Chance at Columbia?

<p>I'm currently attending SUNY Stony Brook and have quite a few schools I want to apply to. I'd love to be in NYC, but NYU is too expensive. But, do I have a chance at Columbia? (Oh yeah, and Barnard for linguistics??) </p>

<p>SAT: 2170 (re-taking)
ACT: 30 (only took once, re-taking as well)
Rank: 10/265
10 AP's: mostly 4's and 5's
HS activities: French Club President, Spanish Club, German Club (and all 3 honor societies for these languages), Nat'l Honor Society, Speech and Debate, Mock Trial, History Club, and a few other things sprinkled in.
Awards include being ranked at 98th percentile on Spanish National Exam and 3rd in county for French National Exam.
Activities for this year: Volunteering with Oxfam Action Corps in Manhattan (part of why I'd want to be in the city), Food Not Bombs, SSDP, Internship at Democratic Committee, Secretary of Philosophical Society at SB. I also have a job at Trader Joe's.
Classes this semester: Linguistics 101, French 311, Latin 111, Logical and Reasoning, Existentialism (I'm double-majoring in Linguistics and Philosophy and brought in 30 credits from HS - I've already fulfilled a lot of requirements from AP exams). Next semester, I'm planning on taking Spanish 300-level, Arabic 100-level, a higher linguistics course, at least one philosophy class, and something else (hopefully something on international politics). This semester I have 19 credits because I'm also getting 3 from my internship.
Hook?: I doubt this is a hook, but I recovered from anorexia and was hospitalized for 2 months of HS but kept up with my school work and such. I doubt I'll mention it in my applications though.</p>

<p>3 other schools I'm applying to are U. Chicago, USC, and McGill. I'm assuming that Columbia would be the toughest to get into for me, following by Chicago, then USC, then McGill.</p>

<p>I think you have a really great chance for the rest besides Columbia (because i dont know much about their transfer policies) and obviously have a great passion for your future major. I think U of C is really big on their essays so that could make you more appealing as an applicant. Btw what do you know about McGill? what kind of school is it academically/socially?</p>

<p>I don’t know that much about McGill, for I’ve never visited (but am going to this fall). Academically, it’s ranked very high worldwide and is known as the harvard of canada, even though it’s not NEARLY as competitive as our ivies. Socially, it’s probably extremely diverse, and it’s in an awesome city with a great music scene. According to a friend that visited Quebec/Montreal a few months ago, it’s very rural outside the city. Besides that, all I know is that many people have told me I would like it. If I go and visit, I’ll message you and try to give you more info. </p>

<p>Anyone else have any opinions on Columbia/Barnard, or any of the other schools I listed?</p>

<p>You’d need to provide a college GPA in order to get an accurate guess on transfer admissions. Assuming you’re a freshman (and therefore don’t have a GPA yet), I would say your applications to Chicago, USC, and McGill look pretty good as long as you get a first-semester GPA of 3.8 or above with a challenging workload.
Columbia, however, is about as much a crapshoot as Harvard, Yale, or Stanford, and this was especially true this past application year (see 2010-2011 Columbia transfer thread… not very encouraging). However, if you manage to get a 3.8 or higher, I’d say you have about as good a chance as anyone. I will be applying as well, but I, being a junior transfer, have a lower chance of acceptance since I would have less time to complete the core curriculum. Good luck!</p>