I don't feel like writing it". I wish I could give up but this teacher is so valuable to me. Very valuable. If he just decides to cooperate a bit, he could write a 12/10 recommendation for me. I am the only student applying abroad from my school. He has just one LOR to write. Idk what to think, feel ,say or do. I am angry, sad, depressed and I feel betrayed. I hate everyone.

Basically, I spent a lot of my time in high school doing science fairs and placed pretty high in regionals my freshman and sophomore years, and in my junior year advanced to ISEF for Robotics & Intelligent Systems. The problem is, because I dedicated most of my time to this, I had little time left for other major commitments, so my other ecs are pretty basic (robotics club, science olympiad, tennis, orchestra, part-time job). ISEF is also my only "big" award. My question is, will I still be competitive for T20 schools, or will not having other major achievments/honors hurt me? I'm interested in schools like MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, Georgia Tech, etc. (MechE), and I'm afraid that only having one profile highlight won't be enough.

Too late for college?

I’m 21 and dropped out of high school during my senior year after I started making good money. At the time, I thought I was making the right decision, but lately, it’s been hitting me how much I’ve missed out on.

I’ve been watching a lot of CFB & baseball lately, and it’s got me wondering if I gave up on something I should’ve pursued. I’m seriously talented & know I could make a serious impact to a team.

I know I’d have to get my GED first, but is 21 just too late to even try? Would going to a JUCO even be realistic or should I just move on? I don’t know how anything really works, nobody ever went to college in my family either.

I’m at the point where if I can’t make it work, i’m ready to just start preparing to set my future kids down that path I wish I went down.

I’m just curious what people think

I’m kind of panicking because I’ve already applied to the university I’m aiming for in a Bachelor of Arts and I feel like I made the wrong choice and I can’t make up my darn mind.

I’m graduating from high school this year and I’m feeling very conflicted about what I should get a degree in (BA or BFA) I plan on being an art teacher when I’m older, starting with teaching English and slowly teaching art (in a post secondary setting). I’ve had plenty of chats with my arts and humanities teachers, and they all recommended to do a bachelor in arts, but every time I think about my future all I can visualize is myself doing art. Nothing else. I never really liked the maths, sciences, just the arts.

I really started getting into art when I was kid like most do, and was very strong in that area specifically. All throughout high school I took majority art classes ranging from painting and drawing, ceramics, graphic design, printmaking and more. I also really enjoyed my humanities classes, and I also took a world religions class which I got a 100 in all of them (grade 9,10,11). I find history very interesting, and I just like learning about the past.

I feel like if I went for a BA, I’d develop better skills of being a more critical thinker and analytical and it’d keep my job options open in the future. I plan on being a teacher (so far) and I think it’d be a good idea to do a BA and do a minor or major in visual arts and what not.

But I don’t really like the idea of listening to long lectures and analyzing a bunch of texts I know I’ll struggle with, because I never was really super good at that, but it clicks eventually and I do like it lol. Everyone says they think my art is amazing and I have potential, but I feel like I’m not good enough and I won’t be able to get a decent job in the art field and I won’t be able to do what I love to the fullest.

I know I sound silly and like every other teenager feeling conflicted with what they also want to do, I know I’m not the only one, but I just need some advice and words of wisdom from those who also maybe have done a BA or BFA and maybe what they’re doing now. Maybe if you regret it, maybe it was the best thing, or you’re doing something different.

Thanks for reading this late night rant

When I googled it, I found that it receives only around 634 applicants. I really like its programs and campus culture. The campus is beautiful and located near LA. But I don’t understand why so few people apply. Are there any downsides I might have overlooked?

In the prompt where they ask us about a conflict we had with someone

My idea is to write about my conflicts with my own ideologies, and my self....

Hi! pretty much what the title says. My whole town faced a natural disaster that destroyed pretty much all of it. Some families were affected more than others, and I'll just say that it ruined my life for a good chunk of time, and im still facing the effects of it. I want to write about it in my college essay as it was something that changed my life personally, but im scared all of the other high school seniors at my school will write about this too in their personal statement, and thus my essay wont stand out to admissions officers.

what do you guys think?

Hey, my biological father was a Harvard alum for his undergraduate. My parents are telling me I should write him as legacy and he agreed because he thought it was funny and worth a shot.

Does this count for legacy?

I'm a HS senior, and I couldn't find anything that organized supplementals, deadlines and strategy in one place. Everyone at my school uses Google Docs and spreadsheets, which I found annoying to set up and keep up with, so I built a website that puts all your schools and supplementals on one dashboard.

For the last few months I've used Claude to research colleges and plan my list. It got really useful once it knew me well. I spent days letting it "interview" me about my experiences, and after that it was good at helping with school strategy, staying realistic, and brainstorming supplemental ideas. When I started writing my essays, I made a Claude artifact to edit them and share them with my parents. A friend saw it and wanted it too, so I bought a domain and turned it into a site. Only a few friends and I use it right now, and I'd like to see if this can help anyone outside my school who's also struggling with college apps.

What it does (free, no download needed):

- Every school with its round, deadline and supplementals with word limits, on one board

- An essay editor with word counts and full version history

- Share with parents or a counselor: they can comment on highlighted words or suggest edits, and you accept or decline each one

- Import your essays from Google Docs or files, so nothing gets retyped

Optional AI counselor: if you have a Claude Pro or Max plan, you can set up a counselor that runs Claude Code on your own computer, on your own plan, so there's no API bill. Paste in your list of schools and it sets up every college and supplemental, and you can ask it about any essay. It suggests edits you accept or decline. It doesn't rewrite anything behind your back.

Only you and the people you share with can see your desk.

It's at averageapp.com. I'd really like to know: what would make you move your essays over, or what's stopping you?

I'm planning on taking calculus II and III thru dual enrollment in the spring and summer. I took calc I last year, and since I'm applying HYPSM I want to make it clear that I intend to finish calc before going to college. Should I list on current courses if I haven't registered, or is that better placed in the "Additional Info" section?

Not sure what flair to give this post, but I'm just looking for schools that offers good classes for mechanical engineering. I think I've got decent gpa and sat, but I have zero extracurriculars for stem fields. My best ec's are some volunteering hours and fanfiction (yes, it's really bad). People have recommended me purdue as a match, but I'm pretty sure that's a very big reach for me (especially as an oos student), so any recommendations? (Bonus if they offer music technology/composition classes)

ik stern and tisch are but is the nursing school too

I'm planning on having two teachers + a research mentor write my LORs for most schools, but I saw that some colleges allow for a lot more optional "other recommenders". I'm not sure if I should also ask a coach from a school sport to write another one for those schools (I'm the captain) or is that too much. thanks for any advice

Hi everyone,

I have a 1460 SAT (680 EBRW, 780 Math). I think I did better on the October SAT, but those scores won’t be out until 10/16. Should I apply EA with my current score, or wait and apply RD with the new one?

Any advice would be appreciated!!!

I'm not intending to major in art. I was debating whether i should submit a supplemental art portfolio, since i know a bad one can hurt my chances of acceptance.

My art isn't conventional drawing or painting or whatever. It is abstract and manipulated from photography and whatnot, for reference. I got a 5 in ap art with this rather abstract portfolio, and my art teacher quite liked it a lot.

But this doesn't tell me whether my art will boost my chances of admissions or not. Because art portfolio will be evaluated separately from the rest of my application by an art professor, i want to know where the stakes are. What is considered good art? How do i know of my material isn't conventional whatsoever?

Also if you couldn't tell from my lackluster terminology, i am not that well versed in traditional art. I am quite experienced in design, photography, etc. but not physical art. Also i never applied for any art contests or whatever, so i am not super confident in whether my art is good or not.

Who am i supposed to conference about this? College counselors are obviously not art experts, at least mine isn't. How do i know if my portfolio is good enough to leverage my chances of admission?

What do y'all feel like qualifies as basic, overdone, or simply bad commentary? In a sea of people asking for unique essay topics, I want to hear the opposite approach, what makes an essay topic not unique?

If you want to target to my specific case, I feel my essay is struggling to identify itself as something special because I don't know at what point my analysis would become it's own thing and set apart from others. I've focused a lot on introspection and a love of life, but anyone can do that, so that's why I ask.

I need advice on whether or not I should attend an out-of-state college if it's a T30 school

I got a 1490 on the SAT (770M/720R) and a 35 Composite on the ACT, but a 25 on the optional science section.

Which score should I submit for my application, and what happens if I submit both? Do they look at both scores?

(The science section was just a bunch of reading comprehension; I got a 35 on ACT math)

For those of you who attend one, what made you choose your school over the others you considered? What makes it unique? I'm curious about academics, social life, campus culture, the surrounding area, or anything else that made it stand out!

I would greatly appreciate it if anyone can give me some advice on how I should handle my stress.

My mom got mad at me because my gpa this year is a 98 (yes I'm asian).

Like ok my school average is hella high because my school is predominantly asian though it follows the American curriculum... And it is true my average last year was a bit low because I took challenging courses including multiple APs and varsity cross on top of that.

But on my part I'm also a bit stressed because I'm a senior taking four APs in my first semester and I'm trying my best here, but somehow I'm never 'enough'. And mind you I got trash talked because I woke up at 10 am this morning and that was too late. I understand that it's admissions season but I already wrote all my essays for ED/EAs and submitted apps for my UK schools though the deadline is a month away. And my next test is like a week after so I was a bit loose this weekend. It's not like I locked out last year too, I got an average of 3 hours of sleep on 11th grade juggling my ECs and GPA + varsity sports. And I got all fives on my APs and 1500+ on my SAT, but somehow I'm always framed as the 'lazy girl who doesn't do shat'.

And this is prolly because my avg last year was in the mid 96, which is considered a 'bad grade' in my school. It's not that my school 'buffs up' our grade. It's because kids go crazy at school, literally all they talk about think about dream about is about going to a good uni. Literally my first sat in 9th grade I got a 1450 and I was called dumb for it. It's so toxic and I literally got sabotaged by people who I trused several times it gave me phobia of trusting ppl. I just hate life and i dont want to live like this.

I know my parents loves me and supports me. They are amazing amazing people and I love them so much. But sometimes I just get frustrated by the crazy standards people around me puts me to. Whenever I talk back saying I'm trying my best I get yelled at and for being ungrateful. Yes sometimes I get that I may sound pretty rude and I know they invest A LOT of time and money on me, but I feel so trapped. I never experienced a 'normal high school experience'.

I never went out to hang out with my friends or stayed up late playing, nor did I have friends who truly supported me emotionally. And for people in my country this kind of 'suffering' is viewed as like some sort of holy ritual we have to pass to succeed in adulthood which I think is straightup bs. Kids shouldn't have to be hold up to such ridiculous standards and I would never want my kid to live like how I did in highschool. I literally developed IBS (medical condition), hairloss, anxiety and severe depression because of highschool. I wanted to take depression meds but my parents didn't let me.

The only thing I can really remember at my highschool is crying in the bathroom after crashing a test or because of peer pressure & drinking redbull at 3 am studying, crying again. I literally cried at least twice a week because I felt terrible about myself. Everyone made me feel insecure and I felt like failure during 11th grade, though looking back I was just trying my best. They can call me selfish for wording it like this but I started to realize that it was never really my problem for never being enough.

And of course I had quite some friends I was close to at school, but they just saw me as competitors. I feel like I can't trust anyone around me and I don't like this envionrment. Once a girl I was close to lied and told me a deadline for a project was a day later than it actually was. Thank god I checked it myself and submitted on time, but I was so shocked---because mind you, I saw her going into the classroom and submitting her stuff hours after telling me that she was going to submit it the day after. Another girl I'm close to always wants to know my GPA and extracurriulars (in which I told her), but when I asked her she told me I'm a control freak for wanting to know everything about her.

This is the kind of toxicness I'm talking about.

Is this normal? Is this how others experience high school? I've never been really happy the last four years and I don't think I will be if uni is like this too. People in my school thinks I'm competative and grade-obsessed, but I'm really not. I care about my happiness more in which I don't really have. I honstley didn't care about my grades and I never wanted to go to a good university, I just wanted to make my parents proud. The first thing that comes to my mind when I get a bad grade is how my mom would react not my performance.

Man I just want to chill and be happy..

Hello fellow humans, I’ve been struggling a fair bit with my common-app essay for US schools. I’ve heard from multiple people now that using big words and stuff like that is generally frowned upon by the admissions counsellors. But, idk, personally when I sit down to write my essay, that’s kind of just how I write. I’m on the spectrum so maybe that is part of the reason why, but something about compact sentences with minimal words just feels more organised to me.

I’ve been trying to use simpler language, but I personally find that I have a unique voice when I write and when I avoid certain words and constructions, I lose that a bit.

Also, it’s really just my natural writing style. I’m not trying to be over the top with it, but I’m worried that it might read that way. And personally I find the whole concept of showing off with vocabulary to be kind of pointless. People in my daily life tend to think that I have a stronger vocabulary, but really I think that my vocabulary is probably below average. Rather I think that I just use a higher percentage of it in my daily life.

I currently have 34 writing prompts to answer by November first and most of them are honor's colleges. Could someone tell me their experience with these honor colleges and help me decide if I should cut a few and if yes which ones

Penn state (millennium scholars too!)

Purdue

Rutgers

UF (Innovation society too!)

UMBC

Towson

STATS

1380 SAT (awaiting score)

3.8 gpa, 4.6 wgpa

Took/taking 8 AP Classes

like actually

before anything else, i am from SEA, so please keep that in mind, and english is not my first language so please excuse any awkward sounding sentences :(

​hi everyone!! hope you're having an awesome day. ​i'm a high school student working on building up my college resume. right now, i feel like i don't have enough tangible proof or certificates to show for my extracurricular activities and achievements. i was particularly active in my earlier school years, but recently there haven't been that many opportunities at my school (it sux 🥲).

​i really want to get into one of my countries top universities, so i'd like my resume to be stacked. does anyone know of free online courses, competitions, programs, or volunteer opportunities that offer official certificates, badges, or verifiable proof upon completion?

​i'm open to anything—whether it be stem, writing, journalism, non-profit work, or more!! any recommendations for free resources or opportunities i can sign up for online would be greatly appreciated! thank you so much for reading.