A Friend's Chances for Columbia

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I have a dear friend who is awaiting the verdict from Columbia. I know this is incredibly last minute, but he would love to get an idea of his chances, so he can prepare for the news.</p>

<p>Caucasian Male
Attending a public hs in Nebraska</p>

<p>3.89 Cumulative GPA Unweighted, 4.25 Weighted
*took AP Calculus in junior year, and therefore wasn't given weighted credit for it
Top 1% of Class (4/405)
SAT: 720 Verbal / 730 Math / 690 Writing (2140 combined)
SAT II: 790 Literature, 750 US History
AP US History: 5
AP Language/Comp: 4
AP Lit/Comp: 4
AP Calc: 5</p>

<p>EC:
Nationally ranked fencer
Math Club President
Band President, French Horn Rank Leader
National Honor Society Vice President
Senior Editor of school's Creative Literature Magazine
Volunteers at local literacy council</p>

<p>Essays: He has a really unique way of writing. You either "get it" or you really don't. They are very indicative of personality though, and are pretty fearless. Exceptionally well written, just very unusual style.</p>

<p>Recs will praise him to the heavens.</p>

2

<p>seems like he has an amazing chance... the only thing im wondering if columbia requires 3 SAT IIs, which im not sure of because im a sophmore. And if his essay hits, hell probably be in.</p>

3

<p>^Columbia only requires two SAT II tests.</p>

4

<p>I'd like to know your friend's chances also. I also applied to Columbia, and we have similar applications. I had higher test scores, but they have higher GPA and better EC's. I would love to say he's in, too boost my own self-esteem, but I think Columbia is a crapshot for all, regardless of that amazing "Nationally Ranked Fencer"...</p>

5

<p>yeah the fencing should get him in, if he doesnt get in, its because his sat's r too low</p>

6

<p>Reach, probably. His GPA and SAT are rather average; his ECs are somewhat plain. He doesn't seem to have anything unique about him, nor does he seem to show a focus or a passion.</p>

7

<p>do you even know what you're talking about? average gpa and sats? check out columbia's average and learn about the university admission process and how they use the SAT. I'm sure competitive fencing is a plain EC, and his essays are totally not unique.</p>

<p>this is the kind of response that marrs this section of the forums. I really hope your other 1107 posts arent like this.</p>

<hr>

<p>columbia is a pretty liberal ivy, so his essays are at a greater probability to be remembered in positive terms. nothing should rule him out of contention, and i'm sure that he has a great chance (other factors as well - nebraska).</p>

<p>im guessing waitlist or accept. leaning more towards accept though, but DO NOT get his hopes up.</p>

8

<p>Do you even know what you're talking about? Why don't you check out the 'actual results' forum and see how many people are rejected who had better stats than this person?</p>

<p>So, what is it about this person that's distinguished?</p>

<p>GPA: 3.89 UW, 4.25 W -- that's pretty average for Columbia's applicants. Bs here and there, so-so weighted. Nothing phenomenal (like a 4.8). In addition, we don't know the details of his courseload, but his rank is respectable (though, again, not very standout-ish in Columbia's applicant pool).</p>

<p>SAT: 2140 -- again, barely above the average for Columbia (2100 average, according to the collegeboard data: <a href="http://apps.collegeboard.com/search/CollegeDetail.jsp?collegeId=3853&profileId=6%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://apps.collegeboard.com/search/CollegeDetail.jsp?collegeId=3853&profileId=6&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p>

<p>ECs: the 'nationally ranked fencer' bit might help him quite a bit, since Columbia has been recently excelling in fencing. The leadership positions are good, but they are, again, the plain ones like math club, NHS, magazine, etc. -- the kind that are seen tons and tons of times by the top colleges.</p>

<p>As for his essays, we really don't know -- many people think they have "unique, witty" essays when they really aren't distinguished at all. This isn't to say his essays aren't great -- we simply don't know.</p>

<p>I don't see any phenomenal awards or honors, either. (Unless the OP just forgot them, but I doubt that they'd be some kind of hook.) But the fact that he's from Nebraska may help.</p>

<p>I'm well aware of Columbia's admissions process. Are you sure you are? Many people underestimate Columbia, when really it's one of the most selective colleges in the country, with a 10% acceptance rate (1% behind Harvard and Yale, same as Princeton, 1% lower than Stanford). There are people who get into Harvard but not Columbia.</p>

<p>Here are some 'actual results' (rejected, waitlisted, deferred, etc.):</p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?p=2837995&highlight=columbia#post2837995%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?p=2837995&highlight=columbia#post2837995&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?p=2806708&highlight=columbia#post2806708%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?p=2806708&highlight=columbia#post2806708&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?p=2795939&highlight=columbia#post2795939%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?p=2795939&highlight=columbia#post2795939&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?p=2788275&highlight=columbia#post2788275%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?p=2788275&highlight=columbia#post2788275&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?p=2784439&highlight=columbia#post2784439%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?p=2784439&highlight=columbia#post2784439&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>In comparison to them, does this person really stand out? Not very much, but the fencing is sort of hookish. I'm not saying he doesn't have a chance, just that, overall, he's an average applicant with no real visible flaws. We all know that Columbia's a crapshoot, anyway.</p>

9

<p>Thanks for the input everyone. It's really interesting the range of opinion on what qualifies a person as being a good shot for an Ivy and what is merely adequate. It just goes to show the unpredictability of the selection process when it gets to be at that level of competition. I still really appreciate the thoughts though.</p>

<p>I suppose I didn't mention that he received a national writing award, although I don't think that makes a difference at all. He has taken the most rigorous courseload available at our school and is in about 3 APs per year and then one honors on top of that (nothing unusual). How much of a difference does geographic diversity make? Will being from NE really make any dent?</p>

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<p>Yes, being from NE will have a degree of help. And what do you mean his national writing award doesn't make a difference?! Applicants are viewed on different scales: school-wide, county-wide, state-wide, nation-wide, and international-wide. The top colleges love to see state- and nation-wide awards -- it helps a lot.</p>

<p>So although his numbers aren't dazzling, or most of the rest of his application at that, he has a few things going for him: he's from NE, he's a nationally ranked fencer, and he has a national writing award. Those things will give him a big push.</p>

11

<p>Kyledavid: thanks for the reply.</p>

<p>^ To all those cases : they have incredible SAT scores. But that's about it for the one who got denied from Columbia and most of the othre ivies. SATs are overrated, and are mainly used as a preliminary "separation" device to weed out the no-chancers from the rest of the pool. The rest of the admission process depends upon how much your regional adcoms are willing to fight for your application, and that is based on personality, passion and fit (shown mostly through essays, recs, and ecs). I can see how the adcoms won't defend some of the people shown above. As for the ones that should've gotten in (ie bakery girl), perhaps they just aren't what columbia was looking for. They still got into the majority of higher ivies though. Pointing out anomolies like that doesn't do anyone any favors; they're just anomolies. I'm sure there are lots who got into columbia and rejected from other ivies.</p>

<p>The GPA may not be as good as you say, yes, but it doesn't matter when compared to his rank, which is 5. That is above average for Columbia for sure. The reason why I favor this person is that he has shown everything that will make his regional adcom defend him - essays + recs + sincerity. He also is not spread out too thin like some people are for the sheer sake of entering stuff into the college application. Adcoms can see that. As long as his essays/recs will make him sound genuine, liberal (cuz columbia is pretty liberal), and passionate for whatever that he chose to do I'm sure he has a great chance.</p>

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<p>I don't see how you could see so much promise in such a short post.</p>

<p>You think I'm pointing out anomalies? I chose the first five I saw. I've seen countless more (in various places on CC and the internet) where really awesome applicants who show sincerity and passion are rejected. The reality is that there are tons of applicants who get into Stanford, but not Harvard, or Harvard, but not Stanford; or Dartmouth but not Duke, or Yale but now Brown. This back-and-forth game includes Columbia. You see, I hope, why I say it's largely a crapshoot.</p>

<p>A rank of 5 is above average for Columbia? I don't think so -- you seem to be forgetting that Columbia's an extremely selective Ivy League school. 5 is common.</p>

<p>Look, my main point is: he's not really exceptional, but rather average in most parts of his application. The rest? I don't know -- nor do you, since the post is exclusive. </p>

<p>In chances threads, one can only make educated guesses. In this case, based on past knowledge, my ideas are on target for Columbia. It's very possible that he could get in; I'm not denying that. But is it very likely? Basing, again, on past knowledge, I don't think it's very likely, but I don't think it's extremely unlikely, either. Once again: he's rather average, a little above average at parts. He very well may be recruited for geographic diversity/fencing.</p>

<p>But, again, neither of us is an adcom, and we don't have information that would change our thoughts (essays, recs, etc.), as would be the case in actual admissions.</p>

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<p>Kyle, I think the problem is that this is someone else posting his stats, so we are getting our glimpse at him through a proxy. I'm sure that he could give us more information as to how intense he is about fencing so you are completely right in that aspect. </p>

<p>But, I can say that he needs to be above average in the places that matter for Columbia, his passions and how he is presented to the adcoms through his essays. I had a 3.79 UW GPA, a very average GPA for Columbia but I got in. My numbers were all pretty average for the Ivies so I can only say that I got in over those kids with perfect scores because of the subjective criteria.</p>

<p>His essays don't need to be liberal in any case. It's not like Columbia is a safe haven for liberals, and they're not going to reject you because of your beliefs but on the basis of how well you show your beliefs and yourself through your essays. </p>

<p>I'm not very confident when you say you either "get it" or don't with his essays. When you're writing for college adcoms, they judge how well you write along with your content. And one of the ways to judge how well someone writes is how easily they can get their ideas across to the reader without them explaining the essay. Writing in a style that is unique may be good but the form is part of function. Ask him to get a few people who don't know him to read his essays.</p>