Chance me for Class of 2016? Match? Reach? ED?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Columbia University
1

<p>Hello everyone,</p>

<p>First of all I would like to thank you in advance for coming to my thread and taking time to read and provide advice. This is beyond helpful and I am very grateful for this community.</p>

<p>In short, I am a rising high school senior, beginning to look into colleges. I am interested in majoring in most definitely sciences. Most likely biology, chemistry, biomedical engineering, neuroscience, psychology, or the like. As of now, like many other young inexperienced people, I see medical school in my future, so I would like to keep that in mind during my college search. However, it is also very important for me to go to an university with a wide variety of colleges, just in case I discover my passion for another subject. However, I am focusing on sciences because I am almost 100% sure that I will NOT major in literature, history, agriculture, etc etc.</p>

<hr>

<p>My Stats:</p>

<p>GPA Weighted: 3.94 (around this, calculation method may be off)
GPA Unweighted: not sure, will update later</p>

<p>SAT I (Super Score)- 2020
780 Math
640 Reading
600 Writing
8 Essay</p>

<p>ACT- 33
32 Writing
33 Math
33 Reading
34 Science
7 Essay</p>

<p>SAT II-
740 Math 2
740 Biology E
750 Chinese</p>

<p>Course Schedule-</p>

<p>Middle School
Honors Algebra I
Honors Geometry
Honors Spanish I</p>

<p>Freshman
Honors Algebra II
Honors Biology
Honors Language Arts
Honors Spanish II
American Gov/Health
Band</p>

<p>Sophomore
Honors Pre-Calculus
Honors Chemistry
Honors Language Arts
Honors Spanish III
AP World History (5)
Band</p>

<p>Junior
AP Calculus AB (first semester had a 79 unweighted and 86 weighted, worried about this)
AP Biology
AP Lang
On-level Physics
On-level US History
Band</p>

<p>Senior
AP Stat
AP Chemistry
AP Lit
AP Micro/Macro
PE/Internship
Band</p>

<p>ECs-</p>

<p>Club (# of years in by graduation)</p>

<p>Student Council Representative (4)
Beta Club (4)
Marching Band (received varsity letter) (4)
Tutors in Action (2)
Winterguard (1)
Science Olympiad (1)
Pep Band (1)
Medical Society (1)</p>

<p>-regular volunteer at local library
-peer education at a local AIDs center
-part time job as of summer 2011</p>

<hr>

<ol>
<li>Which other colleges would be matches for my stats?</li>
<li>Reaches?</li>
<li>Advice on early decision if it increased my chances?</li>
<li>Is financial aid generous for low income families?</li>
</ol>

<p>Thank you so so so much once again for your help and feel free to ask for clarification on anything!</p>

2

<p>If you’re low-income or a URM, I’d say it’s a low reach. Your GPA is great, but what’s your rank? Also, you’re definitely going to want to raise your SAT score. Even if you’re low-income, a high score will help your case.
You might also want to look at UT-Austin, UCLA and possibly Berkeley. They’re great schools for sciences and you seem like a good match for the first two especially.</p>

<p>Best of luck!</p>

3

<p>I think you’re good. Just do not send your SAT’s, only your ACT’s!! (:</p>

4

<p>^You must submit all test scores. From the Columbia website:</p>

<p>"Columbia has always expected applicants to report all required standardized testing for which they have sat and will continue to do so for 2010-2011.The application review process for Columbia College and The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science is rooted in the belief that students are dynamic, multi-faceted individuals who cannot be defined by any single factor to determine their suitability for admission. When evaluating applicants, we consider only the highest testing results reported from individual sections of the SAT (or the highest Composite on the ACT), and the two highest required SAT Subject Tests, always seeking to give students the greatest opportunity to showcase their academic talents and hoping to make the testing experience as stress-free as possible. We encourage applicants to take those examinations no more than twice, but we do not penalize applicants for exceeding that recommendation.</p>

<p>Students should officially submit all scores from all sittings of the SAT and SAT Subject Tests. Students may submit only their highest ACT composite score officially and self-report other ACT scores by adding them to the Additional Information section of the application. While the College Board sends a cumulative record of all testing for one fee, the ACT requires separate fees for each test date; we do not want ACT takers to incur greater costs, so applicants may officially report only their highest ACT Composite (with subscores) and self-report all other ACT scores."</p>