Undergrad College Tips & Tricks

most extracurriculars are boring. And if they’re boring, you become what admissions officers call LMO—“Like Many Others.” That’s the kiss of death in elite college admissions. Especially if you’re aiming for the top 15 U.S. universities as an international student, your extracurricular strategy needs to be sharp. Grades alone won’t cut it.

Doing the Bare Minimum? Here’s What That Actually Looks Like in U.S. College Admissions. Let’s be honest: not everyone is aiming for Harvard or Stanford. Some of you are aiming for strong U.S. colleges with a 30% to 50% acceptance rate—and you’re wondering, “What’s the bare minimum I need to do to get in?” That’s a fair question. But here's the truth.

Harvard—like other top U.S. colleges—isn’t looking for one specific type of student. They’re crafting a community, not building a leaderboard. A student who led a rural sanitation project in Africa might be just as desirable as someone who plays piano in retirement homes or ranks first in the All-India Board Exams. Welcome to the world of holistic admissions—where who you are matters just as much as what you’ve achieved.

After all, with thousands of applicants boasting near-perfect grades and test scores, how do you truly stand out? Is there a formula, a strategy that actually works? And for the students we’re about to talk about, that strategy was crystal clear: international competitions.

Ever wonder what kind of student actually gets into a college like USC? Valedictorian? Sports captain? Nobel Prize winner? Let’s talk about real students—the ones with SAT scores in the 1400s or ACT scores in the low 30s.

Have you ever dreamed of studying at New York University, right in the heart of Manhattan? Today, we’re diving into the real stories of three students who successfully got into NYU.