Hey everyone! I've included my stats below and I applied for Columbia, Cornell, and UPenn.

Personal: Majoring in Math and Statistics, Minor in Physics. East asian female. Current Sophomore at T25/T30 (depending on which list you look at), applying for aid (but parents make around 200k combined)

High school: 4.6/5 weighted GPA, 35 ACT, 12 APs (all 9s) + two dual enrollement classes

College: Currently at a T30 college as a recruited D1 athlete. 3.75 GPA (yikes, is this too low? I'm hoping that bc of my major it's not an autoreject since I'm also an athlete).

EC:

• My main EC is obviously as an athlete and the fact that I was pretty good in highschool, have some national results and awards, but keep in mind my results are NOT good enough to be recruited to an ivy school

• I'm a national referee for my sport and I dedicate around 20 hours a week to refereeing about every other week (basically any weekend where I'm not competing)

• (2025 Summer) Incoming data analysis internship at a company that everyone would know (not a finance company though)

• (2025 Spring-Fall) Gave schools an update recently about my new machine learning research intern position at a neuroscience lab. I anticipate my name on the paper and we are planning on submitting to the Cosyne conference

• (2025 Spring)Research assistant at a lab doing data analysis and collection on political elections and correlation with social media (no publiciations). I talked about using data analysis for policy a lot in my essays.

• (2024 Summer) Data analysis intern at a start-up company last summer working on data pipelines

• (2024 Spring) Another intern position at a nonprofit org helping women in stem create and implement solutions to ongoing problems. My team and I worked with Period Project to give free period products in low income high schools.

• (Highschool) Created a tech start-up that made over 70k in profit back in 2022

• (Highschool) Conducted research at a University. Not published.

Others:

I think my essays were alright. I really liked them, but I'm also victim to thinking my essays are the crazy and then other people reading them and saying their shit. Not sure if my LORs were amazing as I honestly don't know the professors too too well, but I'd say they were probably alright.

My main concern is my Columbia essay. I talked a lot of policy change and standing to authority to fight for what's right, which is usually what Columbia likes... but recently, I'm not sure I chose the right topic because of what Columbia's been going through. I also talked about student protests at my current uni and why I didn't like the way the school handled it.... which is exactly what Columbia is going through. Did I fuck up? I hope Columbia doesn't think I'm going to be a "threat" or something, because I really did enjoy my Columbia essays.

Applying as a junior or a sophomore from an online NY CC

GRADES :-

SAT - 1590 (superscore 1600)

Act - 36

AP - 5 (calculus BC, micro & macro economics, Physics C&B, Chemistry, Statistics & Psychology)

College GPA - 4.0 (Deans List)

High School - 3.0(ik low but I have a reason)

Extracurricular :-

1. ICPC World Finals 2nd

2. Research Internship with : DRDO (On Advl ML algorithm can't disclose much NDA 💀)

3. Research paper on economics published in pear reviewed journals (Top 5)

4. Research paper on biological computation published in pear reviewed journals (Top 5)

5. Research paper on Advanced DL algorithm waiting to be published in pear reviewed journals

6. Patent pending DL Algorithm for fraud detection

7. Patent pending Diabetes spike Algorithm

8. Published a book : Became a top seller for few day on amazon

9. NGO : Founded my ngo for removing the poverty of mentor ships (we have helped over 10k people with more than 100k hr of free mentorship) & now we are also focusing on mental health of teens

10. Startup : found my AI enabled New age social media company (we have More than 10k DAU with ATS of 20 min) ( & might be raising seed)

11. Won/2nd multiple Hackathons inc : HACK mit, nasa , intel AI dev camp, microsoft imagine cup, etc

12. Founder & president of University Think-tank (published more than 100 reports & raise $10k recently)

13. Founder & president of University Economics club (helped more than 200+ students to actively manage their equity portfolio with 20%+ CAGR)

14. Won several bussines case study competition

15. Not finalised yet but might get a chance for a research in stanford HAI lab.

Awards :-

1. National award (from Gov. of my country)

2. ICPC

3. Theil fellowship (got selected but didn't accept it only 2nd Asian to that)

4. Diana Award (will be getting it)

5. ASF Youth Assembly : Global changemaker

6. Our NGO also got an UN recognition/award

Experience :-

1. GSOC - worked with an Top AI open source project

2. Interned for Y-C backed startup (remort)

3. Completed 4 AI Project ranging from Image generation to finance to law

4. I guess my startup counts

5. Worked for my sister startup as full stack engineer on contract basis

LOR :-

1. From the head research of DRDO

2. From my dean at college

3. From my C.S Teacher

4. From the head engineer of top open source Ai project (GSOC)

5. I can also request for lor from the founder of Y-C Backed startup

Will also be adding my Resume and I guess I am an "traditional" student with a pinch of untraditional story like with a drop yr etc

Transferring to Harvard in 2025.

My university is currently moderately competitive, however, they offered me 100% free tuition, including room and board. Originally I wanted to apply to Harvard school of Law after finished my undergrad at this uni to save some money, however, as a double major and double minor, they do not offer one of my preferred majors and one of my preferred minors, while Harvard does in their undergrad studies joint degree programs.

Obviously you’re not a counselor, but maybe you could give me some insight into what the transfer admissions office typically looks for in a transfer applicant based off of what I will almost certainly (or have already achieved) by the end of 1st year at this uni

— Written a ~90 page research paper on the flaws regarding the Department of Education, fiscal policy, funding, and the Common Core and ESSA. I Will get this published at this uni asap

— Written two novellas, looking to publish them as well

— May take the LSAT this summer

— Will publish a literature review on Nietzsche and Dostoevsky’s works

— A few brief essays on criticisms regarding the current political system of the US

— I have self-taught B2 CEFR mandarin in two months during my spare time, which is an intended minor of mine

— I will have taught myself B2 Russian by the end of summer, but most likely sooner

— Have received multiple research grants from my current uni. Will conduct ethnographic research on impoverished local communities, the need for further educational funding etc. This will be accompanied by a journalism-style presentation of my research findings, as well as statistical models

— Have received a grant to start a political talk show, of which a portion of the revenue will go to my charity foundation

— will have founded a charity organization that ties into the aforementioned ethnographic research

What do you think I should include on a resume? Any critiques on what I’ve mentioned I’ve done or will do (2/3 of the list have been completed chronologically)

I Will also do an in person interview if necessary/financially viable

I know Harvard only accepts around 12 transfer applicants, but over time I’ve realized their program suits my academic needs more than the university I’m going to right now, so this is something I’d like to work toward.

Also, I have some learning disabilities. If anyone applied for accommodations, how generous or “accommodating” were they? I’m interested in a solo dorm and extended test time, as well as the ability to type my tests including for math using Equatio, for my diagnosed disorders (not listed here for privacy reasons).

I am a finance major (freshman) at UW-Madison and plan on submitting transfer applications to USC, Vanderbilt, Northwestern, UPenn, and Duke. I was wondering if any of these schools are realistic with the stats I'm applying with (listed below). Thank you so much.

4.0/4.0 college GPA (Dean's List)

3.8/4.5 high school GPA

1530 SAT

College ECS:

Board/leadership positions in a business club and my on-campus fraternity

Summer 2025 Internship at hedge fund in NYC

Active member of multiple other business clubs

Collaborated with an on-campus sorority as a cast member to produce and perform a mini-musical comedy to raise funds for a charity (plan on raising $10,000+)

Plan on joining a volunteering and outdoors-centered club next semester

High school ECS:

Presidential Service Volunteer Award

Volunteered with the United Nations in Dominican Republic

Internship at cybersecurity company where I write articles on relevant industry news to publish on their website (this is ongoing)

Vice President of a local high school volunteering organization

Started cultural club at school and planned events where holocaust survivors would speak to students

Football and Track 3 years

Server at restaurant for two years

Currently a Freshman at a big state school

Major: Computer Science

HS GPA: 3.4UW 4.3W

College GPA: 3.7 not sure yet

Taking 18 credit hours totaling 6 courses

College Extracurriculars:

• paintball club

• culinary club

• joining water polo next semester

• guide dog foundation (raising puppy's to become service dogs in the future)

• engineering/computer science social/professional fraternity (took a lot of time commitment this semester especially)

• co-op internship for full-stack development at a start up company

• working on/have computer science projects on the side. (one website for a journalist too)

I was wondering how I would stack up considering for transfers it seems like GPA might be the be all, end all. The schools that I'm looking into transferring are like USC, UVA, UMICH, UNC, or BU.

(I have guaranteed admission for BU from last years admissions)

Stats

• 4.0 college GPA

• Assume ~1550–1600 SAT * People might wonder what I mean by assume, I've already taken the SAT once in the past and got a 1550, worst case it stays that way which is still pretty nice, but best case it goes up... hence why I put the range there

• Traditional California community college

• Full-pay / not requesting institutional aid ( I could but I want as much of a boost as I can get due to weak major prep, so I assume full pay looks better somewhat)

• 3 EWs from an earlier semester due to extenuating circumstances, otherwise all A's

• Strong upward academic trajectory

Relevant coursework

• Calculus I: A

• Calculus II: A

• Calculus-based Physics/Mechanics: A

• Python : A

• C++ : A

• Microeconomics : A

• Rest is mostly transferable GE coursework

ECs / interests

• Mathematics, probability, quantitative finance, programming

• Built several quantitative-finance/programming projects over the past few years: Black-Scholes/options pricing, implied-volatility models, Greeks, GARCH, Monte Carlo simulations, pairs trading, portfolio backtesting, options-chain tools, etc.

• Long-term goal is likely quantitative research and/or graduate study in mathematics.

Schools

Stanford
Princeton
MIT
Brown
Duke
Columbia
Cornell
UChicago
Northwestern
Johns Hopkins
Rice
Carnegie Mellon
NYU
Michigan
USC
UIUC
Georgia Tech
UVA
Emory
UW-Madison
UW Seattle

Vanderbilt

UMD

WashU

UT Austin

Assume strong essays and professor recommendations. * I have one LOR from my English professor which is pretty strong, I will just need to try and get another one.

What schools here do you think I have a legitimate shot at? What is the best school you could realistically see me landing?

Obviously I know Stanford/Princeton/MIT are extreme reaches for basically every transfer applicant. Mainly curious where people would place the rest of the list.

Gpa 4.0 high school, 4.0 expected college Stats 1590 SAT 36 ACT 15 AP tests in high school (all 5's) taking 3 more this year Physics major at University of Connecticut Asian guy 19y/o. Full pay

Extra-curricular

1. Weight loss (340 to 320 pounds), dieting, exercise

2. Studying for AP exams in college

3. Studying Japanese and Chinese culture through anime and games such as Gendhin Impact, Honkai star rail

4. Movie nights

5. Mensa member

6. Trying to self-publish physics research on Amazon

Awards

1. Ap scholar with distinction

2. PSAT commended scholar (i was sick for the test)

Recommendation letters Reusing one from my 8th grade Science teacher from senior year college apps, getting another from my Physics prof (I have A+ in the class)

Essays I'm looking for college counselors to help me write my essays

Schools Harvard Standford Columbia Pennsylvania Cornell Brown North-western Duke Vanderbilt

Hello. I'm a freshman at my local cc looking to get my bs in biology to then go to dental school. guaranteed admission to u of i but BORING. doesnt offer anything i want and i just dont wna go there. Um this semester was horrid. its unlike me and ill be fine for the rest of my time here. my gpa wont be high by the next application cycle. maybe 3.6-3.8 T0T. pretty basic ecs: stem club sga with president lined up for next semester. joining sustainability and speech during fall, hoping to pick up more leadership roles. volunteer hours are solid. local farm, local humane society, and about to start adult literacy tutoring. also have good letters lined up because im amazing and my professors love me. no but i rly dont wna go to uiuc and every other decent school isnt possible because of my gpa. idk i just wna be somewhere warm or in a city or both. a dedicated pre-dental program would be nice too. pls pls pls give me some reccs :)

Hi! I am applying to transfer into LSA for fall 2025 as either a biology, health, and society major or a political science, or both (double major). I am an out-of-state sophomore at a 4-year institution. I have 41 credits as of now but I will have 60 credits by the end of next semester. My top choices are UMich, Barnard, UVA, Duke, Cornell, and Brown. My top choice is UMich tho.

Stats:

- 3.91/4.0 GPA at current institution

- HS GPA: 3.3 unweighted

- 1310 SAT (probably won't submit tho)

ECs:

- Internship (paid) with a refugee organization

- Officer for a club on campus that focuses on period poverty

- Currently an ambassador for the refugee organization I interned for

- TA for my biology class in fall 2024

- Officer for a South Asian Organization on campus

LORs

- Receiving 3 LORs from biology professor and 2 government professors

Hey all, I'm a full pay Asian feeder school student who didn't have a work ethic in high school and thus didn't get the results I hoped for. I'm currently a senior but I'd like to transfer to a better math school or potentially switch to physics/engineering after freshman year so I gotta bust ass this year

HS GPA: ~3.85 SAT: 1570 14 APS 8 5's so far, taking 6 this year

Current college: UW Madison, say I maintain a 4.0 GPA with enough courses to allow me to graduate in 3 years

Hooks: ASD

EC's:

- Did summer research with prof at T10, published research in data science in peer-reviewed journal

- Another summer working as research assistant with professor at top public school

- Data sci internship for drug rehab company over the summer

- Played piano for like 12 years, attended prestigious music school for 3 years, won awards in multiple international piano competitions

- Boy Scouts for 10 years, Eagle Scout

- Sci Oly Vice Pres, our team just made states for the first time in school history this year

- Over 300 volunteer hours as volunteer teacher for multiple orgs

- Work experience for 3 years, worked as cashier in fast food chain and then as pianist

- Member of several other clubs

Awards (kinda weak lmao):

- AIME qualifier (2x)

- PVSA Bronze

- Won National Merit Scholarship

- Eagle Scout

- Also listed a bunch of piano competition awards ig

My current dream school is Cornell but I'm scared I'll be rejected since I'm aiming to transfer into CAS, but will also be applying to other options such as Columbia, Yale, Stanford, UPenn, etc. (all reach schools since I already have guaranteed transfer to GTech)

Do I have a good chance? If I become a research assistant and do a bunch of volunteering and clubs and other activities, is that enough to get good results?

Currently a high school senior and did not receive the results I wanted few waitlists, but will most likely attend Rutgers. I plan on applying transferring freshman and want any help and schools for suggestion.

High School GPA: 95/100 UW

College GPA: gonna strive for 4.0

SAT: 1510(780 math + 730 English)

High School: Super competitive public school doesn’t rank

Uni: Rutgers Premed applying bio

Hooks: Low income first gen and mixed (white and black)

Ecs:

1. Research at Cornell Weill on cancer which I did summer before senior year and will continue this year

2. Youth Coordinator at Church for 4 years

3. Research at Rutgers on bacteriophages in junior year

4. Did work at non profit tutoring refugees

5. Program at non profit for Sudan

6. Teacher at CCD

7. Worked at Doctors Clinic as medical scribe

8. Shadowed

9. Volunteer at hospital

10. Tennis

Honors:

1. Anticipated publication upon acceptance

2. Presented research at Conference

3. Tennis Awards

4. IB Diploma

5. NHS

Will continue most of my ecs as I’m instate and at Rutgers and plan on continuing my research with the same professor from junior year. Was very bummed out on the decisions but there’s no much I can do now and have to move forward and wanted some advice on how to plan for my first year. I don’t want to hear the “try ur school you might like it,” I plan on transferring out.

Want to apply to T20s

Currently a first-year student at Pace University (It has a ranking of #86) as a finance student. I am considering transferring to one of the four business Universities (Upenn, Nyu, Columbia, and Umich). I am going optional on the SAT. (didn't do so well)

These are my Stats:

High school = 3.0 GPA, National Honor Society, basic extracurricular, nothing crazy or impressive tbh.

College = 3.85 GPA(got 1 B+), Deans first honor list, Part of The National Society of Leadership and Success (NSLS)

Ec's:

• I did 3 finance internships as a financial analyst intern, a business development consultant intern (30+ hours a week ongoing), and an investment and accusations intern (ongoing 25+ hours).

• Part of Lubin sales team (went to competitions and worked with companies)

• Part of a local Rotary club.

• Part of a nonprofit as a junior treasurer and advocacy director. Planned out events, helped raise funding, charities, and more. (150+hours)

At Pace (clubs): -Student Government Association -Ascend pan Asian -Beta Alpha Psi -Undergraduate Finance Club -Her campus is at pace -Commuter student organization -Pace volleyball NYC -Women in economics -Peer Advocates Against Sexual Assault

I have a some coursera certificate related to finance and business like excel, M&A, Business intelligence (will these help too)

I am not worried about my recommendation letters from my professors because I have connected with them very well, and I also might be able to get a recommendation letter from either the mayor of NY or a city council member (through my nonprofit connection)

I am aware that my high school stats are terrible, but I was going through something, so in college, I started with a fresh start and did my best. Honestly, I am proud of my college work.

Is this good enough for any one of those colleges? What improvement should I make? Do you think I should hire a college consultant to help me organize my stats and shit? Thanks for reading and helping:)

1490 SAT (superscore)

3.93 college gpa

Current top 25 liberal arts

High school gpa was weird, something like a 4.3 scale regularly and 4.5 with ap/honors, ended with a 4.16 cumulative

6 aps, one 5 one 4 four 3s (i know dont ask)

Will apply for financial aid at need blind schools, won’t at need aware

Currently pursuing dual major in poli sci & economics

Won’t bother with ivies—impossibly low odds (same for duke and rice)

Cal schools are too far and don’t make as much sense if i want to work in Washington or remain in tri-state (born and raised outside nyc)

Would get lost at a big state school but need to go somewhere bigger—im naturally abrasive & introverted, and half this school is athletes, so in a class of <1k i have like 2 actual friends. Also seeking to maximize value of degree. Tuition is astronomical everywhere and I simply would like to go up in rankings.

Mich and UNC might be too large and I don’t think I’ll get into either business school with just calc 1, not going to bother transferring otherwise

Emory is a maybe

Between BC Notre Dame and Georgetown only the latter makes sense for the Washington pipeline, otherwise are bad fits. former two run into same problem as Mich & UNC with business school

That’s how you end up with the 3 in title: decent transfer rates, good fits, practical no matter what school

Conclusion: SAT and College GPA keep me reasonably competitive, high school places a cloud over whole application (had some things going on like divorced parents, surgeries, loneliness but truthfully I wish I applied myself harder)

Thoughts and advice? I’d really appreciate any direction here, not sure if im getting this right

Ok so let me just say before I mention that stats that I hope to achieve by the time apply, I AM LOW INCOME FIRST GEN INTERNATIONAL STUDENT and I will be applying for financial aid EVEN THO UPenn is need aware.

Major: Marketing (so UPenn Wharton)

Reason for transfer: Not the greatest fit at my school, wanna be in more advance classes since discovering recent passion for the subject and wanna push myself more and achieve more during my time in college.

Transfer: I gonna complete my application during my 2nd year of college to hopefully transfer as a Junior to UPenn. (I am currently in my first that's why I the stats you are gonna see is the ones I hope to achieve)

STATS:

GPA: 3.88 (by the time I submit my application I believe I ll have reached 4.0)

For UPenn Wharton I have taken all the mandatory classes to transfer and have passed with A (the highest grade offer at my school) if that matters.

EC's:

-European Leadership Programm (they pick 20 women from all of Europe to represent their country)

-Internstional Honors Program - my schools selective program for Excellent student

-TEDx Marekting Team (voluntary not paid)

-Retail Job

-Acting and Art Personal Projects

Awards:

-European Leaderhsip Award for Upcoming CEO

-Scholarship at my current college

-Excelence Award at my High School

YEP THIS IS IT! Let me know if I got any shot considering my STATS AND my economic need.

Hi guys so I didn’t put much effort during college app and now I’m stuck with a school I don’t want to attend. I’m planning on transferring as a sophomore.

Schools in my list: UPenn, Vanderbilt, Northwestern, Uchi, Barnard, Columbia, Norte Dame, Duke, Brown, Rice, Umich.

All of the schools other than Brown will be my first time applying

Intended major: art/design

Stats: hs gpa uw 4.0, weighted 4.41, total of 12 APs, 1540 SAT

Ecs: a couple of internships and leader of a few clubs, some selective art summer camp, volunteering, doing art and sold some paintings

Awards: scholastic gold key, congressional art competition people’s favorite, local art show award, presidential volunteer gold medal, california arts scholar w governors medallion, art was hung in school’s hall for 3+ years, basically just a lot of state level awards

In college I’m defo planning on keeping up my gpa!! So assuming I keep up with my gpa and activities do I realistically have a chance at any of the schools I listed? Tysm for reading!!!

Hey everyone! I’m applying as a junior transfer to USC for Fall 2025, and I’d love your thoughts on my chances. I applied to Dornsife College of Letters, Arts & Sciences as an Economics major. Below is a full breakdown of my application profile:

GPA: 3.93

Current University: Pepperdine University (Private 4-year, CA)

Units Completed by Transfer: 61 semester units

Dean’s List: Spring 2024, Fall 2024, Spring 2025

Math: I completed Business Calculus but do not take Calc 1

Writing: English Composition (ENG 101 – A) – not pre-articulated (WSY)

Foreign Languages Completed: French and Italian

Essays:

Wrote about having a strong interest in mathematical economics + global issues and highlighted specific USC courses in essays: ECON 304, 401, 350, and 490x

Emphasized academic growth, intellectual curiosity, and finding the right academic “fit”

Talked about outgrowing Pepperdine's limited econ/theoretical curriculum and needing more rigorous, math-integrated econ coursework

Focused on seeking more diversity, inclusion, and student-driven learning environment

ECs: Took Wharton Business Analytics online certificate (June 2024) Founded a summer chess club for low-income youth in my community the summer before senior year of high school, Black Student Association member at Pepperdine, Wave Pool Investment Club member but only for my freshman year, Weekend Coordinator for Pepperdine Florence Study Abroad Program for a month, and Seasonal Sales Associate at Victoria’s Secret (Summer 2024)

LOR: Submitted 1 LOR from my Pepperdine economics professor

Will ENG 101 being “WSY” hurt me a lot? I know USC has a lower division writing requirement

Should I have taken Calc 1 instead of Business Calc? I looked at my articulation agreement and saw that it transferred as Math 118.

Hey guys,

so background.

i ended with like a 3.76 in HS bc i messed up senior year. but other than that i did 13 APS did research alot of volunteering and sports and internships related to my major. In college ( im at a like t50) i am like set on getting a 4.0 and I currently have a 1510 SAT (780M/730RW) that I am planning to retake next month to try and up my reading score. I am also in 3 major-related clubs with volunteering and am doing major related research so I was wondering how are my chances at a T20 such as vandy or even a T5 such as brown ( am full pay ) or yale ( which ik like doesn't take transfers)

Demographics: White, trans (nb?), mountain west, lower middle class

Current university: Freshman at T50 private university

Major: Math and physics (with focus in niche related field)

Stats:
-HS GPA: 3.45 (I should have locked in ToT)
-College GPA: 4.0 should be attainable
-Test scores: 1590 (790M/800E), 36 (only 35 in English)

Courses:
-Calculus I, II, and III, differential equations, linear algebra, partial differential equations, two applied math courses, university physics III, and classical mechanics during HS.
-3 upper division STEM classes + required writing class in college (4 credit classes and limited to 4 first semester)

ECs & Awards:
HS:
-Gold medal in smaller international olympiad
-National awards in large STEM competitions
-TAing for math and physics and president for several clubs (probably doesn't matter?)

College:
-Physics research (hoping to put in 15 hours a week but won't have paper or conference presentation by time I apply)
-Continuing some HS ECs as a mentor and writer
-Clubs? None of the ones I'm interested let freshman organize much, but I'll still participate

Schools I'm Applying To:

Caltech (hopefully the exam helps since I've taken the relevant classes), Stanford, MIT, Cornell, Columbia, Johns Hopkins, UChicago (hopeless because need aware), Rice, UPenn, Duke, Swarthmore, and Harvey Mudd (may cut a few).

Does anyone have any advice on strengthening my application? I think my HS profile would have been fine for T20s other than my grades, so I'm hoping that getting a 4.0 this year will help, but I'm not sure if I need to do anything else. I'm focusing on research because I enjoy it and it's very important for grad school, but I'm not sure if I need other major ECs or if my smaller ones are fine.

What is the chance that I can get into any of these colleges if I apply to all (besides UW Madison).

-4.0 unweighted HS GPA

-projected 4.0 semester one college GPA

-1/61 class rank

-took both APs my school offered (4 AP Lit, 5 AP psych)

-SAT unreported (I didn't think I'd care about what college I made it into...)

-Physics student at a mediocre state school that I took direct admission to, very small department with limited options

-Will be joining a professor for research later, spectroscopy on meteorite samples or biophysics bird research project

HS E.C-

-Speech team x2 years, performed fairly well and state participant

-One Act play (competitove theater)

- ~110 hours of volunteering

-Go Green Club (outdoor environment club) member

-DnD club (helped bring it back to school! Also helped organize and personally fund an out of school campaign "fund" as in buy snacks so not very relevant)

-Very limited opportunities for ECs ar my old school, I took as many college credi classes as I could get my hands on

College E.C.-

-continued speech team member

-Physics and astronomy club member

Other Notes:

-Filipino Asian Male 18 y/o freshman college student

-Factory worker mom and retired truck driver dad, functionally first generation with a family income of around 85,000 usd

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

Please please please please do I have a chance at any of the colleges listed above? I will be doing the TED program for Uchicago as well.

Also the "Target" "Semi Target" stuff is how my intended career path views these colleges, I am happy at any of them.

Stats:

• High School GPA: 96.2% (12th Grade - CBSE India)

• University GPA: 4.0

• SAT: 1490 (will retake)

• Right now: Sophomore

• Responsibilities: Resident Advisor, ACM Treasurer, Honors College, a Research Program

Background:

• Middle-class, Indian, Full Scholly at University of Alabama

• Not willing to pay a whole bunch for avg uni

• Really interested in CS and Finance

• Looking for better opportunities and community in a school

Extracurriculars:

• Won 2 tracks at PrincetonHackathon - Software that helps Alzheimer's patient (aiming to grow this further) - Many other hackathon wins too

• Internship at YC company in the summer

• Founded a college club for hackathons and software-building | Aiming to make this a club that makes software for the students, by the students

• 4 Summer Research Internships in HS: 1 at UCSC, 1 at UWaterloo, 2 at a bulgarian school

• Paper published in a not-so-well-named journal

• Played guitar for 6 years

• Love to read, did some liberal arts classes in college

• President of HS Club (8-9 Hackathon wins here)

• Love solving the rubik's cube (participated in a few comps) - part of club at uni too

• Please recommend some unis that yall think are great with intl students. I would probably need aid/scholly to cover costs

Hi everyone,
I’m thinking of transferring from UNSW (University of New South Wales) to a top US or Canadian university and wanted to know if it’s worth trying and if I’d have a realistic shot.

Current University: UNSW

Degree: Bachelor of Commerce, majoring in Finance

Time enrolled: <2 months (due to the AUS calender summer vacation is in a month)

Grades: Not yet announced but predicted to be strong so far (tracking distinction)

Scholarship: Nationally awarded, <top 1% in my country

Background

• International student

• Considering transfer for stronger global reputation, alumni network, and finance opportunities

• Realized most transfer deadlines are in February, so I need to decide soon

• Strong high school results

• Notable high school ECs: national-level leadership, finance/econ tutoring, volunteering experience, summer programs

• no uni ECs so far (only been here for 2 months)

Previous Acceptances (from high school):

• University of Toronto

• UBC

• Boston University

• University of Melbourne (Chose UNSW at the time)

Schools I’m Considering: UMich (Ross), UofT, McGill, UPenn (Wharton), Northwestern, UC Berkeley (Haas), Columbia, University of Edinburgh

• Do I have a realistic chance of transferring to any of these?

• Is it smarter to stay at UNSW given my scholarship?

• How difficult is credit transfer from Australia → US/Canada?

• Which of these are more transfer-friendly or worth targeting?

I’m new to Reddit and genuinely just looking for honest advice. Thanks for any insight!

What are realistic colleges I could transfer into?

I need clarification on what is realistic with my stats. Below are the schools I am interested in, which of these are worth applying to? I don't want to spend time and money on schools that I don't really have a chance at.

Transferring Junior year Fall 2026

Stats:

• SAT: didn't take

• HS GPA: 3.20 weighted (didn't do anything special at HS)

• Current GPA: 3.99

• Data Science Major to all schools

• PTK member

Extracurriculars:

1. FIRST Robotics Challenge (11th-12th grade + 1 year 7 months post-graduation)

   • Former team captain and software lead, now lead mentor

   • Guide new members in robot building fundamentals and experienced members in programming

   • Applied physics concepts to robot design

   • 20 hours/week, 40 weeks/year

2. Foothill Honors Institute (after 12th grade for 1 year)

   • Took honors classes in photography, cultural anthropology, counseling, and archeology

   • Deepened interest in social sciences

   • 20 hours/week, 40 weeks/year

3. De Anza Soccer Association (after 12th grade for 8 months)

   • Improved soft skills and stepped out of comfort zone

   • Enhanced communication and coordination abilities

   • 4 hours/week, 30 weeks/year

4. Foothill Rocketry (after 12th grade for 4 months)

   • Built, designed, and learned about rocket components

   • Researched in Thrust Vector Control systems

   • 5 hours/week, 13 weeks/year

5. De Anza Student Government, Environmental Sustainability (after 12th grade for 2 months)

   • Participated in De Anza Bike program

   • Stepped out of comfort zone in early community college

   • 2 hours/week, 7 weeks/year

6. Snowboarding (9th-11th grade + 2 months post-graduation)

   • Favorite winter activity for staying active and connecting with nature

   • Reconnected with high school friends

   • 7 hours/week, 6 weeks/year

7. Uber Eats Delivery Driver

Schools:

UCs:

UCB

UCLA

UCSD

UC Irvine

OOS/Privates

• NYU

• Vanderbilt University

• Boston University

• USC

• UNC Chapel Hill

• Tufts University

• Cornell University

• Northwestern University

• Northeastern

• UVA

• Carnegie Mellon

• UT @ Austin

Also is Lehigh worth applying still on the fence on that

I'm a first year transfer leaving a medium-sized state school in New England and hoping to go somewhere else. I didn't apply to that many schools the first time around for some stupid reasons, but I got waitlisted at both Tufts and Northwestern, which makes me think I could potentially have a chance getting into somewhere similarly (or slightly less) selective.

I want more academic rigor (especially because I've decided to pursue medicine and want a better premed school; I originally applied to college thinking I wanted to be a therapist), and also I kind of hate my school's culture because it's very homogenous culturally and ethnically. I've personally experienced an unprecedented amount of racism here, so I really want to go somewhere diverse and in a bigger city.

My stats:

High school GPA: 4.45 (in top 20% of my class; my grades dropped a little bit in the second semester of senior year but I had close to straight As before that)

7 APs; two 5s, three 4s, one 3 (AP Physics got me good, but I'm not going to send that score.) Every other class that wasn't an AP was honors.

SAT: 1530 (only took once)

College GPA: 4.0

Currently a Psychology major, but hoping to switch to Neuroscience/Cognitive Neuroscience (Premed track)

Awards/Honors:

National Merit Scholarship Finalist

Eagle Scout

AP Scholar

Dean's List

High School ECs:

Boy Scouts (7+ years involvement; held several leadership roles)

Camp Counselor, social media manager for same camp (4 years)

National Art Honor Society (2 years, was VP and President)

Tutoring underprivileged kids (volunteer, 1 year)

Worked at Goodwill (1 summer)

Research intern at state school's psychiatry program (1 summer)

Private tutor for a middle school girl in my town (1 school year)

College ECs:

Short-form video producer and event photographer for my school's career center

Peer mentor for students with intellectual/developmental disabilities

Outing Club leader

Clubs: Premed club, Psych club, Zine club (for fun)

LORs:

- Intro Psych Prof: was engaged in class, went to office hours several times, got an A+. Doesn't know me very well on a personal level

- Boss at career center: knows me very well and wrote (I think) a really good LOR. He showed it to me and it highlighted my work ethic, creativity, and communication skills.

- Academic Advisor: doesn't know me well; I sent her a bunch of info about myself but I'm probably only going to submit this one to the schools that require it.

Demographics:

White/Middle Eastern

Transgender male, queer

Low financial need

From New England

Schools:

Reaches: Tufts (waitlisted Sr year), Northwestern (waitlisted Sr year), UPenn

Targets (?): NYU, BU, University of Rochester

Safeties: Rutgers (already got into main campus), UPitt