Bad First Year, Dreams of Schools like Columbia

My first year at college a lot of emotional stuff happened and it lead to my GPA being a 1.84 by the end of the year. But now my GPA is a 2.39 after getting a 3.68 last semester. I switched my major to Political Science from cybersecurity. I expect my grades to be like that almost every semester since I actually care about what I am learning and I am a lot better mentally and emotionally. But I am afraid this still has wrecked my chances. Even if I got 4.0 every semester, I feel my overall GPA will never represent who I am.

I also participate in multiple clubs, I am the founder and president of College Democrats at my university and I have a relatively strong resume with a few clubs, a study abroad experience for this summer and I plan to do a second internship and maybe even a third if I can fit it in the summer after my study abroad, I also plan to help on a political campaign when I can for 2020.

But I still feel my overall GPA is going to impact my chances of getting into schools like Columbia. Columbia is my reach school and I am only a sophomore so I am not thinking about Grad School too much right now. But I wonder what kind of GPA is needed to get into the Columbia International Service school since I want to get a masters in International Affairs.

Are you going to transfer or is this for grad school admission?

You had a rough first year and you have turned it around and have momentum for an upward trend. Congratulations. Don’t look back, keep moving forward. You may be able to find some basic admitted student profile information on the website for the grad school that you are interested in. It won’t likely tell you much except average GPA and average GRE of admitted students. The truth is that graduate school admissions is very different than undergrad, truly holistic, and internships and research experiences carry a lot of weight. Publications and recommendations are important. Also, don’t hang on too tight to one particular school.