Discussion

Demographics: - male, korean - CA, public magnet - full pay - no hooks Intended Major: Math + CS (joint or double) Academics: - GPA: 4.0 UW / 4.7 W - Rank: school doesn't rank, ~top 5% based on prior years - SAT: 1570 (800M / 770V) - Coursework: 10 APs by junior year, all 5s. Multivariable + linalg this year, planning grad real analysis next year through dual enrollment. ECs: - USAMO qualifier sophomore + junior, gunning MOP this summer - AIME 12 / USAMO 28 last cycle - MIT Primes-USA, working with a postdoc on combinatorial geometry, paper in review - Math team captain, school placed top 3 ARML last year - Run a free CS bootcamp for middle schoolers on weekends, wrote the curriculum Awards: - USAMO honors - AMC 12 perfect score (junior) - 2x AIME qualifier Schools (working list, not final): Reach: - MIT - Caltech - Stanford - Princeton Match: - CMU SCS - Berkeley EECS - Harvey Mudd Safety: - UCSD - UCSB CCS at my school this is middle of the pack tbh. half the math team has Primes or RSI. is the MOP push enough to differentiate or do i need a different angle. be honest

Demographics: - Black female - IL - top private prep school - upper income, applied need-blind Academics: - GPA: 3.94 UW / 4.5 W - SAT: 1520 - 11 APs, mostly 5s ECs: - Varsity track captain, state finalist 400m - DECA ICDC qualifier 2x, top 10 in Principles of Finance - Founded a financial literacy nonprofit for South Side high schoolers, ran summer workshops 3 years - IB externship through a Goldman HCM connection summer after junior - Model UN traveling team Awards: - DECA ICDC top 10 - IL state track finalist - AP Scholar with Distinction Acceptances: - Wharton (ED, committing) - NYU Stern - Ross BBA - McIntire (OOS) - USC Marshall (with merit) - Indiana Kelley direct admit Waitlists: - MIT Sloan - Cornell Dyson Rejections: - none, ED locked it before RD Going to: Wharton. applying M&T sophomore year if i can swing the CS prereqs. Reflection: the Goldman HCM line is what made the externship section real on my app. that does not happen without my mom's coworker pulling strings, i should say that out loud. essays were about specific moments running the nonprofit workshops, not the founding story. counselor wanted me to lead with track and i'm glad i didn't. happy to answer Wharton vs Stern vs Ross questions if anyone's deciding RD.

i see this question every week so i'm writing the post i wish i'd read. junior, ISEF finalist, second author on a paper published through a local university lab. here is literally what worked for me. The email itself: - Subject line should name the specific paper you read. NOT "high school student looking for research opportunity". mine was "question about your 2024 paper on X in [journal]". that one got opened. - Two paragraphs max. first paragraph: who you are in one sentence, then the paper you read and one concrete question or extension you thought about. second paragraph: what you can offer (hours per week, summer availability, lab safety training if you have it). attach a one-page CV. - Send tuesday through thursday morning. mondays die in triage and fridays disappear into the weekend. Who to email: - Read 2-3 papers from their group before you write. find the ones where there's a clear next step. PIs notice when you've actually read the paper, genuinely. - Email grad students and postdocs too, not just full profs. 60% of my replies came from postdocs who then looped in their PI. they need help, they're closer to your timeline, and they remember being a HS student trying to break in. - Local R1 universities first. you cannot help a lab you cannot get to. unless you have a real funded summer program lined up (SIMR, SSP, RSI), in-person at the local university beats remote at the famous lab every time. The numbers, for honesty: - 34 emails over 6 weeks - 4 replies, 2 said no, 1 said spring, 1 said yes - The yes was the postdoc, not the PI. she ran the day-to-day, PI signed off after a 15 min zoom. What did not work: - Mass-emailing 50 profs the same template. they can tell. - Saying "interested in your work" without naming the work. zero responses on those. - Asking about "any opportunities". be specific about the project or paper you want to extend. persistence with a bad email is just spam at higher volume. spend the time on the first 10, get the language right, then scale. dm if you want a second pair of eyes on your template, the above is 90% of what i'd tell you anyway.

Question for anyone applying T10 humanities. I've been writing my main essays around the same intellectual through-line (constitutional philosophy, specifically how the Federalist Papers handle minority rights). It's a strong angle for me. Mock trial nationals, dad's a constitutional litigator, I've been reading this stuff since middle school. Problem: applying Yale (Directed Studies pitch), Princeton (SPIA vs A.B. Politics), and Stanford. Wondering if I should: A. Keep the same intellectual core for all three and let each school's culture shape the framing (Yale = Directed Studies grounded, Princeton = SPIA practical policy, Stanford = interdisciplinary tech-policy crossover). B. Write three substantively different essays with different angles so AOs at each school don't wonder if I'm copy-pasting. My counselor says A. A private consultant my dad knows says B. Lol I genuinely don't know who to listen to. For Yale, Directed Studies is the program I'd actually pick a degree around, so the essay is honest. For Princeton SPIA, the same core lands but the framing has to be more practical-policy. Stanford is the harder one. They don't have a humanities program of the same intensity, and the public policy angle is less of a thing there. Applying RD next week. A or B?

Demographics: - female - NYC public exam school (Stuyvesant) - middle income - no hooks Intended major: Applied Math + Econ double, Wharton M&T as the cross-admit dream Academics: - GPA: 3.97 UW / 4.62 W - SAT: 1560 - 12 APs through senior fall (Calc BC 5, Stats 5, Macro 5, Micro 5) ECs: - AIME qualifier 2x, AMC 12 distinguished honor roll - Stuy math team, ARML team representative - Tutoring at the Stuy peer-tutoring center, ~100 hours over two years - Internship at a Manhattan quant fund summer between junior and senior year (data analysis intern, real desk exposure) - Stuy econ club, organized two industry speaker events Awards: - AIME qualifier 2x - NYS Math League individual all-state - AP Scholar with Distinction - Stuy faculty math award (junior year) Schools: Reach: - MIT - Caltech - Princeton (ORFE) - Harvard - Penn (Wharton M&T as the absolute dream cross-admit) Match: - Cornell - UMich - Northwestern (MMSS) - UC Berkeley Safety: - Stony Brook - Binghamton - CUNY Macaulay am i out of my mind for putting MIT and Caltech both as reaches when AIME is the strongest thing on my app. is that enough or do i need to lean harder on the quant internship in essays. be honest