Honestly, there are people out there getting into Ivies and top-10s and that's great for them, but my journey's been a bit different, and probably more relatable tbh. Applied to 30+ universities across the globe, got into NYU, Edinburgh, Manchester, Bristol, Nottingham, Southampton, among others. Made a good number of mistakes along the way, which is probably why I can help you dodge some of them. Quick intro: I'm Utkarsh, freshman at CUHK on a scholarship. Outside academics I've mostly just kept myself busy, started an EV conversion project for vintage cars, ran a marketplace helping street vendors sell online instead of at traffic signals, built a small community around reviving old Urdu ghazals, and started an aerospace education page on the side. Published a few research papers too. Got questions about applications, essays, extracurriculars, SAT, visas, or just want a reality check on your list? Happy to talk it through.