Chance me? Please?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Columbia University
1

<p>First off, I'm an Asian male
Also, I am now a junior, so this is all tentative..
My high school usually sends 20-25 kids to good schools while most go to the state school
Also, since Columbia is my dream school, I'm planning on doing ED</p>

<p>UW GPA - 3.7 with an upward trend
W GPA - 4.2
Class Rank - 41/254
Workload - Pretty Rigorous (Note that it's not the most rigorous it can be, didn't take APUSH at all and only took Honors English at Junior year =)
Also, I finished at Spanish Level 3 and couldn't move on to Spanish Level 4 due to scheduling conflicts, My guidance counselor said that she would send a letter explaining that had I been able to take it, I would have..Do you guys think that this letter will even do anything? Also, since I couldn't move onto Spanish 4, I ended up taking Italian 1 =&lt;/p>

<p>SAT 1: 2270 (1540) Only took it once..wondering if I should take it again
Math: 790
Reading Comprehension: 750
Writing: 730 (8 Essay.)</p>

<p>SAT IIs:
Math II: 800
Chemistry: 750
Biology M: 770</p>

<p>AP Tests:
Chemistry: 5
World History: 5
At Senior Year, I would be taking (but don't think that the scores I would get would matter as I would take these tests in May, so the application process would have been done by then):
AP BC Calc
AP Biology
AP English
AP Government</p>

<p>Extracurricular Activities:
Freshman Year: Key Club, Band
Sophomore Year: Key Club, Varsity Tennis
Junior Year: Academic Decathlon (Made it to States), Key Club, Debate, Math League, Science League, Newspaper
Senior Year: Academic Decathlon, Key Club, Math League (Treasurer), Science League, (Possibly Debate?), Newspaper (Possibly an Editor?)</p>

<p>Community Service: 200+ hours
Tutoring, Hospital, Babysat little kids while they waited for their parents</p>

<p>Distinctions:
National Merit (Most likely Semi-finalist)</p>

<p>Essays: Okay/Good
Recs: Okay, basically just the usual recs that teachers give to kids that they know to be bright and capable, but don't really know on a more personal basis</p>

<p>Also, if I'm not in National Honor Society..is it really bad for my chances of getting into Columbia?</p>

2

<p>
[quote]
Also, if I'm not in National Honor Society..is it really bad for my chances of getting into Columbia?

[/quote]

This in and of itself should not be a problem. However, why aren't you in NHS? If there is a bigger problem behind that then it may be an issue.</p>

3

<p>My school only takes the top 10% of the grade for NHS, which I'm not in...=(</p>

4

<p>Ah, why is the selection criteria so stringent at your school? My chapter of NHS has a GPA requirement 3.33 (of course, there are other nonacademic criteria).</p>

5

<p>you definitely dont need to take anymore tests. they'll get the idea that you're pretty good on those.</p>

<p>i dont think it would hurt for your counselor to explain your inability to take spanish</p>

<p>i think the best thing to do at this point is just write an awesome essay to distinguish yourself a ton. to be honest, asian + key club is unbearably stereotypical. (at least at my school it is.. i'm an asian in a predominantly caucasian school and i can safely say key club is the epicentre of asians for my school) But it's awesome you've devoted yourself to it for all four years though--it shows commitment.
i quit after freshman year. :P</p>

6

<p>I guess each chapter of NHS has different requirements...</p>

<p>The NHS group I am a part of has the requirement of a 4.0 GPA (weighted)</p>

7

<p>Your class rank is a glaring trouble spot. Plus the fact that you are Asian. You will also need to consider context within your class.</p>

<p>Given today's hyper-competitive college admission environment, you're going to need better than OK or good essays and recommendations. My advice to you is to ID the best possible recommenders (one may not be a teacher) ASAP and get working on them. Then, you are going to need spectacular essays.</p>

<p>PM me for further details, particularly on "context within your class".</p>

8

<p>class rank is a problem.. 94 percent of columbia's applicants are top 10 percent, the other 6 percent is made up of urms/atletes/legacys/and kids that go to extremely compietive private boarding schools....</p>

9

<p>I think your chances for ED are reasonably good. nothing particularly stands out, and as mentioned earlier, the class rank will hurt. </p>

<p>essays are key. get your grades up a bit. not sure what else, but your scores are fine.</p>

10

<p>I heard that ED is no longer 40% of the freshmen class. So that means less people accepted. So it's even more iffy.</p>

11

<p>
[quote]
I heard that ED is no longer 40% of the freshmen class. So that means less people accepted. So it's even more iffy.

[/quote]

Where did you hear this?</p>