Hello! 
I got pretty low in my SAT’s (1800-2000) because of different major tribulations that impacted my family during the time I took the them during my junior - early senior years. (My mom had a sever stroke and other neuro complications: aneurism, paralysis; my grandfather died; my grandmother suffered heart complications, and underwent through different surgeries; and my brother’s seizure diagnosis). Therefore, I had to stay in the Philippine’s to accompany my grandparents. During my stay, many natural disasters hit the country. I then missed a lot of SAT’s due to the financial and academic burden caused by the health complications experienced by my family and the natural disasters that troubled the Philippines.
In my high school in the Philippines, classes are not weighted, and it doesn’t offer any AP classes. But, the school offers very advanced curriculum that is very competitive with other top Asian schools worldwide. I do have a lot of extra- curricular activities (head of newspaper, class officer, part of yearbook, varsity, community service, different clubs and organizations, liberal arts), and I earned a GPA of 4.0 out of a scale of 4. Also, I’m in the top 10% of the batch.
I know it may be unlikely, but do you guys think I may have a chance to get into Columbia. It’s my dream school, not because it’s an Ivy, but because all my life I’ve dreamed of studying there. I do believe that the school has a lot of amazing qualities that can shape me for the future.
I would like to major in any physics related course, and probably do research in the future.
I’m sorry for the long post, and thank you.