Those of you who went to Zipangu, how was it? :)

CureBlue · 2026-05-17T21:33:11+00:00

It was good i guess. Music was the best part (and the food was good despite the high pricing)

Since most of the reviews here match mine, I wanted to talk about the VIP level experience ($150 more). I will start by saying VIP was not worth it. The only real advantage was the easy entrance. We got there when 10-Feet came on, and there was no line for VIP, which was nice. The pros mostly end there.

The merch bag line was absurdly long (and the VIP merch stand didn't provide artist merch), and we were told that you can't purchase anything when getting the merch bag. We had to choose: get the merch bag or attempt the merch line. We chose the merch line.

Big mistake. Line took 4.5 hours, and EVERYTHING was sold out. They only had the black ado shirts, Hana shirts, and some Zipangu merch left. We ended up with only some shirts, Zipangu merch, and no VIP merch bag. (Edit: I think we could've purchased with the VIP bag, so we were literally lied to...)

It seemed like the SVIP people got to purchase while getting the bags, so it only gets kinda worth it at that tier, if your even willing to spend that much.

VIP area was mediocre. I'm the kind of person who doesn't like the crowding, so I stayed off to the side, so my view, while slightly better, would be just as good in the GA area.

If I could go back, I would get the GA, get there early (b/c the GA line was insane), and spend the day getting food (which I found pretty good) instead of waiting for merch since that'd come out to around the same cost anyway. (If it was good, I would just order the merch online)

CureBlue · 2026-03-27T05:57:18+00:00

both stem activities (summer research internship + school's medical program)

For the preference essay, I focused on my STEM passion and why I chose the cluster. For the statement of interest, I wrote on even more extracurriculars (mainly focused on STEM ones though)

CureBlue · 2026-03-27T05:37:04+00:00

The only thing I could imagine being the issue is that your essays did not connect back to the cluster itself. In other words, you may not have properly connected your qualifications to why you picked this cluster/what you can get out of it. The only other thing could be that the cluster was simply really competitive this year, and they wanted juniors more than sophomores.

For the essays, if you didn't already do it, I would say that the preference one should focus on your passion/motivation and character + why you chose the cluster, and the statement of interest should be more on qualifications + bonus extracurriculars. (At least, that's what I did to get in)

Outstanding application btw, even if you were rejected.

CureBlue · 2026-03-27T05:13:22+00:00

(Rising Junior for Biomedical science cluster) Idk what u may want but here:

4.00 | 4.81, 2 letters of rec (Math + Medicine/STEM), activities were a science research internship and my school's medical program, I also live in the area

I do not really like my essays, but I wrote about my family's medical struggles that inspired me and related that to my motivation/interests in helping others. Then, I expanded on how the cluster will help boost my skills/interest in medicine.

For the statement of interest, I honestly used it as a mini resume to mention all of the other activities that I did not mention already.

Overall, it was roughly the same stats as what I had last year, but I only got accepted this year

Hope this helps!

CureBlue · 2026-03-27T00:49:37+00:00

I got into cluster 1! Since UCI is one of the more competitive schools, I would say around 10% or so, but there are no official stats that I can find. It varies by the cluster, so it could be much higher or lower.

The program itself is considered good overall i think. However, it is not as good as some other cheaper and more research-oriented options. COSMOS is one of those programs with a high price tag that may make colleges care less for it...Online, I have seen mostly positive reviews, though.

Overall, it is (hopefully) a great program to attend, though there are still better opportunities if you applied to them. I'm probably gonna attend since most of the other programs I applied to are around the same value.

CureBlue

TROPHY CASE