<p>His SAT was just within the top 25% of CU (not amazing, but very good.) He was a top ten student in a barely-adequate HS. His ECs would get an "eh" on this site. (local band related stuff; no regional/state/national recognition.) There were reasons to take him which outshone the spotty test scores, but they were intangible ones (interview, essay), which was my point in telling you guys not to fret too much about soft spots in your apps. </p>
<p>And, best wishes to all of you!</p>
<p>garland:</p>
<p>thank you for sharing your son's experience with people in this board.You really help me a lot.</p>
<p>Wish all the ED applicants in this thread can be admited</p>
<p>Could going down on the SAT after retaking it have a negative effect? Even if they only look at your highest scores?</p>
<p>MariaChristina, consider that in New York City, there are the specialized high schools and Hunter College High School as well.</p>
<p>Thus, the SAT I/II scores, GPAs, ranking, and Asian population of New York state applicants are astronomical.</p>
<p>My school does not rank, but if it were to do so, I'd be in 50th percentile, in both GPA AND SAT scores...</p>
<p>So many of my friends and colleagues are applying to Columbia:
They are all brilliant, talented, unique, and deserve the BEST college education...
Sadly, I, and many of them, will not have this privilege.</p>
<p>So what I said made sense?
I know what you mean, and it is sad. Because there's so many smart kids who get turned down. It's unfair, but that's life. :/
And I think it's kind of unfair that asian applicants, along with indian and jewish applicants, are barely even seen as minority apps anymore. I was talking with three good guy friends (asian, indian, jew) and they all agreed. i think it's pretty ridiculous, actually.</p>
<p>^ It is absolutely ridiculous. last time I checked, all three of those groups are as much a minority as African American or Hispanic. Colleges should really only take socioeconomic background into consideration.</p>
<p>Anti-hook #1: 3.4 gpa (composite)
Anti-hook #2: No EC freshman and sophmore year and then a sudden jump junior and senior year.</p>
<p>neomanxl: I think I beat you in anti-hooks... ~3.0/3.1 GPA composite(UW) approximately. 3.7W composite weighted. OUCH!</p>
<p>^haha I guess we are in the same boat...the rejected boat >_<</p>
<p>edit: How do you determine your weighted gpa?</p>
<p>My school only gives us weighted GPAs, weighting honors/AP classes up a point(so a B in an honors class is a 4.0). None of my frosh classes except for math are honors, and I have a few electives that are non honors, but roughly my GPA is a 3.0/3.1 unweighted.</p>
<p>Here's to hoping our hooks cancel out our anti-hooks!</p>
<p>For sure, however all my hooks started junior year, and most of them are in senior year :(. W/e, I just want to kno the decision, even if it is bad!</p>
<p>Yeah, so do I.</p>
<p>On the bright side, there is one kid who got in with a 3.1 GPA RD last year. His hook was his dad's best friend being on the board. My hooks aren't THAT good, but it gives me hope since my hooks are pretty damn good, and my SATs are within target(660W/670CR/740M)</p>
<p>...You wouldn't happen to live in Michigan would you? I kno a kid with the exact same situation.</p>
<p>My hooks are decent, I have really good SAT (760W/770CR/800M) and ACT (35) but I don't have legacy or anything.</p>
<p>Anti-Hook #3: All the kids from my school applying to Columbia have better credentials then me.</p>
<p>neomanxl: same as my situation... hopefully my academics and the written pieces can boost my apps up though</p>
<p>neomanxl: Nope, not from Michigan. Legacy is one of my (minor) hooks.</p>
<p>is a good sat score a hook? (if it is, sweet!)
also, neomanxl and samuelc, don't forget about recs, activities, and even the book list.</p>
<p>^haha yea the thing Im banking on is being a siemens finalist. My recs are decent, but one of the teachers I gave it to really doesn't like me that much. </p>
<p>Good SAT scores is a definite hook.</p>
<p>activities is what im referring to (since a few out-of-school academic awards are not probably going to be enough for a hook) :p</p>
<p>and my book list is somewhat risky. i don't read a lot of novels compared to nonfiction and in the end whoevers reading my app might think im a bit too focused on the areas of my interest >.<</p>
<p>FOCUSED IS GOOD!
It's much better than your interests being everywhere and having no point.
If you want to be a history major and your whole list contains David McCullough's books, then that's cool.</p>
<p>Exactly! Socioeconomic background is the only thing. It actually is a disadvantage. I don't believe being born one race qualifies as a "disadvantage." That policy is pretty racist in itself.</p>
<p>Dang his dad's friend was on the board??? That's so lucky.</p>
<p>actually, i am pretty much a history geek (even though my intended major is pure science). Haven't read McCullough, though I did cram in Halberstam's latest book in Oct.</p>