another chances...sorry

Colleges and Universities A-Z Columbia University
1

<p>i know i'm don't have the typical asian "ivy leaguer" profile (aka 2400 SAT, 800 SAT IIs, 5 on all APs, perfect GPA), but i would like to know if i have no chance at all or i have slight gleam of hope.
Oh, I'm taking a GAP YEAR (already graduated from HS), taking courses at harvard (cuz i dont want to slip on my academics while i volunteer and intern at a museum and a architecture firm and after courses i will be traveling)
My Fam thinks Columbia would be the best fit of the Ivies for me, but could you evaluate me for Dartmouth (I really love dartmouth so i want to apply ED), Princeton and Brown?</p>

<p>[ *] SAT I: R-660, M-710, W-670 (only taken twice without studying...;end of sophomore year and early junior year; I will be retaking it this october; been getting 720/780/760 at cram school sat modeled tests, so wish me good luck!)
[ *] SAT IIs:Chemistry-730, Math IIC-720 (unlike my SATIs...i actually did some studying)
[ *] ACT:none
[ *] AP: AP Calculus AB 5, AP Chemistry 4
[ *] GPA (out of 4.0; 4.0 A; 3.67 A-; 3.33 B+; 3 B): (fresh and soph years i had some struggles handling both music and academics; I had concerts and rehearsals during my exam week; and they were all held 2 hours away from my school so when the concerts ended, i would arrive at school past midnight...i was so tired and got ill and all that, but after i decided to shrink some on music responsibilities junior year, i guess i saw some improvement)
FRESH: 3.5w/3.1uw
SOPH: 3.6w/3.4uw
JUNIOR: 4.0w/3.5uw
SENIOR: 4.0w/3.6uw
4YEARS: 3.9w/3.4uw
3YEARS (without freshmen year): 4.0w/3.5uw
[ *] Course load/School type: 10 (APs, honors, college-level); very competitive private boarding school (ranked top 5 in the US)
[ *] Rank: does not rank; hard to guess cuz we dont share grades with each other....
[ *] Subjective (ECs, special circumstances, etc): [did not list all]</p>

<p>[music violin for 12 years]
Conservatory Prep School - 4years participated in top orchestra
Districts/All-State-3 years concertmistress/assistant concertmistress
J.Clement Schuler Award for Music
[county] Scholarship for Music
Honorable Mention in International Chamber Music Competition
Tanglewood Institute for 2 summers
Point Counter Point chamber music for 1 summer
Classical Music Society (club) for 2 years president</p>

<p>[athletics]
Varsity Track and Field - 4 letters; 6th in shot put at New Englands (qualified for 3 times)
Friday Night Hockey League for 4 years
Assist. Coach for the Girls' JV Team (8-6 record)</p>

<p>[volunteer]
Community Service Student Board
Have done commuity service for 4 years (serving dinner at local church, helping out the elderly, river clean-up, donated blood twice etc.)</p>

<p>[other]
one of the 12 senior writings chosen to present to the school (which i wrote about music)
proctor (senior year)
Science Olympiad for 2 years; secretary, 12th in state</p>

<p>[ *] Essays:writing about music; and others are why i want to go ___ college
[ *] Teacher Recs:math and chem teachers (very close lived on their halls)
[ *] Counselor Rec:he was my history teacher as well (i aced his class..woot)
[ *] Hook (legacy, recruited athlete, etc.): nope.
[ *] State or Country: I live in state, but born in Korea
[ *] Ethnicity:Asian
[ *] Gender:F
[ *] major strength/weakness: grades and SATs are weaknesses; ecs are my strength
[ *] Other Factors/questions: international applicant</p>

2

<p>
[quote]
donated blood twice

[/quote]
</p>

<p>this is not an EC....it would be best not to mention it</p>

<p><a href="fresh%20and%20soph%20years%20i%20had%20some%20struggles%20handling%20both%20music%20and%20academics;%20I%20had%20concerts%20and%20rehearsals%20during%20my%20exam%20week;%20and%20they%20were%20all%20held%202%20hours%20away%20from%20my%20school%20so%20when%20the%20concerts%20ended,%20i%20would%20arrive%20at%20school%20past%20midnight...i%20was%20so%20tired%20and%20got%20ill%20and%20all%20that,%20but%20after%20i%20decided%20to%20shrink%20some%20on%20music%20responsibilities%20junior%20year,%20i%20guess%20i%20saw%20some%20improvement">quote</a>

[/quote]
</p>

<p>whining isn't gonna get you anywhere</p>

<p>
[quote]
SAT I: R-660, M-710, W-670

[/quote]
</p>

<p>this really is your greatest weakness especially considering you've already taken them twice. You're grades, though decent, aren't exactly making up for this score. The music stuff is nice but not sure if its good enough to put you over the top.</p>

3

<p>since you asked whether u have no chance at all or some gleam of hope, i'd say you have a slight gleam of hope. i think you have alot of ECs, your SATs are the only problem, did you try the superscoring method?</p>

4

<p>btw, u have a chance of getting into Brown/Cornell/Dartmouth if that makes you happier =]</p>

5

<p>thx for your opinions...haha i dont know why i put blood donation here(no worries, i didn't put that stuff on my last year's application.) also, im not whining, i thought some ppl on cc would like to know why fresh and soph grads are low. i'm not complaining at all. so if it came out whinning, im sorry. but thx anyways! :)</p>

6

<p>ooh another question: does columbia give generous financial aid to international students? cuz i had to defer my admission to stanford this spring...they gave me almost no money (so im taking a year off and applying to colleges that give more $$ to internationals....)</p>

7

<p>
[quote]

Quote:
(fresh and soph years i had some struggles handling both music and academics; I had concerts and rehearsals during my exam week; and they were all held 2 hours away from my school so when the concerts ended, i would arrive at school past midnight...i was so tired and got ill and all that, but after i decided to shrink some on music responsibilities junior year, i guess i saw some improvement)
whining isn't gonna get you anywhere

[/quote]
</p>

<p>lol about this and the blood comment.</p>

<p>On the music thing, I call BS/exaggeration, or otherwise something's clearly wrong. So during both semesters' finals during both your frosh and soph year, you had whatever music stuff? You got ill 4 different times? You didn't learn after you got bad grades your first semester that you ought to scale (no pun intended) back the music during exam week? Or learn as much after your second, third or fourth semesters? I don't get it.</p>

8

<p>ummm...if i had to explain...it would take me for a while, but in short, i made a contract with the music school for 2 years before going to high school to do various things and you cant cancel the contract and i thought i was going to conservatory even applied after sophomore year got into several places, but i decided to keep working on my academics and i wasn't ready to go to a "college"...anyways, if you dont get it you dont have right away assume things and say the wrong things. and i didn't say i was ill all the time...you have no idea how hard it is to prepare to be a professional musician (unless you are one right now :)) rehearsals are not a regular thing, sometimes conductors spontaneously want additional rehearsals late at night, we would add additional concerts for charity, all that. anyways, i dont want to this to anger anyone, but i hope that if you dont understand something, just ask me, rather than calling BS/exaggeration. thx.</p>

<p>ps.- i didn't mean to write i donated blood...i volunteered to help at american red cross blood donations 2 times and donated myself as well...oops but it's not a big deal so who cares so lets move on :)</p>

9

<p>"ooh another question: does columbia give generous financial aid to international students?"</p>

<p>Nope. With the exception of Canadian and Mexican citizens, Columbia is pretty cruel in terms of giving out financial aid packages. In short, Columbia is need-based to internationals.
If you REALLY need money, I wouldn't advise you to apply to Columbia, since anyone's chance of getting that FA package in the international pool is surprisingly slim.
HYP and Dartmouth are need-blind to ALL international applicants so try looking into that.</p>

10

<p>"If you REALLY need money, I wouldn't advise you to apply to Columbia, since anyone's chance of getting that FA package in the international pool is surprisingly slim."</p>

<p>this is rubbish, yes the chances decrease, but not by much, they accept something like 100-150 int kids a year with FA. It's incrementally more difficult enough that if you don't absolutely need aid, you might not was to apply for it, but if you do it doesn't hurt chances <em>that</em> much.</p>

11

<p>Does it matter if take sat twice?
I'm confused about it...anyone can explain it??</p>

12

<p>twice is fine</p>

13

<p>ok although Columbia seems to be proud of their financial aid, I keep reading on this board that it's terrible? how accurate is this?
and I don't mean for international applicants</p>

14

<p>dunno much about the accuration of the FA statistics.>''<
but through princeton review(366 best colleges), most students are satisfied with columbia's FA policy...</p>

15

<p>Is the policy very bad for the Internationals? (I'm not from US)
I think that I could not depend on financial aids from any university to get higher chance of admission then...</p>

<p>But what if I'm a US citizen not from US?</p>