chance me please.

Colleges and Universities A-Z Columbia University
1

<p>Hi, I am currently a High School junior that is Asian Male and living in New jersey. I hope to get in to Columbia next, probably for finance/economics. I really like the campus and city atmosphere.</p>

<p>GPA= Weighted 4.6. </p>

<p>SAT- 2300</p>

<p>Math- 800
Verbal- 760
Writing- 740</p>

<p>Sat IIs
Biology M- 710 (took this after Freshman year. probably a mistake)</p>

<p>Plan to take Chemistry, Math II, and US History in June.</p>

<p>Schedule This Year
AP Chem
Honors PreCalc
Honors Physics
AP US History
Honors LA III
Honors Spanish IV</p>

<p>Next Year:
AP Calc AB
AP Physics
AP Biology
AP Spanish V
AP LA IV</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
School Newspaper- Op/Ed Editor (probably Editor in Chief next year)
Key Club- Secretary (probably President/VP next year)
Asian American Cultural Club- Secretary (probably President/VP next year)
Debate and Forensics - 3 Year NJ State Lincoln Douglas Debate Qualifier. (probably Lincoln Douglas Debate Captain next year)</p>

<p>Participating
Environmental Club- 3 year participant (probably some officer next year)
FBLA(Business Club)- 3 year participant. Qualified for Nationals in Competitive Events this year.
School Literary Magazine- 3 years
Academic Team- Alternate 3 times
Mock Trial- 3 years
Tennis - 1 year participant (sick during tryouts freshman year, and got cut last year)
Marching Band- 2 years</p>

<p>Outside of School:
Piano 8 years- New Jersey Music Teachers Association (NJMTA) Piano Festival 7 year award of excellence. NJMTA Piano Audition 5 Year Solo Honors and 3 Year Duet Honors
HuaXia Chinese School Graduate</p>

<p>Volunteer:
150 Hours at Local Chinese school, helping teachers grade papers, teaching chinese senior citizens English, etc.</p>

<p>Both my parents are graduates of Columbia's graduate schools, but people on the forums have been saying that graduate legacy doesn't count.</p>

<p>I'm particularly worried because of my lack of athletic ECs. </p>

<p>Thanks for taking the time to look at this.</p>

2

<p>You look like a strong, competitive candidate, with a solid chance of admission.</p>

<p>Given the swelling number of Asian applicants with nearly identical extracurricular activities and interests, however, you still face a daunting challenge.</p>

<p>Good luck proving you're unique!</p>

<p>By the way, Columbia only gives you seven spaces for seven of your most meaningful extracurriculars. Furthermore, you only have 300 characters to describe your most important one.</p>

3

<p>echoing kwu here, you're a great candidate, it's unfortunate that you're an asian male from jersey, that is possibly the single most common race/geographic category. I'm not sure if your parents being columbia grad alumni discounts you as legacy. If you apply ED, it's very probable that you'll get in. </p>

<p>don't worry about the lack of athletic involvement, they don't care specifically about athletics unless you're going to be on a team. In fact i'd say drop that tennis nonsense and never mention it anywhere, you need to cut the fat so that the focus is on real achievement. Plus such little involvement indicates doing it for the resume value or biting off more than you can chew. likewise drop :"Academic Team- Alternate 3 times" if that isn't significant, also i don't think it matters that you graduated from some school in china, unless it's super prestigious and i'm out of the loop.</p>

<p>Columbia dislikes the seeming conformity in your profile to very standard and common ECs; stand out, write good fun essays don't mess up an interview and you'll probab get in.</p>

<p>columbia has no finance major, closest are - econ-stat, econ-Operations Research, econ with courses in the business school, all get finance jobs easily.</p>

<p>or apply to seas for financial engineering (with econ minor), which sets you up for quantitative trading, and quant finance in general</p>

4

<p>thanks for the somewhat reassuring posts.</p>

<p>However, everyone I talk to keeps on telling me that colleges want well-rounded students that participate in sports?</p>

<p>Another problem is that there is another Asian male in my grade with similar grades. He doesn't have any good ECs except that he has been a Varsity Tennis player since Freshman year. He will probably apply to the same schools I do.</p>

5

<p>you probably should put that you played tennis because like you said it makes you look more well rounded</p>

6

<p>Its not that schools want to see sports in particular, it's just that they don't care if you do sports, or music or theatre, or other things, as long as you're dedicated to something, and sports happen to be something that a lot of people are dedicated to.</p>