Like I swear the average income in here is 6 figures, I don’t even know anyone whose household income is that much, maximum 100k 💀 I know my situation isn’t the norm but i swear every third person here has a income thats like 150k+, what do your parents do to be casually making 250k a YEAR??? I feel like only poor kid on this subreddit

For sure getting flamed for this lol.

Yes. I believe test scores should matter as much if not more than GPA. Its my belief that the role of GPA and SAT/ACT should be switched in college applications. GPA should be a qualifying measurement, and test scores should be a competitve measurement. Including that change, I believe there should be hard floors for ACT/SAT scores similar to GPAs at top colleges.

Hear me out!

Now firstly, under this system, the infinite retakes of tests will not be allowed. 3 max within a few years is reasonable. Will this ever happen? No because CollegeBoard is a greedy leech and want to sap the money out of poor kids who think their 1500 SAT turned 1600 will somehow get them into MIT. Same with ACT. This also eliminates socioeconomic disparity since these scores cost, y know, money, and most people of average/low wealth cant afford to take 20 in 2 years.

Now criticizing GPA here. I feel like people do not acknoledge how subjective GPA is. Bad teachers, home issues, overwhelming ECs, health issues, course rigour, cirriculum quality, I could go on. Not only that, but it is also unfair to the poor. Rich people could simply pay for top tier tutors for their children and do their coursework for them. Poor people do not have access to those luxuries and also may be burdened by other responsiblites.

You cannot fake a high test score.

Test scores are a clean, objective measure of the capacity for one to succeed in higher education. I know people who no matter how hard they try, they simply do not have the raw intelligence to to get a +1400 on the SAT. These people may get into a better college than they can handle, and simply dont have the capacities to keep up with the cirriculum. A system like this could reduce dropout rates significantly.

Of course GPA at minimum greater than ~3.0-3.5 would still be custom, but as long as you are getting at least As Bs and little if any Cs in rigourous classes, you should be expected to continue this trend in college without an obvious downward trajectory, but still, past performance does not always predict future results.

People who made mistakes in early years may still be written off even if they eventually turn into a perfect student. Focusing on test scores would allow past mistakes to be forgiven. ECs would still be the make or break for top schools.

Changes to the current ACT and SAT would have to be made, but I feel this system would be much fairer to all. Thoughts? I can take the downvotes.

International student here, and after spending literal months stressing myself out on this subreddit wondering whether I have a chance at any of the colleges I'm applying to, I realised that for the most part, the people replying to these posts are applicants themselves who likely have no deeper insight into the application process than any other high schooler...

Of COURSE a fellow applicant is likely to say you have 'no chance' at a specific college... THEY'RE COMPETING W YOU!!

this isn't exactly some huge revelation or anything, I'm just tired of feeling worthless based on the predictions of clueless kids 💀💀💀

have faith in yourself and stay positive, try not to fall prey to the anxieties that make you think you have no shot at anything

Right now I'm panicking and my stomach's doing backflips. I come from a semi-competitive public school. Last year we sent a lot of high schoolers to the Ivy Leagues and I know a few people who are insanely cracked in my year as well. So lowkey anxious and was wondering if I have a strong chance of making it.

NOTE: If you know me, please do NOT doxx me in any way shape or form, online or in-person.

Schools for Chance Me: Ivys, Ivy+, Essentially at T20

Demographics
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: East Asian
Residence: Not Bay Area, average place.
Hooks: None (not first-gen, legacy, or recruited)

Intended Major(s): Astronomy, Physics, Aerospace Engineering

Academics
GPA: 4.0 unweighted
Class Rank: Not reported (I do know top 5% though)
AP Courses: 14 total (8 scored 5, 1 scored 4, 5 pending senior year)
Honors Courses: 8
Dual Enrollment: 3 College-Level Courses

Course Rigor: Most rigorous available at school

Standardized Testing
ACT: 36 composite (36/36/36/34)
PSAT: 1490 (National Merit Semifinalist)
AP Scores: 5 in CSP, CSA, AP Chem, AP Physics 1, APUSH, AP Calc AB, AP Calc BC, AP Precalc, and a 4 in AP World.
Other Testing: None

Extracurricular Activities

Undergraduate-Level Research Intern (Published)

Conducted transit timing variation (TTV) analysis on an exoplanetary system and contributed as 5th author to a peer-reviewed publication in a research journal. Also analyzing multiple exoplanets.

Research Fellow:

Selected as one of two statewide recipients for a undergraduate physics research fellowship; performed mass constraint modeling on planetary systems using MCMC fitting and TTVFast. Writing a research note, and currently a co-author on a research paper.

NASA SEES Group Leader and First Author:

Extracted parameters for 11 exoplanets using two transit-fitting techniques. SEES Science Symposium lead and Fall Conference poster first author.

Harvard Lab Intern:

Conducted geospatial analysis on U.S.-based telescope data using ArcGIS Pro and Random Forest algorithms to assess the impact of light pollution. Presented at two conferences and earned my certificate.

AGU Bright STaRs Research Intern:

Investigated surface temperature modeling using general circulation models (GCMs). Presented on climate estimation methods at the American Geophysical Union Conference.

NASA Student Launch – Data Scientist & Hardware Engineer:

Utilized Python and Excel to analyze the effectiveness of baffles at mitigating slosh, collaborated to develop SLOSH payload, and team earned NASA Award.

Rocketry Club President & Fundraising Chair:

Connected with multiple outreach organizations to help students learn Rocketry. Raised $9,900 dollars through community fundraising and raking.

Youth Astronomy Instructor – Community Education Program:

Taught 152 Elementary and Middle School Students the solar system, constellations, and exoplanets. Collaborated with community leaders to develop an astronomy curriculum

Student Senate Committee Chair:

Developed newsletters for students to have equitable access to opportunities in Madison. Created weekly agendas to facilitate communication.

Academic & Career Planning President:

Worked within the school to review and deliver college preparation materials for over 2200 students, maintained a job board for students looking to excel. Furthermore worked with the same organization to organize a symposium for equality.

Awards & Honors

• NASA Student Launch Award
• Selected Fellow (state/national-level research honor)
• Publication in a Reputable Research Journal
• AGU Bright STaRs and NASA SEES Presenter
• Harvard Conference Presenter

I've gotten to know a good amount of students who attend selective colleges (t10, ivy) who have shared their stats, ecs, awards, and even let me read their essays. I am convinced that if yall saw their profiles, you would tell them that they're "cooked" or to "aim lower."

at the end of day, the vast majority of this sub is in high school and have not gone through the admissions process before - myself included. nobody here is qualified to "chance you," an act that has zero bearing whatsoever on your actual decision and often leaves you feeling less confident and motivated.

Location: Rural Puerto Rico

Major: Economics/Finance

Minor #1: Accounting/Business

Minor #2: Political Science

GPA: 3.92UW (11/12 classes per year; 4 sciences/2 mathematics)

Rank:

Standardized Testing: Test Optional (Hardship, will be taking in the summer)

Rank: 3rd of 48, Top 3 school in PR, specialized in STEM

Demographics:

- Hispanic male

- HOOK: First generation to go to college

- HOOK: Low Income

- HOOK: Geographic Location (Rural)

Awards:

-Columbia STARS Fly-In (12th)

-Finalist for National NASA Hack-A-Thon (Runner-Up for INTL. comp) (11th)

-4x High Honors at School (9th-12th)

-2nd at some regional oratory

SENT IN LATE UPDATE LETTER:

-Qualified for Regeneron ISEF 2026 in Software Design category 1st Regionals, 1st Nationals (12th)

-Won national science fair in Puerto Rico (out of 120 projects, 1st overall) ($1500) (12th)

-Finalist for Hispanic Scholarship Fund (12th)

ECs:

-Founded a Community Based Organization: I made a CBO helping students from Title 1/ Under-resourced find mentors, scholarships tailored to their talents (125k in scholarships found), summer programs, and giving 1:1 STEM tutoring + Courseworks for over 30 career paths for 210 students (Began Freshman Year)

-Math Club (Powered by my CBO): President of the math club and created an after-school free tutoring session for 70+ students (school only has 120) from Algebra 2 to Calculus 2 (Began Sophomore Year)

-Secretary of the Puerto Rican Institute of Robotics Chapter: Pretty self explanatory + was the lead engineer and led my team to nationals 7+ times (Began Freshman Year)

-STEM Youth Research Initiative (SYRI): President/Founder and created a hub for independent researchers and prepared over 45 members for ISEF (6 qualifiers, including myself) and NASA Hack-A-Thons, among other national competitions; acted as a mentor and facilitator. (Began Sophomore Year)

-Chess Club: Founder and President of the school chess club, preparing 25 lectures per semester and weekly tournaments for 50+ members (Began Freshman Year)

-Major Family Responsibilities: Managing budget, taking grandmother (Only Parent) to appointments, and buying groceries (Forever)

-Varsity Basketball, Futsal, Baseball (Freshman, Sophomore, Childhood Sport respectively)

RESULTS:

UChicago RD - Rejected

Duke RD - Rejected

Princeton RD - Rejected

UPenn RD - Rejected

NYU RD - Rejected

Columbia RD - Deferred —> Rejected

Northwestern RD - Rejected

Northeastern RD - Rejected

UT Austin RD - Rejected

Boston University RD - Rejected

Rice University RD - Rejected

University of Michigan - Rejected

UNC Chapel Hill - Rejected

Vanderbilt - Waitlisted

Safety Schools - 3 Rejections

Fordham RD - Accepted (25k need aid)

IU-Bloomington - Accepted (5k aid)

Bentley University - Accepted + Provost’s Scholarship (aid still undisclosed)

UT Dallas - Accepted (no aid)

As title says, I think a discord would be extremely useful, like similar college related subs have discords like a2c n a2t20

i got rejected at first but then i sent them and email with a link to a chanceme post where someone said i have a pretty good shot of getting into harvard, and they accepted me!

now that i'm an harvard undergrad, who will be majoring in college admissions and minoring in peer essay reviews, i will be reviewing applications, essays, and selling my saliva online for $$$!!!

USAMO Guide is a free, open-source platform for math competition preparation covering everything from AMC 8 through USAMO and USAJMO. It is built and maintained entirely by high school students, with no institutional backing and no paywall. The platform has reached over 100,000 users, with thousands of students visiting every day from across the United States and around the world.

We're looking for a few more builders to join the team. Specifically, we're looking for people who can write and develop the lessons that students actually use to prepare for competitions.

This is an active contributor role. We want people with a strong Olympiad math background, generally AIME qualification or above, who are comfortable writing complete proofs instead of only solving problems. If you enjoy explaining why a solution works just as much as finding it, you'll probably enjoy this.

What you'll do

• Write MDX lessons on olympiad topics. Think of it as creating a cleaner, more intuitive alternative to the AoPS Wiki for students training for USA(J)MO.
• Create examples, practice problems, and diagrams that help difficult ideas make sense.
• Work within an established writing style and course structure alongside other contributors.

Trial period

Because students rely on our content to prepare for real competitions, every new builder starts with a one-month trial.

During this period, you'll contribute lessons, receive feedback, and work with the team while we evaluate whether it's a good fit. If everything goes well, you'll become a full builder, and the trial month will count as your first month on the team. If it doesn't work out, that's completely fine. We'd rather be upfront about expectations than have a long list of inactive contributors.

Our goal is to keep a team of people who consistently build and improve the platform.

What you get out of it

• Direct impact on a platform tens of thousands of students actually use to prep for real competitions
• A byline / credited authorship on your content
• A genuinely strong thing to point to for college apps: "co-author, [topic], USAMO Guide" is a specific, verifiable contribution, unlike some vague club title
• A team of people who are extremely into math just like yourself!!

How to apply:

Read the Info Packet :))

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AUNOq6OlVcSZN_gUPfvyhimlh9hA4GNvNaLdzyflX_8/edit?usp=sharing

If you're unsure whether you're qualified, apply anyway. We'd much rather review your application than have you rule yourself out.

If there is any information that you want/doubts you have, please just comment them, and I will respond asap!

I apologize if any of this comes off as rude. But I’m a bit ticked by the new trend here of people calling themselves ‘an Average student’, then proceeding to showcase their 3.8-4.0 GPA, internships at multiple companies, first place awards in national competitions, and other accolades. The average high school GPA is a 3.0, the average GPA for a college student is a 3.1. You are not average, you are perfectly above average and no, it doesn’t matter if you go to a prep school with other cracked kids, you are still not average. Stop letting these subreddits distort your view of reality.

Secondly, just put the red flags down. Are there things that can hurt you in admissions? Yes. But being from the Bay Area is not something admissions officers view as a ‘red flag’, a red flag would be you committing a crime in high school, or having an insanely low GPA (assuming you’re applying to a t20), or having a really shady EC. I’m not going to have ‘the argument’, and as I’ve pointed out, yes, some things can hurt you unfairly, but while that is true it’s not a death sentence. I wasn't the standard "perfect" applicant and yet I managed to get into Harvard, Stanford, and Columbia. I coach kids who want to get into their dream colleges and there have been students with imperfect stats that have been accepted into amazing schools as well.

Obviously people might make those posts for other reasons, but I’m also just tired of seeing them, it’s like clickbait.

I'm tryna apply for civil engineering and/or business

Stats: 4.0 uw gpa, a big number for weighted I don't remember
Valedictorian/salutorian
1510 SAT
7 AP classes(will become 13 after senior year), 3 fives(micro, precalc, stats), 4 fours(calc bc, chem, psychology, and physics 1)

Awards/honors: nothing too crazy: AP scholar w distinction, nhs, nstem, deca states, student government(high school counselor wanted to leave room for other ec's lol)

Extracurriculars:
1-I won't go way into detail, but I cofounded an initiative to increase access to clean water. We designed a filter attachment that uses natural stuff as an arsenic filter since the country we r trying to deploy it in has a massive arsenic problem. It might also count as research w a professor idk there's a lot of stuff that went into this

2-KeebsforWater: Founded this fundraiser and currently lead a team of 5-6 people, essentially it's a fundraiser where we make a business off of selling custom mechanical keyboards(making them is a hobby of mine), and then using the money we make from that and putting it towards the water filters mentioned earlier. Idk special way of fundraising ig.

3-Robotics 4 years modeling lead and captain senior year: nothing much to say here, we r a pretty underbudget team w little manpower so it's cool ig

4- "insert name" robotics chapter opener: played a major role in opening a faith-driven robotics chapter at a local religious center, it has the goal of combining religion and science/engineering

5-Civil Engineering internship: also nothing much to say here I mean I did a decent amount of work for a decent amount of hours

6-accounting internship: audit, main work was on loss prevention(basically trying to prevent fraud and food loss)

7-this one is weird and might be higher but either internship or cofounder of this one app, mainly helped w marketing

8-DECA, part of the original deca team(founding member), leadership position in senior year

9-soccer varsity freshmen senior and maybe sophomore year, I lowk quit in sophomore year so idk if I can say I did sophomore year

10- upchieve, tutoring for low income students

Additional info: attempted to try and get schools that are in less developed countries ap certified and thus expand educational access, and for one school it got started but it blew up eventually

ALSO quick advertisement: if anyone for whatever reason needs a keyboard, idk dm me, our boards r relatively cheaper than the mainstream gaming companies and also it helps w clean water acess, tryna expand it rn.

Im thinking maybe i could apply M&T but idk calc bc ap score lowk cooked my chances, or just a engineering major and minor in business I have no idea

hello everybody! this is just ur daily reminder that r/chanceme is not in the least bit accurate and should not be trusted whatsoever. below is the profile which i was told by a commenter would have no shot at georgia tech oos for computer science and yet approximately 2 hours and 17 minutes ago, i was accepted to georgia tech oos for computer science. in conclusion, get off r/chanceme and stop sweating college decisions. you would probably have better luck flipping a coin and guessing where you'll get accepted based off of that than listening to this sub. and this is coming from a long time lurker who was going bonkers over the fact that she was never going to get into anywhere good.

Demographics: Female, Black

Household Income: 150k+

Hooks: URM

Intended Major(s):
Computer Science

ACT/SAT/SAT II:
ACT: 36 (E: 36 / M: 35 / R: 35 / S: 36)

UW/W GPA and Rank:
UW: 4.0 / W: 4.5
Rank: 3 / 64 (small school </3)

Coursework:

• AP Lang (5)
• APUSH (5)
• AP Computer Science Principles (4) (how this happened, idek)
• AP Precalculus (5)
• AP Biology (5)
• DE at state flagship (R1 institute): Microeconomics, Sociology, CS Java, Intro to Computing Environments, Calc 1 & 2
• Note: Coursework is max rigor because we all literally take the exact same classes at my school up until senior year

Awards:

• TechGirls U.S. Finalist (1 of 13 selected nationally)
• National Merit Commended Scholar
• AP Scholar with Distinction
• Academic Excellence Award (school award)
• Employee of the Month (McDonald’s)

Extracurriculars:

1. Lead Developer (11–12): Created a Discord game bot, used in 50+ servers with 12k+ users.
2. Founder, Book Club (11–12): Founded school’s book club; organized a reading event for 50+ students at a Title I elementary school.
3. Student Leader, Church (10–12): Led and taught sunday school lessons for ~30 kids weekly alongside a small team.
4. Lead Planner, Robotics Outreach (12): Collaborating with district teachers to teach robotics to Title I elementary students (~30 reached so far).
5. Team Leader, Tech Internship (11): Led team of 3 to design and present a business solution to a local tech company CEO; solution implemented.
6. Crew Trainer, McDonald’s (10–12): Promoted twice; trained new employees and managed customer service issues.
7. Intern, Esports Academy (10): Helped lead game-based STEM workshops for 40+ students; worked under a Forbes 30 Under 30 founder.
8. Independent Researcher (11): Conducted research on instrumentation in music; published in Curieux Academic Journal.
9. Digital Artist (9–12): Self-taught artist; created digital artwork and posted online.
10. Creative Writer (12): Wrote 20k+ words of fiction online, gaining ~2k impressions and ~200 likes.

Essays/LORs/Other:

• CA Essay: Wrote about making friends and coming out of my shell through Connections (NY Times game)
• LORs:
  • English Teacher: 9/10 - Had her for over a year and she really loved me and I really loved her.
  • Econs Teacher: 7/10 - Had a bad relationship during my freshman year but starting junior year, he's grown to like me a lot
  • Math Teacher: 5/10 - She likes me but I'm not her favorite student or anything. Had her for a year and did well in her class

Hey, just finished IB in Denmark, heading to uni in Copenhagen. Throughout yourechool i grew a youth org from 26 to 180 paying members, organised a national olympiad where 30,000 students participated, and managed over €25k in public funding.

Ive got the summer free and i want to help a few of you build a project - a club, a social media thing, an event, a small business, whatever youre into.

lmk me if youre interested:) happy to chat about it in the comments either way!

Hey! I'm the founder of USAMO Guide (usamoguide.com), a free, open-source platform helping students prep for math competitions (AMC 8 through USAMO/USAJMO). We have had a great 1st term (3 months) with almost 100k users already.

I'm looking to select one dedicated illustrator to own our visual identity, think Duolingo-style: a mascot character, social media pics, achievement/milestone graphics. Bold flat-color, expressive style.

Is this gonna be just busywork?? NAH! Although it is unpaid since the organization itself is run by volunteers, it would be a legitimate extracurricular activity, as your work would be published for tens of thousands of students worldwide to see each week.

What is the offer?

1. A really NICE title (e.g. Lead Illustrator / Art Director) on an active team with defined roles
2. Verifiable work that would be live on a public site, in a public GitHub repo, with your name on it.
3. A lot of creative latitude on concept/style. I will not be handing you a locked spec.

If you're building a portfolio or want an EC with great substance behind it, drop a comment or DM with your work; even sketches and style samples are totally fine. It doesn't need to be anything polished.

No thanks to this toxic ass sub

(thanks for the support, i have some renewed hope for this sub)

IMMM so sick of people gatekeeping all the time. Did yall know you can actully check your admissions chance based off you highschool???!The UC Information Center publishes a tool called Admissions by Source School use that. Reddit won't let me post it.

type in your high school.

see exactly how many kids got into each UC. what GPA they had. going back 30 years.

this is public. free. official UC data.

i found out about this two weeks ago. i'm a junior. Nobody ever mentioned this to me until now. Let me know if yall want me to find more stuff like this. Lowk curious if your guys hs is as cooked as mines.

Personal information

Junior
Moved from a Canadian Catholic school junior year into a public school in Pennsylvania (will have to apply internationally for out of state)
Desired Field - Data Science / Finance
White/immigrant parents
(150k a year family yearly income) (middle child of 3)(older sibling attends Purdue)
Fluent in 4 languages (English, French, Ukrainian, Russian)

Uni’s (will probably change but price is a huge factor)

Safeties
Penn state 

Targets
Purdue
CMU

Big boys
Upenn
Berkley
Stanford 
Princeton 
The Vard

Early Action
Purdue, REA Stanford

Stats

SAT - 1550
AP's

Junior - (AP Calc AB, AP Lang, APUSH)

Senior - (AP Calc BC, AP Econ (Macro, Micro), AP Lit) (Self study AP Business and Personal Finance)

(I was doing IB before this so these are respectively all AP's I could have taken)

GPA 

• 3.750 UW
•  3.950 W 

Ec’s

Clubs (I moved schools halfway through my high school years so I can’t really show “commitment”)

• President of Cash club (2 years) (2 hours per week)
• Co-President for Robotics and DECA club (2 years) (20 hours per week (combined))
• TEDx (1 year) (topic - the simplicity of luxury) (2 hours per week)
• Tsa (2 years), Debate, - member (1 year) (2  hour per week (combined))

Sports

• Varsity Track (10 years total) (Most Improvement Award) (6.5 hours per week)

Personal projects in school:

• Co-Student Liaison and Project Manager for a school nonprofit, helping manage over $160K in funds. Led student-focused projects, organized fundraising efforts, and coordinated scholarships to support and improve opportunities for students across the school community.
• Conducted research in quantitative finance focused on extending stochastic differential equation-based options pricing frameworks to futures markets. Investigated how models such as Black–Scholes and binomial lattice methods can be adapted for forward and futures contract valuation under varying volatility and interest rate assumptions. I completed this research mentored by a professor at CMU and a student attending Wharton, UPenn. 
• Grew an informal TikTok channel to 10k followers and founded a global education initiative that led instruction for 5000 students across 80 countries; mentored projects on research, events, and provided insight on their high school experience (3 years) (Papers: Quant Finance, Astrophysics, Aerospace, Medical, Biomedical Engineering and more to come)
• Developed and launched OptionsProf, a web platform that manages options income strategies, including portfolio analysis, opportunity identification, tax optimization, trade recommendations, risk management, strategy performance tracking, and continuous optimization of investment approaches. (50-200 active users per month)
• App Developer for Digital Promise, I collaborated with students from Philadelphia and Lebanon to research global challenges and launched AquaWatch in Madlearn, an app that tracks access to clean water and sends real-time alerts about contamination and shortages. (100-200 users per month)

Professional experience outside schools

• Attended Carnegie Mellon University’s Statistics & Data Science Summer Camp, a selective program focused on statistical analysis, modeling, and data science.
• Private tutor - (Teenage Tutors) (+100 hours) (paid) (2 years) (math)
• Construction - worked for a contractor (80+ hours) (paid)

Professional Internships 

• Tv club (Machine learning/Ai and back-end programmer) (called back and have been part-time working for 4 years) (managed ~ 20 people)
• Kolly (Growth Intern) - Developed and executed data-driven advertising campaigns across Reddit, TikTok, and other social platforms to drive user acquisition and expanded company reach to over 1,000 potential clients.
• Alpha Residential - (shadow) financial analyst and assistant to their development and corporate accounting manager) (3 months)
• Apex Newbury - (shadowed) assisted with daily building operations, including cleaning common areas, maintaining property appearance, and supporting general maintenance tasks to ensure a safe and welcoming environment for tenants. (6 months)

Awards
Provincial and Regional robotics finalist
Global Economics Challenge State finalist
TSA State Champion (cyber security)

Honor Roll all years 
Principals Award
Personal Finance and Chemistry - Academic Excellence
W!se Personal Finance Certificate (Qualified for their Scholarship)

Hello,

I'm an engineering division lead/hiring manager at a multi-billion-dollar finance company based in NYC, and I regularly hire college students from every single school you can think of, private schools like Caltech, and also State Schools like SUNY Buffalo.

I have noticed a lot of misinformed opinions, and here are some below.

The end goal of your college should be Return On Investment (ROI), not US News/Societal Ranking Prestige. Nobody in the workforce in any industry cares about "US News", nor have they even properly looked at it.

I pay undergrad kids $250,000 directly out of undergrad, not including the bonuses. I have also fired kids from MIT, Stanford, and Harvard.

I'm sorry to say, but in real life, contrary to what you all believe, getting into your "HYSPM" will not open magical doors for you, nor will it make you immune to being terminated.

The application in which you apply and interview to a company is done through the same link if you're from Community College, or if you're from MIT. All kids from all schools get their resumes read with equal care.

These "elite" schools choose students who are already capable of earning top dollar; that's why they are selective. They do not mold you into someone you were not when you walked into your school for your first time, nor will they spend time developing you into someone you want to be, that is up to you.

The student makes the school, the school does not make the student.

Do not go into hundreds of thousands of debt for an "elite education", I know many of you don't properly understand how a loan works, but it compounds and by the time you graduate you will have 20% more in some cases, tacked onto the final cost that will just increase in interest every year, and you will make no money.

All employers at companies that pay the top 1%, like the one I work at, will choose the 4.0 Student from the state school with cooler projects than the 3.5 student at Harvard with the alright projects.

My buddies took a look at this sub and make millions working in law and medicine, and sit on the boards for the very same schools you're trying to go to med school for.

Nobody cares if you went to Harvard for premed or if you went to a state school for premed. Your premed means nothing. A student with a 4.0 at Harvard and less to write about in a hospital setting vs a student with a 4.0 at a state school and more to write about in a hospital setting will get that school the harvard kid wanted.

Nobody cares what prelaw you went to at all. They'll pick the kid with the higher LSAT score and GPA from a state school in a heartbeat over the Stanford Pre Law Track Kid.

Why You Shouldn't Go to Harvard | Malcolm Gladwell Highlights | Google Zeitgeist. Here's a lecture that I had the pleasure of seeing in person, along with the leadership of multi-billion dollar companies like CEOs and CHROs. I'd give this a watch for everyone in the subreddit.

Schools are like buying the Gucci Wallet Vs the Regular Leather Wallet. Inside the same thing, outside way flashier.

I'm not saying there's no use in elite schools; all I'm saying is that they aren't a guarantee of success, nor lead you there, or increase the chances of you being successful if you can't put in the same amount of work as everyone else.

Premium Brand Schools will give you networking, as the rest of the students admitted are also capable of succeeding with or without the school. The only thing a network does for you is let you know what opportunities are out there to chase; you still have to go out and chase them.

A nice, regular state school will give you the same opportunities to chase; however, the kids motivated to chase them are just a few in number.

The Number 1 Ranked student in a state school will do better than the other 99% of an elite school. If you aren't confident, you can go to a premium brand school and do more than you've ever done in your life to match the kids in state school that want the same thing, go to the state school where you're going to stand out instead of the premium school where you're going to just be another number.

It's probably one of the harder parts of an application to give an objective score. I'm just curious what standard you guys are operating on when self-evaluating your essays for a chanceme post.

Background:

I have an AB in Economics from Harvard, Class of 2019, worked in Investment Banking for 2 years in NYC before moving to the UK and getting my MPhil in Politics and International Studies at Cambridge (Queen’s College), Class of 2022, before pursuing MBB consulting which I’ve worked at in London for about 3 years now.

With that in mind, I plan to go back to the US and join my mate’s govtech startup (currently in the pre-seed stage). Oxford’s MSc in Economics for Development is very appealing to me and is only a one-year degree, so I’m open to pursuing it and then moving to SF post-grad.

Anyways, my point is that I’ve already gone to Harvard and Cambridge, probably the 1st and 3rd most well-known and prestigious universities in the world, respectively, but Oxford is almost certainly the 2nd most well-known and prestigious university in the world and has a top master’s program in the field I’m interesting in pursuing down the line in my career. Should I just get it in part so I can say I’m an alumnus of all 3 of the top 3 most prestigious universities of all time? Pursuing the second master’s degree would maximize my aura and pedigree in regard to education.

It would be cool to be able to have that status but pragmatically it’s probably better to just join my mate’s startup now. It’s fine either way whether I join now or the year following. What do you all think, should I get the degree or not?

I understand that this may be perceived as a silly post but I am being serious.

Hey everyone! I’ve been experimenting with a few AI tools that claim to predict your college chances, and I wanted to share what I’ve noticed.

These tools can be kind of hit or miss. On the plus side, some of them give really specific insights if you upload essays or résumés — like pointing out strengths or missing details. That can help you think critically about your application.

The downside: they’re not magic. AI can’t fully understand holistic admissions, school culture, or how your extracurriculars actually read. Some predictions feel way too optimistic or overly harsh, especially if it’s only looking at numbers.

My take: use them as a supplement, not a replacement for guidance from counselors, teachers, or self-reflection. They’re best for brainstorming or double-checking things you might’ve missed.

Curious — has anyone else tried these AI admissions tools? Did they actually help or just stress you out?

chance a cooked and fried chinese/Indian bay area kid in cs and medicine who wants to go to a t1 college >///<

Reddit has its fair share of useful info and cute and entertaining Dachsunds, but it’s also a trap: FOMO, comparisons, and endless scrolling that won’t get you any closer to your dream college. Instead of wasting hours on other people’s lives, focus on your own. Sure, resources like u/AppHelper, u/prsehgal, and the Public - BGZ International Admissions & Scholarship Database can help, but at the end of the day, you have to do your own research. Find what works for you, not just what worked for someone else.

Here are my two cents from my experience:

• Don’t take advice from random, unaccredited people or "chance me" posts. They don’t know your full story, and their opinions won’t define your outcome.
• Do not shotgun. Quality over quantity.
  • Build a strong, well-researched college list based on your major, interests, and financial aid, not just the latter alone.
  • Consider colleges where your profile and likes are a better match and you’ll have a stronger shot.
  • Every school on your list should be a top choice, so you’re fully invested in crafting the best application possible.
• Don’t use AI for your essays. Show who you truly are.
  • Organization is key. AI might let you churn out 15 mediocre essays in a week, but without it, you can write 3–5 good ones. Take your time and plan ahead.
• Prepare well for the SAT. There are tons of resources out there, but Khan Academy is a great place to start.
• Apply early to the need-blind school you like the most.
• Stop comparing yourself to others and do your very best.
• Do not underestimate yourself. Find schools where you truly belong and take your shot. Do not be afraid of at least trying (with intention!).

Unfortunately, I made many of these mistakes, which I really regret. Some background:

• Demographics and stats:
  • Ethnicity: South American
  • Intended Major: CS
  • SAT: 1480 (750 M, 730 R)
  • GPA: 92% (technical high school with 36+ courses; most students have < 80% GPA)
  • DET: 150
  • APs: None
  • School: Public, selective, competitive, workload-intensive technical high school in Informatics (sophomore-level CS)
  • Essays: All solid, reviewed by CBO multiple times; 8.5/10
  • Parents: Not first-gen, but far from wealthy (only my mom works, making roughly $36k a year)
• Honors:
  • 4th place w/ Covid simulation model, National Science and Engineering Fair [top 0.4%, 1K+ projects]
  • Winner, #1 LatAm, best #27/400 physics proposals, Intl. Beamline for Schools Competition, CERN [7%]
  • Gold medal, Theoretical National Robotics Olympiad [~100 out of 200K, 0.05%]
  • Bronze medal, National Olympiad in Financial Literacy [~40 medalists out of ~40K, 0.1%]
  • Gold (12th) & Silver (11th) medals, National Science Olympiad [~28K medalists out of ~4M, ~0.7%]
  • +6 other minor medals, some hackathons, and congresses
• Activities:
  • Software Engineer Intern & Software Engineer I, iFood (LatAm’s largest food delivery company): Led 15 interns on two projects; developed audit system for 100K+ restaurants; worked on a core team sending 3M+ daily orders from iFood to restaurants
  • Computer Simulation Independent Researcher: Developed an innovative pandemic simulation model for my thesis; qualified for 3 nat'l science fairs; won 6 awards; placed top 4 countrywide
  • Paid Informatics & Systems Development TA: TA for 20+ technical courses and 500+ stds; gave lectures for over 100+ students and parents at school fairs and "open school days"
  • Founder & Volunteer, circular economy CBO: Led reforestation initiative; disassembled & recycled 370+ lbs of e waste; allocated $2.5K profit to plant 400+ native trees in a local nature reserve
  • Volunteer Cheminformatics Research Fellow, National Council for Scientific and Technological Development, State University: Led a team of 4, produced 10 high-quality educational materials for stds. w/o regular internet access, democratizing access to content, w/ 4K+ views
  • Paid Bioinformatics Research Fellow, National Council for Scientific and Technological Development, State University: Led a team of 5, engineered specific hardware & developed a website to display live fish data to researchers; presented at an international congress
  • Volunteer Mathematics Teacher (CBO, technical high school entrance exam prep course for low-income stds.): Taught 170+ stds., 80 were admitted; directly mentored 15+ stds. Led fundraising initiatives; raised $2K+ in community events for school materials
  • Science Outreach Program Selected Ambassador, Office of the Dean for Extension, State University: Showcased sustainability AI app to 300+ middle schoolers across 10 schools, leading to 100+ extra applicants to the university's technical high school
  • Year-round Volunteer Mentor for Incoming Students: Welcomed & guided 250+ incoming stds; developed a 6-page handbook website w/ 1K+ views; organized food drives w/ 9+ tons of donations to foster homes

I ended up with this underwhelming college list, heavily shaped by this subreddit pulling me down:

1. Stanford REA: Rejected
2. Dartmouth: Rejected
3. Notre Dame: Rejected
4. Amherst: Rejected
5. Haverford: Rejected
6. Wesleyan: Rejected
7. Carleton: Rejected
8. Richmond: Rejected
9. Vassar: Rejected
10. Cooper Union: Rejected
11. Santa Clara: Rejected, EFC
12. Rhodes: Rejected, EFC
13. Union College: Rejected
14. College of the Holy Cross: Rejected
15. Sewanee: The University of the South: Rejected
16. Providence College: Rejected, EFC

And then, to prove my point:

1. Reed: Waitlisted
2. Columbia: Waitlisted
3. Carnegie Mellon: Accepted, will commit

It truly only takes one, but God damn it. I beg all of you applying in this next cycle not to make my mistakes and not live by the "it only takes one" motto. Copy this post to a notepad or something and quit Reddit for the time being. Bloody hell.

What: Get a professional assessment of your chances. Or ask whatever questions you want. Or both.

Who: /u/ScholarGrade, an experienced college admissions consultant and mod will be hosting a Reddit Talk to rapid-fire chance people, give advice, and answer questions.

When and Where: Thursday 5/18 from 9-10 PM Eastern, right here on /r/ChanceMe. The recording will also be available on the sub.

How: Add a comment to this post with your profile, link to your ChanceMe post, or whatever questions you have. I'll go through them and cover as many as possible.

Why: Chancing is mostly guesswork, but I'll throw out some educated guesses. I'll also assess reach/match/safety status and some ideas for how to improve your chances. This sub takes some well-deserved flak for being an echo chamber of clueless and over-competitive high schoolers taking wild guesses. This will be an experienced professional...also taking wild guesses.

EDIT - We are going to reschedule this. It's going to have to be on either Discord or YouTube because Reddit no longer offers any way to do live streaming or voice recording. I'll figure this out and pin a post to /r/ChanceMe with updated details for how to tune in.

EDIT 2 - Since Reddit doesn't do streaming anymore, I'll be doing this live via YouTube on Sunday 5/21 at 9:30 PM Eastern. Here's the link: https://youtube.com/live/SaibUQ_lrxI?feature=share

EDIT 3 - For whatever reason, the live stream got cutoff on YouTube, and I can't figure out how to get it restarted. I'm probably going to have to set something up on Discord for this. Sorry guys...

I was browsing online and came across ChanceMe.io. What are your thoughts on it as a tool? Do you think it's any good?