u/ShiftImpossible7452

Hello! I really need some advice on how to decide what to do this summer. I posted about my situation in another sub, but didn’t get much feedback, so I am posting again here.

My stat & ECs: SAT1580, GPA 4.0. rank 3rd in my year, 10 APs (all 5); National Training Camp (Mathematical Olympiad), National-level competition awards in Math and Physics (4x); National Youth Orchestra, Juillard summer Programs; National Youth Composer Competitio (6th Place); Sound design for the school drama club; Sound design intern at local theater; Composer for a 15 min play (the play itself won a regional award)

I already did machine learning research at CCIR with a professor. The paper was accepted to a major US computer science conference, and it received a Best Paper Award at a well-known (though not tier 1) machine learning conference in my country.

A professor I met at the conference offered me a summer research internship in her lab. This is in another country.

However, I had originally planned to intern at a local NGO. This means that if I take the research, I could not do NGO. My school counselor says that I already have strong research results, and that my college application looks weak because I am not the founder of a business or NGO. He said I should focus on local NGO internship + be a founder of something. My school is pushing everyone to do Launch X and Wharton now. Is business or the founder thing really that important? Any thoughts on that?

I really want to take the research internship, but I'm worried that it might hurt my application if I don't do the business and NGO things.

Hello everyone!

I need advice on what to do this summer: should I continue doing more research and take a research internship (which is what I enjoy), or should I focus on founder/NGO activities, which my school counselor says would be good for me?

Stat: SAT1580, GPA 4.0. rank 3rd in my year, 10 APs (all 5),

ECs: National Training Camp (Mathematical Olympiad), National-level competition awards in Math and Physics (4x); National Youth Orchestra, Juillard summer Programs; National Youth Composer Competitio (6th Place); Sound design for the school drama club; Sound design intern at local theater; Composer for a 15 min play (the play itself won a regional award)

I did machine learning research at CCIR with a professor. The paper was accepted to a major US computer science conference, and it received a Best Paper Award at a well-known (though not tier 1) machine learning conference in my country.

A professor I met at the conference offered me a summer research internship in her lab. This is in another counrty.

However, I had originally planned to intern at a local NGO. This means that if I take the research, I could not do NGO. My school counselor says that I already have strong research results, and that my college application looks weak because I am not the founder of a business or NGO. He said I should focus on local NGO internship + be a founder of something. My school is pushing everyone to do Launch X and Wharton now.

Should I give up this research internship? I really want to take it, but I’m worried that if I don’t do business or founder thing, it will hurt my application.

I think I am late to the game. I decided to apply to US universities only earlier this year and will be applying next year (Fall 2027), so I have not done a lot. Now I am genuinely concerned that my extracurriculars may be too weak.

Demographics: International student, Asian Female
Intended Major: Math, with a double major in Music / Drama
School & APs: Top public school in my country; completed 10 APs, all scored 5.
SAT: 1580

Math & Physics
National Training Camp (Mathematical Olympiad)
National-level competition awards in Math and Physics (4x)

Music
National Youth Orchestra
Juillard summer Programs
National Youth Composer Competition: 6th Place
Sound design for the school drama club
Sound design intern at local theater
Composer for a 15 min play; the play itself won a regional award

Research
CCIR Research Program: Conducted machine learning research with a professor; paper accepted to a major US computer science conference; received Best Paper Award at a well-known (not tier 1) mid-sized machine learning conference in my country.

Questions
A professor I met at a conference recently offered me a summer research internship in her lab, and I received the offer only two days ago. I had originally planned to spend my summer addressing my lack of volunteering and leadership activities by interning at a local NGO. However I really want to take the research internship, but it is in another country, which means I would not be able to do the NGO internship at the same time. If I do not have enough volunteer/NGO extracurriculars, will that harm my chances? Will it make it appear that I lack leadership skills?

My school counselor is pushing everyone applying to the US to start a startup/NGO and do programs like LaunchX or Wharton Summer School, but honestly I'm not sure I could make those as strong as my research projects or music activities. I also don't have much time and I'm less interested in them. Should I still do them just to have them on my application?

Should I have my parents hire an education counselor to improve my chances? Right now, I'm aiming for Duke, Cornell, UChicago and NYU, and my school counselor says I may be aiming too high. I'm honestly pretty annoyed with him because it feels like whatever I do seems wrong to him. But he might get a point.

My counselor says it's getting significantly harder and more unpredictable for international students, but another teacher says not much has changed and people are exaggerating. My school has less Ivy League offers this year and all my classmates are acting like this is the end of the world