<p>I'm a rising senior at a competitive suburban high school... What do you think my chances would be for Boston U, Brandeis, Columbia, NYU, and Yale are?</p>
<p>GPA: 3.8/4.0
School doesn't rank</p>
<p>Most demanding curriculum possible
-4 regular courses (all required)
-9 honors courses
-11 AP courses
-two years ahead in math
-skipped a year of science (but not really ahead cause it isn't really sequential)
-skipped a year of computer programming (not ahead cause I skipped the intro course after freshman year)</p>
<p>SAT I: 2300 (800M/800W/700CR)
SAT II Biology: 800
SAT II Math IIC: 800
SAT II Chemistry: 800
SAT II US History: 760</p>
<p>AP Biology: 5
AP Calculus AB: 5
AP Chemistry: 5
AP Computer Science A: 5
AP English Language: 5
AP Environmental Science: 4
AP Psychology: 5
AP United States History: 5
-National AP Scholar junior year, AP scholar sophomore year</p>
<p>EC's
Enviro Club: P for two years
Tutoring organization: VP, P
ACLU: Secretary, VP
Forensics: VP, P for two years, a few awards
MUN: VP, a couple of awards
Model Congress: went to one conference, got an award</p>
<p>A couple other small clubs and community sports for a couple years, but nothing I actually care about. =)</p>
<p>Oh, and I went to Governor's School for the Environment. It's really competitive here - only one male and one female can be nominated from each school. And I'm thinking of going into ecology, too, so it fits. =)</p>
<p>By the way, I was nominated for and inducted into the National Honors Society and French National Honors Society at my school last year (you have to be nominated as a junior).</p>
<p>Congrats on all your wonderful achievements. The only issue you may encounter is if your hs is in an area that sends many students to NE schools. You might want to think about a little geographical diversity - maybe Northwestern or Emory or Claremont McKenna (if they have your majors). As you already know, Yale and Columbia are the most problematic.</p>
<p>My school does send several students to schools in the Northeast (NYU is our third most common university!), but I'm from NJ and I definitely want to stay close to home. My brother and sister attend school in Pennsylvania and Maryland and I don't want to stray to far away. =)</p>
<p>Also, does anyone know of any schools with good ecology (or related) programs? I think Cornell has one.</p>
<p>Is Yale SCEA or ED - I don't recall. Anyway, if you like Yale or Columbia enough to play an 'early' card (and finances are ok), I think you would be a good candidate to do so. If you do, however, don't make it your first application - complete and submit one of the others first. Most of the people I know think of something they should have done differently after they hit the submit button. So try not to let that happen on your favorite school's app. And give yourself plenty of time on your essays!</p>
<p>My tea leaves (much less clear than Carolyn's crystal ball) seem to think Columbia will like you. Best wishes in your great adventure.</p>
<p>ehh id say
Boston and Brandeis - safe
NYU - match (leaning towards decently safe)
Columbia - reach
Yale - [slightly bigger] reach</p>
<p>Basically, BU, Brandeis and NYU you are basically in, Columbia is not a match but a reach as well. Columbia is very very selective and dont let people let you think its easier than the top ivies.</p>
<p>Lol I'm flattered that you'd think Columbia is a match...</p>
<p>Anyway, the two schools I want to get into the most are Columbia and Yale. The thing is they both have their advantages (which I love!) as well as their disadvantages... I definitely don't want to ED, so I'm probably going to apply SCEA to Yale.</p>
<p>About Columbia - I've definitely shown a lot of interest. I've been in contact with them since sophomore year, know a couple alumni personally, have met my regional director, and have been in contact with a couple of current students. I've been to the campus a few times and gone to two info sessions/tours. Yeah, I kind of knew about the interest question on the application beforehand (I cheated).</p>
<p>what makes him reach to columbia?
I think he has really good grades.
does that mean that people who apply to columbia has much better grades than he does?</p>