Admissions Advice

We’re pleased to announce that the Community Forum is now officially open once again.

We appreciate the patience, curiosity, and enthusiasm you’ve shown. Your continued interest and support meant so …

We wanted to inform you that posting on CollegeVine’s community forum will be temporarily suspended for a few days as we work to mitigate some recent spam posts. While the forum will still be accessib …

ACTION REQUIRED: Update CollegeVine App Settings in Google Admin by October 23, 2023

For enhanced student data protection, Google is set to limit access for users under 18 to third-party apps like Coll …

Hello!

I am a rising Junior in Texas.

I saw that CollegeBoard discontinued the SAT Subject Tests, and I had been interested in taking them as I felt that they would improve my chances in T20 schools. Ar …

Does using an application fee waiver affect my chances (like does it look bad?)

Hi

So I was just wondering if sports would help at getting into Carnegie Mellon. I run track and cross country and can run a 4:42 mile and a 17:20 5K, which both times would put me as one of their top …

I'm a rising sophomore from northern California and I'm not really sure what I want to do yet, but right now I'm exploring business and international relations. My school offers some clubs in these fi …

Are you allowed to add contractions or shorthanded language in activity list description. For example: w for "with" or & for "and" ?

In the activities section, if the club I'm mentioning is unique to my school- should I give an incredibly brief description of what the club does? My club focuses on diversity and inclusion but that's …

I'm considering double majoring in biology and political science, since it gives me such a broad range in post graduate jobs. But is it actually worth it? Or would I be better of choosing other fields …

I am a rising junior and entering the DP this August (2022) and this past academic year, I gave a TEDxYouth speech at my school as a sophomore. My talk was titled 'Our Untold Stories of COVID-19' and …

Hi, I'm participating in a 2-year long STEM-related capstone project through my high school, and I decided to put it on my list of extracurriculars on CollegeVine, but it seems that there is no catego …

I gave a presentation at a small national convention, but none of the categories for extracurriculars on Collegevine seem to fit for that. What do I put it under? Thanks.

I know a good portion of early applicant are recruited athletes or students of that kind, which might make the statistics higher than they actually are. I want to apply to Stanford early action, and a …

I am a rising senior and want to get a partial schedule for the upcoming school year. In my school, we have an a-day b- day schedule, which means we have eight total classes but four each day, and the …

Let's say a college requires you to have 4 social studies units in high school. Do they mean 4 units in 4 different classes or just 4 total unit? I have taken World History Honors (1 credit), Geograph …

When I finish with school I wanna find a better job I really like that’s my question so I need someone to help me find the job I really like to do for my future

My school doesn't exactly have a ranking system of students per se, but what we do have is a once-yearly academic achievement award given to the one student in each grade with the best academics (high …

Hi,

I am currently in FTC team at school. I am thinking switching to a community FRC team because it's a higher level than FTC.

Would being part of the school team is more important than community bas …

I am currently in India and want to study abroad in the US so is it possible to get into prestigious colleges like Duke, UCB without Letter of Recommendation. And also suggest how to compensate for it …

The summer before my senior year I plan on attending an (albeit paid) program where I get certified in CPR and EMR through my local EMS. Would this be impressive for an application and how would I sho …

I am aware that UT Austin auto-admits anyone who graduates at the top 6% of the graduating class from a public Texas high school. If I were to get auto-admitted, would it mean that I get into my desir …

How should you best describe your extracurriculars in common app. The dos and don’ts, and how to make them stand out. I would also love to know if my extracurriculars are competitive enough to get int …