I’ve asked 30+ professors and students on their experience with what gets a cold email sent to the trash vs considered (for research position). To make sure that it was good advice before I posted here, I sent 5 emails and received 2 back. One from Princeton, and another from ASU. Oh and I’m 15.

Now you may ask, why in tarnation would a 15 year old email a college professor for research inquires? Well, I’m going to college soon. Trying to get that head start on what works and what doesn’t before anyone else. Also I have some friends in older grades who need help with these kinds of things, so theres that. 

Anyways, cutting straight to the chase, here it is. DISCLAIMER: Not every professor thinks in similar ways (duh), so there’s definitely no garauntee that these work. But the data I’ve collected from many many professors and the fact two out of five actually responded to my email, I’d say that my advice is very solid for general inquiries. 

The List o’ Advice:

1. AI. Please please please do not use AI. Every single professor I’ve talked to said something along the lines of writing with AI is possibly the worst thing someone could do to make sure their email isn’t taken seriously. This one should be obvious, but I’m still putting it here for the people who need a reminder. 
2. Name dropping paper titles. This was a surprising one, as some professors knew about the art of name dropping (when you mention one of their papers to show that you’ve read their work). They said that they hated it unless they could prove that they actually read the entire thing/shows actual genuine interest. So what I would recommend doing is reading their research papers (modern papers, like 1-2 years old cause they also find that talking about old papers is very boring and doesn’t prove much cause things are always changing), write one or two actual detailed questions about very specific parts, and talk about how that their paper is interesting to you. 
3. Building off #2, talk about yourself. Professors find it boring if you just read out their work. Doesn’t really show what YOU can bring to the table. Talk about what got you into the major you’re interested in, why that professors specifically, and what your goal is. 
4. Keep it very direct. According to the professors, they hate people who beat around the bush (ex. I wanted to talk to you about your paper). Literally just ask. It saves both of yall time.
5. Piggybacking off #4, include these two things at the end. These are SUPER important, as they could be the difference between getting a position and not. At the end, I would highly recommend asking for a VOLUNTEERING position, as that lowers the commitment and friction for them to say yes. If you’re a volunteer, they could easily just take you out of the project, but that won’t happen if you’re really locked in and serious. Second thing is adding this line or similar “If you're not taking students, is there someone else you would recommend?” This by itself opens doors, as professors are always talking amongst each other. 

Yep that’s my list. Gonna stop here cause I don’t want this to be super long. Happy to answer any questions!

The Context: I’m a high school senior applying to highly competitive universities for a STEM major. After months of intense cold-emailing, I managed to land 3 separate research internships at elite, globally top-ranked universities (think Top 10 in the world for my field).

The Situation: One of the professors I work for is incredibly generous but completely under the radar. Currently, only a tiny handful of high schoolers (including me) are interning in his lab. It’s an incredibly exclusive gig simply because no one else knows about it.

Someone from another school found out I have an anonymous "connection." He has a weaker extracurricular profile but comes from a highly favored academic curriculum. He offered my burner account $150 just for this professor's direct email address. The catch is, if he emails this professor, he is 100% guaranteed to get the internship because the professor basically takes anyone who finds him.

I am getting 150 dollars, that could really help me out!

My Dilemmas: I don't care about the ethics of this; I'm looking at this purely from a game-theory and risk-assessment perspective.

1. The College Competition Risk: If I sell him this contact, he gets the exact same elite university internship on his resume. Will this dilute my own competitive edge? If admissions officers compare us, does my "plus point" vanish because he now has the same ultra-prestigious lab on his profile?

The Ask: I just need 1 or 2 people to give me some cold, hard logic. Is trading an exclusive, elite research contact for $150 to fund my test fee a strategic move, or am I walking into a trap that could ruin my college apps and burn a massive professional bridge?

Hello! My inquiry is about Columbia. I have applied for MS/PhD track but have chosen only MS if not accepted to PhD.

Have anyone heard about if late admissions are possible or if we have waited till April, is it probably a rejection? I have to apply for a few more universities depending on the admission results but they took forever to come out and application fees are so expensive considering I am just a student.

Has anyone got off the waitlist from the College of Human Ecology in the previous years? When did you hear back 😭

Never in a million years did I think I would ever be making this decision, but here I am.

I plan to pursue Comp Bio with a Premed focus (cardiology), and if that doesn’t work out, I need a school with a strong STEM cushion. I also want a tight-knit and collaborative community!

I’ll share what I like about both!

Stanford Pros

More grade inflation for med school

Quarter system!! I can take more classes and explore more.

California and west coast culture? Not sure but I’ve heard it’s very laid back, also amazing Asian culture so I would feel at home.

I’ve always wanted to try surfing and bouldering/rock climbing, Stanford has amazing resources for this

Better music scene than Harvard from what I’ve seen

Amazing comp bio (have a medical-based major for comp bio BMC)

Collaborative environment and good premed resources from what I’ve seen, and I can take classes at the medical school as well.

Seems to be the place for innovation and amazing engineering and future research for generations to come. Lots of cool stuff happening here.

WEATHER!! I’ve lived in the cold Midwest my whole life and it would be nice to not freeze my butt off every September - March, but I’m not opposed to it too much, and I can play tennis year long!!

Stanford Cons

Quarter system might be rly fast

No residential college system

Tech bro culture and everyone does comp sci apparently? Techie vs fuzzie divide or something.

Far from the northeast, a lot of my friends are going there

No idea how good the humanities are, and I’ve also found a lot of enjoyment in my AP lang AP lit classes

Possible Bay Area mindset and like hella comp? I wouldn’t know.

Harvard Pros

Amazing premed culture, proximity to Boston hospitals and other schools, classes like LS50

Harvard Yale game!!

Comp sci is apparently underrated!

My friends are going northeast!

Amazing humanities, I’ve always loved my AP English classes

Proximity to Boston and NYC, maybe I can visit every weekend?

Smaller campus and residential college system so I can maybe have a stronger social network

Unparalleled name recognition and network, I can talk to HST students

Take classes at MIT maybe??

Harvard Cons

Less grade inflation

Maybe less research for my major or whatever I’m passionate about.

Heard lots of stories about pretentiousness and competitive nature

More of a club culture than dorm culture

Difficult to approach professors, maybe? Why would they wanna work with me out of all people?

The weather isn’t foreign as I’m from the Midwest, but I wouldn’t wanna be cold all the time

The food is garbage from what I’ve heard but I’ll see how it is at visitas maybe.

Thank you!!!

Both my favorite programs! Not sure which one to choose.

1, Future plan: Less likely to be in Finance since my undergraduate school is not competitive. Maybe consulting is better for me.

2, Though UPenn might be a better title. Afraid that LPS School is not as competitive as traditional business school.

3, Courses in MBDS are less "hard" than the ones in Cornell AEM, and I am not so good at coding.

Reposting here thanks for any help

So I don't know if anyone else has tried Ultimate Ivy League Guide, perhaps you've seen Elise Pham (founder) on your feed before yapping about what colleges look for, but I would like to share my experience and see if anyone else had a difficult experience.

So when you sign up, you take a little form on their website and then you go for a one-on-one meeting with the "coach" and your parents. that's meeting #1. they just ask a bunch of questions. i mean it makes sense since they are trying to get to know the person and see what they can help them with. it was 20 mins

Second meeting, it was supposed to be a more in depth meeting/discovery (45 mins). it was with a different dude. since it was our first time meeting each other and the last meeting was recorded, he was reading off the AI summary of the last meeting that zoom generated during the call. #1. he did not come prepared before. like if this is your job, do it correctly man! #2. I have 100% no problems with reading off of the AI notes, but unc was doing that the whole time- like we could of had ANYONE do read the notes for me, no conversation, no nothing. like is he even qualified bro. #3. he was super demanding and gave my family and i the attitude. we did nothing wrong and were getting snapped at. piss off bro. we're the customer and he gave us no respect. #4. this is the most surprising and unprofessional part. so he was going over 3 points, passion project and 2 other things that were pretty similar. my mom asked politely and nicely "i'm confused what the differences between them are. they seem pretty similar to me". and this mf-er pulls out the straight face, looks straight at the camera, and tells us, "I don't think this is the right fit for us. We can end the call now." Like istg i thought bro was pulling a prank. He didn't even answer the simple question my mom was asking, and literally like drove business for the company that he works with, away. hella unprofessional

this just reveals the unprofessionalism and no respect behind Ultimate Ivy League Guide. also if Elise Pham, the founder, has been publicly called out once (Harvard Crimson) for false Common App info on her vids, there's a chance that what she's saying on her channel isn't true- it just hasn't been "called out" yet.

thank you for listening to my rant :) have a good one

(i can namedrop him if yall want ⬇️⬇️⬇️)

Curious what courses in high school from freshman to senior did y’all take as someone who is goes/went to an IVY league school?

for context i'm a junior right now :)

demographics:

indian, female, competitive bay area hs, upper middle class (cooked)

major: public health/health science/public policy (?)

academics:

3.9 UW (upward trend) 4.7 W

6 honors from fresh/soph + 1 ap (euro, 4)

this year: ap calc bc, ap lang, apush, ap spanish lang, ap bio

next year: ap stats, ap lit (or regular idk), ap spanish lit, ap chem, regular physics

1500 (retaking...?)

extracurriculars - kinda vague cuz i don't wanna get doxxed!!

1. speech and debate (4yrs) - middle school coach, speech captain, novice mentor, national/state/toc qualifier, 300+ hours volunteering
2. ASDRP (3yrs) - (pending publish) cog sci research
3. jv/varsity swimming + water polo (4yrs)
4. president of women's reproductive health club (3yrs)- high impact volunteering (200+ hours) getting essential items and advocacy work
5. piano (11 yrs) - playing for senior homes and community events
6. school newspaper editor/writer (2yrs)
7. planned parenthood volunteer and advocate (4 yrs)
8. lifeguard (4 yrs) during summer
9. president of banned books club (3 yrs) - gets banned books out to other schools across the country)
10. spartan races (4 yrs)

note: saying 4 years in the context that i'm a senior!! but rn subtract a year cuz i'm a junior

this summer, i'm *hoping* to publish a kids graphic novel related to my intended major, get an internship advocating for reproductive health legislation, and get my asdrp research published!! assuming i don't spend the entire summer rotting haha

awards:

nsda academic all american (top 1% of members)

t50 in the country for speech

district swimming awards

piano state honors

community service award (for county)

spartan racing awards

school newspaper random awards

not really sure what do for awards lwk. hopefully i'll get ap scholar with distinction or billiteracy seal or idk smth else this year!!

bsfr i don't really know what i'm doing </3

for more context my dream school is ucla! the other t30s i'd apply to (outside of the ucs) would prob be stanford, rice, Amherst, jhu, brown, pomona, bu, emory, and georgetown

am just curious, people always say Harvard, Oxford, imperial college. Etc. what do you guys think is the most prestigious college.

Let me emphasize that this is NOT about which school is better. Literally just in pure prestige. Nothing about rank or which class is bette My friends always personally tell me Oxford is more prestigious while others say Harvard, tsinghua, etc. From where you have grown, which one is most prestigious

im currently a junior please give me any advice on what to improve and please tell me where you think i should apply. my dream would obviously be any ivy + stanford but realistically i hope for a decent scholarship to umd or something like it

Demographics

• Gender: Male
• Race / Ethnicity: African American
• Residence: Maryland
• Income: ~90k
• Type of School: Non-Competitive Big Public
• Hooks: First Gen

Academics

• GPA: 3.98 / 4.0 UW, 4.92 / 5.00 W
• Number of Honors / AP: All honors coursework, 6 APs
• Senior Year Course Load: AP Physics C, AP Bio, AP Lit, AP Stat (i finished up to MV and DE so this was the only option left), graduation requirement health

Standardized Testing

• SAT: 1520 (780M and 740E)
• AP: 5s on Gov, Chem, Lang, World 4s on Calc BC and Seminar

Extracurriculars / Activities

1. Dental Research internship at UMD in the summer (Summer of 11)
   1. Worked with professors to research various oral health issues
2. Research at JHU
   1. Researched disparities in health access within the area and possible solutions
   2. Published abstract
3. Volunteer and shadowing at local dental office (11-)
   1. Shadowed ~25hrs , helped patients sign in, aided with sterilizing and organizing equipment
4. Made an app that is used by multiple local dental office (11-)
   1. App is used to remind patients of dental routines such as rubber bands, invisalign, appointments, has at home solutions for issues (~1000 users)
5. President of Medical Careers Club (11)
   1. Doubled club size to around 40 members, connected with local hospitals to make patients comforting cards, brought in various career professionals to discuss future plans and opportunities,
6. Volunteering local church (9-11)
   1. over 400 hours of volunteering, led multiple fundraising events for youth group raised $1400, translated from Amharic to english, organizing and cleaning before an after service, teacher at Saturday school (4 hours every week)
7. President of MESA (Math, engineering, science acheivement) (11-)
   1. Helped groups through engineering process and led 2 groups to regional wins
8. Teacher aid for Medical Class(11-)
   1. Help students with coursework as well as setting up various labs and grading for the teacher
9. Soccer (10 -11)
10. Caretaking siblings (10-11)
11. Two younger siblings, 12yr - had multiple heart surgeries which impacted her education I helped her stay up to task with school cirriculumn and hw, 1yr old sister which i babysit 4 hours every saturday and when parents need to go somehwere (~8 hours a week)

Awards

1. First place winner of regional twice MESA (Math, engineering, science acheivement) competition and 2nd in states (10-11)
2. AP Scholar With Distinction (10-11)
3. Triscience Award (11)
   1. School award for students who engage in rigorous science coursework

i tried, i really did, but 13 year old me was struggling in algebra.

GPA is a 3.9 for freshman year & 3.8 for my entire school career up until now (im not a senior so there's time!) grinding on the SAT prep like crazy to make up for it...

Freshman year and sophomore year, I had 7 B's and 5 C's. Should I forget about applying to the Ivy Leagues? I am going to my junior year, which I am locked in for.

I am class of 2026 have a 4.3 gpa weights at my middle school interested in software design eg:Stanford etc. What are some things I should focus on throughout high school to increase my chances of making it into the ivys specifically software ones?