For starters, I really need advice from other girls/women. When I explain my dilemma to other people so many of them chalk my situation up to teen girls being catty, shallow, and mean but really it’s much more complex than that.
I’m 16 and I tried out for the cheer team in the summer of eighth grade. I had always liked to dance but told I wasn’t good at it. Growing up I was involved in STEM and I guess I thought I had to fit into a nerd role, so I often rejected anything feminine. However I began to embrace my feminine side in middle school. When I thought to tryout for the cheer team my mom told me I was “just not the cheerleading type”. I thought, why not? And decided to go for it despite having no previous experience.
I immediately felt like a fish out of water and was god awful but I somehow I landed a spot on the JV team with one of my childhood friends. I didn’t feel like I fit in during my first year and wouldn’t open up to other girls. The best part was cheering and I loved learning new halftime dances. I worked hard to improve and get better.
The summer of freshman year I tried out again. My childhood friend got on varsity and I got on JV and became the captain. I stepped into my leadership role and I honestly feel like I created a welcoming environment for new girls and there want really any problems between JV girls. However, I noticed my childhood friend looking down upon me and other girls on JV. She would jokingly call me JV scum for weeks after teams were announced despite knowing how badly I wanted to be on varsity. This was nothing compared to when she saw a video of a JV flyer getting injured. In this video the flyer fell from a stunt and hit her head on her box. She sent this video to a guy we were friends to make fun of the flyer. Longer story shorter I confronted her and she apologized to me and explained she just made a joke in bad taste. But immediately afterwards she messaged the guy and said “Hey, when I send you a funny video of JV failing, don’t tell the JV captain”. I decided to just continue being friends with her but soon realized every conversation we have is her talking badly about other people of cheer and I no longer get any joy from our conversations.
In addition, throughout this year the head coach has told me I was ready to move to varsity. She made several empty promises to move me up throughout the year if but never did and it became extremely frustrating. I would be expected to fill in when varsity girls were unavailable but never really got a spot on the team. But my wonderful JV coach kept me going by always being supportive and understanding to anything I told her. This year it was thought that she would become head coach since the old head coached retired. But it was just announced that she did not get the position. The position is instead been given to a coach none of us know who is UCA certified (basically is more prestigious). Because she won’t be head coach I have lost any hope for our team becoming more accepting and less drama filled.
I am without any real friends or support on this team but I feel like I’ve worked too hard already to quit before making it on varsity. And being captain I felt I made the cheer team better and more welcoming. Countless rumors have been spread about what will happen with this new coach and there is already drama before tryouts even started. I love cheering but is it really worth it?

First cbse says we don't want toxic competition and then they add positional grade so anyone can compare you to others.
Second cbse says you can always get your paper rechecked but reevaluation costs 100 rupees per subject and copy costs 500 like bruh are they gonna fly those copies from mars ??

How can I align my thoughts at once? Or weave them into a single thread? Things don’t move that way in my head, really, and it can be hard, then, to truly capture them. What would I look like if I were a book, I wonder? Pages ripped, and torn, and taped back in. Some pages black and smudged and burned to soot. Some crinkled and crunchy, stuck in an awkward permanence to their neighbor, having had tea or coffee spilled on them - once soggy moments, now rigid in time. Some pages would overflow with words like a waterfall, cascading down into rivers and streams of thought, eternally winding back to the vast open sea of paper before them. Some would be marred by the oily fingerprints of a late-night bad decision - a snack I didn’t need, or a love I didn’t crave. Some would be beautiful and intimate. Some so subtle that a reader might unknowingly skip past them when rifling through; soft, tender, and pure. Some pages would find you with faded Polaroids of a kind stranger’s smile wedged into the binding. Snips of hair, cut and glued in the shape of a promise to a long-forgotten friend. The sweat-soaked setlist to every face-melting, heart-wrenching, and whispered empty bedroom concert I’ve ever held, complete with scribbled titles scratched through in harsh black ink, and a few more added hastily to the end of the already cramped page. Speeches I’ve given to the gods, tacked down with old chewing gum and dried saline. My book would creak and crunch beneath its own weight. Inside, you’d find slots for age-old mixtapes, once used to barter and commiserate with similarly hollowed childhood friends. Each to be removed and played in their own time, a patch-work soundtrack to my life. You’d find dust and dirt and a spider or two, with flecks and specks of god knows what. And some pages would make you fear me. Some would bring you joy. Some would make you ache, or yearn, or gasp, or cry. And many would leave you with more questions, and fewer answers.
Some pages would be dark even for me to read.
Pages that suck and pull at your core. Pages that eat your soul. Pages that aren’t pages at all, always changing in location, always hoping to blend and sneak past the conscious reader’s gaze. And on the very next page, as if nothing had changed, you’d find snippets of life I’ve kept precious. A stack of “get well soon” cards from my first-grade class, carefully threaded into the binding. Art drawn and painted and weaved into the fabric of the pages themselves, labors of love. Secrets and prayers alike, whispered and kissed and sent and tucked with care - all etched like scars into the pale canvas beneath them, invaluable and unquantifiable.
And when you’d finish the book, dear reader, what would you feel, then, seeing me displayed like that? Would you love or hate me more? Would the sum total of my existence be greater or lesser in your eyes? If you weighed and judged me in the balance, what would you discover? Would my life hold any value? Which fragments of this collection would hold any worth at all? If one were to be subtracted or added, would your perception shift? If I strung together the perfect sentence, would you love me then? Is that where my worth would lie?
And what of my own perspective? To see myself laid out in full, aching, and oozing, and radiant all at once—could it be enough? Would it offer anything new? Could I see it - really see it - and call it complete? Would my book, in the end, have meant anything at all?

I am a college-aged adult (a young adult, basically.)
Sexually, I am quite repressed. However, whenever I do think about men sexually, I tend to imagine myself with a darker skinned man (to me, darker skinned tends to mean either asap Rocky’s complexion, or just someone who is darker than a typical white man, like Fez from That 70s Show. I will typically imagine myself giving a blowjob or having sex with a man, I think in part because when I last had a boyfriend two years ago - a dark skinned black male, who was overweight - that was the first sexual thing I ever did with, well, anyone. I haven’t done anything sexually with anyone since, and haven’t had a boyfriend since.) I have trouble envisioning myself having sex with a white man, unless it’s someone who I’m very attracted to like Jake Gyllenhaal, and even then something about it doesn’t feel right.
I am not attracted, in general, to the average white man. I had a big crush on David Bowie in middle school and still felt attraction toward him when I watched him perform live in the 1970s on YouTube some months ago, because of his aura. I was also wildly attracted to Jake Gyllenhaal in “Donnie Darko” about two years ago and wrote a fanfic about three years ago about how handsome he was in “Brokeback Mountain” (from Ennis’ perspective.)
I am probably the least attracted to Asian men, but I really don’t mean that in an offensive way, I just haven’t felt attraction toward an Asian male in about a decade (literally.) I don’t think it will happen again. There are probably a variety of reasons as to why the attraction isn’t there (lack of media representation, stereotypes, probably other things idk.)
The two guys in high school who I was most attracted to were lightskinned and mixed race. One was conventionally attractive - someone who non-black people agreed was very cute - and had colored eyes. The other was slightly above average in 9th grade, but gradually became average (I was no longer attracted to him when he became average. He looked something like this: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CyMJ4kvPgvq/?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==)
I notice that the white men who I have been attracted to tend to have blue eyes, typically a blonde hair and blue eyes combo.
I have been attracted to multiple Mexican/latino men, although they were above average. I briefly had a bit of a crush a few years ago on Benny from the sandlot.
View Poll

I am a college-aged adult (a young adult, basically.)
Sexually, I am quite repressed. However, whenever I do think about men sexually, I tend to imagine myself with a darker skinned man (to me, darker skinned tends to mean either asap Rocky’s complexion, or just someone who is darker than a typical white man, like Fez from That 70s Show. I will typically imagine myself giving a blowjob or having sex with a man, I think in part because when I last had a boyfriend two years ago - a dark skinned black male, who was overweight - that was the first sexual thing I ever did with, well, anyone. I haven’t done anything sexually with anyone since, and haven’t had a boyfriend since.) I have trouble envisioning myself having sex with a white man, unless it’s someone who I’m very attracted to like Jake Gyllenhaal, and even then something about it doesn’t feel right.
I am not attracted, in general, to the average white man. I had a big crush on David Bowie in middle school and still felt attraction toward him when I watched him perform live in the 1970s on YouTube some months ago, because of his aura. I was also wildly attracted to Jake Gyllenhaal in “Donnie Darko” about two years ago and wrote a fanfic about three years ago about how handsome he was in “Brokeback Mountain” (from Ennis’ perspective.)
I am probably the least attracted to Asian men, but I really don’t mean that in an offensive way, I just haven’t felt attraction toward an Asian male in about a decade (literally.) I don’t think it will happen again. There are probably a variety of reasons as to why the attraction isn’t there (lack of media representation, stereotypes, probably other things idk.)
The two guys in high school who I was most attracted to were lightskinned and mixed race. One was conventionally attractive - someone who non-black people agreed was very cute - and had colored eyes. The other was slightly above average in 9th grade, but gradually became average (I was no longer attracted to him when he became average. He looked something like this: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CyMJ4kvPgvq/?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==)
I notice that the white men who I have been attracted to tend to have blue eyes, typically a blonde hair and blue eyes combo.
I have been attracted to multiple Mexican/latino men, although they were above average. I briefly had a bit of a crush a few years ago on Benny from the sandlot.
View Poll

Hey!! I’m very excited to be starting my first career as a 4th grade teacher! I know there have been a few posts on advice for new teachers that I will for sure be taking into consideration. However, I am a bit anxious about co-worker related drama- when I was student teaching, a teacher had a rough day and took it out on me. I felt bad, wondering if I did anything wrong, but my cooperating teacher told me that I didn’t do anything wrong and that she will talk to her (that’s when she told my CT she had a bad day- didn’t apologize though). I wasn’t part of the conversation, but the next day I made sure to be professional and give that teacher the same respect and grace.. but it still makes me nervous for this coming year😬 (I know miscommunication is inevitable but how can I handle it since I won’t have a cooperating teacher to side/reason for me?). Also, I live in a small apartment and won’t be able to set up my room until August- I am nervous about not having everything I need for my classroom in time because I don’t have enough room to store things. I could get a storage unit, but money is a bit tight :(
Sorry, I’m rambling! I’m trying to give myself grace and remind myself I won’t be the most perfect teacher during my first few years but oh gosh! I just want to make sure I’m on the right track!
Thank you so much!

I’ve been dating a spiritual narcissist and feel hopeless
I feel like I have no voice. If I ever try to speak up, he will diminish what I say, dismiss what I say, and or gas light me. The worst of it all, he had a whole secret life - another partner of 9 years. She is living in Belize. He doesn’t take any accountability or responsibility for cheating or lying. He doesn’t see it this way. We have been together almost a year. I feel trapped. I’m out here on a ranch with him, and I’m on the other side of it crying. I just want to get back home. I want to get all of my things and go… he is just awful. I asked him for help with something so I could get a credit line, and he told me that absolutely I shouldn’t have any credit line. I said what about emergencies? I have no money… he told me well how will you pay it every month. I said it was only 500 credit line, I don’t think it will be that big of a deal, except for that I’m in the middle of no where with him so for now dependent on him… no car of my own. He even asked why I wanted one.. if it was so I can leave him? Ugh. Moments after his telling me how I shouldn’t even have a dollar basically, he starts dancing and bragging how he made 12k in the stock market with his trade and am I so happy for him…. 😒 He also is annoyed if I ask him to drive me and my things back to Houston. The ranch is an hour away. Nights like tonight, after all of the put downs and insults… Criticism about everything I do, how I picked up a dish, how I didn’t let the fish defrost long enough, how much better he would have done things… I feel like I can walk away. Ugh. This is the first narcissist I have ever met.
Also today, I had to listen for the one millionth time about how he has special knowledge that no one else does and he notices it when he’s around others. That he doesn’t feel like he can really find people who are as enlightened as him and …prob he needs to be a teacher and lots of people will follow him bc he has assendend so high. He will brag and go on and on while I clean up the kitchen from dinner, he won’t help. He will watch for me to mess up so he can pause his bragging and criticize how I breath or something. He is always repeating the same scripts… and he likes to talk about from the second he wakes up… how in 5th grade he was the smartest, the teachers All knew…how he this or that…. he said that I wouldn’t have been on his level at kindergarten age.. or he will say things like… what movie do you like? Then I say, and he says that’s a movie with little character development, I haven’t entertained those types since middle school.. or he will play one of his spiritual lectures and at the end say, that was too deep for you to understand. Wtf. It’s like all day, things like this.
And I’m heartbroken that he has this other girl. He told me she’s his stability and so he will stay with her and I’m allowed to be the mistress and publicly the assistant. She is coming back to the US.
I just hate him. I want to leave rn and somehow have him erased from my memory so I won’t cry over this. Ugh. I feel trapped.
Once I leave, I am worried about how much this is going to hurt. Just all of it…. Has anyone dealt with a narcissist? Was it hard to let go? 😒

I’ve been dating a spiritual narcissist and feel hopeless
I feel like I have no voice. If I ever try to speak up, he will diminish what I say, dismiss what I say, and or gas light me. The worst of it all, he had a whole secret life - another partner of 9 years. She is living in Belize. He doesn’t take any accountability or responsibility for cheating or lying. He doesn’t see it this way. We have been together almost a year. I feel trapped. I’m out here on a ranch with him, and I’m on the other side of it crying. I just want to get back home. I want to get all of my things and go… he is just awful. I asked him for help with something so I could get a credit line, and he told me that absolutely I shouldn’t have any credit line. I said what about emergencies? I have no money… he told me well how will you pay it every month. I said it was only 500 credit line, I don’t think it will be that big of a deal, except for that I’m in the middle of no where with him so for now dependent on him… no car of my own. He even asked why I wanted one.. if it was so I can leave him? Ugh. Moments after his telling me how I shouldn’t even have a dollar basically, he starts dancing and bragging how he made 12k in the stock market with his trade and am I so happy for him…. 😒 He also is annoyed if I ask him to drive me and my things back to Houston. The ranch is an hour away. Nights like tonight, after all of the put downs and insults… Criticism about everything I do, how I picked up a dish, how I didn’t let the fish defrost long enough, how much better he would have done things… I feel like I can walk away. Ugh. This is the first narcissist I have ever met.
Also today, I had to listen for the one millionth time about how he has special knowledge that no one else does and he notices it when he’s around others. That he doesn’t feel like he can really find people who are as enlightened as him and …prob he needs to be a teacher and lots of people will follow him bc he has assendend so high. He will brag and go on and on while I clean up the kitchen from dinner, he won’t help. He will watch for me to mess up so he can pause his bragging and criticize how I breath or something. He is always repeating the same scripts… and he likes to talk about from the second he wakes up… how in 5th grade he was the smartest, the teachers All knew…how he this or that…. he said that I wouldn’t have been on his level at kindergarten age.. or he will say things like… what movie do you like? Then I say, and he says that’s a movie with little character development, I haven’t entertained those types since middle school.. or he will play one of his spiritual lectures and at the end say, that was too deep for you to understand. Wtf. It’s like all day, things like this.
And I’m heartbroken that he has this other girl. He told me she’s his stability and so he will stay with her and I’m allowed to be the mistress and publicly the assistant. She is coming back to the US.
I just hate him. I want to leave rn and somehow have him erased from my memory so I won’t cry over this. Ugh. I feel trapped.
Once I leave, I am worried about how much this is going to hurt. Just all of it…. Has anyone dealt with a narcissist? Was it hard to let go? 😒

Hi! I am a high school student who is really confused on the applications for Ontario unis. I hope to go to a pre-med program (haven't decided which yet).
Two of my grade eleven marks were really bad, I slacked off a bit. Bio was around 70%, functions an 80%. The others were fine though (~95%). However, my grade twelve bio will be around 90-95% and same with advanced functions. I have Calculus and Vectors (probably around 92-95%) the first sem of grade twelve and will already have the final mark by application. I will be getting all of these marks before uni applications and therefore will not be needing an estimated mark. That being said, alot of people told me that grade eleven marks matter. I was wondering how it mattered if I am not going to early admission, already have 4-5 grade twelve marks, and the unis I am applying for only look at top six? Wouldn't that means that only 1-2 of my marks will be estimated.
Also, what are the chances of me getting into McMaster, Uoft, Waterloo for any pre-med? Assuming I have decent extra-curriculars.
Hope that made sense. Thank you!

I spent my early childhood in Spain, Roquetas de Mar, Almeria, to be exact, and i have this vivid memory of a mascot that was in our educational books at school (First grade). I remember him being blue with an orange feature (can’t remember if his face or belly was orange) and i remember my school having an event that involved multiple children dressing up as this character, so i think he might be more popular than i think, but i can’t seem to find him anywhere. Please help 😔

There have been an increasing number of juniors visiting this sub asking for advice about writing essays. Below are some tips and advice for making your essay stand out as excellent. Feel free to ask questions because I will answer every single question in the comments.
I know from experience that many of you are struggling to identify a good topic for your essay. Conventional wisdom says to start by brainstorming a list of potential topics, and chances are, you have already started a mental list of ideas. You might think you only have a few choices for topics, based on your activities or experiences, or essay examples you read, or the rough draft you already started (or worse, that GPT started...). I advise, however, that you put down your list of topics and back away from it. Forget that exists for a moment. Seriously - thinking about this initial list tethers you to certain ideas that might not actually be your best options.
Now you can begin brainstorming with a clean slate.
Start with thinking about what you want to show in your entire application, not just one essay. Every single component in your app has one purpose – to tell more about YOU. Filling out the rest of the application by rote and focusing solely on the essay is short-sighted and will leave so much potential untapped in your application.

It's About You. Tell Your Story - And Be The Protagonist

An admissions officer’s goal is to understand you fully, in the context of your background and the rest of the applicant pool. They will begin this with assessing your academic abilities and potential. Then they will evaluate how you will fit into the student body they’re trying to curate. All of this can be somewhat broad and diverse and touch on several institutional goals. But they will dig deep to find out what each applicant is like, what your core values and motivations are, what kind of student you will be, how you will contribute to the vibrant and intellectual campus community they’re building, etc.
Your goal with essay brainstorming is to ascertain how to powerfully tell your story in a manner that will fit these criteria. The entirety of your application (again, not just one essay) aims to showcase your abilities, qualifications, and uncommon attributes as a person in a positive way. Before you begin outlining or writing your application, you must determine what is unique about you that will stand out to an admissions panel. All students are truly unique. Not one other student has the same combination of life experiences, personality, passions, or goals as you do. Your job in your application is to frame your unique personal attributes in a positive and compelling way. How will you fit on campus? What personal qualities, strengths, core values, talents, or different perspectives do you bring to the table? What stories, deeper motivations/beliefs, or formative experiences can you use to illustrate all of this?
It is always helpful to start with some soul-searching or self-examination. You might not immediately know what you want to share about yourself. It’s not a simple task to decide how to summarize your whole life and being in a powerful and eloquent way on your application. Introspection prior to starting your application takes additional time and effort rather than jumping straight into your first draft. But it is also a valuable method to start writing a winning application that stands out from the stack.
You'll see the advice everywhere that all essay prompts are really about the same thing - you. The goal of each essay then is to showcase who you are, what matters to you, and how you think. I guarantee if you're on this sub enough, you'll hear the advice to "show, don't tell" when writing about yourself. But what does this mean really, and how do you do it well? How do you even get started on an essay that does this?

Introspection Questions

It’s often easiest to start thinking in terms of superlatives, especially those related to personal insights -- what are the most meaningful things about you, and what do you value the most? Here is a list of questions to help you brainstorm broadly before you narrow down your focus for writing:

• What are your interests?
  
• What sparks your curiosity?
  
• About what topics do you enjoy reading?
  
• With whom do you enjoy spending time? Who has impacted your life the most?
  
• Reflect upon “superlatives” in your life. What moments were most memorable, formative, enlightening, enjoyable, or valuable? What physical possessions, experiences, dreams, or lessons could make your superlatives list?
  
• Stop and think about what things, people, or circumstances in your life are really unique, fascinating, or outlandish. Are there any that really have a lot of "cultural flavor" (whatever your culture is)?
  

I have a free introspection worksheet with over 100 questions like this designed to help you find ideas worth exploring in your essays. You can find it on the A2C Discord or download it directly here.

Find Your Story And Arc

Think of a small anecdote or story from your life that you could share that serves as a microcosm of who you are and what is important to you. It will massively help you narrow this down and find a gem of a story if you first start by thinking about your application arc or theme. This is the one-phrase summary of your entire application. It could be "brilliant entrepreneur who started her own successful business" or "talented athlete who wants to study economics and finance as they pertain to sports", or even "avid baker whose hobby sparked an interest in chemistry". It doesn't have to be related to your intended major, but it can help your arc be stronger and clearer if it is.
Once you have an arc determined and a story to share, think about what you want that story to say about you. This is where it can help to think of this as something you would share on a date - what impression does it make about you to the reader? Once you know this, start showing, not telling this attribute of yourself through your story. For example, instead of saying that you're compassionate toward others, you show an example of a time you were compassionate, then elaborate on why, and what it means to you.

Essay Brainstorming Techniques

If you are having trouble finding a story, or simply have writer’s block once you have picked your topic, here are some ideas to get your juices flowing:

• Stream of consciousness writing -- Start writing whatever is in your head, and don’t stop for 30 minutes. You probably won’t use what you just wrote for your essay, but it will help you find a starting point.
  
• Journaling -- Answer the prompt as if you were writing in a journal. This will get you in the habit of writing about yourself and establish comfort with the concept. It will also take you to a new level of introspection and self-awareness.
  
• Twitter X style -- Write several rapid-fire responses to the prompt in 280 characters or less. Choose an idea from these responses to expound upon in your essay.
  
• Read each essay prompt, then go through your introspection worksheet responses and connect the stories and insights to one or more of the prompts. Some students like using color coding to visually see how their different ideas might work together.
  

Why Essays Matter

Here's the thing a lot of people don't realize about college admission: it's not an award for being the smartest, most accomplished, or most impressive. It's an invitation to join a community. Far too many students think that if they can just show that they're smart enough, they'll get in. Yale even says right on their admissions website that 75% of their applicants are academically qualified to succeed at Yale. But only ~4% are getting in. That should tell you that they're looking for more than just top tier test scores and grades. To be perfectly clear, you will need top tier grades and (optionally) test scores to show that you're qualified, and the vast majority of my students come to me with this part already in the bank. But what sets the admits apart? It's personal insight - sharing who you are, how you think, what matters to you, and how you engage community. You can't just say "/IAmVerySmart, please admit me," or even "I did a cool thing guys! Isn't that neat!" You need to go deeper and show them your core values, personal strengths, motivations, aspirations, character traits, foundational beliefs, personality, etc. And you need to do it in a charming, winsome way that makes them like you and want to invite you to join their community.
So how do I get students to do this? All of my students complete that introspection worksheet. We go through it and find the stories, examples, anecdotes, conversations, memories, relationships, and other things from their life that will help us craft a strong and personally insightful narrative. We also make lists of the values, strengths, and key personal qualities we want to showcase. Once we have some topics, outlines, abstracts, or rough drafts, we talk about which stories to tell where, how to tell them well, and what details to include to present the best they have to offer. Then we refine, edit, polish, and enhance over and over until the story sings, but more importantly shows their heart and soul. We also go through all the other application components to ensure consistency, quality, and distinctiveness.
Here's why this works so well: at most highly selective colleges there is a primary reader (or 2-3) who will review everything first and then present it to the admissions committee, who then votes on whether to admit you. That presentation typically goes one of three ways:

1. Total enthusiasm, energy, and excitement. They strongly advocate for admission and paint a clear picture of how you will contribute to their goals and community. Everyone in the room picks up on that energy and is leaning forward in their chairs, looking for reasons to admit you. This is quite rare, generally less than 5 out of every 100 applications, even among those which are "fully qualified." When you do this right, you show depth, meaning, and valuable personal insights so the reviewer is learning about who you are and how you might engage the community they're curating. You come alive off the page as a person, not just another file.
   
2. Business as usual. You're another great applicant in a pile of great applicants. They share a basic review of the facts, your profile, stats, strengths, weaknesses, etc. Maybe someone on the committee finds something they love, and they really push for admission. More likely, not and you get deferred/waitlisted even though there wasn't anything "wrong" with your application. They just didn't love you enough to commit.
   
3. "Here's a stack of 20 applications that I didn't find all that compelling, so we won't present them individually, but you guys are the committee and you make the decisions. So let me know if there are any you want to talk about." In this case, unless there's a letter of endorsement from an athletics coach or your last name matches several buildings on campus, you're probably not getting additional consideration, much less admission. They will regret to inform you.
   

Everything we're doing is designed to help them get to know themselves, present the best they have to offer, and land in that first group. Having top tier essays is the single best way to get there. Get started on brainstorming in the next few weeks so you'll have time to get a few essays completed over the summer.

I have 2 pending prereqs. Most of the schools I am applying to are rolling admissions, all except 2 allow pending prereqs at the time of submission (not my top choice schools). they are gen chem 1 and biochem. biochem will be completed by june 10th, but gen chem starts june 28, so i dont mind having that as pending (im taking it to show improvement from my first attempt). do u think it’s better to hold off until june 15 (grades are posted) or submit now? i want to submit earlier since i heard it’s better, but im not sure if they prefer most classes being completed. thanks!

Hi everyone. Today I got my first job after completing masters after numerous rejections, cold calls and mass applications. The whole process took me 8-9 months (I was doing part time job for first few months to pay for rent and food but later resigned to focus on interviews). I know I should be happy, right? But after all this time, all I have become is an empty shell of a human being.
I suffer from depression and ADHD(diagnosed a year back) and they had made my life miserable. The meds used to work but have stopped working since Jan 2024. I never made them an excuse to stop me from working even though towards end of the job hunt period, they heavily impacted my productivity and health. I have no support system, no friends. Family lives in another country and they have their own set of problems so I try not to bother them. As people are graduating, I see lot of folks at this time of year celebrating their graduation with friends, partners and family. I didn't go to mine because I didn't feel like going. I saw the photos of my peers who graduated alongside me. Even though most of them don't have a job but they all seem happy (and I am happy for them as well) and I..I just feel nothing for myself. I needed a job because of some financial issues my family and I are facing. But as a result, I have gained weight, the meds have led to terrible mood swings and affected my skin. I feel very awkward when I try to socialize as I haven't been to many social event during the job hunt phase. The job hunt has caused a serious burnout that I don't like looking my email account anymore. I got some good interviews at the end but I was so burned like toast and couldn't prepare at all that I failed most of them, repeating the cycle. Luckily,I got one offer after so much rejections.
Now it just dawned me as I was seeing others graduation pictures, I just cried and wished I could smile and be happy like them. I don't remember the last time I laughed or had a good time. Whenever I wake up, I hate looking myself in the mirror because I look so fucking ugly because of all the weight gain and side effects from my meds. I have endured enough pain from the start of my masters, mother having cancer (luckily treatable as of now) ,my partner of 3 years cheating on me and all this happened while I was moving to another country to start my masters. But I rebuilt myself after all this, worked out for 1.5 years straight, lost weight and gained muscle, improved my grades and heck, even dated for a while. On top of that, I even scored a job but unfortunately last October, my team was laid off so I had to begin looking for new options.
Now I am back to square one. Even I have job, I have nothing left inside of me. I feel like a dead person waking up just to complete my chores. I have made no friends or partners over the course of my education. Maybe I will get back on my feet in sometime but all this have started to make me believe that I am just a statistic in this world and it doesn't matter what I want or care about. There are loads like me, who come and go. I have tried enough to make friends or partners but haven't worked. I won't stop but over the time, it just have strengthened my belief that its okay that I will probably die alone. I don't care about anything anymore, have lost so much to let it all go. Probably I will start working on myself again and involve myself in hobbies and therapy but it won't eradicate the feeling of loneliness I have felt over the past years and bring some peace within me that's it alright to die alone. Maybe I will start something in future to help underprivileged children to get somewhere in life so they don't feel like me(not alone or left out). Anyways, I will try my best to stay positive and survive.
PS: Congratulations to all of you who graduated this spring and who also got a job. Those who are still doing job hunting, don't burnout and make sure you listen to your body. It's hard time but you don't have to make it hard for yourself and be with some friends who are in similar position like you as they will understand and help. Best of luck.

I wrote the following as a sort of journal entry and thought this might be a good place to share it. I know it’s a bit over the top, but this is the only way these words come out of me. Not trying to be pretentious lol. Hope someone out there can relate or enjoy. Felt good to write it.
How can I align my thoughts at once? Or weave them into a single thread? Things don’t move that way in my head, really, and it can be hard, then, to truly capture them. What would I look like if I were a book, I wonder? Pages ripped, and torn, and taped back in. Some pages black and smudged and burned to soot. Some crinkled and crunchy, stuck in an awkward permanence to their neighbor, having had tea or coffee spilled on them - once soggy moments, now rigid in time. Some pages would overflow with words like a waterfall, cascading down into rivers and streams of thought, eternally winding back to the vast open sea of paper before them. Some would be marred by the oily fingerprints of a late-night bad decision - a snack I didn’t need, or a love I didn’t crave. Some would be beautiful and intimate. Some so subtle that a reader might unknowingly skip past them when rifling through; soft, tender, and pure. Some pages would find you with faded Polaroids of a kind stranger’s smile wedged into the binding. Snips of hair, cut and glued in the shape of a promise to a long-forgotten friend. The sweat-soaked setlist to every face-melting, heart-wrenching, and whispered empty bedroom concert I’ve ever held, complete with scribbled titles scratched through in harsh black ink, and a few more added hastily to the end of the already cramped page. Speeches I’ve given to the gods, tacked down with old chewing gum and dried saline. My book would creak and crunch beneath its own weight. Inside, you’d find slots for age-old mixtapes, once used to barter and commiserate with similarly hollowed childhood friends. Each to be removed and played in their own time, a patch-work soundtrack to my life. You’d find dust and dirt and a spider or two, with flecks and specks of god knows what. And some pages would make you fear me. Some would bring you joy. Some would make you ache, or yearn, or gasp, or cry. And many would leave you with more questions, and fewer answers.
Some pages would be dark even for me to read.
Pages that suck and pull at your core. Pages that eat your soul. Pages that aren’t pages at all, always changing in location, always hoping to blend and sneak past the conscious reader’s gaze. And on the very next page, as if nothing had changed, you’d find snippets of life I’ve kept precious. A stack of “get well soon” cards from my first-grade class, carefully threaded into the binding. Art drawn and painted and weaved into the fabric of the pages themselves, labors of love. Secrets and prayers alike, whispered and kissed and sent and tucked with care - all etched like scars into the pale canvas beneath them, invaluable and unquantifiable.
And when you’d finish the book, dear reader, what would you feel, then, seeing me displayed like that? Would you love or hate me more? Would the sum total of my existence be greater or lesser in your eyes? If you weighed and judged me in the balance, what would you discover? Would my life hold any value? Which fragments of this collection would hold any worth at all? If one were to be subtracted or added, would your perception shift? If I strung together the perfect sentence, would you love me then? Is that where my worth would lie?
And what of my own perspective? To see myself laid out in full, aching, and oozing, and radiant all at once—could it be enough? Would it offer anything new? Could I see it - really see it - and call it complete? Would my book, in the end, have meant anything at all?

TLDR: Made the Dean's list for the first time in my life, landed my first paid internship, and swapped majors.
Hey y'all! I am a former physics major with a concentration in Astronomy/Astrophysics who just completed his first semester of Earth Science courses in college.
At the end of the of JY Fall 2023 semester. I was sitting at a 2.75 GPA and my physics advisor reminded me that I didn't have a minor for my degree and recommended I try out Earth Science. So I randomly signed up for a 3000 level course and a 4000 level. Severe Weather and Global Environmental Change, respectively.
Now for some reason, I wasnt prevented or warned about registering for those classes as they both had their own individuals pre-reqs.
Despite this, I ended the semester with my highest GPA in my college career, a 3.95. Only getting an A- in my Astrophysics course.
The two Earth Sciences I took this semester pretty much changed my life for the better. I have made friends and connections with many more professors and even began lab work now, and have a paid internship this summer (my first ever). I also secured a job fall semester working as a lab assistant for a professor I met through my 4000 level class.
Switching majors did of course set me back, but I have been told, I should easily be able to test out of the 1000 and 2000 level courses that I was supposed to take already.
I went from being an average student in the physics department and somewhat hating my education process to now going storm chasing with my professor. I'm sure some of you know that getting an internship of any kind can be competitive, and with our physics department, it was almost a name game or whoever had the highest grades. And as an average transfer student, I in no way had either.
Anyways, I just wanted to share with you guys my conversion story and how much happier I am now making the discovery of my passion for the natural Sciences. Do you guys have any similar stories?

Of course I think in the early years you should do it for them but I think just before puberty (4th grade) they should learn to make their own lunches and wake themselves up to prepare them not only to halep them become more responsible but also the freedom it gives them. Being woken up feels forceful but waking yourself up and getting up by yourself with an alarm feels much less invasive and its great for people who don't like to be talked to or looked at first thing in the morning. Also by letting them make their own lunch they can put in what they like and don't like and put in the amount of food they want. I always thought it was weird that peoples parents still wake them up in high school and complain about school lunch but also don't know how to make a lunch and I feel like it shows a lack of Independence and discipline which is partially the adults fault.

Hello! I brought a person's collection that they were selling. I know it's risky but in the event this isn't a massive scam, it would be my first MTG cards. I've been told I HAVE to sleeve them but I'm not sure which ones to get. Is there a brand that is recommended or is the Amazon special fine? I plan on just making decks with the cards I like and if there happens to be something that's worth anything (which I doubt ) I'll probably get it graded or just preserve it. Is there a set of sleeves that are both good for collecting and playing? Any advice would be AMAZING.

I am 36 years old. I don't have any friends. I haven't been in a relationship in two years. I don't make as much money as I would like. I am have a really slow recovery from a tonsillectomy and I am just having a hard time getting myself motivated to do anything.
I had one pretty good friend, an ex, and we went on a platonic trip together in March. I had a really good time and generally enjoyed myself. Got to see Chichen Itza and get some fun in at the cenotes and beach. Since then we haven't hung out though. In her texts she said the guy she has been seeing is moving out of town in a few months so she is spending time with him. She has dated him off and on for 20+ years and this has never been an issue before so I do feel like some of this is also just fatigue of hanging out with me. We didn't get in any fights on the trip but it did show we have much different priorities/personalities. She brought her dogs, they go everywhere with her, and one is incontinent so it was dictating quite a bit of our schedule but I am pretty used to this so I felt like I handled it fairly well. I also do think some of this is her boyfriend not wanting us to hangout, which is understandable. I just said No worries and we haven't talked since. She didn't message me on my birthday, but I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't remember. We have been hanging out regularly for 2-3 years so it is a bit of a hit, but it was something that felt ultimately was going to happen so I am not mad, just a little sad. I haven't hung out with anyone other than my dad since the middle of March though.
Just hurts to not have anyone to hangout with at all. I have talked to two coworkers and one of them has bailed on me multiple times and the other just said he was too busy to make any plans in the first place. I have done meetups in the past but I always just feel so awkward not knowing anyone and I am awful at initiating contact with anyone, guys or girls. I also just don't really have that many interests, even though I tend to enjoy most things I do. I own a dirt bike but haven't gotten out to use it because it is really hard to load by myself and I am just not that confident with it. And if I am doing anything alone without somebody else keeping me accountable I tend to just blow it off. I have also tried Bumble BFF but honestly was so turned off by it. I kept on getting hit on, creepy af, and it just feels awkward.
I feel like I am bad at making friends because I am not very personable and also tend to overshare and say stupid things just because I haven't talked to anyone in so long it is just kind of like a dam bursts.
I would like to get back into judo or jujitsu, but with college and my mortgage I am barely squeaking by financially, and 200+ a month is a little too much for me. I even canceled my cable plan to save some money for bills despite loving basketball. I also don't really have enough energy for active hobbies due to my tonsillectomy right now.
I work full time and am taking college classes at the same time. I was never the best student, but I have finished 9 computer science courses and a statistics class over the last 2.5 years. I have 5 classes left for my bachelors and am on course to graduate Spring 2025. Straight A's and one B+ so far so I have been really happy with my grades, but the industry has completely fallen apart over the last year or two and I am worried that after investing all this time and money into going back to college I might not be able to get a job. The best student I know wasn't able to land a single internship this summer and that really shocked me. He is an amazing programmer, better than anyone I know.
Because I have a mortgage on a little duplex I cannot really afford to do an internship to try and help my job prospects, I am going to really have to rely on doing well in the interviews. I am also planning on trying to take advantage of the career fairs and other on-campus opportunities next fall but that is so not my comfort zone that I don't want to set my expectations really.
With how busy I am it has also been a great excuse for myself to not pursue more social outlets and the only thing I do for dating is online apps and while I can get the occasional date I don't think I have ever actually had a real connection through it. I am just bad at connecting with people on a personal level, be it friends or dates. I have been on so many first dates it is kind of depressing. The town I live in isn't small, like 150k, but I feel like I am running low on options after years of failures.
I had been suffering from chronic tonsillitis over the last year. I had 5 bouts in total, three of which were back to back episodes from January to March this year. I got a tonsillectomy on April 20 and am still having problems swallowing food. I am basically still on a puree diet.
Getting the tonsillectomy was a real eye opener for me because with my ex not being a contact anymore I didn't have anyone to rely on so I had to have my father fly out and spend a week with me. I didn't have any friends to rely on and it really just kind of hit me how depressing my life is. All of my old high school friends, who I don't keep up with, have families.
The one thing I had going for me is that I had a decent physique. Due to a lack of a social life I was pretty good at going to the gym and lifting regularly. I was 6'1 and 180-185 pounds, nothing impressive but I was happy with myself. I am down to 160 pounds now since my tonsillectomy though and I am just extremely low energy all the time. My summer class started today and I am having a lot of issues just focusing after an 8-hour work day, even though I only work remotely on a computer.
During COVID I really made leaps and bounds to improve myself. I quit cigarettes after 15 years, I started going back to class. Got my own place and gained 40 pounds (in a good way) but after losing half of that weight and generally being miserable from my tonsillectomy it is just so hard to motivate myself to even go to the gym anymore and for 3 years I never had a problem getting off my butt to go to the gym, even if it was just for a mediocre lifting session.
I used to love playing video games and watching tv shows/movies but now I just find myself mindlessly watching youtube or reading and don't even have the attention span or interest in booting up a video game anymore or trying to find a show or movie to watch.
I always wanted a family, but I have never really had a successful relationship in my life and now since my tonsillectomy I have become a lot less sexually motivated than before. I don't even have the urge to masturbate anymore, and sex was never a strong point of mine in the first place, leading me to believe it will be even worse moving forward. I also just have never connected with somebody on like a really deep level and feel like years of failures/insecurity just kind of burden me a this point. And I am getting to the age now where I feel like I am almost beyond the point where this is still possible. It is weird telling somebody I am 36 and my longest relationship was only 4 months long.
I feel like I am on the right track on paper with only one year left until I graduate and I kind of really want to move even though I love where I live just so I can get a fresh start, but at the same time I am terrified I will graduate and just be in the same situation I am currently in. I also could never afford to buy another place without a better salary. The only reason I was able to afford what I currently have is because I bought during the 2020 market and got a 2.34% APR. But even with that my mortgage is close to 40% of my take home right now and I have one of the cheapest places in town.
I don't really have anyone to vent to or destress to so I just wanted to post something from a throwaway account. My dad has been texting me daily because I think he realizes how unhappy I am and I really appreciate that.
I have been wanting to go see some Nuggets games at the bar, but I still cannot drink alcohol until I am eating food again so I have just been following highlights on youtube. I also have never been a fan of hanging out at bars. I enjoy shooting pool but I am not good at social settings like that.
I will leave it at this for now. A very long, poorly formatted ramble. But I have seen much worse. Thanks.

I 21(f) have been living in Australia for 11 years now. I’ve studied in Nepal till grade 5. I occasionally visit Nepal for a holiday like once every two years. But asti my Sanima (one from Canada and one from US) came to Australia to visit me. And my grandmother and cousin came from Nepal for a holiday as well to visit.
I also have a 12 year old brother who has extreme behavioural issue. Like Risako Bela ma j pani boldinxa . He causes a lot of unnecessary conflicts in the house.
He did the same to my Sanimaas and cousin Like saying the f words and stuff Disrespecting them out of anger And simply being a pain.
So I cried a lot out of embarrassment I didn’t know how to handle my brother. Hajurama was like “Na rou, bhai lai saancho chaina” Hajurama begged me not to cry I stopped Ani feri My brother caused some shit while I was going shopping I cried again Dad came from work My kaachi sanima hugged me Paxi my maili Sanimaa cried as well
Which made me feel really sad Pachi Hajurama yelled at me for crying she was like “Na roh vanya haina!! Taile garda bhako ho etc. tero didi (my cousin) le aafno fupu ko Chora chori sanga deal garnu parxa taile Jabo bhai le garda Runey” etc I felt so bad even baba was like “baru runai maan Lagey bathroom ma gayera runu, timi roko dekhera Timro maili Sanima lai ni bore lagdaina” Like my grandmother litteraly said it was my fault because I was being “Kamjoweak for crying” and “Pauna aako cha talai vanera ooata Canada/US Nepal dekhi, ani yo awastha ma uni haru aba aauchan talai vetna?” Like bruhhh??? I’m at fault now for simply expressing my emotions due to feeling overwhelmed?? Bhai caused a lot of trouble I was embrassed ani ma roye Even my cousin who grew up in Nepal was like “Runu hudaina, control garna parcha, strong hunu parxa” Like growing up in my family I was known as the runchi When I visited my therapist she used to say that crying is healthy and a good way to express your emotions But my cousin doesn’t seem to agree with it But now I have a question Is it just a part of our Nepali culture to get yelled at for crying?? Or am I overreacting?? I was mostly hurt by hajurama saying that it was my fault that my maili Sanima cried When my brother was the one causing all this and everyone saw that My hajurama has the mentality that crying makes you weak Like bachha bela pani hajurama le gali garda I cried tra when I cried she just yelled. Don’t get me wrong I’m not here to demonise my family They’re wonderful people with flaws Sabai jana dherai Barsha paxi aauda ramailo vayo But I was just worried about that particular situation Like why was I blamed for simply crying?? I especially felt worst watching my Maili Sanima cry for the first time in my life Even as a kid I never saw her cry before My brother is the type of kid that’s difficult to deal with Pitey ni sudridaina any Maya garey pani he’s the same. Hardest kid to deal with.

Demographics: international(might not be when I apply to college),first gen private school in us grades: I’ll probably have a 3.95 uw+ total currently sophomore Course load: will have 10 aps total(school lets you take 11 most) all honors 2 ib Test scores: 1400 from psat(didn’t study) Current extracurriculars:
Assistant under a globally recognized scuba divephotographer( I will be mentioned in some of his books and some of his articles etc)
Internship at a international mobile video game company( 50m+ total game downloads)
Founder of programming club
Student government
robotics, DECA, model United Nations, debate club,
Self taught English, and multiple programming languages at a young age.
I have a project page where I have done multiple advanced coding projects.
Volunteer 7 hours every week
Varsity wrestling
what I will be doing over the summer: Internship/work with a high stakes startup.( will be working with the team) Multiple projects Research competition work with the 50m+ downloads company again.
Confirmed things next year(will do more): Maintain and advance the project of a student who will go to MIT this year.(used by over 400 students in my school) All my clubs Few competitions Math and science Olympiad work with the companies I mentioned Varsity tennis Might start a coding blog
Aims: t20 comp sci( mit, Stanford, Duke , cal tech, Berkeley, Georgia tech cmu etc.)
If anyone has recommendations or feedback please tell me will be appreciated