Chance for Columbia ED

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hey

I’ve been on this account for like way too long (since 8th grade) so it’s pretty weird to be making a chance thread just now, but w.e.

I’m applying to Columbia ED, and here are some other schools of potential interest:

Harvard
Yale
Princeton
UPenn
Dartmouth
Brown
Cornell
UChicago
Stanford
Rice
Vanderbilt
Duke (Legacy)
Emory (Legacy)
Georgia Tech

yes i realize this is a straight up prestige list, but I’m not applying to all of these

yes i have safety schools (and they are safety schools) not included in the above list

ok

here are my stats

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown):
740 CR / 780 W / 780 M / 2300 Single Sitting
770 CR / 780 W / 780 M / 2330 Superscore
ACT (breakdown):
Will not send scores
SAT II:
770 Math II
740 US History
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0):
School doesn’t do GPA, but using A = 4.0, B = 3.0, etc. it’s like a 3.98ish (I’ve gotten one B)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):
5/442
AP (place score in parenthesis):
AP Gov: 5 AP World: 5 AP Compsci A: 5
IB (place score in parenthesis):
None
Courses:
Freshman Year:
AP Gov

Sophomore Year:
AP World
AP Compsci A

Junior Year:
AP Calc BC
AP Lang
APUSH
AP Physics 1
AP Chinese
AP Art History

Senior Year
AP Bio
AP Chem
AP Lit
AP Macro/Micro
Distance Math course through Georgia Tech

(school offers 6 periods in a day)

Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):
None
Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):

HOSA (President) - won one award at SLC - 9-12
Quiz Bowl (Captain/President) - won a few tournaments - 9-12
Law Club (Co-founder/President) - 11-12
Taekwondo (3rd Degree Black Belt, Instructor) - Won one award - 9-12
FBLA - going to NLC, won a few awards -10-12
NHS - 11-12

Job/Work Experience:

Internship at Clinical Trial Institute (unpaid, but I do the exact same work as the paid interns & work with them)

Volunteer/Community service:

Volunteer at a hospital (Summer of 2014 & this summer)

Summer Activities:

Went to Governor’s Honors Program (GHP) in 2015 - prestigious 4-week summer program that accepts some 700 rising juniors and seniors out of thousands across the state

It does look good to top tier schools and many who attended this program get accepted to HYP, ivies, etc (of course this doesn’t mean i’ll get in, but this is an important part of my application).

Essays (rating 1-10, details):

already started working on common app essay, should be 9/10 (I know what I want to write about and I can write about it effectively; definitely a unique topic)

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1: Calc Teacher 10/10
Teacher Rec #2: Lang Teacher 10/10
Counselor Rec: 7/10 i doubt my counselor knows who i am lol rip
Additional Rec: possibly
Interview: possibly

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: idk yet
Intended Major: idk
State (if domestic applicant): Georgia
Country (if international applicant): USA boi
School Type: Public, around 450 in my grade, top 250 in nation according to US News and World Report
Ethnicity: Chinese lmao
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: 100,000+
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):

Reflection

Strengths:

SATs, Class Rank, I have some good ECs, possibly strong essays

Weaknesses:

SAT Subject Tests on the low side, I don’t have any golden ticket/major ECs like ISEF, USAMO, Junior Olympics, etc. lmao

oh

it’s my 2000th post

yay

2

You stand a good chance for being admitted to Duke ED. Why is Duke not at the top of your list?

3

Because it’s not my first choice?

4

Aww I’m going to GHP this year…guess I don’t get to see you. Trying to figure out who you are and what school you’re from LOLOL but anyways, you seem to have a shot, but that’s all that can be said for top schools like Columbia. Make sure to do well on essays! :slight_smile:

5

Pretty much the only thing that can be said is you have a shot. Thankfully for you, on average, people with your sat score will have a rate of admission higher than the average for the school. However, that could be chocked up to other factors.
Compelling essays and good recs seem to be the determining factors for top schools.

6

Okay, thanks @DeeperBlue25 @ManaManaWegi

7

Also, will I be okay with a 770 Math 2 and a 740 US History? I feel like I need higher scores, but I haven’t taken the necessary courses for some of the other subject tests, so the only option is really to retake these two. Opinions?

8

@Yakisoba If you care enough are are willing to put in time to retake, go ahead. I wouldn’t say there is a “need” to retake, but higher scores might help. Debatable topic.

9

Thanks

10

I think your SAT subject scores are fine, especially with such a high SAT.

11

@ciervo Thanks. I guess I’m just worrying over nothing, since many at my school have numbers that are better than mine (not in my grade, but this year’s graduating class had a lot of really competitive people).

12

Are my extracurriculars competitive enough?

13

In my opinion, you might want to retake SAT II Math. At least in my school, everyone I know got a 800. I also heard from other people that an 800 on the SAT II Math is highly suggested by colleges (especially if you’re aiming for a STEM major).

14

If you are “interested” in every single ivy then you clearly don’t know what you want with you school other than prestige. All 8 ivies are different in their environments and the type of person they attract. Think about what you want with a school and narrow down your list. Also your list is all reaches and two matches/safeties. Aim lower and apply to 3+ more matches/safeties and fall in love with them so you will be happy there if that is where you end up.

15

@picklechicken37 I know that since every Ivy is different I wouldn’t get into most of them, if I got into any at all. I do have safeties, but I chose not to list them because they’re safeties and I don’t really need chancing for them.

16

@Yakisoba Yeah but just you’re worried about getting in doesn’t mean you should cast a wide net by applying to places where you wouldn’t fit in. That either means you don’t know what you want, or you are way too hung up on prestige. Neither of those are good things. Think about what you actually want from the school other than strong academics. What sort of social environment do you want? Which schools students do you see yourself fitting in with? What opportunities does each school have that you see yourself taking advantage of? Then narrow down your list because you have way too many reaches. If I were you I wouldn’t apply to more than 5 of those 13 reach schools you listed.

17

@picklechicken37 Like I said before, I’m not applying to every school on that list. I know for sure already that I’m not going to apply to Stanford, Rice, Vandy, Georgia Tech, or Brown from the start. This is just out of pure curiosity; I really only care about Columbia and maybe Duke considering legacy status. I’m researching majors and programs for each school to see which ones I like/don’t like right now, and I’ll have a more reasonable number by the time August rolls around, but even if I do apply to “too many reaches,” I’d still say it’s better to apply to too many schools than too few IMO