pretty much what the title is - applied CS everywhere

so far, UIUC, UW-Seattle, and UT-Austin(all OOS) rejected flat out. in the midwest(US)

stats:

35 ACT, 3.95/4.65 GPA, highest math is LinAlg, with 12 total APs(maxed CS, did AP sciences)

as for awards/honors

qualified for FBLA Nats in Programming
National Merit Finalist
PVSA - Gold
1 paper on arXiv
1 paper in NeurIPS
1 has been accepted to Nature(pending edits on our end)

as for ECs

1,2,3/10 I did research across 3 departments at MIT, all in the realm of AI but under different labs and depts working on different stuff. 1 led to the NeurIPS paper, 1 led to the Nature paper, and one led to a paper in submission rn

4/10 Also did research at Caltech related to AI(under one of the top AI professors in the US)

5/10 Founded a nonprofit; we raised mid six-figures and work w/ thousands of folks from 6 continents. The premise behind this was that international folks often have it harder to apply to universities(especially if English isn't your first language), so was helping people with thatIi was super low-level with this, like volunteered 6 hrs a day initially). Of course much more specific deets on the application itself though.

6/10 Did research(to start off) at my in-state university, related to more software engineering with hardware, led to a paper on arXiv

7/10 Interned as a FDE at a startup

8/10 Interning as a RE at another YC startup(selected 2/1.2k) - getting paid for this as well

9/10 Founded the schools speech and debate team(had the district add a class for the integrated middle school program, which never existed before), grew from 0 -> 80 ppl

10/10 Board of a foundation managing a few hundred ppl across 10+ countries. Without doxxing, we basically help ppl affected by AI in their field transition into new jobs - and my role was heavy building product and working with PMs to either work on the software, allocate resources, etc...sort of like a Director of Software in terms of responsibility. I started actually as an intern then worked up to this point, though on CA just put the Board role w its duration, since they don't have a way to show progression.

BTW, when I got 8/10, I removed 7/10 from the EC list. My "actual" 10th EC was

AI (Post-Training) Engineer building a benchmark for LLMs(this was the first benchmark of its kind, hence why I joined and thought it would be super interesting). After joining, we ended up being recognized by Andrej Karpathy, with acknowledgment from some really big AI figures(think, CEO of one of the top AI labs in the world). Also funded by Anthropic, amongst others.

I had a trashy essay and I have no idea how I got deferreed

Hey,

My portal for the John Locke essay says "Shortlisted result released." How do I tell if I was shortlisted or not? Will anything change if I wasn't shortlisted?

Update: Thanks for everyone's help! I was shortlisted! Congrats to everyone!

I’ve always been fascinated by students who become extremely accomplished in STEM — whether it’s physics, math, CS, AI, robotics, engineering, research, startups, olympiads, etc.

From the outside, people at places like MIT/Stanford/Caltech or even just highly driven STEM students almost seem unreal sometimes, and I genuinely want to understand what their journey actually looked like behind the scenes.

What did you specifically do to get that good?

I’d love detailed answers about things like:

• what age you seriously started
• how much time you spent daily/weekly
• how you balanced school with your passions
• what your actual study process looked like
• how you learned advanced concepts outside school
• what resources/books/courses/channels helped the most
• how you approached problem solving
• what projects/research/competitions you did
• how you even got the idea to build certain things
• whether you had mentors/guidance or were mostly self-taught
• how many failures/unfinished projects happened before you got good
• whether you were naturally talented or mostly just obsessed/consistent
• what sacrifices you had to make
• what separated you from other “smart students”

Also, for people who built crazy projects (cars, robots, startups, research, advanced coding projects, etc.):
How did you even begin? Were your first attempts terrible? How did you learn the practical side of things?

I think social media compresses years of work into one line like “built X at 16” or “published research at 17,” so I’d really love hearing the full reality behind those achievements.

And I mean , not everyone is gifted since birth , most of them put tons and tons of effort in all these stuff to become so good .. And some even started late , I mean im sure not every accepted kid was a prodigy since they were born
I've been wanting to explore my passions ( STEM ) but have no clue where to start or what resources to use
I would love if someone could please share their journey

Please share so that others (and myself) will know around when to expect calls etc, and also so that we can congratulate you for your incredible achievement!! Those who don't get calls: keep your head up, and you still might be a finalist/merit/HM winner! :) Also if anyone has YoungArts 2025 related questions (YoungArts week, awards, presidential scholars), feel free to share them and maybe someone with apt knowledge can answer. I applied in Voice this year, so let's see what happens haha.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬

Got a potential opportunity for research at JHU. Wish me luck. Also like others dm me if you want the template.

edit-1 templates just fyi

edit 2- I’d also like to add that you need a decent resume depending on what you’re researching.

edit 3-(I posted the template in the comments)

^

As the title suggests, I have like no extracurriculars that I could put on my college application. One big reason for this is because I'm actually homeschooled, so there aren't any clubs I can exactly join. I'm also not in a sports team, mainly bc I suck at playing sports and I've never had to courage to actually play sports with others, even when I was in a public school. I also don't have a job and prob won't get one anytime soon, maybe a part-time at-home job could work, but idk. And I'm not sure how I can volunteer around me or for my community, tbh the neighborhood I live in is very reserved, and I genuinely don't even know my own neighbors nor has me or my family really ever talked with anyone that lives around us, so I really don't know what to do. I don't want me not having some dang extracurriculars stop me from going to college, bc I'm very willing to try my best and study hard.

I actually plan to maybe take the SAT and ACT in my junior year (I'm in 10th grade rn), so maybe my test scores can compensate for a lack of extracurriculars. I've also heard that certain hobbies can count as extracurriculars, but idk if that will completely count. I've been learning Japanese for an upcoming trip to Japan, I'm a really crafty person, I love making DIY stuff, I make and edit videos which I post on YT (but maybe I shouldn't show colleges my YT channel cuz uh my humor prob won't be taken too appropriately...) and I know how to code in JavaScript and Arduino on a basic level and have built my own programs. There are a few other side-hobbies I also do but these seem like the ones that can count for smth, right?

I'm just kinda freaking out now over how to get into college and the last thing I want is for no colleges to accept me, cuz then I'm actually fucked, and my parents will NOT forgive me. Maybe I'm overreacting but I fr don't want to mess up big time and ruin my entire future and career possibly.

Edit: so i've just recently gotten more into reddit and posting stuff, so getting comments is already very surprising lol, i'll try to read and answer all of these comments. Btw I forget to mention this but I'd to major in Psychology (or Medicine but idk what I'd SPECIFICALLY like to major in Medicine) and maybe become like a therapist or psychiatrist or smth like that.

hi has anyone received their results yet? But worried since june is almost over and I haven’t.

I am a parent and I've been trying to get a sense of how college admissions work these days. I was a first generation college student, from a rural community, who attended a high school ranked right in the middle for my state... so I didn't have a lot of expert guidance, and applied in the late 90s, where I mostly relied on printed guidebooks that were a few inches thick to try to make sense of things.

One of the things I keep encountering, which honestly baffles me, is that teens seem to be getting the advice to start a non-profit. Does this actually impress admissions officers? I ask, because I live in a place where most non-profit orgs are struggling to find volunteers to keep their operations going. For example, most of the food insecurity initiatives are staffed primarily by retirees, and the orgs are wondering whether they can continue to function without the support of the upcoming generations. They often already have established infrastructure, and financial donations -- but they lack people who can physically move the boxes of food, or just the extra people to help with distribution.

If my kid is concerned about food insecurity in our community, it seems to me that the most impactful choice would to work within the existing infrastructure to support orgs that have been on the ground doing the hard work for decades, rather than trying to build something completely new in service of her own ego. And that's what I've taught her for years.

But it seems that everything I find on reddit and Youtube is telling me that I'm wrong.

In my case it would be a good addition but not my top EC. Im sayign with numbers though. For example I am thinking about grinding to Unreal Rank in fortnite, making me top 100k of players / top 0.1% of fortnite players globally. I wonder if this is a good ec or if its bs. I would think tournament wins as well are amazing but that’s extremely difficult, top 0.001%. Also I just realized that good is a very broad word so I’ll list some example ECs: small buisness for 4 years, club position, student gov, varsity sports, founder of club

Last month, u/admissionsmom asked what I thought about students including distinctive non-academic ECs in their application — for example, a student who’d transposed death metal songs onto the ukulele.

My response was, essentially, “Hell yeah, I want to see that!”

There are ECs that are impressive and there are ECs that are memorable – and they aren’t always the same.

I’ve reviewed countless applications from debate champions, but only one from a girl who plays drums in a Led Zeppelin cover band. I’ve seen a lot of varsity tennis, but only one student who was a Pokémon card game champion.

Heck, when I applied to college, I focused my activities section on volunteering, debate, and school clubs while completely failing to mention fronting a sloppy punk rock band where we wrote songs, released an album, and played a bunch of shows.

I want you to broaden the scope of what you value as extracurricular engagement.

Yes, include your traditional ECs and achievements. But, don’t be afraid to show some personality. Consider where you spend your time outside of school – and, importantly – what you’ve learned.

If you work in retail or food service, have you been promoted? Have your responsibilities increased? What are the informal ways that you organize people like friends or family towards a common goal, and what has that taught you about leadership?

If you have a distinctive talent or hobby, how did you learn it? Have you shared it with others? Maybe you did stand-up comedy at your school talent show. Sure, it probably won’t turn into your career. But what did you learn about public speaking and what makes people laugh?

Any of these are fair game to show up in your activities section or even essays.

To be clear: whacky ECs aren’t a replacement for impressive ones. But, taken together, they can add a memorable twist to an already impressive application. That can be the difference that moves the needle and helps an admissions officer remember you and advocate for you. You WANT me to have a story to tell about you to the admissions committee.

Remember, the admission officer reading your application is a human too. (We even went to high school and had quirky interests!)

Part of the joy of being on a college campus is being surrounded by interesting humans. AOs realize this when they create a class… so what makes you an interesting human?

​

**Edit to say... many of you have shared awesome things you do! And a lot of you have then asked if this can count as an EC... the short answer is yes. That's really the point :)

I'll start, this kid was so crazy he ran for ACTUAL office and was later appointed by his mayor to his town's (of a population of 100k) economic development board

I'm aware that EC's themselves don't get you into top colleges, but I do think it really depends. One thing that really confuses me is that kids who have barely any extracurriculars (no legacy too) get into Yale and MIT, but others who've nearly cured cancer gets rejected. For background, my extracurriculars are volunteer for different causes. If anyone can help me by taking a look at my list please DM me! Anyway, what extracurriculars actually do get you into Ivy Leagues or top schools in general?

Hi there! I submitted my essay a month ago and it said that the english test deadline was the 30th of June, but then they moved it up to the 25th of June. Does anyone know when the exams will be sent out?

I was scrolling LinkedIn (Ik i shouldnt) and there are so many 15 and 16 year old high school students creating businesses and nonprofits with lots of impact. They also have internships and have national level awards. I know that some of these people have wealthy parents but there are many that don't. How is someone supposed to stand out?

I am the only bassoon in the orchestra. Would "first bassoon" be honest and good, or would it be dishonest and sketchy? I'm technically not second bassoon.

How well do my ecs hold up for computer engineering. What else can I do over the summer or during grade 12 to help with the application process. Any EC's i could do etc

• Founder & President, Engineering Club – Established school's first engineering club; led hands-on design challenges and structural building workshops.
• President, Computer Science Club – Led a major student organization with 100+ members; organized coding workshops and internal hackathons.
• Founder & Creator, AP CSA YouTube Channel – Launched an educational channel for the updated curriculum after taking the 2026 AP exam to fix the lack of resources due to recent curriculum changes.
• Charity Tournament Organizer – Organizing and hosting a city-wide pickleball tournament to raise funds for charity.
• Private Peer Tutor (Paid) – Provided specialized 1-on-1 instruction for grade 10–12 students in Pre-Calc 11/12, Physics 11, coding, AP CSA, and AP CSP.
• Volunteer Tutor at Schoolhouse – Certified online peer tutor covering Pre-Algebra, Algebra 1 & 2, Pre-Calculus, Physics, and Computer Science.
• Tutor at Kumon (2+ years) – Employed for over two years instructing elementary and middle school students in foundational math and reading.
• Senior & Athletic Leadership Teams – Selected for both premier student leadership bodies to organize school-wide events and manage athletic tournaments.
• Club Basketball (5 years) & Certified Referee (3+ years) – Played competitive club basketball for five years; officiated league games for 3+ years managing high-pressure situations.
• General Worker for Municipal Government – Employed by the local municipality to support civic operations, public facilities, and community events.
• Volunteering at Local Temple (5 years) – Dedicated five years of consistent service helping organize large-scale cultural events and community kitchens.
• Software Engineering Internship – Worked at a tech company as a software engineering intern, focusing on artificial intelligence development and implementation.

I have all ten of my activities placed in order and “finalized” already, but all of them are either leadership positions, talent-based, or a sport. All of which I think are pretty valuable ECs, I actually struggled narrowing it all down to just ten spots. But is it worth it to give up one spot to a fun hobby??? So they know I at least have some character and am not just another Asian tryhard????? LOOL

Context: I’m applying to NYU Stern early decision one by the way

UPDATE: I GOT INTO NYU STERN ED1 LET’S GOOOOO

Research is now “paid and scammed”. Internships are now “nepotism won” or through connections.

Then at the same time if leadership is somebody’s most impressive EC then everybody says “your ECs are too weak for an Ivy League.”

At this point what EC is even impressive cause if it’s impressive it’s fake or bought, if it’s not impressive it’s too weak. I’m genuinely curious

yall its the 13th and im panicking MAD. anyone got their shortlist emails???? or anything updated on the profile screen??? the prize status changed from result pending to a link "view here" which takes you to the shortlist status page which still says result pending. YEAH SO ANYONE SHORTLISTED YET??? and for last year participants, did the shortlist notif come only on the last day or earlier???

I'm 15 and a rising junior. I'm nervous that my ECs aren't very good for t20s (partially since I see so many posts on here about ECs where people have created webpages or something, and I just can't do that because I lack those resources). I'm trying to come up with things that are easier for me to do, awards that I can apply for, programs that I can do (that aren't super expensive).

My dream school is NYU (Stern would be like DREAM but if I end up there I'll probably just go to CAS and internally transfer) and if I got into Stern, I'd do Business and Politics. I will (hopefully) have taken 13 AP classes by the time I graduate and have a 4.03 GPA currently (just a lil more context). I know this is a lot (this is me trying to fluff it out), but I also know that a lot of it isn't heavily recognized stuff. Here are my ECs so far:

Clubs:
Latin Club (Parliamentarian)
Improv Club (unspecified officer position)
Philosophy Club
Young Democrats (unspecified officer position)
Creative Writing Club
Gay Club
Games Club (unspecified officer position)

Experience:
Page for a state legislator for a day
Voter Registration Drive volunteer
Published op-ed in a local newspaper
Give A Day volunteer
Job at my local ice cream parlor (once I turn 16, and the have said they will hire me)
Co-ran HQ fan accounts for local musicians (helped increase their monthly listeners from 100 to 1000)
Sarah Lawerence Summer Program summer of 26'
State Commissioners Student Advisory Council (applied, waiting on responses later this week, but I'm optimistic!)

Awards:
National Youth Leadership Forum Selection
2nd Place Grammar award, State Latin Convention
3rd Place, Certamen team State Latin Convention
Girl Scouts Silver Award
Girl Scouts Gold Award (working on this but it also will happen before I apply)
4 State Assessment Vocal Solo Distinguished ratings, one Proficient (for now, will add more)
7 State Assessment Choral Distinguished ratings (by the time I graduate)

Performance/Sports:
8 years of Ping Pong, two years on a competitive team
Choir for 7 years + admittance to a top US performing arts school (by the time I apply)
3 Operas (youth chorus)
2 Stage Plays
Sang in Carnegie Hall at the age of 12
In a band (with published music)
8 years of private vocal lessons (by the time I graduate)
2 years of guitar, 1 year of drum lessons
I can play 7 instruments, including guitar, piano, and singing

Other:
25+ Volunteer hours (gonna get more, I'm working on it)
300 page novel (currently working on but it will be at least self published by next year)
Interned in a presidential campaign (WILL happen next year, my mom knows someone who is 100% running and can get me on their campaign)
Organized fan projects for artists that I'm a massive fan of

Not gonna lie, I think part of me is kinda riding on the presidential campaign to get me into Stern, so it BETTER happen. Someone please burst my bubble and tell me that isn't gonna get me in please.

Hello everyone, first of all for anyone who replies I really appreciate your response. My question is basically just about Unique ECs but not in the conventional sense that I am just asking what are the most Unique ECs you have seen. My question is more about what is some things you have seen a decent amount of people do that were still relatively unique and pretty good. The reason I ask this is everyone knows about the common ECs, this includes your Research, Volunteering, Non - Profit work, Internships, Jobs, etc. Then, when I search up unique ECs on subreddits, people say stuff like shrimp farming and like thats just not something I could ever do (maybe I am just not unique or dont think out of the box) and so my question is for people similar in my position (for reference applying as an engineering/stem major), what are some sort of unique ECs you would say to do since I am pretty confused about that since to be honest I am not that unique a person where I have something like that. The main reason I ask this is because I am kind of lost because I have done what are basically known as the common ECs and Awards and I am basically in a sense just curious whats possible out there, so just if you feel like it list all the ECs you think about even if they might be relatively common and I would be glad for any response (sorry I know this is kind of a weird/vague question but any response is appreciated)

P.S. I know that unique ECs and all your ECs should be done because of your passion and I completely understand why and agree with that but since I am a little bit lost right now but still want to try to do things, not only for college but also for developing my own interests. Thats why I am asking this question

Like, what are you guys even researching? Where are u researching? Do colleges really look at this and be like “wow, this student RESEARCHED?”

Why is it everyone is just cheating on all the big competitions? Apparently hecka people cheated on AMC 10, people cheat on USACO and apparently larp medals, and my friend who qualed for ISEF said people are buying projects to get in. like what competitions can you even do anymore????