Chance me for columbia!!!

Colleges & Universities A-Z Columbia University
1

<p>Im applying as an international student from Saudi Arabia, I go to a very known competitive private school and I take the IB diploma program</p>

<p>I am the only one in my grade with 4 Higher Level IB courses and 2 Standard Level, so toughest program offered at my school (IB English A2 HL, Math HL, Economics HL, Business and Management HL, Bio SL, Arabic A1 SL)</p>

<p>My predicted IB score: 42/42 (with bonus points, 45)</p>

<p>GPA: 4.1 (unweighted)
Rank: 1st out of 75 students (But i think my school kept me as top 2% cause they dont rank)</p>

<p>SAT I/II:
CR: 510 (bad, i know)
Math: 800
CW: 660
total SAT reasoning: 1970
Math 1: 740
Math 2: 730
Bio M: 580
TOEFL iBT: 107 out of 120
IELTS: 8 out of 9</p>

<p>Teacher Evaluations: one english, one math (both are excellent recommendations, teachers shared them with me)</p>

<p>Common App Essay: Strong (many people read it and got a lot of good praise from it)
I can send it to you to read it if you want</p>

<p>Extracurriculars: MANY! MUN for three years, Stock Investment challenge, Junior Achievement Banks in Action, Habitat for Humanity, Student Government (secretary in junior year, president in senior year), captain of soccer team, basketball team, track and field, many high school honor awards, 3 work experience (one in Accounting dept, one in an insurance company and one in construction company, all experiences lasted for about 1-2 months max)
Past Two Summers: Global Young Leaders Conference and Harvard Summer School (received 8 undergraduate credits precalculus B+, psychology B)</p>

<p>interview: still not done, soon though!</p>

<p>i also applied to Yale, Brown, Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, University of Chicago, University of Penn, Northwestern</p>

<p>please chance me!!! Please be honest!</p>

<p>thank you</p>

2

<p>I definitely think your chances are good with the fantastic IB predictions, good extracurriculars, and Harvard summer school doesn’t hurt. Your SATs could be better, but I wouldn’t worry about it too much… Columbia evaluates applicants holistically, so your academics really shouldn’t be a problem. It may come down to something like your essay… I’ve heard that has tipped the scales in a lot of cases. Send it over to me, I’ll have a read.</p>

<p>Good luck :)</p>

3

<p>i think your stats look great as a whole like tiramisu said and i agree that columbia doesnt look at ur stats in a black and white way so i think u have a great shot
im really impressed with your ib classes and subsequent predicted scores
id love to read your essay if its been praised so highly,
good luck!</p>

4

<p>Columbia is very very strange with its acceptances. I am a junior at Columbia and when I analyze my peers, I see that each student is extremely motivated above all else. Luckily undergrad is not numbers-driven, so if they see something exceptional in your application, they will definitely consider you. Also, don’t bank on getting in–no one ever has a 100% chance. I hope you applied to many top tier schools, whereby you can increase your chances of getting in somewhere.</p>

<p>That said, I really think you should reconsider Columbia. Although you are in NYC, there is NOT MUCH TO DO around morningside heights. There are more good places to eat at colleges in small towns! You are also realllly limited with transportation downtown–you’ll notice that not many students actually take advantage of Manhattan. </p>

<p>Then again, Columbia is GREAT academically–every professor I’ve had has been interesting and incredibly intelligent–I’ve never had a bad professor at Columbia. Learning is actually fun here and you have incredible resources to take advantage of. </p>

<p>It is extremely difficult to get good grades here, but [CULPA</a> - Columbia Underground Listing of Professor Ability](<a href=“http://www.culpa.info%5DCULPA”>http://www.culpa.info) rates professors so you can avoid the really rough graders. If you want to become a professional or pursue grad school, I recommend going to a state school and maintaining a very high GPA, since grad school IS numbers-driven. But if a high GPA is not your main concern, Columbia will give you a much better (in the sense that it’s more rounded) education, especially when you consider the Core Curriculum.</p>

<p>Anyway, best of luck!</p>

5

<p>Is there a reason for your inconsistent SAT scores (ESL, etc)? I’m just curious. Maybe Columbia would then overlook them, somewhat.</p>

6

<p>“You are also realllly limited with transportation downtown–you’ll notice that not many students actually take advantage of Manhattan.”</p>

<p>are you serious? limited with transportation down town, train, bus, taxi, (bicycle), whadja want a helicopter? i know fully a handful people who don’t take advantage of manhattan. 95% do, people have their own ways of taking adv of manhattan: restaurants, night clubs, concerts, broadway shows, museums, central park, jazz bars, random events like halloween parades, lamb and rice on 53rd and 6th. </p>

<p>“If you want to become a professional or pursue grad school, I recommend going to a state school and maintaining a very high GPA, since grad school IS numbers-driven.”</p>

<p>according to whom do grad schools evaluate numbers without regard to difficulty of program / student body?</p>

<p>“That said, I really think you should reconsider Columbia. Although you are in NYC, there is NOT MUCH TO DO around morningside heights. There are more good places to eat at colleges in small towns!”</p>

<p>completely disagree, morningside heights fulfills all requirement for a college area, picturesque, safe, odd-job places, bars, restaurants of varying price. I’m a fan of many of the restaurants in the area, and everyone has many that they like even if it’s a small % of total, at any rate we do much better in terms of restaurants than almost any other campus, bar NYU.</p>

7

<p>yeah it sounds like he’s just trying t get rid of some good competition!</p>

<p>and id love to read that essay too :slight_smile:
i sent my app in yesterday!!</p>

8

<p>pmd2114, I would have to disagree too with what you said. New York City is “the city that never sleeps” remember? There is live 24/7 and there are so many ways to spend your leisure time. I respect what you say since, well, you live there! But I have visited New York City twice, and Columbia, and found the school’s campus and student life different than the other Ivy league schools since its in the heart of the city!!!</p>

<p>and freefondue, i guess the reason why i scored badly on CR was because English is my second language and my vocabulary is limited in a way. My CW score is just in the bottom interquartile range which is fine so Im honestly just worrying about my reading score. But i keep telling myself not to worry because they look at an applicant holistically. So i really hope they overlook them.</p>

9

<p>I really think you should add some safeties, based upon your SAT scores.</p>

<p>Maybe, NYU if you like the city.</p>

10

<p>I would consider U michigan, and university of virginia, i think there is time before these apps close?</p>

11

<p>I did apply to NYU and UMiami and Boston College a really long time ago, I have my safeties just in case!</p>