2023 US Universities Applicants Thread

Thought it might be time for a 2023 applicants thread, with a couple of months before applications open!

Feel free to introduce yourself with:

1. Which colleges you’re applying to (early, regular if known)
2. Your intended major
3. GCSEs/predicted A-Levels, IB etc, SAT/ACT
4. Extracurriculars
5. General comments

Wishing you all luck in the application process!

Reply 1

Anonymous #2

Original post by Anonymous

Hey

1.
Harvard - Early Action
Otherwise, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Brown and probably a few others too
2.
Government / Political Science
3.
eight 9's, four 8's and an A* in an unreformed subject
4.
- Lots of school leadership positions, the biggest one being Vice-Captain of a top London grammar school
- Have been involved in my local youth council for the past 5 years
- (for the awards/honours section) 3rd place in the law category of an international essay competition and also won an essay competition ran by a London law firm
5.
errrr I really want to go to the US and have for years now but have only started seriously considering it abt 3 months ago. also because the acceptance rate is so low I'm still taking the whole UCAS process just as seriously, but would probably go to any US uni I'm applying to over the UK unis I'm applying to
oh and I'm doing the SAT at the end of August

What's your answer to the questions? And are you going to do admissions tests/have you already?
Good luck to you too :smile:

Reply 2

Anonymous #1

Original post by Anonymous

Hey

Hi there, your ECs are amazing! Good luck with the SAT, I did the may sitting. Here's my answers:

1. Columbia (ED), MIT (EA), Georgia Tech (EA), Princeton, Cornell, UPenn, Stanford. Undecided on Caltech, Harvard, Rice and Embry-Riddle - heard mixed things about the first 2, and need to research the last 2 a bit more. It's all still quite uncertain rn, I may trim my list a bit more
2. Engineering, aerospace or mechanical
3. GCSEs: nine 9s, two 8s and 1 A*; sat 1590. Studying maths, further maths, physics, chem and an epq, idk predicted grades yet
4. - A bunch of engineering competitions, mostly national/international
- Long-term robotics-related research project
- School stuff(vice captain (organising initiatives, fundraising events and mentoring), running school's maths and chem societies)
- Long-term access programme run by a bank
- Robotics-related volunteering at local primary schools (may expand, depends if we get grant money)
5. I'm in the phase of unhealthily binging college application/portfolio videos and my mind is steadily exploding, there are some literal superhumans out there. It's always been a longshot, but I won't have another chance to apply so there's (not much) harm in trying, and the engineering education and vocational prospects there appeal to me a lot more than what's we have in the UK. In terms of the application process, I am pretty stumped on the whole essay writing process, it's just so different to anything I've seen before. I'm also not sure if I should really be pre-writing stuff, or waiting until the official prompts are released.

Best of luck with your applications :smile:

Reply 3

Anonymous #2

Original post by Anonymous

These all sound amazing!! How did you revise for the SAT? and I completely relate to you on binge-watching, those videos are starting to take over my YouTube homepage now lol
I think the Common App prompts have been released. Here's a website with them on https://www.collegetransitions.com/blog/common-app-essay-prompts/
I'm strangely looking forward to writing the essays but then again I'm used to writing essays because of the subjects I do, which I just realised I never mentioned. I do English Lit, History, Econ and RS (also haven't got predicted grades yet). In terms of the essays though, there are a lot but ig just think of them as the last leg. Once you've written them, there's not really much more you need to prepare considering you've done the SAT and have good ECs.

Reply 4

Anonymous #1

Thanks for the heads-up on the essays, had no idea they were going to be staying the same, so I guess I can start planning. As for SAT prep, I used Khan Academy's free SAT prep course in the fortnight leading up to the exam, which I found to be very helpful (although I'd recommend starting revision as early as you can). I can't attest to how effective these are, but I've also heard of people using Kaplan books, memorising vocabulary sheets and reading scientific abstracts/old speeches, so there's no one way to go about it.

Reply 5

Anonymous #3

1. Which colleges you’re applying to (early, regular if known)
2. Your intended major
3. GCSEs/predicted A-Levels, IB etc, SAT/ACT
4. Extracurriculars
5. General comments

1. Stanford (REA) , Berkeley, MIT

2. Computer Science (software)

3. 1 9, 7 8s, 2 7s (not the greatest, but for my High school we had to sit 3 sets of exams for each subject split with a month or two between each due to COVID, which was hard to balance along with my ECs). Predicted 4 A*s for A-Levels (Maths, Further Maths, Physics and Compsci). A in AS-Level for Further Maths.

4.

- Built a 6 figure startup that reverses complex scripts (bit hard to explain, but that's the simplest way to put it).
- Competed in multiple hackathons
- Made and maintain multiple open-source projects (1000s of developers use them)
- HS cricket team
- Raised over £50k for charity during COVID with a team by contacting multiple businesses and partnering with them to raffle off their products
- Some other programming stuff

5. Currently, I'm trying to figure out what else I should do to add to my EC list. Few of my ECs are great, but I found filling in all 10 to be hard due to my heavy commitment in the first 3. I'll also be taking the SAT in October, been using Khan Academy which has been great. Otherwise, I think I'm alright, need to write up some of my essays but the rest I'm good with.

Reply 6

yocchan

Hi, may I know if there is any place where I can add the document in Common App?
I won the full scholarship from the foundation and I have the acknowledgement letter that shows my strong leadership.
They don't prepare the recommendation letter for me, but they suggest I use it to apply for the universities, so I just wonder how I can show the letter to AO.

Reply 7

Anonymous #4

Original post by Anonymous

Hey everyone!

I'm applying for Harvard (EA), MIT, Princeton and Stanford

I got 999999999999999 at GCSE and already achieved 3 A* at a-level early as I did them in languages I am fluent in. I've been predicted A*A* A*A* in my other a levels. I got a 1590 SAT.

I would love to do a double degree in PPE and medicine.

For extracurriculars I've done Gold Silver and Bronze DofE, I am head girl and I've gone to nationals for gymnastics and last summer I interned helping organise the tory leadership election mainly clerical work at the conservative headquarters. I've ran the London marathon to raise money for cancer patients. I participate in CCF, and performed in the west end over a half term. I started a non profit with my friends to raise money for support of elderly citizens mental health. I play the cello at grade 6. I helped run a disagreeing well conference at my school as well as competitively greek dance. I was on junior great British bake off and run mock trial, MUN and the gymnastics team. I also resuscitated the president of Harvard when he had a heart attack. I single handedly cleaned all the oceans of plastic last summer and won the Nobel Peace prize. IS THIS GOOD ENOUGH FOR HARVARD??? UGH THEY ARE GOING TO REJECT ME IF THEY REJECT ME I AM GOING TO KILL MYELF I WISH I GOT A 1600 ON MY SAT OMG IM JUST NOT GOOD ENOUGH.

Reply 8

Anonymous #2

Original post by Anonymous

Hmmmmmm... I think it ultimately depends on this: did you win junior bakeoff? If you didn't, there's no hope in the world of getting in sorry luv

Reply 9

Anonymous #5

oh my flipping god I fully believed you until the Harvard president resuscitation and then I only half believed you because all applications LOOK EXACTLY LIKE THAT. I was on the verge of tears and I'm not even sure I'll apply to the US???????