Chances at NYU/Columbia? If any...

<p>Public School
GPA: 3.7 weighted
I'm a Junior now, and this is my first year taking slightly below the most challenging courses offered: (Regular Precalculus, Honors Spanish V, AP Biology, AP Lang/Comp, AP USII, Honors Web Design)
PSAT: V 80 M 56 W 66 (96th percentile)
SAT I Score: 2080 (will retake, obviously..)
I'll be taking SATII Biology E/M, USH, and Math IC (math isn't my strong suit...)</p>

<p>Extracurricular Interests</p>

<p>Academic</p>

<p>• 2002-2004 - member on National Champion FIRST Robotics Team #25 – Raider Robotics
Freshman Year: Head of Scouting
Sophomore Year: Lead Robot Driver, Head of Scouting, Webmaster
• 2004-2005 - member on FIRST Robotics Team #1257 – Parallel Universe
Junior Year: Head of Scouting
• 2004-Current - President/Founder of the Student Medical Association
• 2004-Current - member of Future Business Leaders of America
Junior Year: Webmaster, Received Top Honors in the Technology Concepts competition at the North-Central Regional
• 2002-Current - Staff Writer for “The Banner”, a student-written and published newspaper
• 2004-Current - Accepted into the National Honor Society</p>

<p>Community/Volunteer</p>

<p>• Summer 2004 - 100+ hours of community service running a “Lego Camp” at a local church for middle school students</p>

<p>Employment</p>

<p>• 2001-2004 - Summer employment at an Internist/Infectious Disease Specialist’s Office
• 2004-Current - Creator/Owner/Operator of a browser-based massive multiplayer online roleplaying game, entitled Cru’en’tus, written in HTML and PHP/MySQL</p>

<p>I'll be attending Stanford's High School Summer College this summer.</p>

<p>My dad is a donating alumnus of NYU.</p>

<p>What are my chances at NYU and Columbia? What can I do to improve my resume, aside from retaking the SATs (2250 target score) and scoring well on future standardized tests? Any comments/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.</p>

<p>::bump:: Anyone?</p>

<p>FIRST champion is very impressive... but sooooo soooo disconnected. You dont look to be headed toward science or engineering (NYU? standard math?). Clue me in, what are you looking for?</p>

<p>get your grades up! 3.7 weighted will hurt...what is your rank?</p>

<p>You should be okay at NYU. I think Columbia might give you a break on the math if you're humanities oriented, but I'd really try to get the writing well into the 700s.</p>

<p>Your gpa/class rank are your first priority - do as well as you possibly can this semester and senior year. Improving your SAT would help, but your transcript is the most important part of your application, and it would be great to show a rising trend. </p>

<p>My theory is that you should apply wherever you want, but have some solid matches and safeties. Columbia is a reach (but you might squeek in with the robotics). NYU is feasible, but not a sure thing because of your grades. If NYU does early decision that might be worth a shot.</p>

<p>What are you interested in majoring in?</p>

<p>I'm interested in pre-medicine or pre-law. I eventually want to get my MD/JD or MD/MBA in graduate school.</p>

<p>My SAT Writing was a 770.</p>

<p>I'm in the top 10% of my class.</p>

<p>I realize that Columbia is an enormous longshot and an Early Decision at NYU is probably a good idea. Is there any hope of transferring from NYU to Columbia after Freshman year with amazing marks and active extracurricular participation should I still want to pursue that path?</p>

<p>Thanks for the input!</p>

<p>If you're sure about nyu or columbia, I'd apply ed to columbia and regular decision to nyu just because it'll increase your chances at the school you're less likely to get into....
you're more likely to et into nyu regular decision than columbia rd</p>

<p>I hear that, but I don't want to be stuck with rejections from both schools and get stuck at Rutgers.</p>

<p>Not that Rutgers is a bad school---you actually get an amazing education there, but I want to attend school in New York and those are my two schools of interest.</p>

<p>Hmph.. ::dilemma::</p>

<p>hehe aignam ur in the same boat i am... 2130 sat... want to go to penn not rutgers...</p>

<p>Any other input?</p>

<p>If you are considering med school, you will need to be in a situation where you can do research with your professors, as well as getting very good recommendations from them. You might want to think about adding an LAC or two to your list - no competing with grad students for professor's attention. Also, with med school admissions, your GPA is critical. Even if your school is difficult (e.g., Columbia) you will still be expected to get top grades. Have you thought about a smaller school?</p>

<p>I'm dead set on these two. Who knows where my major will be in 4 years? I'd rather focus on how comfortable I am with my surroundings. I will receive an excellent education and have wonderful opportunities at both Columbia and NYU.</p>

<p>How much would 5's and 700+s on my APs and SAT IIs help me?</p>

<p>And does anyone have the answer for my transfer question above?</p>

<p>Thanks alot guys!</p>

<p>Sure 700+ on SAT II's will help but colleges won't look at AP scores for admission.</p>

<p>I heard they do (& that 3's could spell trouble for highly selective schools). but maybe its just a statistic that the kids who get in have high ap scores, as opposed to colleges valuing it.</p>

<p>Well, I don't really see how your colleges could have your AP scores for admission because you can only send them to one school before the admission process begins.</p>

<p>asdfTT123... ap's do make a difference, mit has a slot for them as do many ivies, ur expected to be honest of course as u don't send an official score report... but if ur accepted and u lied... it's not good</p>

<p>and anyways, my school includes everything on transcripts... psats/ap's/sats/sat II's</p>

<p>Well, at this point you've got a reach - Columbia - and a match, NYU. The rough probability of being rejected at all (2) schools on your list is about:</p>

<p>.89 x .68 = .6052 or about 61%. </p>

<p>Your scores will likely help you at NYU - but even if your chance is better than average, we're still not looking at good numbers here. You need at least another match and a safety.</p>

<p>Rutgers is my safety and I'll hunt down another match. My main concern is where to go Early Decision. If going ED to Columbia is a waste, then I won't do it and I'll just strengthen my NYU admission.</p>