CHANCE ME FOR COLUMBIA, NYU, AND OBERLIN (Will chance back.)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

These are probably my top three choices and the only ones I haven’t heard back from yet. Would love some idea of my potential standing.

GPA/Background

3.52 GPA
White female, Los Angeles
-not sure of income, but will not be requiring financial aid-

(I’m aware that my GPA isn’t particularly strong. This is because I’m really not a math/science person for the most part. I am, as humbly as I can possibly put it, a very very strong writer and English/literature student. I think my essays have played a huge part in my college acceptances thus far. I also attend a rather prestigious and very rigorous college-prep type school.)

Decisions so far:
Accepted: Reed, The University of Chicago, Bard, Sarah Lawrence, Bennington and Eugene Lang (The New School)
Rejected: Colorado College

ACT: 33

APs: Biology (4), US History (5)

Senior Year Courseload: AP Lang, AP Human Geography, AP US Government, Spanish 5, Honors Physics, Finance & Statistics, Creative Non-Fiction (Independent Study)

Class Ranking: My school doesn’t do this.

Extra-Curriculars:

  • Photography 9-12 (I do this sort of free-lance and my work has been in galleries in LA, NYC, and San Francisco and published in loads of magazines like Paper, Vice, and Rookie)
  • Youth and Government 10-12 (This is a state-wide model court and legislature program through the YMCA. I’ve been an officer in my own city delegation as well as a state-wide officer my senior year.)
  • Theatre 9-12 (Been in around 30 productions over the years.)
  • Leader of the “Glove Affair” Committee 11-12 (A school club that raises awareness for safe sex and STD prevention and does fundraisers for those living with HIV and AIDS)
  • Published Writer 11-12
  • Editor for school’s Art & Lit Magazine 10-12
  • Varsity Softball 9-12
  • LGBTQ Alliance 9-12
  • Pre-College Photography Program at the San Francisco Art Institute (Summer between 11-12th)
  • Musician 9-12 (Play guitar and sing in a band)
  • Community Youth Partnership 9-12 (Teach music classes to kids from elementary schools whose arts funding has been cut)

As you can see, my GPA isn’t the strongest (which isn’t great for Columbia), but I do think I have a rather strong and eclectic list of extracurriculars and my essays are very strong.

(Also, just putting this out there since I know Ivy’s are super into legacies, my dad went to Columbia and my grandfather was a professor there briefly.)

Let me know what y’all think!

: )

2

I would say accepted at Oberlin and NYU, and Columbia can go either way, depending on how they perceive your extracurriculars in terms of fit with the student body. I’m going to be conservative and say waitlist at Columbia, but I can honestly see you being either accepted or rejected solely based on how you portrayed your own interests. If you don’t mind me asking, what were your main essays about?

Best of luck! :slight_smile: Chance me back? http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1966406-chance-me-upenn-ed-yale-brown-princeton-etc-will-chance-back-p1.html

3

I agree with writergirl0316. You are highly likely to get into Oberlin and NYU for clear reasons. At Columbia, your GPA would be one reason to reject you, but I guess you sent in an interesting application with a clear demonstration of interests. You can come off as an excited, driven writer who does more of what they do best. If that struck a chord with a reader, your expectations and reasons for Columbia would be much more believable! You really want that to happen. Most probably, in a case like yours, it would fall on the officers/readers to decide if they should pitch your accomplishments and unique dreams during committee meetings; if they vouch for you. It is more likely that you get waitlisted or rejected if the essays don’t build your case. But I wish all the luck! May you get what’s best for you. You are great and would go to UChicago even if you don’t get into Columbia, which is not much of difference, might only be better!

:smiley: :slight_smile: Best of Luck again!

Chance me back?
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1970884-predict-my-results-will-chance-back.html#latest

4

@writergirl0316 common app essay was basically about how i find the most beauty in the world in the perseverance of the human spirit amongst so much struggle and how that materializes in my love for reading (seeing the world told through different lenses) and writing and photography (being able to tell/capture truth and stories through my own lens). my basic why columbia essay was about how i admire the school for its huge history in activism/application of knowledge to affect change in the outside world/contribute to the wealth of knowledge of the future, etc.