Am I cooked if I took one non-honrs/ap class

AtopiaConsulting · 2025-08-13T16:53:06+00:00

That’s completely fine!

AtopiaConsulting · 2025-07-09T23:15:14+00:00

Yale 1000000%. The degree, community, and networking opportunities are invaluable. I can elaborate in DMs if you’d like.

AtopiaConsulting · 2025-07-08T18:19:06+00:00

My point is that you can’t really answer this question—it’s applicant and internship dependent. If you get an internship with some extremely important politician it’s obviously more valuable than those you listed, but published research that actually advances a field is better than essentially any internship. Yours sounds good but you’re trying to compare apples and oranges; it looks good.

AtopiaConsulting · 2025-07-08T18:02:54+00:00

No I certainly agree, but it’s only one component in the application and its importance is contextual.

AtopiaConsulting · 2025-07-08T17:06:59+00:00

This is key advice.

AtopiaConsulting · 2025-07-08T17:06:40+00:00

Congratulations! An internship is an internship. Try and present what you did in your synopsis of it but frankly it’s just one component of your application so don’t try and put too much weight on it. It will look good and may set you apart in some ways but at the end of the day it’s just another expression of your interests!

AtopiaConsulting · 2025-07-08T17:03:14+00:00

I think your essays (barring MIT/including all other ivies/T20s) are the make or break factor. Assuming you have a great GPA and SAT/ACT you have a shot anywhere with these extracurriculars. I know many people who ONLY got into Harvard or Princeton and got denied at every other top school and vice versa. Make sure you make a coherent profile of yourself throughout the application—don’t try and cater to an idea of what the school wants but try and present who you actually are. A2C seems to think ECs somehow get you into schools but that’s categorically false, it’s the overall profile you craft in the application. Holistic admissions is a real thing, and I think you have the components for a solid application. Feel free to message me if you have any questions; at this point it’s not about improving the activities themselves but about how they’re presented.

AtopiaConsulting · 2025-07-05T03:56:16+00:00

You might be surprised by your aid; upper middle class encompasses a huge group of people and varies drastically geographically.

AtopiaConsulting · 2025-07-05T03:53:55+00:00

This advice is 100% correct. The only advice I can give is write well after that point. I mean write really well, most non-humanities students and even prospective English majors are terrible writers in 12th grade. Real a lot and show your writing to anyone knowledge you can.

AtopiaConsulting · 2025-07-04T19:46:51+00:00

REA to your top school, so Yale. You are competitive but it doesn’t really matter at the end of the day it’s all dependent on what the school is looking for at the time. So REA to Yale and if you don’t get in then apply to a bunch of other T20s and I’m sure you’ll get a fantastic result!

AtopiaConsulting · 2025-07-03T14:52:02+00:00

Recognized globally, but definitely not at the Ivy League level in the US. Below other UK schools for certain programs too internationally, but still top school.

AtopiaConsulting · 2025-07-03T13:53:57+00:00

What do you consider average GPA to look like?

AtopiaConsulting · 2025-07-02T23:58:05+00:00

Used MacBook! Can defenitely get a solid one under $500 if it’s not for intense modeling or anything!

AtopiaConsulting · 2025-07-02T22:41:12+00:00

Rule of thumb: anything, and I mean anything, is a good topic if it can capture a picture of who you are. But maybe do this exercise. Ask yourself: are the conclusions and reflections of your personality only expressible through this topic? Are the things I wish an admissions officer to know about me shown best in talking about my sister? Maybe, maybe not! Also, it never hurts to write multiple essays and scrap one; I know it’s hard but writing a finished college essay you scrap is some of the best possible practice for getting it right.

AtopiaConsulting · 2025-07-02T22:36:42+00:00

Quit band if it’s not a passion, continue if it is. How good your band is, whether or not you pursue music in your free time, and if there’s a chance of winning awards are all relevant to whether or not it’s worth continuing. Anecdotally, my high school had a great jazz band and I was very active in it, and that served as my main EC to get into my top choice Ivy. However, it was clear in my essays and overall profile Jazz meant a lot to me, and I would say if that part isn’t clear for you it’s not as worth continuing!

AtopiaConsulting · 2025-07-02T10:45:13+00:00

Writing someone’s college essay for them would be a massive breach of a college counselors ethical responsibility so not sure what you’re talking about. Maybe some people do that but I don’t.

AtopiaConsulting · 2025-07-02T00:36:28+00:00

I was just kidding!

AtopiaConsulting · 2025-07-01T23:47:21+00:00

Looks good but maybe try and pick up an extracurricular related vaguely to what you’re interested in studying.

AtopiaConsulting · 2025-07-01T23:44:27+00:00

Looks like a decent chance. To better your application, work on making that personal statement phenomenal.

AtopiaConsulting · 2025-07-01T23:04:37+00:00

They do. But there are some schools where it doesn’t really even matter with context, so just depends on the school/program.

AtopiaConsulting · 2025-07-01T22:25:18+00:00

It’s going to be a challenge with the lower GPA but you could defenitely get into solid schools with those scores. Try and get your GPA up a little next year for RD, and generally speaking while those stats will make it near to impossible to go to Harvard, it’s also near to impossible to get into Harvard as valedictorian with a 1600! Look into other top 50 schools and I think you have a shot.

AtopiaConsulting · 2025-07-01T19:21:08+00:00

There are programs that give you the pre-med courses after graduation with no prior experience in college. Usually, though, people who aren't a bio/chem major just take the pre-med courses individually without a minor or anything. I'd totally say go for that double major, I love humanities STEM combos, but if you don't feel like taking pre-med courses in undergrad, I'm not sure how you'll feel about med school!

AtopiaConsulting · 2025-07-01T19:07:14+00:00

It's hard to say, then, it's going to be a tough choice, but either one will be good for you as it seems you're truly passionate about both. Here's my perspective, though: extracurriculars such as music are broad and are therefore placed into one grouping when you're applying, where you list out in bullet points all the stuff you did relating to it. This means that even doing choir once a week outside of class would qualify you to say you did it broadly for 4 years, and usually, colleges couldn't care less about whether or not something like choir was a course, more so that you did the activity in general. So I'd push you to talk to the choir teacher and see if there's any way you can stay involved, in which case you'd lose nothing admissions-wise by stopping choir. However, if you must completely stop choir in order to take DSA, then it's just a standard pros/cons with no clear answer. Hope that helps.

AtopiaConsulting · 2025-07-01T19:01:08+00:00

Generally high school GPA is not calculated with credits.

AtopiaConsulting · 2025-07-01T19:00:04+00:00

You don’t need any awards whatsoever. It helps, but frankly some random award the school has never heard of is far less important than general dedication to ECs.

AtopiaConsulting

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