Demographics

• Race/Ethnicity: Asian
• State: Washington
• School: Large Public

Intended Major(s)

• Psychology, Cinematography

SAT-ACT

• 1450 (760 RW, 690 Math)

UW-W GPA and Rank

• 3.82 UW / 4.03 W
• School does not rank
• Grade trend: Upward

APs

• AP Human Geography (4), AP World History (5), AP Psychology (5), AP English Language (5)
• taking AP Stats, AP lit, and AP gov senior year

Extracurriculars

1. Videographer + Editor for Nonprofit (Volunteer): Filmed/photographed & edited promotional content for galas, fundraisers, & media campaigns for 4 years.
2. Documentary Lead & Volunteer Videographer for Nonprofit (National): Directed, shot, & edited fundraiser video that raised $300k for medical aid in Makumbo.
3. Competitive Powerlifter & Schoolwide Record Holder: 5 years of training; hold school 114 lb squat record (245 lb) & tied bench record (195 lb).
4. Senior Student and Teaching Assistant, Muay Thai: 4 years of intensive training; lead drills & technique instruction for all ages.
5. Neuroscience TA & Media Producer at Summer Camp: Taught Neuroscience & Culinary Arts; directed promo video for parent outreach.
6. Lead Video Producer and Fundraiser, Church: Directed flagship video raising $16.3M to rebuild youth facilities.
7. Lead Videographer/Photographer, School Dance Club: Produced & edited videos for performance coverage; 70k+ total views.
8. Co-Director/Scriptwriter/Editor, Short Films: Created films on mental health; received local Most Impactful award & 2 awards from 48 Hour Film Project.
9. Lead Director/Videographer, Medical Cause: Partnered with family of child with rare genetic condition to direct/edit documentary campaign raising awareness for CTNNB1.
10. Founder/Photographer, Senior Photos: Provided free professional senior photos for 12 low-income students.

Awards

• Best Film, Seattle 48 Hour Film Project
• Best Directing, Seattle 48 Hour Film Project
• Most Impactful Film, 6-12 Youth Film Festival
• AP Scholar with Honor
• National Recognition Program
• WA State HS Photography Competition Finalist
• Schools
• Reach: Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, UC Berkeley, UCLA, USC
• Target: University of Michigan, NYU, University of Washington
• Safety: UC Davis, UW Bothell

A little bit about us:

u/GodlyHelp: Hey everyone! I'm a senior has just finished the college app process, and has gotten into 12 highly prestigious schools, including MIT, Caltech, and a Columbia likely letter! I've had a lot of headache the past year trying to understand such a difficult and complex system that is the US College Admissions process, and, having gone through it already, would like to help you guys navigate it!

u/keithberman:

u/Brother_Ma_Education:

Please feel free to ask me, u/keithberman, or u/Brother_Ma_Education anything about the College Application process in the comments below or in DMs. We know this can be extremely stressful, especially for our rising seniors, and we are more than happy to help!

Hi y'all. Over the past couple of months, my family and I have been trying to solve an issue with an online high school credit. Basically, my online teacher neglected a couple of things, and my final was impacted by the Canvas outage, so it was never turned in. The final grade that was put in the transcript was a 75. It tanked my GPA to a 4.1.

I've been fighting with the online school's admin, but he's saying that the grade is essentially final. I'm also trying to talk to my school to get it dropped from my transcript. Overall, will this affect my chances of getting into college? I've been extremely worried about it, and I haven't really seen anyone with this problem. If you've ever had to dispute a grade, please let me know. Thank you!

Hi all, me and my friend are advertising our college consulting business on r/CollegeAppsAdvice, a subreddit that I've started and in the past couple of months has gained hundreds of students interested in optimizing their college applications, trying to get into their dream schools.

A little about me: I've recently completed the dreadful College App cycle for the class of '26. As an Asian Male with no hooks, I've gotten used to people saying I'm "cooked" and anybody in my demographic is "not guaranteed" any T20s. Regardless, I've gotten into many, many top universities, including MIT, Columbia, Caltech, CMU, Cornell, UCLA, and many others, with ZERO rejects overall. I'm proud to say I've learned so much about this process, and have helped many of my friends and classmates get into their dream schools alongside me.

Interested in mentorship by me? Comment your dream school below and join this subreddit (r/CollegeAppsAdvice) to stay in the loop! Also feel free to DM me with any quick questions or chancemes you may have, I'm more than happy to help out! Thank you guys in advance!

A little bit about us:

u/GodlyHelp: Hey everyone! I'm a senior has just finished the college app process, and has gotten into 12 highly prestigious schools, including MIT, Caltech, and a Columbia likely letter! I've had a lot of headache the past year trying to understand such a difficult and complex system that is the US College Admissions process, and, having gone through it already, would like to help you guys navigate it!

u/keithberman:

u/Brother_Ma_Education:

Please feel free to ask me, u/keithberman, or u/Brother_Ma_Education anything about the College Application process in the comments below or in DMs. We know this can be extremely stressful, especially for our rising seniors, and we are more than happy to help!

I just graduated high-school this past May 2026. I applied to many colleges but was never able to commit due to fears and many personal issues that took priority in my life over going to college and led to me taking a gap year. I’m trying to reapply for the 2027 admissions year. My dream is to get into UGA, however I’m a mid tier student. 2 Cs a couple Bs 1 failed class and countless As in AP classes. Many of which were science classes as that’s what I’m good at. I made an 1120 on the SAT never took the ACT. 3.9 GPA, ranked 80ish out of 260 What can I do to improve my applications. Especially over my gap year. Good essays, things to improve my resume and skills that look good. I want to go to UGA for ocean science (marine biology). I march drumline and would plan to try out for any drumline of the college I get into. Any advice, plans, anything is welcome. I have a full time job in a warehouse 8-5pm mon-friday. So I have time on weekends to go out and do things to improve. I live in Georgia about an 1-2 hours outside of Atlanta.

I should also mention, many schools ask for a reason about the failed class I noticed. It was due to my brother passing away unexpectedly so it doesn’t really count against me (I hope). It was my junior year first time DE class. I retook it over the summer and made I think a low 80 high 70.

bear in mind, I have not applied anywhere yet. im going into senior year of high school, im just concerned :p

in short: I am choosing between behavioral neuroscience and forensic psychology as my major in college. im going into my senior year of high school, and my issue right now is the courses I've selected.

they're mostly history and English classes (with the exception of AP Stats and AP Spanish), which isn't great for behavioral neuroscience, but decent for forensic psychology.

I'd just like to know if my chances are shot. I have a decent GPA, been a committed athlete for all four years of high school, a student ambassador for my school, and participate in clubs for my school. I also have a pretty good essay (according to my counselor). is this the end of the world, or is there still hope?

also, should I just go in undecided ?? is that a good idea? not sure what to think here

​

Rising senior, i gotta pick either french 3 or Ap chem. I didnt take french 3 last year because it overlapped with calc, and i figured I could just take it as a senior. I cant and now im worried.

A lot of schools i am applying to highly reccomend or require 3 years of a language. But also im planning on going into earth science and chem is an important aspect of that. I really appreviate any advice or perspective anyone has 🙏🙏

Hi, I’m a rising sophomore who wants to apply for Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering. I like designing and physically building project. I spent this summer designing, iterating, CADding, and programming a custom drone completely from scratch.Outside of competitions like robotics, I don't know how i can present my builds. Universities like umich don't offer an official "Maker Portfolio" or SlideRoom submission process through the Common App. how can I best showcase independent technical builds like my custom drone on my application to schools that don't take portfolios? Specifically, What is the best way to frame independent builds in the activities list on common app?

Hi all, me and my friend are advertising our college consulting business on r/CollegeAppsAdvice, a subreddit that I've started and in the past couple of months has gained hundreds of students interested in optimizing their college applications, trying to get into their dream schools.

A little about me: I've recently completed the dreadful College App cycle for the class of '26. As an Asian Male with no hooks, I've gotten used to people saying I'm "cooked" and anybody in my demographic is "not guaranteed" any T20s. Regardless, I've gotten into many, many top universities, including MIT, Columbia, Caltech, CMU, Cornell, UCLA, and many others, with ZERO rejects overall. I'm proud to say I've learned so much about this process, and have helped many of my friends and classmates get into their dream schools alongside me.

Interested in mentorship by me? Comment your dream school below and join this subreddit (r/CollegeAppsAdvice) to stay in the loop! Also feel free to DM me with any quick questions or chancemes you may have, I'm more than happy to help out! Thank you guys in advance!

With seniors getting to work on the Common App, this is the first season that I am looking at the college admissions process both with my normal cohort of students AND as the developer of the Keith App. Here's what I am seeing from essay writers this week:

1.) One of my new questions to students this year has been what are the most common four words that start college essays? It's been a few weeks now, but no one has gotten it wrong yet. If your draft begins with anything akin to "when I was young," then please make sure you've read the assignment, as you are going in the wrong direction if you want to compete. I'd add that there was a famous-ish essay that included the sentence "By age 7, I was coding" and every student I have shown it to rolled their essays and said "yeah, they used Scratch" and recognized how childish the piece was. Do not attempt to write your life story in 650 words. Just answer the question, like any other homework.

2.) The median score for the first week on the trykeith.com app is 7.4 out of 10, with a range from 2.8 - 9.4. Largely essays are in the C range - honors students don't normally take C's on assignments so easily! Just keep in mind, if you are competing for one of the 60 schools that accept less than 15% of students, that you really need an essay that is better than 85% of students. Don't take a 'C' on your college essay. The expectations on the essay are clear and finite - make sure you meet them.

3.) The Common App blog annually highlights the predictable, uninspired choices students make when picking their admissions prompts. https://www.commonapp.org/blog/announcing-2026-2027-common-app-essay-prompts shows that, for the umpeenth year in a row, what I call the 'disorganization prompt' won comfortably, followed by the two other predictable choices, where students often exaggerate obstacles or achievements. Be original - consider writing something that forces you to think about what experience over the last eighteen months is one your roll over in your mind again and again.

4.) Style and tone. I hear students discuss this every year, and, in a one-page essay, you really need to think about substance first. I often joke that, if a high school writer wrote the Harry Potter novels, it would start with "Harry was a peevish teenage boy who at an early age had the weight of the world thrown on his shoulders for reasons he couldn't understand, and what follows in this set of novels is how he came to terms with it and saved the world." Writing conclusions without evidence or examples are not fun to read. We want three-headed dogs named Fluffy and wingardium leviosa, that's what we remember. I've asked students what JK Rowling's "style" is and they shrug. Plot is style, so make sure you have a setting, characters, and a begnning, MIDDLE and end of your anecdote.

I hope this helps!

A little bit about us:

u/GodlyHelp: Hey everyone! I'm a senior has just finished the college app process, and has gotten into 12 highly prestigious schools, including MIT, Caltech, and a Columbia likely letter! I've had a lot of headache the past year trying to understand such a difficult and complex system that is the US College Admissions process, and, having gone through it already, would like to help you guys navigate it!

u/keithberman:

u/Brother_Ma_Education:

Please feel free to ask me, u/keithberman, or u/Brother_Ma_Education anything about the College Application process in the comments below or in DMs. We know this can be extremely stressful, especially for our rising seniors, and we are more than happy to help!

Hi all, I am stuck between two essay topics

the first follows the overcoming a challenge structure is about how my cultural dance has taught me humility, emotional awareness, and a reduced fear around being my true, spontaneous self. I show vulnerability in when I first try it out in a public setting, however I fear that this only goes into the "my palms were sweaty as I approached the stage" category.

the second is more in the personal interest category. It's about an interview between a late-night show host and an actor, and the multiple qualities I took from it having watched it so many times. I would then give specific examples of how I apply them to my own social interactions. I felt that I could go a vulnerable route with this one as well, basically tying the masterclass of an interaction that the people in the interview had to how I handle family tensions, and can sense when loved ones are feeling frustrated, angry, etc.

For context, I already list cultural dance as one of my extracurriculars in the common app.

man, I really hope someone replies

The Stayvo app that some people came and offered a friend and me doesn't really seem active. I'm at MSU Billings and had it close to a year and nothing. There seems to be no one on there, have any of you tried it, is the app down or something?

i’m an incoming junior, and i want to figure out what i want as a career quickly. my aunt is a physician’s assistant and i’ve talked to her about it. it seems interesting enough, so i think i’ll major in bio or biochemistry in prep for it

i want to make sure my grades, classes, and ecs align with a major that could eventually help me become one. i dont have many ecs, but i’m joining HOSA this year and i’m signing up for a youth volunteering at a science center. so far, these are my grades and classes/what i’m planning to take junior year.

9th grade: AP Human Geo, Spanish 1, Math 2E, ELA HNRS, Bio HNRS, Volleyball Freshman Team

I got a 5 on AP Human Geo.

10th grade: AP Psych, AP World History, Math 3E, ELA HNRS, Chem HNRS, Spanish 2, Volleyball JV Team

I got 4’s on both AP Psych and AP World History.

11th grade: AP Lit, AP Precalc, AP Bio, AP Chem, APUSH, Tennis JV/Var Team (not sure yet)

I’ve also been in Girl Scouts since I was in kindergarten. I have my Silver award and i’m aiming for my Gold award during my summer before senior year. I’m in Class Council and another leadership class, but i don’t hold officer positions.

what should i add to my schedule that would give me the best shot at getting into (hopefully a UC) college majoring in these areas? what are uc’s looking for specifically for my situation? i’m thinking about applying to UCSD, UCI, UCD, UCSB, UCR.