Chances at COLUMBIA + others.

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hey guys</p>

<p>I’m an international student from Singapore in my sophomore year at highschool and my ultimate dream is to attend Columbia University. There are multiple reasons for this choice which I will not list in this thread but I’d really love it if you guys could chance me for Columbia as well as other schools.</p>

<p>Please chance me numerically on a scale of 5 whereby 5 means I’m probably in, 2.5 means a 50-50 chance and 0 means there is absolutely no chance of getting in.</p>

<h2>You will realise that quite a bit of chancing is done based on expectation but there is must reason for me believing in these expectations and they coincide with thoughts from teachers and college councilors. Please do rate me as if these expectations are “true stats”.</h2>

<p>Gender: Male
Race: International Student (Indian National studying in Singapore)
Income: Comfortable enough to pay for any college I get into (w/o aid)</p>

<hr>

<p>ACADEMICS</p>

<p>High School: Most competitive school in the nation with an admission rate lower than any college in the States (roughly 7%). Affiliated to top university here (National University of Singapore) which is in the top 20 unversities in the world.</p>

<p>Ranking: 50th percentile in most competitive school. Expected to increase by senior year to 30th percentile. Then again, school doesn’t send rankings.</p>

<p>SAT: 2100 - 2200 expected. Average of current juniors in HS around 2100. Practise tests ~ 2200. SAT Math > 760 guarenteed. SAT Reading > 700 highly expected. SAT Writing > 700 highly expected.</p>

<p>SAT II: Taking Math Level II (750 - 800 expected), Physics (>730 expected), Chemistry (>720 expected)</p>

<p>PLEASE UNDERSTAND THAT EVERY STUDENT IN MY SCHOOL TAKES 5 APs WITH 98.5% GETTING 5s IN EVERY TEST THAT THEY TAKE. THAT SHOULD GIVE YOU AN IDEA OF THE LEVEL OF COMPETITION HERE.</p>

<p>Junior YR APs: Physics, Calculus AB, Chemistry (all 5 expected, almost guarenteed)
Senior YR APs: Statistics (5 expected), Biology (5 expected, but chance of 4)</p>

<ul>
<li>WILL HAVE AT LEAST 2 RESEARCH ATTATCHMENTS COMPLETED BY GRADUATION</li>
</ul>

<hr>

<p>ECs WITHIN SCHOOL</p>

<li><p>President (Captain) of Scrabble Society</p>

<ul>
<li>Ranked 3rd in nation</li>
<li>Lots of awards expected before graduation</li>
</ul></li>
<li><p>President of Philosophical Society</p></li>
<li><p>Student Comittee of HS Class of 09</p></li>
<li><p>In Charge of Environmental Efforts in School</p>

<ul>
<li>Head of International Costal Cleanup in School (for three years)</li>
<li>Gives environmental talks etc.</li>
</ul></li>
<li><p>National Education Ambassodor</p>

<ul>
<li>Planning of National Education Activities for Student Population</li>
</ul></li>
<li><p>Editor of National Education Newspaper</p></li>
<li><p>Journalist for School Newspaper</p></li>
</ol>

<hr>

<p>ECs OUTSIDE SCHOOL/OTHER AWARDS</p>

<li><p>National Youth Achievement Award (given by minister to outstanding youth)</p></li>
<li><p>Bassist for Rock Band</p></li>
<li><p>Intern at Raffles Museum (top museum of Biodiversity Research in Asia)</p></li>
<li><p>SPH Conservation Ambassodor (Ambassodor of Conservation of Singapore’s Wildlife)</p></li>
<li><p>Commendation Awards at Commonwealth International Essay Writing Competition (more expected over next two year)</p></li>
</ol>

<p>MISC</p>

<li><p>Plays several instruments (Bass guitar, acoustic guitar, violin, drums)</p></li>
<li><p>Speaks several languages (English, Hindi, Telegu, Japanese, conversational Chinese)</p></li>
</ol>

<p>***More ECs and awards expected by graduation, quite intuitively.</p>

<hr>

<p>SCHOOLS</p>

<li><p>COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY - Dream school. Wanted to attend this place all my Life. Applying ED.</p></li>
<li><p>U of CHICAGO - follows very close by. Loses out because of location to Columbia. Otherwise, I’d love this place</p></li>
<li><p>OLIN COLLEGE/ HARVEY MUDD COLLEGE - Engineering powerhouses. Conincides with engineering in my blood. Both parents won distinctions in their engineering degrees.</p></li>
<li><p>BROWN /HARVARD - The other two ivies that sound interesting to me.</p></li>
<li><p>MIT/STANFORD - Once again engineering</p></li>
<li><p>TUFTS</p></li>
<li><p>NYU</p></li>
<li><p>UC - BERKELEY</p></li>
<li><p>DUKE</p></li>
<li><p>BOWDOIN </p></li>
<li><p>________________________ (any suggestions?)</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Once again, PLEASE RANK ON SCALE OF:
0 - No chance
2.5 - 50-50 chance
5 - Quite certain.</p>

<p>Tips also welcome.</p>

2

<p>You know Harvard's engineering program is rather lackluster, right?</p>

3

<p>your chances seem good everywhere, but i think the % of students from your high school who apply to columbia and get in will be more dispositive than whether you stack up favorably against columbia's applicant pool generally. universities in the US take context into consideration, so, if you're at the singapore's best high school, you'll likely be evaluated within that context and against other applicants from your high school and not, say, against a public school student from north dakota, usa.</p>

<p>i went to bowdoin and your scores seem within their range, but, if columbia is your dream school (and, presumably for reasons other than just the quality of education and the major), why would bowdoin be on the list at all? the environments are very different. and re: engineering, why not caltech?</p>

4

<p>UofC does not offer engineering and should not be seen as a Columbia alternative, because the schools are considerably different. If you are interested in substituting engineering for physics, though, U(C) is a great option.</p>

5

<p>30%-60% ranking is very low. If other students from your school are also applying to the same colleges and have taken more APs than you and done better, you will be rejected.</p>

<p>Things to consider:
UChicago is all Core Curriculum. There is no engineering there in undergraduate.
Brown/Harvard are not good at engineering. You're applying for the name, the prestige, bragging rights...etc.
NYU isn't strong in engineering either, but you like NYC.</p>

6

<p>dude,
"Most competitive school in the nation"?
NUSHS isnt definably the most competitive in singapore. RI?RGS?RJC? haha(:</p>

<p>haha i think youre gonna do fine. but keep in mind NUSHS is a relatively new school. it doesnt have that many stats yet. if youre a sophmore, youre in the second graduating class. they may think that it was easier to gain leadership positions etc etc.</p>

7

<p>hey. when i say most competitive school in the nation, i'm talking about selectivity in getting in. (We have a 7% entry rate, even for people who more than meet the entry requirements.) well, that's not the main point. and it's not easier to gain leadership. in fact, the current batch of sophomores are the least represented in leadership boards. lost story why.</p>

<p>NOW, MANY OF YOU ARE COMMENTING ON THE ENGINEERING ISSUE. THE IDEA IS I'LL DO ENGINEERING IF I GET INTO:</p>

<ol>
<li>OLIN</li>
<li>HARVEY MUDD</li>
<li>MIT</li>
<li>STAMFORD</li>
</ol>

<p>Keep in mind,the college comes first not the major. There are at least four fields of science I'm interested in. So far, engineering is just one of them. </p>

<p>Anyway, I notice not many people have chanced me. Chance please? And tell me where to improve..</p>

8

<p>quick update to gaffe:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>with a graduting class of 96, with at least 65-70% not planning to study in the states (we've a direct affiliation to allow entry into National University of Singapore). this means, out of that remaining 30-odd % keep in mind that not many people will apply to columbia (stamford, harvard, princeton, M.I.T, caltech are hotter here). besides, i'm applying ED, which is as low as competition gets. either way, you have a point.</p></li>
<li><p>while it's true i like engineering, i'm open. so it's unfair to judge that i'm applying to schools for bragging rights simply by looking at the engineering front. while there are obviously good schools, the term is the positive atmosphere, rather than the bragging rights.</p></li>
<li><p>btw, i like NYC. you're right on that one.</p></li>
</ol>

9

<p>its stanford btw.</p>

<p>and well 7% is now. in the year before you, practically EVERYONE who attended the camp got through. im not even kidding. most of them rejected the offer, because they were going to be the guinea pigs. it wasnt so hard to make it in.not so sure about your year though.</p>

<p>btw. the raffles programme is more selective i think. i cant quote statistics because i cant give you the sources right now, but i will if i get the time. most definately, less people reject an offer from RGS/RI/RJC than they do from NUSHS</p>

<p>as for the high AP 5 rate, you need like 60% to score a 5 in your ap exams. the entire school is oriented towards getting 5s for AP exams. your school tests prepare you for the APs, and an A is still above 80% for normal school tests so its pretty much guarenteed that if your passing your classes normally, youre gonna get a 5. so it isnt as much of an achievement in comparison with your peers.</p>

10

<p>I believe in choosing a focus of study before rather than after I apply to colleges. You said that you have four different fields of science that interest you. However, you pick the colleges instead of the major, so if you are left with Olin, Harvey Mudd, MIT, and Stanford, you will only do engineering? What if you are left with only University of Chicago and its heavy Core Curriculum? You will not have an engineering major at this school; Chicago is in strong humanities but not as much in the sciences.</p>

<p>'Bragging rights' was one of the three things I mentioned, but the only one you mentioned in your response. After all, you are applying to schools with big names and prestige. How do you know the school fits you? I'm guessing that's not one of your concerns because getting into college is the most important part for you.</p>

11

<p>
[quote]
Chicago is in strong humanities but not as much in the sciences.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Not so. Some of our most popular majors include bio and physics, and it's because of our history with physics that many think we're just a science school.</p>

12

<p>you want to major in engineering, but many of your ec's are journalism based. Nothing engineering related</p>

13

<p>I knew you would come to correct me there, unalove.</p>

<p>I referred to humanities and sciences to differentiate between two distinct directions for possible majors. I should have specified more specifically engineering, a major UChicago does not have, instead of a generalizing statement.</p>

<p>UChicago's physics makes it a science school as well as a humanities one? Interesting.</p>

14

<p>Most people I run into think of Chicago as ONLY a science school, and they ask me what I'm doing there as a humanities kid, so I guess you have the common misconception inverted.</p>

<p>In truth, it's a liberal arts school, so it's strong across the board.</p>

15

<p>bowdoin seems a little misplaced- a very small remote LAC... any reason for it on the list?</p>

16

<p>You're right.</p>

17

<p>To the OP: It seems we all somewhat agree that your list a little haphazard and that it seems you may be picking schools based on your perceived notions of prestige.</p>

18

<p>Are you at Raffles? It doesn't sound like you're at SAS...I don't think most of the US readers have any clue about how competitive Singapore schools are.
(oops, just read the NUSHS comment..)</p>

19

<p>o wow you're in rjc. anyway, i think that your chances will be hurt by the fact that you are an international (i havent seen the rest of the replies on the thread, and thus am unaware if this has actually been mentioned). the acceptance rate for internationals is really low, even more so for the schools on your list. if you are intent on studying in the states, then you might want to consider some other schools as safeties</p>

20

<p>Yes. I agree with the above poster. Your chances willbe hurt because you are an international. Usually the acceptance rates are very low. Remember that since you are an international that the people in your "applicant pool" wil be with other internationals and not U.S. residents. Apply to at least 5 safety schools.</p>