I got into @ycombinator I'm 18, solo founder, and 3 years ago was studying 10th grade at a random city in Iran (Qazvin, love it). In Iran, I had to build my own VPN to access UK curriculum material, then got myself into a boarding school in Oxford, paid the tuition by selling my AI thing, and then got a full-ride to study AI at Rice University. After I got in the US I did some more things that led to Magma. I don't have much to say for advice as I'm unlearning a lot recently. However, as an observation, the laws of physics seem to be flexible enough that you can simply do things; anything in fact. Human brain just evolutionarily underestimates that flexibility. PS: Repost and I'll send you the full application that got me in.