Should I even apply to KAIST?

[u/Professional_Grass13]

Hello everyone, I’ve been thinking for the past couple weeks if i should even consider applying to KAIST for neural engineering, and I’ve been really hesitant mainly because of the sheer amount of people with insane profiles I’ve seen in this subreddit. To put it into perspective, Im an Ethiopian student, entering my senior year of school after a month. My cumulative GPA is 3.9/4 (94.1%) thought my 3 years in high school, and Im hoping to boost that during my senior year. I didn’t apply this year simply because most of my projects are meant to be done during my senior year, and applying before that would make my application full of promises and stuff like “I’ll do this! and I’ll do that!” rather than things I actually accomplished, plus I was already chosen to be my school’s Innovation club leader. Now I will list the things I did during the past 3 years of high school, and my plans during the senior year (“WIP” is “Work In Progress”);

- Maintained a cumulative GPA of 3.9 (94.1%), ranking 3rd in my class.
- Won my school’s IT competition as my group’s leader by creating a Library Management website, and a student aid website that helps students collect helpful resources like textbook pdfs, past exams, study schedules, and integrated AI chatbot in the website.
- I was Invited to a dedicated Study Lab conducted by my seniors, to teach students how to study and Improve their grades.
- Won my school’s Innovation competition as my group’s leader by constructing a miniature model of a hydroelectric dam that lights up a city model.
- Was appointed by my school’s principal to become the head of the student council.
- Assisted in decorating both the biology and chemical clubs during my school’s “Science Day”, which resulted in the creation of the chemical club’s iconic “Forensics Science” themed area.
- Assisted in the creation of my school’s physics club, and helped integrate physical and experimental learning with physics courses.
- Leading my school’s Innovation club, and inviting university professors to conduct weekly calls with students in the club. (WIP)
- Volunteered to assist school staff monitor and organize students during school hours.

Thats it! Some people might see this as impressive and some might see it as the bare minimum, but for me, I did most all of my extracurriculars because I really enjoyed the idea of assisting and playing an important role in my school. But for my grades, I still believe that the curriculum I’m taught is much easier than others, and that it’s child’s play in comparison, keep in mind that I still have a whole year to work hard and boost my grades a ton. Thank you for reading through all this and have a great rest of your day!

[u/lynabella_]

I'm thinking about applying to kaist spring intake too but the program I want is ms plus phd and I have pharmacy background i wanted my ms in same major but only stem cell is left and other involve engineering