SAT: 2150
GPA 3.4 UW, 4.0 W w/ an upward trend
SAT I (breakdown):2150
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.4, 4.0 W
APs: AP Human Geography, AP Psychology, AP World, AP English Language, AP Macro, AP Physics B, AP Stat, AP Gov, AP Chinese
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): - Competitive figure skater for 11 years for 16 hours a week and a regional competitor for 6 years
Job/Work Experience:-
Figure skating group lessons instructor at an ice rink for 3 years
Figure skating group lessons at a different ice rink for 1.5 years and worked here and the first ice rink at the same time
Ice Instructor for children with mental illnesses (the adaptive program) at 1st ice rink 2.5 years
Volunteer/Community service:
around 75 hours volunteering as assistiontant ice instructor at 1st ice rink 1 year
50 hours volunteering for the lost dog rescue founda
Intended Major: Econ
State (if domestic applicant): VA
School Type: In Fairfax county (top counties in the US), a school in a suburb by DC
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: F
Income Bracket: 80k
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): First Gen college, LEGACY (my sister went there a few years ago)
You are not actually a true legacy because it applies to parents having gone to Columbia college or engineering school for undergraduate school only. That being said, you might receive an extra look because your sister attended but the boost will be very small if anything. I would say that right now, your SAT I scores and grades make Columbia a very high reach for you. Aim for 750+ on your SAT subject tests and at least 4s on your APs. Also, make sure you actively participate in class so your teachers can write strong recommendations for you. Find ways to demonstrate your leadership abilities both in the classroom and in your ECs. Obviously, your passion is ice skating so try to achieve as much as you can over the next year so you can highlight your accomplishments in the sport, your deication to it and maybe through an anecdote how it has shaped you into being a person that Columbia would love to have on their campus. Finally, above all, work on getting your grades up in this all important junior year.
Do all those things and it still doesn’t guarantee that you will get into Columbia but it will mean that you will get into some very good schools at a minimum. I wish you the best!
What scores have you received on your AP exams? SAT Subject Test(s)?
Also, you stated that you were a competitive figure skater. Have you received any special awards or honors for your skating? That is something you should definetly put on your application, instead of stating that your a competitive figure skater. It gives more insight to your extracurriculars. On the other hand, your SAT score is a tad low. I would aim for a 2200+ so your application doesn’t get thrown out at first glance. You’ve probably already been told this, but your GPA is very low for someone applying to Columbia. If your not already a senior, I would work on getting your GPA up. Otherwise, good luck!
Your objective stats (particularly your GPA, but also the SAT) aren’t really high enough to give you much of chance, in my opinion. You are also coming out of an area of the country that is flush with highly-qualified applicants.
It would take a GREAT application to get you over the hump. Not impossible, but very unlikely.
Agreed with @NickFlynn - you would need some major GPA / SAT improvements to impress. Those (especially the transcript) are very very important and can’t be made up for usually. Also, unfortunately, your demographics mean you’re competing against an army of perfection.
Do you have other schools on your list? Late winter/spring of junior year is a great time to visit schools and see the campus when school is in session. Now is also a good time to put together a comprehensive and varied list of schools, with a wide range of selectivity.
When we toured Bowdoin and Hamilton earlier this year, there were several figure skaters in our tour groups. I remember that Bowdoin in particular had a good figure skating program.
@Faulkner1897 hello, yes here is my list of schools (bowdoin included!(-
Vandy
NYU
CMU
USCalifornia
Middlebury
Bowdoin
Vassar
Tufts
Notre Dame
Colgate
Lehigh
BU
George Mason
“Colleges with Intercollegiate Skating – US Figure Skating” will lead you to a good resource for identifying colleges with active figure skating clubs.
These analyses from IDEAS relate to your interest in the study of economics: “Economics Departments at Liberal Arts Colleges”; “US Economics Departments.”
I remember reading some great advice from @gibby about whether to ED or SCEA to a highly selective school:
I think this is great advice. Also, in many cases candidates with an “upward trend” need an amazing first semester senior year to continue to demonstrate the trend, which makes ED to a highly selective school tricky since an ED admission decision is being made on the transcript through the end of junior year.
From your list of schools, you seem to have a good balance of reaches, matches, and safeties. Are you a junior? Because if you are, I would take the SAT again. You have the time, and it ill only boost your application, especially because you are very close to a 2200+ score. If you take it again, you will hopefully get a score above that, and then it would be amazing! Just make sure to have really good essays!
