Chances: Columbia 2014

Colleges and Universities A-Z Columbia University
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<p>Hey guys, I'm a junior (well, barely in the summer between junior year and senior year), and I was hoping to get chanced. I'm thinking of applying to (not necessarily applying to all of them though, hahaha) Brown, Columbia, U Penn, Cornell, Emory, Georgetown, Stanford, Brandeis, Duke, NYU, Tufts, U Chicago, and maaaaybe Harvard and Yale. </p>

<p>My (public) school doesn't have AP courses, but I've taken the most rigorous schedule possible, and my GPA is around 3.9-4.0. My school doesn't rank, either, but I'm probably in the top ten or top five out of around 400 students. For the record, I'm in Ontario, Canada, in case that makes any difference, haha.</p>

<p>SATs: 2260
CR 740
M 770
W 750</p>

<p>I plan to take Chem, U.S. History and French SAT Subject Tests in October.</p>

<p>ECs:
- heavily involved in Student Council since Grade 9, elected as rep then, served as independent member this year, President next year
- played French horn in our school band since Grade 9
- founded, edit and write most of school newspaper/writing club
- professional actor out of Toronto</p>

<p>I'm not afraid of the application essay, as I'm a pretty good writer, and I'll have some very good recommendations. I want to apply for political science.</p>

<p>What do you think? Let me know!</p>

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<p>Fellow ontarian here, I’d say you have pretty good chances. But it’s very tough for internationals to get in. We have similar stats (your SAT is 10 pts higher), but your ECs are much more interesting than mine!</p>

<p>You might want to limit the number of schools to which you apply. I’m assuming you also want to apply to Canadian schools (although they don’t take much time). Always strive for quality over quantity. It’ll be hard in December to write application essays for 14 US schools, you know what I’m saying. This is from the voice of experience.</p>

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<p>I know rising juniors in my school taking IB courses while self-studying for APs exams. Remember that you’ll be competing with them this fall.</p>

<p>One last piece of advice (if you wanna bear with me): it is not really worth it to spend the extra money attending a school like–say–NYU when you can go to an equally excellent Canadian university and save on the tuition. So maybe narrow your choices to the top American schools.</p>

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<p>Yeah, I’m not going to be applying to all of those schools, haha. The fees alone would be mind-boggling! I’m hoping to literally get started on the applications next week when they start to come out. And I got stuck with Barrie, so no IBs either. Actually, my guidance department is so Ontario-focused that they did not give me any information on APs or SATs or American universities, and it was too late to start studying for AP exams this past May. Erk! Haha, but I’m ranting. Thanks for the advice! Are you applying 2014 or did you already? If not, good luck, amigo! And thanks again for posting.</p>

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<p>^I’m a Columbia class of 2013 member. Good luck to you.</p>

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<p>I say you should be good. You’ve got an excellent SAT score and although you don’t have a breathtaking number of extracurriculars, it seems like those you are involved in are genuinely important to you. Acting is a great, great plus because it requires talent and skill and practice, rather than being a cashier or pizza delivery man. Being international should help too.</p>

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<p>Thanks. Hopefully the admissions committee agrees! A question - why do you say that I might be better off as an international! Just curious.</p>

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<p>

slight exaggeration. are you Asian? Asian+international means a higher SAT will be necessary.</p>

<p>and I disagree that international “should help”. in general, it’s a bit harder for international applicants. what was your reasoning in this case?</p>

<p>I agree with Epaminonda’s advice, Canadian schools are very good, and it probably wouldn’t be worth it unless you get in a top American school (unless you really really like American schools for some reason)
any awards?
I like the professional actor angle.
your chances are decent. we’ll have to see about your SAT II scores, but if you have the stereotypical “good essay+recs” you should be fine. good luck!</p>

<p>ah yes, and I’m ontarian too. funny that I didn’t know Epaminondas was too.</p>

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<p>No, I’m white. I’m the top non-Asian student at my school, but that obviously doesn’t matter in applications. Haha. No awards, but there really aren’t many awards in Ontario for student government and school publications. I hope I do get the “good essay+recs.” Can’t see why I wouldn’t. Thanks so much! (Aside: sure is weird how many Ontarians there are around here. Jeez!)</p>

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<p>@ zephyr, being international helps for those from smaller, more “exotic” (shall I say) countries where maybe only a few apply. Schools like Columbia want to state that they have a diverse student body. So yeah, having someone from say Lituania boosts that image. Those applying from over represented countries like India, China, Korea, and Canada will probably find it harder (though I don’t really know about Canada, Ivy schools tend to take in more Canadians relative to their small population).</p>

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<p>Nowadays it’s not that unique or that rare of a talent. We hear of lots of child actors applying to top unis.</p>

<p>It is interesting, zephyr, that we’re both from Ontario. I wonder how many Canadians get in each year. Where do you hail from?</p>

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<p>Yeah you’d be surprised. There was a while ago a, like, 15-page long thread on the Harvard forum about Canadians applying to H</p>

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<p>that makes sense, Epaminondas. </p>

<p>I was on that thread ;)</p>

<p>I’m from Toronto. I know quite a few in Toronto who got in; a couple from my school even.
I think Canadians either have a closer school system to the US and that’s an advantage, or just the overall level of education is higher than most countries.
or maybe they just like Canadians better hahaha</p>

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<p>Were you guys IB/AP takers? I feel so nervous about applying - my school only offers the provincial curriculum.</p>

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<p>My school only started offering IB for the class of 2010. So I missed out.</p>

<p>Don’t worry, admission officers take all of that into account.</p>

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<p>Can you digress more about applying from the professional actor point of view?</p>