Chance me at Barnard and Columbia

ACT: 30C
SAT II: 750 World History, 770 US history
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.8
Weighted GPA (out of ??): 4.7/4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): top 25%, unranked
AP (place score in parenthesis): Art History (3), World History (3), European History (5), US History (4), Human Geography (5)
Environmental Science (3), AP English Lang (5),
Senior Year Course Load: AP English Lit, AP Physics I, AP Statistics, AP Gov (first semester), AP Micro (second semester), Advanced Art History Seminar, Pre-AP Pre-Cal, AP computer Science principles, Varsity Debate
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): placement in local debate tournaments that are sponsored by NSDA

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):

  • Vice President of Model UN
  • Vice President of Young Democrats
  • President of Autism Speaks - help to raise awareness for autism and we collect money for Autism speaks itself
  • International Club - a community that helps minorities, especially the ones new to the United States

Teacher Recommendations:

  • AP Human/ AP World History: knows me very well, had me for 2 years, knows about my family issues.
  • AP Env Science: generic, knows a bit about family issues.
    Counselor Rec: pretty generic I think, she just wrote about how I had to catch up on credits in order to finish high school in 3 years and graduate on time and not late.
  • Debate coach: about being a female debater and struggles as a refugee.

female
white/middle eastern
TX
large public school
income: less than $60,000

hooks:
basically, I think the only thing that is gonna make me look good for the admissions is that I’m a refugee, I moved to states after my freshman year, and because of my credits, i had to start school as a sophomore and catch up with my credits so that I could graduate on time, so basically my transcript has 3 years of grades because i had to finish high school in 3 years in order to graduate on time.
my essay is basically about political corruptness and why I had to flee my hometown and my parents’ struggle since they went from everything to nothing.
and me struggling with a new culture (basically a first generation American) and financial issues that my parents had to face since they had to start over at ages 45 and 50 from low paid jobs even though back home they both had professional degrees and well-paid jobs.

Majors:
either political science or international business

So you are a senior and already applied to colleges? If so, your chance of getting into Columbia is very small because it is a reach school for everyone and your ACT is not high enough for the school. You might have a little better chance at Barnard.

If you are a junior, you still have time to improve your ACT. SAT II look excellent. Keep up the good GPA!

I’m currently a junior and hopefully I’ll be able to make a 32 but I don’t think I could reach for anything higher than that.

32 should be more than enough for Barnard. It might be still on the low side for Columbia, though. Remember, both schools are very selective. You should make your best effort to get in but no need to feel bad if you don’t get accepted. Apply to variety of schools and you will have lots of wonderful options. Good luck!

Get your ACT up to at least a 32 and then you will be a competitive applicant