I’m an international student from India (CBSE Class 12) and I’m stressing a bit after my final board results came out.

My predicted grades were significantly higher than my actual scores, especially in Math and Accountancy.

Predicted Grades:

• English: 80 - 85
• Accounts: 80 - 85
• Business Studies: 80 - 85
• Economics: 85 - 90
• Applied Mathematics: 80 - 85
• Entrepreneurship: 85 - 90

Final CBSE Scores:

• English Core: 88
• Economics: 66
• Business Studies: 72
• Accountancy: 55
• Applied Mathematics: 54
• Entrepreneurship: 91

I already received offers from:

• Drexel — Economics and Business
• Rutgers New Brunswick — Rutgers Business School + School of Arts and Sciences
• Rutgers Newark — Business
• Penn State — Pre-Business (Smeal)
• Stony Brook — Economics
• UW Madison — Business: Management BBA
• Indiana University — Pre-Business
• Purdue — Pre-Management (Mitch Daniels School of Business)

Also waitlisted at Babson.

I know US colleges usually don’t rescind unless there’s a massive drop, but I’m worried because my final grades are quite a bit lower than predicted.

What should I realistically expect here?

• Should I proactively email colleges explaining my results?
• Which schools are most likely to care?
• Has anyone here had a similar drop and still been fine?
• Could this affect visa/attendance eligibility or only admissions decisions?
• Any honest advice or similar experiences would really help.
• Should i give the CBSE improvement examination ?

For context, my extracurriculars, essays, and overall application were much stronger than my board marks, and I’m planning to major in business/econ.

Good MORNING chance me reddit, hahhaha please be nice in chancing me...

Demographics:

• Gender: Female 
• Race/ethnicity: Chinese but I have some thai blood
• Hooks: Umm I don't think I have any... closest thing to first gen is the fact that my dad did get a proper degree but my mum didn't + my mum is a homemaker right now
• Residence: UK
• Type of School: Semi-competitive 6th form where 80% of the cohort couldn't care less (imo) while 20% of the cohort are competitive-ish
• Am not in the 'top' class group (people you take all ur classes with + share ur teachers with) so I guess you could say I had to shut up and grind myself due to the absence of a study culture

Intended Major(s): Public Policy/Political Sci

Grades

• SAT I: 1580 (Probably the highest SAT score in my entire school's history but that's also just because people in my school don't take the SAT... I self studied it too)
• Rank: top 10%ish (tho I only got an official certificate for being in the top 25% of my cohort last year)
• Coursework: A-Levels predicted grades (A*A*B), B in CHEMISTRY, the rest are in maths and econ (about 3.8 UW GPA I used a google converter Lol)
• I have shit GCSEs hahaha pro tip to not spend too much time doing useless stuff with your friends... only 9 is in English, 8 in maths, 7s for the rest (which included my worst enemy CHEMISTRY) 
• No APs because that's not a thing in my school + bloody expensive to take independently + A-levels is tough!!!!
• Did a bunch of MOOCs on Coursera by Stanford and Yale but that was for the shits and giggles

For more context, (I THINK ) secondary school is like middle school to sophomore year and you take GCSEs, while 6th form (what I'm in now) is junior and senior year

Awards:

1. Oxbridge Uni (like directly affliated) writing competition placing (like under t20)
2. John Locke Commendation Finalist (only top 18% lolol)
3. Bunch of boring leadership awards I got + 1 character award that only 4 kids out of 700 get per year (all from my secondary school)
4. Only nominee from my sch for a kind of prestigious national volunteerism award (didn't win tho)
5. Some international youth award but its not SUPER huge... pretty sure I only won because #diversity (other awardees were from the US)

Extracurriculars (not in any order of importance)

1. Founded non profit that has over 1K volunteers + impacted more than 10K people + won a small award that granted us money + gained like 100K views online + has collaborated with some legitimate people/orgs +recognised by local government
2. Project that got implemented by 70% of the schools in my city (Woah I know super vague...)
3. House Captain + student council in secondary school where I was in charge of organising almost all school events for 2 years + started an initiative that is still running till this day + emceed a bunch of random events + mini project I helped out in broke some national record but it was really niche (not sure on the relevance of all this bc I haven't touched it since I graduated secondary school)
4. Fellowship where I did an education centric project with some US university lab and non-profit + produced pretty novel insights (In my opinion)
5. ABRSM Grade 8 Violin (pass lol but close to merit) + Music program for 4 years (semi selective across the nation) where I did composition, organised my school's talent show, played in an orchestra (4 years), got a leadership role after the first year in orchestra + did a few recitals + competed a little (won baby prizes)
6. Junior youth exec team member for a huge UN-affliated international non-profit (coolest thing ever in my HUMBLE and PERSONAL opinion)
7. Research with a prof at a RG uni (basically like t20 in the UK)
8. blog with a 2K following since jan where I just talk about what I find cool (policy/econ wise) 
9. Internship with a youth-led think tank where I help with research (tbh haven't done much yet lol all I do is help with researching stuff)
10. Founded a non-profit about education (small rn its in its early stages)
11. (Maybe) My friend has a REALLY REALLY cool startup idea that we might try starting but rn we gotta shut up and fix our chemistry grades - possibly a gap year activity for me

Some other stuff I don't plan to include in my app but if anyone has any opinions on if I should, feel free to share!

• Did dance for 4 years but honestly it was just for the shits and giggles, competed in nothing, got nothing except friends and memories
• I play the ukulele and piano, but again for the shits and giggles 
• Rallied my friends to cold email as many people as possible that we were kids with nothing else better to do during the holidays (we obviously said something more sophisticated than that) but it ended up with us organising an event with 100+ participants alongside local government (like 2 years ago though)
• Learnt HTML and CSS to build a silly joke website with my friends 
• Lowkey battled a tiny chronic condition since secondary school but tbh how I got it was technically my bad (don't do stupid shit because its funny)
• Started a business club that had a grand total of TWO meetings (Do not ask me about this hahaha)

Essays/LORs/Other:  

LORs: 

• Econs teacher: I think I can count on her... I'm like the only person to talk in class... sometimes lessons are basically just us going back and forth 1-to-1 because she likes to asks questions in class (Not that anyone else in the class cares tho, I will confidently bet $100 that they do not pay attention in her class...)

+ tho sometimes in our back and forth I say stupid and wrong shit hahahaha... I DO see her for extra clarification on stuff all the time so...

+ she saw me go from a D to A* #upwardtrend 

• Maths teacher: super supportive of my npo work love him + nominated me for awards before so I know I'm in safe hands
• Hoping to get a LOR from one of my non-profit advisors that went to US schools/HYPSM but I currently do not have the balls to ask... so this is a maybe :)

Schools:  

- Brown

- Stanford (REA? Conflicted between this and Brown ED... tbh wasn't gonna go for stanford originally but one of my friends studying there rn said I should hahahaha)

- UC Berkeley

- Northwestern

- Columbia

- Georgetown

Only reaches! I'm Y13 so I've already gotten into UK schools (and will likely get into them again unless my actual A-levels goes horribly wrong #fingerscrossed)

- Only just thought of applying to the US after a devastating Oxford PPE rejection (thought my chem was predicted as an A so I missed the grade threshold entirely)

- I'm tryna gauge if I should do a gap year (I WILL SPEND IT MEANINGFULLY.) and apply to the US or shut up and stay in the UK

(Not that I dislike the UK but UMMMMM hahahahaha I would like to explore my options in the US)

Notes:

While my school is competitive-ish academically, virtually no other student has founded non-profits or participated in international essay competitions (and placed) = theres no infrastructure to do most of my extracurriculars, I just occasionally have the balls to do stuff... SO I'm banking on all that to make up for my GCSEs 

I still have time so I will be ATTEMPTING to get that chemistry grade somewhere... but lol does anyone have any advice

Hi im a highschool junior and ive spent the past couple months obsessively thinking about my college list, figuring out which schools I actually have a shot at, which ones fit beyond just name recognition, and which ones I'd even want to go to.

I started going through common data sets to understand how schools actually weigh their criteria. However, it was pretty annoying to have to search it up and go through it so I built a tool that does all that automatically and estimates your chances of getting into that school. U fill out ur profile with ur ecs grades classes preferences, and a few other things and it goes based on that. 

Im most proud of the My Fit ranking system. Instead of sorting by prestige or acceptance rate, it balances your actual odds, your preferences (size, location, climate, cost, culture), and how strong your major is at that school. The idea is to surface schools that actually make sense for you specifically.

Data comes from CDS PDFs I manually pulled from each school's site — 220+ schools, all the latest publication period. Section C7 is factored in, so legacy, athletics, first-gen, demonstrated interest, and rigor are weighted per school rather than run through one generic formula. ED and RD are split since rates often differ by 2-3x.

If anything looks off or wrong like weird My Fit results, data issues, mobile bugs please let me know I would love feedback

This is a bit of a yapfest, but I genuinely don’t know what to do with my application anymore. I feel like I’m lacking in too many areas and there isn’t a clear direction present. There’s probably potential here but it looks so unfocused to me and it isn’t positioned properly. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! D:

Demographics
Gender: Female
Race/ethnicity: Southeast Asian (Filipino)
Residency: Philippines
School: Private K-12 school with around 350 students
Grade level: Grade 11, taking full IBDP
Other special factors (first generation, legacy, athlete, etc.): Low income

Intended Major(s)
I’m leaning toward biology major (molecular biology or genetics) with an art history minor, but I don’t think my application is competitive enough for that. My only interest for the longest time was the arts, so most of my application reflects that. The most STEM I have is some basic experimental design, a competition, and some science communication stuff (which I honestly really enjoyed and am looking into for the future).

I’m really passionate about public education and knowledge accessibility. I was incredibly lucky to be given the opportunities needed to pursue higher education, to even be able to develop my deep appreciation and love for learning, but this shouldn’t have been up to luck. While I believe SO much that what I have should be the standard available to everyone, my application doesn’t reflect that either. Museum work would be a dream, but the industry is so difficult to break into, the pay is not the best, and you need a lot of higher education to even be considered for most positions.

Academics
IB score: I’m still finishing Grade 11 so we don’t have predicted yet, but with my grades right now, the score would be 38–40

3 HLs: Biology (7), Economics (7), Visual Arts (4, submission website, for some reason, didn’t mark my midyear as completed, even though I checked multiple times!)
3 SLs: Mathmatics AI (7), English: Lang&Lit (7), Spanish ab initio (6)
* It’s risky, but I’m switching to Math HL and Visual Arts SL for Grade 12

ACT/SAT Scores: I’m planning to take the SAT
Rank: We don’t have rankings at our school

Extracurriculars (I did this in the common app format)

Theater/Drama
10th, Break
10 hr/wk, 6 wk/yr
Lead Costume Designer & Committee Co-Head, Major Regional Theatre Workshop
Led 10-member team; designed 30+ costumes; managed PHP 12,000 budget; coordinated costumes for sold-out 600+ audience production.

Work (Paid)
10th–11th, Year
5 hr/wk, 25 wk/yr
Designer & Seamstress, Independent Client Commission
Designed and constructed PHP 10,000 custom gown; led client consultations, fittings, and full production from concept to final execution.

Research
11th–12th, Year
3 hr/wk, 20 wk/yr
Arts & Culture Group Leader, Co-author, Research Club
Led research on Gen Z fashion identity in Manila; analyzed sustainability, social media, and digital culture through survey and literature review.
* We’re continuing this into summer and planning to present this at a research congress!

Science/Math
11th, School
10 hr/wk, 4 wk/yr
National Comp Quarterfinalist at 2026 Competition
National quarterfinalist; competed against 20 schools in advanced biology (epigenetics, anatomy, molecular) at N/A University.

Research
11th, School
14 hr/wk, 4 wk/yr
Lead Researcher & Designer, Collaborative Sciences Project
Designed low-cost indoor growing system; conducted feasibility testing and data analysis; presented findings to 150+ students.

Art
9th–12th, Year
8 hr/wk, 40 wk/yr
Fashion Design - UAL/Atelier, Independent Study
Completed 3 University of the Arts London courses; 6 yrs sewing and pattern drafting; researched Western fashion history.

Theater/Drama
9th–10th, School, Break
6 hr/wk, 20 wk/yr
Lead Costume Designer / Creative Crew, Ensemble, School Theatre Productions
Contributed to 6 productions across 4+ yrs; developed concept pegs; managed costume budgets and deadlines; designed, sourced, and constructed garments.

Art
11th, School
2 hr/wk, 20 wk/yr
Student Moderator, Visual Artist Club
Organized charity art market; designed original work; coordinated sessions and outreach supporting young artists.
* The market has yet to happen, will add numbers and specify mpact later!

Science/Math
9th–10th, School
3 hr/wk, 4 wk/yr
Scriptwriter, Animator, & Editor, Independent
Produced educational videos on local biodiversity and physics concepts; researched content and managed full scriptwriting, animation, and editing.

Community Service (Volunteer)
9th–10, School
2 hr/wk, 1 wk/yr
Volunteer Resource Speaker, Community Outreach
Delivered interactive fashion design workshop to 45+ Grade 3 students; translated technical processes into engaging, accessible lessons.

(Over the summer, I’m also gonna be volunteering at a local hospital, and probably completing some online chemistry and math courses)

Awards
- UAL course certificates
- Certificate from the bio comp
- Certificates from theater
- Certifcates from volunteer resource speaking

I neglected this SO hard, and now my application is really lacking in external recognition. My family truly just does not let me go outside or participate in activities outside of school, so my reach is incredibly limited. I was also homeschooled from Covid quarantine onwards (Grade 6 to Grade 8), which doesn’t help.

Essays/LORs/Other
(Haven’t asked for these yet)
- Biology HL Teacher, who was also my homeroom teacher for Grade 11. She can definitely speak for my dedication to the subject.
- My Visual Arts Teacher who has been teaching me since I returned to school in Grade 9. Art is the probably the subject I’m the best at in terms of like actual skill, and the one that’s most personal to me. Lots of growth here!
- My sewing instructor? She doubled as an art teacher too when I was under my homeschooling program. Out of every mentor-ish figure, she probably knows me the most on a non-academic level.

Cost Constraints / Budget
Merit + need-based aid. My mother lives in Los Angeles, CA, which could help with residency and tuition in UC schools, but my family already struggles with a $10k yearly tuition.

Schools (Very shoddy list! Trying to focus more on liberal arts than pure STEM because god knows I’m not getting into those programs)

REACH:
USC
Brown
Tufts
Pomona College

TARGET:
Occidental College
University of Rochester
Macalester College
College of Wooster
UC Davis

SAFETY:
University of South Florida
Arizona State University
CSULB

MISCELLANEOUS (haven’t figured out yet, will pick 3 more!)
King’s College London
University of Manchester
UNSW
Monash University
Smith College
Mount Holyoke College
Bryn Mawr College
Denison University
Case Western Reserve University
Clark University

Demographics

Gender: Male

Citizenship: Indian

Type of School: Competitive Public School (CBSE)

Hooks: None (Unhooked International)

Financial Aid: Need significant aid (Applying to Need-Blind schools: Harvard, MIT, Yale).

Intended Major: Robotics & Embedded Systems / Intelligent Mobility Engineering.

Academics

Class 12th (CBSE): 90.6%.[1]

Class 10th (CBSE):%

Current Status: Gap Year (Graduated May 2026).[1]

Standardized Testing (Target/Assumption)

SAT: 1580–1600 (Assume 800 Math/780+ EBRW. I am currently prepping to hit this range).[2, 3]

English Proficiency: DET (Targeting 150+) or IELTS (Targeting 8.5).[4]

Extracurriculars (The "Spike")

Independent AI/Mobility Researcher: Built a "Mobile Telemetry Lab" integrated into a 350cc Royal Enfield platform. Engineered PotholeNet (ML classifier for road quality) and BikeGuard (Computer Vision for real-time helmet detection) using a local Ubuntu setup.[1, 1]

Civic Tech Deployment: (In-Progress) Partnering with local Traffic Police/Municipal Corporation to pilot ShadowMap, a data visualization hub for identifying infrastructure hazards.

Student Leadership: Served as School & House Captain (Class 12), House Vice-Captain (Class 11), and School Monitor (Class 10). Managed large-scale events and campus discipline for 1,000+ students.[1]

Audio Production: Electronic Dance Music (EDM) producer under an alias. Focus on [Insert Genre] and sound engineering.[1]

Visual Arts: Practice cinematic photography and vlogging specializing in minimalist/melancholic aesthetics.[1]

Writing/Cybersecurity: Co-author of The Cyber Defender's Bible, a manuscript bridging ancient strategic philosophy with digital security. Previous iterations achieved 100+ sales on Amazon.[1]

Awards/Honors

Intl English Olympiad: School Rank 2, Zonal Rank 47.[1]

Athletics: 2nd Place in Interclass Football.[1]

Questions:

How much will a near-perfect SAT (1580-1600) offset a 90% CBSE score for unhooked Indian applicants at MIT and Stanford?.

Is the "Motorcycle Telemetry Lab" unique enough to stand out in the MIT Maker Portfolio against hardware-heavy projects?.

For NUS, how strict is the 95% CBSE benchmark for Computer Science/Engineering?.

Any advice on how to best narrative-link EDM production and cinematic photography with AI/Computer Vision in essays?.[6]

Ok so this is not mine but my friend's college profile :-

I am an international applicant from India, currently studying at St. Xavier’s School. I come from a lower middle-class family with an annual income of under ₹7,00,000 (approximately $8,000 USD). I live in a semi-urban area with limited access to advanced opportunities, and I have built my profile using the resources available to me. My primary goal is to attend a university that offers substantial financial aid, as my family cannot afford international education.

Academic Statistics

Grade 9: 89.5%

Grade 10 (CBSE): 95%

Grade 11: 93%

Grade 12 (Predicted): 92%

Consistently ranked within the top 5% of my class

Scored 100/100 in Informatics Practices (Grades 11 and 12)

Standardized Testing

SAT: 1500

IELTS: Band 8 (expected)

Extracurricular Activities

Founder, Women’s Health and Hygiene Nonprofit

Founded and led an initiative focused on women’s health awareness and literacy

Conducted 30+ awareness sessions across schools and rural communities

Reached 20+ schools and additional village populations

Educated women and girls on menstrual health, hygiene, and reproductive awareness

Collaborated with medical professionals

Featured in local newspapers

Research

Published a research paper under the guidance of a government college professor

Student Leadership

Student Council – General Secretary

Vice President – Public Speaking Club

Vice President – Model United Nations (MUN) Club

Organized and hosted inter-school MUN conferences and debate competitions

Internship – Pharmaceutical/Laboratory Setting

Interned as a Junior Chemist/Pharmacist in a pharmaceutical company

Gained exposure to laboratory procedures and applied scientific work

Completed diploma in Laboratory Studies

Community Service (Annual Village Initiative)

Conduct an annual camp in my hometown in Bihar

Assist villagers with documentation work (bank forms, official paperwork, etc.)

Help individuals learn basic writing skills, including signing their names

Awards and Achievements

Recipient of local community (Yadav Samaj) award

Second place – State-level Chess

Second place – District-level Volleyball

Winner – Inter-school poetry recitation competitions

Multiple school-level academic recognitions

Creative and Personal Pursuits

Writing

Published two poems in a local magazine

Writescpoetry and long-form fiction as a personal pursuit

Runs a YouTube channel

Art

Practice drawing and visual art as a hobby

Languages

English (Fluent)

Hindi (Fluent)

Self-learned German (reading, writing, and speaking over two years)

Sports

Chess – State-level (2nd place)

Volleyball – District-level (2nd place)

📘 100 SERIES — ACADEMICS (BASE — NO TIERS)

• 101–104 → Maintain:
  • 96–98%+ (9th, 11th)
  • 95–97%+ (10th boards)
  • 94%+ (12th boards)
  • Strong PCM mastery

🧠 200 SERIES — TESTS (BASE)

• Tier 1
  • 201 → SAT (1550+)
  • 203 → TOEFL (110+)
• Tier 2
  • 202 → ACT (backup)

📚 300 SERIES — APs

• Tier 1
  • 302 → Calc BC
  • 304 → CS A
  • 306 → Physics C Mech
• Tier 2
  • 305 → Physics 1
  • 308 → Chemistry

🧠 400 SERIES — SKILLS (ALL KEEP, BUT PRIORITIZE)

🔥 Tier 1 (CORE STACK)

• 401 → Python
• 402 → AI / ML
• 404 → Linear Algebra
• 405 → Calculus

⚡ Tier 2

• 403 → Deep Learning
• 407 → Cybersecurity
• 409 → Neuroscience 
• 410 → Bio Tech
• 411 → Cognitive AI 
• 412 → Robotics

 

🟡 Tier 3

• 406 → Linux
• 408 → Competitive programming

🏆 500 SERIES — OLYMPIADS

🔥 Tier 1

• 501 → Physics
• 502 → Math

⚡ Tier 2

• 503 → CS

🟡 Tier 3

• 504 → Chemistry
• 505 → Biology

 

🧪 600 SERIES — PROJECTS (YOUR CORE IDENTITY)

🔥 Tier 1 (MAIN SPIKE)

• 601 → QGAN
• 602 → Schrödinger visualization
• 609 → Neuro Chatbot
• 611 - Nuclear Reactor
• 612 - DNA Mutation Prediction with AI

 

⚡ Tier 2

• 604 → PQC drone telemetry

🟡 Tier 3

• 605 → Extra AI models
• 607 → Research paper (comes from Tier 1)
• 608 → Freelance work

🏆 700 SERIES — COMPETITIONS

🔥 Tier 1 (MAIN TARGETS)

• 701 → International Science and Engineering Fair
• 702 → IRIS National Fair
• 703 → Stockholm Junior Water Prize

⚡ Tier 2 (HIGH VALUE)

• 704 → Breakthrough Junior Challenge
• 706 → Intel AI Impact Festival

🟡 Tier 3 (SELECTIVE)

• 705 → Hackathons
• 708 → Microsoft Imagine Cup
• 709 → HPE Code Battle
• 710 → World Bank Pitch
• AIME
• USACO
• FTC Robotics

 

🤖 800 SERIES — STEM EVENTS

🔥 Tier 1

• 802 → Harvard-MIT Mathematics Tournament

⚡ Tier 2

• 801 → Zero Robotics

🟡 Tier 3

• 803 → Indian Institute of Technology Bombay Techfest

🧠 900 SERIES — PROGRAMS

🔥 Tier 1 (TOP)

• 901 → Research Science Institute
• 902 → PROMYS

⚡ Tier 2

• 905 → Stanford University CIP
• 906 → Massachusetts Institute of Technology Solv[ED]

🟡 Tier 3

• 903 → FIRST Robotics
• 904 → REU-type

💼 1000 SERIES — INTERNSHIPS

🔥 Tier 1

• 1001 → Intel
• 1005 → Startups with potential

⚡ Tier 2

• 1002 → Google
• 1003 → ISRO

🟡 Tier 3

• 1004 → NASA challenge

👥 1100 SERIES — LEADERSHIP

🔥 Tier 1

• 1101 → AISC Leader
• 1103 → AI Club President

⚡ Tier 2

• 1102 → AISC Core
• 1104 → Cyber Club

🟡 Tier 3

• 1105 → Section Leader
• Student Council

🚀 1200 SERIES — INITIATIVES

🔥 Tier 1

• 1201 → AI Nonprofit
• 1202 → Startup
• 1204 → Bio Tech

 

⚡ Tier 2

• 1203 → Social impact

🌍 1300 SERIES

• 1301 → YCC Fellow @ International Union for Conservation of Nature
• 1302 → Intel recognition

🥋 1400 SERIES

• 1401 → Karate
• 1402 → State Champion
• 1403 → Swimming

I reside in India; I am a student in a CBSE school (DPS RKP). And, I made it myself just used AI to organise it in a cleaner readable way.

ok so I'm an HS junior, and the entire last semester I've been low-key spiraling, trying to figure out where I actually stand for college. I spent hours on every chance calculator on the internet, and the numbers were all over the place. One said I had a 30% shot at Vanderbilt, another said 8%, another said 22%. Like, which is it lol

i started digging into why, and it turns out most of them either use federal data that lags 1–2 years, just have AI make up numbers, or use a fit model so generic it's basically useless. The worst part is that half of them tell everyone they have a 25%+ shot at every T20, which just isn't real. Stanford accepts 3.6% of applicants — nobody has a 30% shot,

So I spent a few weeks pulling the actual common data set PDFs from each school's website (the official data schools publish every year), and built a fit model that factors in legacy at the specific school, athlete status, first-gen, demonstrated interest, course rigor — the whole thing. I also capped elite schools at sub-15% because that's reality.

It covers 200+ schools with verified data so far. It's free, no paywall on chances. lmk if you want me to share it

Demographics:

Asian male

Low income (~40k/yr): Significant Financial aid needed

Had to emigrate to India sometime around 1st grade (still I am a US citizen, so considered domestic for many unis.)

extremely rural until 5th grade, after that urban (was very weak academically + poor when we came to the city)

Academics:

3.98 UW, School doesn't calculate weighted (This is based on the A+/A/B/C/D/E/F grades which my school assigns, my 10th board marks is 97.8%)

5’s on 5 APs on top of CBSE (School doesn't offer AP courses, so I self-study for all of them and take them elsewhere)

1540 SAT (800M/740R) (Single Sitting) (Gonna retake in August and get a higher English score hopefully)

Top 3 of 42 (THE highest ranked class in all of my schools branches) and Top 5 of 5000 kids in my batch (the top-most batch in my school) (IIT-JEE prep school, so they rank wrt to all branches available in the nation) (School is about 11.5 hours each day, including Sundays (10 hours on Sundays alone lol, very less ikr), (and yes, we don't have holidays) 😞, ngl ts takes up tooo much of my time. (The other kids from my class have nothing apart from JEE prep, so they aren't applying to US unis)

Double major Math + Business

Extracurricular activities:

1) Founder, Admin & CTO — Math Education Org (11-12): 50k views/month recently; 6k users (65+ countries); managing a team of 30+ active builders, with partnerships and recognition from many ultra-large institutions in the relevant niche. Sponsored by a quant firm. (This project is like ultra-active rn, with the user base projected to reach 50-100k before college apps (lowballing, actually), and monthly web views prolly reaching 0.5 mil). (14 h/week)

2) Author: Olympiad Math Prep Book (10-12): 20k+ Downloads across 40+ countries; Recognised for great quality by leading math organisations in India (they made full videos about this). Personally taught 21 students (online) with 100% qualification rate into either AIME or RMO (AIME equivalent in India) (5-6 hours a week)

3) President—Debate/Speech Club: (10-12): 60+ members (some members had achieved top 5 in several international debate comps); ran workshops & training; managed outreach/content; Doubled membership of club during my terms.

4) Founder & Developer — Education SaaS Platform (9-10): Solo Built and launched an education-focused SaaS platform serving 500+ users; streamlined access to academic resources and student tools. Hosted several charity runs in which we donated 1500+ books to orphanages and government libraries within my city (got recognized by local news, and a BJP party member for this lol)

5) Musician & Lead Vocalist (6-11): Earned Trinity College London Grade 5 certification with distinction; self-taught guitar and drums; lead singer of school/local band performing multiple live events annually (400+ member audience in each); created music content surpassing 1M+ YouTube views.

6) Independent Research — QFin (9-12): Published on arxiv, built ML/stat models; MATLAB/Python analysis; ran optimizations, forward-testings; (Resulted in production of a financial tool used by 40+ traders) (ps: Started this to help my dad with investing. Only way to not let inflation eat up your savings these days :/) (Recently, I'm working with some IIT undergrads on this, might get it published on smtg more "prestigious" later, but unsure whether it will happen before applications end)

7) Tech Intern — Tech Company (10th)
Redesigned and developed entire UI, automated many workflows (reduced video creation time by 90% and average user application time from 12 mins to 2.5 mins, and doubled user retention during applications. Worked very closely with the founding team, who appreciated my work greatly.

Awards:

1. Math Olympiads: AMC 12 (DHR last year, and HR this year with a 144..... lowk wtf were those cutoffs), AIME: 13 (top 5%), RMOx2 (AIME eqv of India), INMOx1 (USAMO eqv of India)
2. (Note: I can't qualify for USAMO under recent rules as I live in India rn.)
3. Selected for Camp in one of the lower-tier Olympiads (US pipeline, not indian) (Astro, or AI, or Chem)
4. Computing Olympiad (USACO Platinum) with a certified perfect score in USACO Gold.
5. PMC (Conducted by UPenn): Ranked within the top 10 in Individuals, and my team ranked 1st, Purple Comet: Team got International 1st with a perfect score.
6. AIR 1 in a national math comp, got grand prize for perfect score. (Prize: the laptop I'm writing this post from lmao)
7. Merit Scholarship of 50% (maximum they offer) for exceptional academic performance.

Sports:

Basketball — Played and won at several District-level tournaments (8-9th grade)
Chess — 2000+ elo on Lichess Rapid

School list:

HYPSM & all ivies, GT, Caltech, Duke, UChicago, UC Berkeley, CMU, Oxford, IIT, NUS. (I can add more, but I need lots of financial aid for US unis, so Idk how practical other unis might be)
(Prolly gonna try keeping IIT/NUS/Oxford as backups as they require only grades/ranks)

Haven't been in this sub recently, but came back as I practically got f##ked by summer apps and the anxiety is getting to me... prolly just gonna lock in this summer for IIT-Prep to make sure I get some decent sub 300 AIR rank, so that even if US unis don't work out in my favour, I can always fall back on IITs/NUS.

Also, I kinda suck at writing (assuming this although people said they are decent cuz I got rejected from most of my summer apps), so I'm probably gonna take some outside help for that. If y'all have any other suggestions apart from the chance me on things like how I should list things better, or like describe things better, please say that as well (would appreciate it a lot 😃)

(Note: for some activities I listed 12 as well, it's because 12th grade starts here during jan itself)

Creen que pueda entrar a alguna de estas universidades? A cuales otras me recomiendan postular? Tengo pasaporte italiano aunque la verdad prefiero entrar a alguna universidad en estados unidos

Elite school
International student
Ib: 43/45
SAT: 1520
GPA: 6,7/7,0

Necesito ayuda financiera

Pasantia consultoria financiera
Pasantia markenting digital
Bateria x 2 años (Cuando era más pequeño toque durante 3 años pero lo deje, en total serian 5 años)
Presidente centro de alumnos donde lidere multiples proyectos sociales recaudando +10000k para diferentes eventos, tambien incentive el reciclaje haciendo concursos, organize fiestas, y muchas cosas más
Voluntariado 150 horas
Bjj x3 años
Startup app web (Ayude a muchos estudiantes a comprender textos mejor ya que en mi país hay problemas serios con la comprensión lectora)
Programa de verano de negocios (Programa de verano con postulación a universidad top 2 de mi pais)
Tik tok +10k donde enseño matemáticas y finanzas basicas, con ayuda al privado gratis
Natacion 3 años

Informacion adicional:
Tengo una tienda de reventa de ropa
Presidente de clase x2 año
Tesorero de clase x1 año
Club ping pong x1 año
Durante middle school estuve en un club de rugby x1 año, y también participe en un torneo intercolegial por el equipo A de futbol de mi colegio

Awards
Ganador competencia bjj x5
Competi en natación (Era seleccionado de mi club en los cuales muchos son seleccionados nacionales)
Ganador torneo jabalina intercolegial (Era un torneo pequeño)
Excelencia academicas x6
Ganador concurso de emprendimiento x2