<p>Hi, im an international applicant to Columbia SEAS, i just moved to the US an year ago from Indonesia. I applied to Financial Engineering</p>
<p>STATS</p>
<p>SAT MATH : 740
SAT WRITING : 750
SAT READING : 730
SAT TOTAL : 2220</p>
<p>SAT II ---> Math Level II : 800
Physics: 790</p>
<p>My school doesnt provide rank or GPA, but most of my grades are A, including honors/IB/AP classes....my UW GPA comes out to be about 3.82</p>
<p>AP SCORES : AP CALC BC = 5 , AP PHYSICS C (Mech) = 5, AP MACRO ECON = 5 (ALL SELF STUDY)</p>
<p>SUBJECTIVE : -All 4 years of Debate, won awards at many tournaments, including state level, was vice Captain.
-Helped organize funfairs to raise funds for Tsunami victims in Indonesia; I was in charge of the student group that led this effort (This was when I actually was living in Indonesia)
-Visited a bunch of orphanages in Indonesia and helped make renovations
-Leading role in 10th grade annual school play
-Captain of School Science Team; won 3rd place at a citywide science fair
-Have national level awards for mathematics...I took an exam administered by the university of Cambridge in UK, and I got the highest score in that examination in Indonesia, so I got an award for that</p>
<h1>Hook : International student, NOT APPLYING FOR AID, LIVED IN 3 DIFFERENT COUNTRIES, INDIA, INDONESIA, and USA...wrote about this in my essay...I guess I played the diversity card well, hope that helps...emphasized international upbringing in the essay....also on the list of the books read, I guess I kinda sounded intellectual by listing books such as "The God Delusion" and "The 48 Laws of Power" (which i actually read)</h1>
<p>oh, and btw, before moving to the US, in the first semester of my Junior year, I took 6 IB Classes- Math, Phys, Chem, Econ all Higher Level, and English and Hindi Standard level, i got A in all of them</p>
<p>shouldn't the fact that I'm not applying for aid as an international be somewhat of a hook, cuz i've heard that most international applicants ask for financial aid, and since Columbia is not need blind toward internationals, that gives me somewhat of an edge relative to other internationals...and yea, listing those books was a pretty vain attempt to come off as intellectual lol :P</p>
<p>"shouldn't the fact that I'm not applying for aid as an international be somewhat of a hook, cuz i've heard that most international applicants ask for financial aid, and since Columbia is not need blind toward internationals, that gives me somewhat of an edge relative to other internationals"</p>
<p>don't kid yourself, applying as an international makes it tougher, or at the very least it's about the same as applying as a domestic applicant, because a small % of acceptees are international. Now i don't know how many international applicants they get, but in my experience most at columbia do very well, high GPA high extra-curricular involvement, so it's likely tougher. applying for aid in addition, decreases (not by a huge amount) those already small chances further. Cultural diversity is not a hook unless you're from Equitorial Guinea or someother country they don't yet have, even that isn't quite a hook. For you and anyone reading this, a hook is something that would make them hard pressed to reject you. Otherwise it would be called 'an attraction' or 'a positive'. I have friends here who've lived in 5-6 countries in different continents, if they weren't as smart as they are they too would not have been accepted.</p>
<p>chances wise you're where you need to be, you aren't going to get in for sure, but you have a pretty good shot.</p>
<p>it prolly will, cuz i read a rejection letter of some other applicant and the letter said that this years applicants had an impressive EC record, reading list etc so that kinda indicates that the adcom will use the reading list to judge whether or not you will bring a unique perspective on campus or w/e...but im sure the reading list will somehow be a factor that can make a candidate stand out</p>
<p>^or they could just be trying to make someone who wasn't accepted feel better about himself by telling them how competitive it is.</p>
<p>I'd say you have a pretty good shot. You've got the grades, the SAT scores, leadership positions, etc. But Columbia rejects lots of applicatants who have all of these things; you need to show how you really fit into Columbia.</p>
<p>Unless you write something like 'Archie comics' in your reading list, you'll be fine. I'd like to believe that Columbia applicants don't jeopardize their chances by blowing their reading lists.</p>
<p>lol, i just randomly listed movies that I saw, movies like Rush Hour 3, 3:10 to Yuma etc...i didnt list any esoteric movies that portray me as some kind of intellectual....i think i had A Beautiful Mind on there too..but otherwise my movie list is pretty bland...;)</p>
<p>it's always good to have a few of these to portray you as a normal / believable teenager, otherwise they might think you're lying or pandering to what you think they want to hear.</p>