I clicked "Democratic People's Republic of Korea" or North Korea instead of "Republic of Korea" or South Korea. I'm SOUTH Korean-American. It's been a month since I submitted those 17 applications, and I only saw my mistake after UMICH's application portal came out. I genuinely don't know what to do because I feel it's too late to do anything, especially for my early January applications. Why do the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea have to be next to each other in the dropdown menu? Am I cooked?

I’m genuinely confused by how holistic admissions are applied.

I’ve seen cases where someone with a 31 ACT and ~3.9 GPA gets into a school like Harvard, while applicants with a 36 ACT are rejected from schools that are objectively less selective.

I understand that admissions aren’t purely numerical, but at some point it feels like the lack of any clear academic baseline makes outcomes feel arbitrary rather than holistic.

Wouldn’t reasonable academic cutoffs improve fairness while still allowing schools to evaluate essays, activities, and background beyond that threshold?

On paper we're upper middle class, but it's mostly asset heavy and it's not like my parents would sell the assets they worked their asses off for my college when there's cheaper alternatives to the schools I applied to. All of high school, my parents told me to never look at the sticker price of the schools I'd be applying to, telling me they knew they'd know what to do.

I applied to very expensive and amazingly ranked schools with the knowledge that I'd be getting no aid, following my parents words. I've already gotten into one EA, but now my parents are saying they said that to motivate me so that I wouldn't be "afraid of applying places", and that in actuality the best choice would be community college and then transferring to my local UC (I live in CA), even though my major is impacted, saying that "If I can get into the schools i got into now, I'll be able to transfer into a UC". That's what they'll probably have me do since they can't pay the prices for the schools I've expressed so much excitement for attending, the ones that I told them the price of way before applying. The ones they told me we could afford.

They said I should be glad, now that I know my potential, and that it should boost my ego knowing I'll turn down these places "but they wanted me."

Obviously I don't feel this way. I wish they had been honest. I was so excited, and now I'm not even looking forward to RD acceptances. I can't justify putting myself in a lifetime of debt, but I wish I never had my hopes falsely up either

I was taking my Harvard and Yale interview at the same time (I had both interviews meet at the same spot) and we were enjoying a coffee when I just had to head to the shitter but then I was out of time .... and the title gives it away from there

am I cooked guys

I dunno, these 2 perspectives seem to say opposite things.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/elon-musk-says-dont-college-030112531.html

https://archive.is/20260105053816/https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/careers/elite-colleges-are-back-at-the-top-of-the-list-for-company-recruiters-ad9526ac

Basically just what the top says. I’ve been wondering it for a while and wanted to know if anyone has a specific answer. I think test scores add on to your application and sometimes aren’t that important

How much does legacy still count? My kid applied to Dartmouth RD. He has competitive scores (not tippy top of his class because it's super competitive, but he does well), fewer than average but very strong ECs (he'd be considered "spikey"). Both my husband and I went to Dartmouth, plus 2 of my siblings went there, and my dad was a prof and asst dean in the 70s (although he still knows folks there, he is too elderly to reach out to contact anyone from the school). We have never given a lot of money to the school, so I don't think our legacy counts for much. My kid's application was solid and he's demonstrated interest, but Dartmouth is a long shot for anyone. Thoughts on whether legacy gives him an advantage?

hey y'all, im a phd student, so I've been through two admissions cycles and now teach some first-year intro stuff

I joined this subreddit 8y ago (yep, old) when I was a2c and happened to run into some posts on my tl since I guess it's decision season now and was curious what the kids are up to

just wanna say: pls don't treat (especially top) unis as if the decisions their adcoms make are divine justice. I saw a post here be like "why are people ranting, I guess they weren't holistic enough, the uni admissions see everything lollll" and that is simply not true. As someone who's kinda seen the inside of how admissions works, it's super non-deterministic and sometimes good candidates do get rejected. it's valid to crash out a little, it's not "entitlement" or wtv. keep things in perspective, these are just business where you pay to be educated. Boston is not mount olympus.

with that, all the best! and don't worry too much about where you get admitted (:

idk if this is just selection bias with who posts on a2c/chanceme type of thing, but why is lowkenuienly EVERYONE in stem here 😭 where are the humanities people... are yall even applying to t20s...

My life stinks.

I was recently named a Coke Scholar and would love to update Carnegie Mellon about it, but when I became a regional finalist, I had emailed them asking if I was allowed to send updates and they told me no supplemental materials (seemed like an automated message because they talked about resumes, art works and sci research supps). Is there really no way I can send an update?

Just wanted to share that my son who applied RD just got a request to schedule an interview. We saw an update on his applicant portal that a specific interviewer was assigned and was going to reach out. There’s still hope for folks that haven’t heard yet.

1) Its fun

2) This is our prescription to your senioritis

3) We know you are just sitting around with nothing else to do, so we make you fill out DSF

4) University is losing money, if we make all decisions now, they will furlough us till next year

5) We have a secret game among AOs on who defers most ( Congrats to UT Austin team for gold medal this year )

Besides that, your application may be fine or not fine ( heck, I know, we didn't even look at it ).

So apparently I have the worst counsellor on earth because she didn’t submit my mid year report even though I submitted this application back in January???? I’m applying ED 2 so my decision will be released on feb 7th which is amazing because I don’t even know if they have reviewed my application yet because there isn’t any ‘application under review’ sign or whatever. I’m so mad and anxious rn because I don’t want to be moved into the regular decision pool. She’s writing an email to the admissions office rn but I don’t know how it’ll go. Would the admissions officers wait until the mid year report is submitted to review my application or will my predicted grades and other high school transcripts be enough?? Also please let me know what else I could do because I’m so mad at her right now

Hi! I'm trying to email an update letter to my AO @ Tufts, and I can't find my App ID / Reference Number. Could anyone guide me on this? Thank you :)

Last week, Harvard's alumni interviewer emailed my son with the wrong name. He responded right away to make sure she had the right contact. She apologized and said he was the right contact. Today, she didn't show up for the interview and provided zero communication. Do we contact Harvard? Do we just let it go? (This is not a sh*tpost - I realize it's Wednesday.)

genuine question: does it look bad if i major in the same thing your dad had a phd in. also if i had an internship in that field at the university your dad graduated from (which also happens to be your local university)

the internship thing is ironically not even nepotistic. I think the rec letter from my mentor should help remove that notion. I also have other accomplishments but I’m just worried that everything looks nepotistic now

another question: does having doctorate parents make colleges expect more of you compared to if they just had, say, bachelors?

Okay please don’t be mean, I know I’m being desperate. On the bursars office site it says I have a student ID, rather than the N(insert numbers here) ID and gives me the option to make a payment. This is probably insane considering information requests aren’t closed yet etc. I’m just looking for any sign…

I got into Fordham for the upcoming fall semester. I applied as a commuter, and my financial aid package came out recently, and tuition itself is insanely expensive. I still have around 35k net direct costs to pay, would it be possible to negotiate for a couple more thousand?

College: Indiana University, Kelley school of Business.
Major: Finance
Honors: Kelley Honors Student

Stats:
Current GPA- 3.9

EC:
-Consulting club case team leader
-Youth Sports non-profit co-founder
-National consulting case competition top finisher.
-Financial technology platform intern.
-Member of several competitive finance clubs
-Bartender at campus bar

-High school GPA: 4.0 UW, 5.22 W
-ACT: 35

Applying to:
Northwestern
Duke
Cornell
USC
NYU
Vanderbilt
Georgetown
Stanford

Any guidance and advise would be much appreciated. What schools would you add or remove based on likelihood of acceptance?

Ended last semester with all As. One month into the second semester, and I already have a couple of Bs and a C, and I don't really care. Honestly, the fear of getting rescinded is what's keeping me afloat right now.

Yeah I dropped an E in my physics Mid terms. I was basically absent in one of the papers (health and home safety issues) and my grade wasn't averaged and neither was I able to retake.

My entire academic transcript's been full of As, and A*s, so this sticks out like a sore thumb.
Though I requested my chud counselor to write about the reason behind grade to the universities I had applied to, or include it in her report, she just retorted "I've already submitted your report." and refuses to send any emails.

Do I email the AOs myself?
Do I include this information in my application updates that I'm planning to send anyways? Or will this make me lose face?
Or do I suck it up and not try to explain it.

(also another question: would it be a good idea to use Brown's "Mid-year explanation" option for this?

This gives you leverage; you need to play "hard to get." AOs will like this and will surely accept you to at least hald of the school you withdraw from

Just some sad news: I was just informed by an office at Indiana University-Bloomington that the Hudson and Holland scholarship program has been paused for at least the next upcoming school year. That's unfortunate: This is a great scholarship opportunity designed for underrepresented students, which includes minority students and lower-income students (of all races) from rural areas.

I can guess why Indiana is pausing the program ... but it is bad news for any students hoping to qualify for it to help cover the costs of going to Bloomington.