Chance me for Columbia, Amherst + other top LACs

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I'm a rising senior. Suggestions for reaches, matches and safeties are more than welcome. I want to study something in the Humanities field.</p>

<p>COLLEGES:
• Columbia
• Williams
• Amherst
• Vassar
• Haverford
• Amherst
• Hamilton
• Bowdoin
• Trinity (don't really want to go, safety)</p>

<p>STATS:
• GPA unweighted - 3.95
• PSAT: 216
• SAT: 2100 w/out studying, will be retaking this fall and will probs get 2200+
• SAT IIs: 770 on Lit, 800 on French
• TOEFL iBt: 117/120</p>

<p>CLASSES & RANK:
• I'm foreign, from Italy. I've been studying at a boarding school in NH since my sophomore year. This school doesn't rank, but at the school I attended my freshman year I was ranked #1/60, and it was a very competitive British prep school which regularly sends students to Oxbridge.
• The NH school I attend now is an alternative boarding school, which means no APs, BUT I'm taking the most rigorous courses, all centered around the humanities field (Philosophy, World Religions, Global Issues, Advanced French Lit., Honors Eng, Honors US His) plus Advanced Calc.</p>

<p>EXTRACURRICULARS:
French Club - co founded in 10th grade and am now president
Active & Helping - club at my school that centers on charity, through which I've done many hours of community service and organized several projects. Joined in 10th grade. I also worked at a soup kitchen over the summer, and I've done many, many hours tutoring two of my peers in Math.
Model UN (10,11,12)
Literary Journal: editor 11 & 12, contributor 10</p>

<p>SUMMER PLANS:
I just finished an internship at a prestigious Italian publishing company in Rome. I got an interview for TASP but was ultimately rejected.</p>

<p>STRENGTHS:
My essays will probably be very good, as writing is my forte.</p>

<p>So, what chance do I have to get into those schools? Which other similar schools could I get into? What do you suggest I do to improve my application? I know my ECs are weak, but they're really all you can do for someone very academically centered and very geared towards the humanities. </p>

<p>Also, should I apply ED to Amherst or Columbia? I have an equal interest in both schools, they're my top choices, but if there's no way I'm getting into Columbia I'd rather do Amherst to save me some tears.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>I’d say the difference between the Amherst open curriculum and the Columbia core curriculum may help you choose. Pick whichever is the best fit for you.</p>

3

<p>You should have a good shot at most of the list, obviously Columbia is the biggest crap shoot.</p>

4

<p>You are very likely to be accepted to Trinity, Hamilton, Bowdoin, Vassar, and Haverford. The others are reaches but not beyond possibility. :)</p>

<p>Amherst and Columbia are two very different schools. Looking at your profile, I would go ED to Columbia. Both schools are very competitive admissions wise. Columbia has set core curriculum, which may suit you since you do well in both math and humanities.</p>

5

<p>What’s your passion? What are your extra curricular activities all about? That’s what LACs want to know.</p>

6

<p>My passions are literature and philosophy. I also enjoy poetry a great deal (by the way, do you think it would be a good idea to send colleges a collection of my poems?)</p>

<p>I’m rather clueless about colleges, to be honest… What does a core curriculum entail? Do you have to spend the whole of your freshman year taking a specific set of classes that you didn’t choose? In that case, I’m not sure Columbia is for me, as I actually hate math and anything science-related!</p>

7

<p>My extracurriculars are about the fact that I love French, poetry, and philanthropy.
Should I include this in my college essay?</p>

8

<p>[The</a> Core Curriculum](<a href=“http://www.college.columbia.edu/core/]The”>The Core Curriculum)
outlining the Core</p>

<p><a href=“https://www.amherst.edu/academiclife/[/url]”>Academics | Amherst College;
see “Open Curriculum”</p>