Chances for Columbia, Brown, Cornell, NYU...?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Columbia is my 1st choice (will apply ED) and Brown is my 2nd.
I'll be applying to other top colleges of the like. Preferrably in New England.
I'm going to be a junior once the school year starts this coming August.
I'm female.</p>

<p>All the following are appreciated:
- comments
- evaluations
- analyses
- recommendations
- advice
- how I can improve
- what I'm lacking
- questions
- anything and everything</p>

<p>Also, if you could rate my chances in the following schools:
- Columbia
- Brown
- Cornell
- NYU
- UPenn
- Princeton
- Boston
- Emory
- Rice
- Barnard
- Georgetown
- Stanford</p>

<p>Thank you! :)</p>

<p>↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓</p>

<p>At my school's College Fair this past year there was an admissions representative from Columbia. He conducts interviews for applicants in my area. I made a good impression on him, and we talked after the event. I've kept in touch with him since then. He absolutely loves me and says that I should be going to Columbia in a few years. You think this helps?</p>

<p>*Note: My high school is an arts school. Students audition for a major to gain admission. I'm a communications major. Also, FLVS stands for Florida Virtual School.</p>

<p>• MIDDLE SCHOOL
7th grade: Algebra I Honors
8th grade: Geometry Honors, Spanish I
- A's in all classes.
- GPA: 4.0
- HPA: 4.2857
- EIC (Editor in Chief) of yearbook staff in 8th grade</p>

<p>• FRESHMAN YEAR
1: Film/Debate
2: English I Honors
3: Film/Debate
4: Biology I Honors
5: AP Human Geography
6: Algebra II Honors
7: Spanish II
FLVS: P.E. requirements
- A's in all classes.
- GPA: 4.0
- HPA: 4.5
- Unfortunately, I'm a horrible test taker. I got a 3 on the AP exam, both to my and my teacher's surprise since I was his best student.</p>

<p>• SOPHOMORE YEAR
1: English II Honors
2: Pre-Calculus Honors
3: Spanish III Honors
4: AP Biology
5: AP World History
6: Newsmagazine
7: Yearbook
- A's in all classes except for a B (89.2%) in one semester of Pre-Calculus because of a bad test grade thanks to my teacher...
- GPA: 3.8571 (1st semester)
- GPA: 4.0 (2nd semester)
- Cumulative GPA: 3.9655
- HPA: 4.6250 (1st semester)
- HPA: 4.7857 (2nd semester)
- Cumulative HPA: ?
- Editor on newsmagazine staff
- Editor on yearbook staff
- Awaiting my AP scores in July</p>

<p>• SUMMER 2011 (now)
FLVS: AP Environmental Science
FLVS: AP Macroeconomics
FLVS: AP Microeconomics
- A's in all classes</p>

<p>• JUNIOR YEAR
1: AP English & Composition
2: Spanish IV Honors
3: AP Calculus AB
4: Newsmagazine
5: AP U.S. History
6: AP Physics B
7: Yearbook
- Editor on newsmagazine staff
- Editor on yearbook staff</p>

<p>• SUMMER 2012
FLVS: AP American Government
Dual enrollment: AP Chemistry
FLVS: AP Art History (possibly, though probably not)
Possibly a job, though probably not</p>

<p>• SENIOR YEAR
1: AP English & Literature
2: AP Calculus BC
3: AP Statistics
4: AP European History
5: AP Psychology
6: Newsmagazine
7: Yearbook
- Editor on newsmagazine staff (likely will be EIC: Editor in Chief)
- Editor on yearbook staff</p>

<p>• General
- Get A's in all classes
- Keep GPA where it is
- HPA of 5.0+
- Top 5 of my class (approx. 335)
- My high school is nationally ranked in the top 100
- 17-18 AP classes by the time high school is done</p>

<p>• Athletics
- Competitively swimming on a club team for 8 years. Stopped after 1-2 months into sophomore year because the time devoted to it was going to cause my grades to drop. It was the hardest decision I ever had to make. I was in tears for days.
- School swim team all 4 years. This is my way of continuing swimming as much as possible since I can no longer swim on my club team. Junior Olympics (J.O.) qualifier since 10 years of age. In freshman year, Regionals qualifier for 200 Yard Freestyle. In sophomore year, Regionale qualifier for 500 Yard Freestyle. On Regionals-qualifying relay teams as well.</p>

<p>• Clubs/Extra-Curriculars (so far)
- Newsmagazine (Silver Crown winner of the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, CSPA, Awards 2011, and has won national competitions many times before)
- Yearbook (also recognized nationally)
- Key Club
- SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions)
- A.R.T.S. (Artists Reaching out To Students and Seniors)</p>

<p>• Community Service
- 100 hours by end of sophomore year
- Plan on getting 200 more hours by the time I begin applying
- Heavily involved in a local library. I plan on reviving the Teen Advisory Board and going places with it.</p>

<p>• Awards (so far)
- 1st place in the state (Florida) for the Stock Market Game (SMG) writing contest for the middle school division when I was in 7th grade (although does this matter since it happened in middle school?)
- Do the Write Thing writing essay winner in 8th grade
- "Excellence" in a yearbook copy in 8th grade
- Honor Roll since the day I stepped foot in school
- Teachers choose me for subject-specific awards</p>

<p>• Family
- Father will be 54 when I apply
- Mother will be 53 when I apply
- Brother will be 15 when I apply
- Brother will be 12 when I apply
- Father born in Ohio and has a German background. Has a Bachelor's degree and works as a RN (Registered Nurse) in a hospital's ER (Emergency Room).
- Mother born in Dominican Republic. Completed high school but no college. Works at Publix.
- Middle class
- Middle income (around $70K)</p>

<p>• Finances
- No college savings
- No savings
- No liquid assets</p>

<p>• Testing
- Have yet to take the SAT, SAT Subject Tests, ACT
- Working on becoming a better test-taker</p>

<p>• Future Plans
- Possibly a job in summer 2012
- Tour colleges in summer 2012
- College major: astrophysics/astronomy
- College minor: evolutionary ecology
[ Know of any schools I haven't listed that you think would interest me? ]</p>

<p>• Other
- Play the piano
- Interests: politics, economics, psychology, law, quantum physics
- In March 2011 (sophomore year), attended the Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA). It is an event Columbia's holds where students from journalistic publications come to. I believe my school's newsmagazine staff will be going this upcoming school year again.
- Been to a join-college info seminar that Columbia and Brown traveled with.</p>

<p>Writing is a big part of my life. I've been into it since elementary school. Have gotten 6.0's (perfect scores) on FCAT's (Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test) writing tests. FCAT is a state diagnostic test. The FCAT bit doesn't really matter; in fact, I call it FCRAP. Anyhow, I'm on two nationally-recognized school publications and have held editor positions in both ever since I was on the staff, which is unusual and rare for a student's first year at my school. I plan to use my writing skills to my advantage in my admissions essays. Should writing/journalism be that thing that makes me stand out to the admissions board? How can I develop this part of my life to make it truly extraordinary?</p>

<p>[ By the way, since I'm middle class, what kind of financial aid can I be expecting? How much will my "family contribution" be? Because they definitely can't afford $50K+ a year, and neither can I in student loans. And do they care about "demonstrated interest"? ]</p>

2

<p>I’d say it’s a bit early to give you a clear cut yes or no. You have great ECs so far though, so keep that up. Once you take the SAT and SAT IIs, it will become clearer, but for now, you’re doing very well!</p>

3

<p>Make sure you get those leadership positions in ECs, and try to become involved in a little bit more (no matter how involved you are, it never seems to be enough with these schools). You should be aiming for 2200+ on your SATs - hopefully what you said about not being a good test-taker doesn’t hurt you too much. Good luck!</p>

4

<p>Quite a generic resume just the type applicants to HYPS and other top schools have but nevertheless impressive academics and if the trend continues you will be an amazing academic fit for your top schools. ECs I am not so sure but you seem to have some amazing interests such as writing but if its your passion then why don’t you start participating at writing and essay competitions do evaluations of literary pieces write up for newspaper? That could make you a stronger applicant! If its really your passion you can reach great heights with it! </p>

<p>Remember admissions is a crap shoot…we have got no clue what goes on at the admission board but based on what most would say DO what YOU love …don’t do something you don’t like just to impress the Ivies, really be interested in your schools and most importantly enjoy your high school life! You still have a lot of time :)</p>

5

<p>Oh, I forgot to say that I actually have been published before. I think I will begin doing more in this part of my life; I do truly love it. Thanks for the advice!</p>

<p>Yeah, admissions are definitely a crapshoot. I’ve seen tons of people get rejected when they were over-qualified while under-qualified applicants get accepted. I know that I’m by no means a genius, so I’m really hoping that besides my academics my admissions essays, ECs, and personality are enough to make a good impression. I’m so ready and excited for college; I just hope our economy’s issues don’t mess with it.</p>

<p>Anyhow, thank you to the above!</p>

6

<p>Anyone else?</p>

7

<p>What kind of assurance did the Columbia Rep give you?</p>

8

<p>Academically, you’re sound. Just keep it up and don’t let the pressure - which will get tougher your junior year - get to you. The sheer amount of APs is impressive, just make sure the majority, or at least the ones you’re very passionate about (pertinent to your major) are good scores; so I would say work on your test-taking. This will no doubt help on your SATs and/or ACT which you have yet to take. Once you get those results in, you will have a clearer picture of your chances. Be sure to plan out your testing schedule (keep in mind you can only take one SAT or 3 Subject Tests per sitting).</p>

<p>Your ECs are great. They’re not all over the place but rather concentrated, in Yearbook, which you seem to enjoy. Keep it up, make sure you get those leadership roles and then do something with them. As a senior, I can say my biggest regret in HS has be not pushing myself as hard as I can and getting involved. Your swim credentials are just icing on the cake. Quality not quantity.</p>

<p>You say you’re a good writer, no doubt, as your awards point out. Let that shine on your college essays. As long as you get good test scores (even with mediocre ones), you’re set for Florida schools because of your impressive ECs and recognitions.</p>

<p>I think you can get into NYU. The top-schools are, as prior mentioned, crapshoots but you’re definitely on the right path if you keep up the momentum.</p>

9

<p>Well, he’s not the admissions board, and ultimately doesn’t make the decision. He gives reviews of the students he interviews. He can either not recommend you or highly recommend you, etc.</p>

<p>But, he really likes me. At College Fair he said that my parents should be proud of me and that even he is. His sons went to my high school, so he loves kids from my school. But on that day he noticed I was very tentative to Columbia because I stayed at his table for the whole event. He liked how I knew what I wanted, and that I was devoted to it. We talk through e-mails now, and he firmly believes I should go to Columbia. He has invited me to speak with his sons who are going to Columbia or graduating. He even told me he’d have his son give me a personal tour when I went to Columbia for CSPA (although during that time his son was away for vacation). He also invited me to a send-off event his family business is having for entering Columbia freshmen for the 2011-2012 school year.</p>

10

<p>Thank you, calipe! That’s reassuring. I’m very insecure about myself sometimes when it comes to academics just because I feel inadequate compared to other people I know or hear about.</p>

<p>I want to get OUT of Florida and to go New England. I’m applying to UF only because it will be my safe school.</p>

<p>As for testing…I was supposed to take two SAT Subject Tests earlier this month, but chickened out because I mismanaged my time at the end of sophomore year, so wasn’t prepared. And I definitely was not about to get crappy scores to add to my resume! Anyhow, I’m studying for the SAT in October, as well as the ACT, and I’ll be taking the physics SAT Subject Test in June 2012 along with another one or two. Probably Biology since I took AP Biology last year and since it correlates with a minor of evolutionary ecoloy.</p>

<p>As for my leadership roles, when you say DO something with them, what exactly do you have in mind?</p>

11

<p>Even though you’re overly qualified for UF, apply to FSU and/or UCF as “safety safety” in your case. Believe it or not, I personally know people who have been accepted into top schools (Columbia, Duke, Stanford… I can recall) but rejected from UF. You got nothing to lose, play it safe. This might sound silly but you don’t want to be rejected from your safety if worst comes to worst. UF admissions can be… sporadic. </p>

<p>As in doing something with those leadership roles, do something no prior EIC at your school has done. Be innovative, open new sections for your yearbook/newspaper. Don’t just copy your predecessors — learn what they did right and mimic, but try new things as well. Ask around kids for feedback on what they would change, add, and/or delete. For example, yearbooks are normally expensive. Maybe you could head a drive to make them affordable for students who can demonstrate need? I am not knowledgeable enough in this field to comment very specifically but generally, go beyond the regular scope of your passion and demonstrate something that really sets you apart. You’ve no doubt heard that before but with top schools, good academics and scores are a given. This “other stuff” is what sets you apart.</p>

12

<p>Next year in yearbook I’m going to be Student Life editor. I’m switching up what spreads we do, because frankly, half of them are boring and no one cares about them, myself included. Student Life is supposed to be exciting and capture the attention of students, especially since it’s about them. My school is really “special” and has this unique vibe throughout campus going on, so I’m creating an “Only at (insert school name here)” spread. This “Only at <em>__” phrase is something that students at my school use frequently to describe how special our school is. For example, one of them is “Only at </em> can there be two prom kings.” (By the way, this actually happened one year.) I created an e-mail account for submissions already and am super excited to get started on it!</p>

13

<p>I’m in accordance with the other posts: it’s a little to early to chance you now considering junior year is arguably the most important year, but if the trend continues and you reach all the goals you’ve set for yourself, I’d say you’re definitely in the running for HYP+. You don’t have anything too spectacular to set you aside from some of the other applicants, but you have a decent amount there to give you a fair shot.</p>

14

<p>Hey thanks for chancing me! :slight_smile: I read your posts and so far it definitely looks like you’re on the right track. As a rising junior, your work is not quite over yet hahaha…</p>

<p>Things you can do to solidify your app-
-Nail the SAT(a 2300 could make you, and a 2100 could break you)
-Build your ECs ( caution- do not pile on miscellaneous EC activities, expand on your passions/current ECs), try to gain leadership positions
-Based on your writing talent, Junior year english composition should be a breeze for you as long as you don’t have a problem with reading comprehension. Make sure your teacher likes you and get him/her to write you an amazing rec letter saying what a great student/writer you are
-Bust your *** junior year and lock in another 4.0 year. It’s the most important year… It’s gonna kind of suck with spanish/physics/calculus but you can do it. Just think about it, senior year will be your break :D</p>

<p>If everything turns out well, and you continue to kick *** and make the best application you can, this is a rough estimate of the colleges you named…</p>

<ul>
<li>Columbia - match</li>
<li>Brown - match</li>
<li>Cornell - match</li>
<li>NYU - match</li>
<li>UPenn - high match</li>
<li>Princeton - reach</li>
<li>Boston - match</li>
<li>Emory - match</li>
<li>Rice - match</li>
<li>Barnard - safety</li>
<li>Georgetown - high match</li>
<li>Stanford - high reach</li>
</ul>

<p>good luck!!</p>

15

<p>As a rising senior who focused a lot on doing the things to get admitted to top schools for my first 2.5 years of high school here is my advice. Focus on the swimming. I found out my athletic giftedness in crew in the half way point of junior year and am on the cusp of being recruited by ivies. I have come to the point where I have realized that my academic achievements and traditional ecs (debate, newspaper, all that other bs) are extraneous because of my athletic ability. You appear to have that kind of athletic ability( and if you dont now then it at least appears that you could have it)and if you focus and train with it in mind that slacking off for even a second will keep you from getting into the school of your dreams then you will do it. Trust me… I was like you up until recently. Although you do gotta stress a bit longer so that you succeed on the sat. And I am by no means saying that you should slack in school work I am just saying that swimming should become more important to you than you make it seem in this post because as I’ve x
come to learn that athletics is the only sure way of going to these super competitive schools. Also keep in mind that you can get straight as and be just as well off as if you got straight a pluses and that extra sleep goes a long way especially in sports</p>

16

<p>everything is hard to tell because your SAT score isn’t in and there’s still a lot of things you can do before application time!</p>

<ul>
<li>Columbia, if you’re doing ED, the acceptance rate for ED is about 22%, so I think you have fair chances there.</li>
<li>Brown is going to be a toughy just because they really want kids who can bring diversity to the campus. there’s a lot of focus on the application ESSAY.</li>
<li>Cornell & NYU shouldn’t be a problem as long as your SAT score is above 2200+, great chances here.</li>
<li>UPenn, if get 2200+ and ur rank stays the same/gets better, i’d say good chances here too!</li>
<li>Princeton and stanford are just going to be reaches because too many “soft factors” for these schools. especially stanford, they’re looking for someone who is really good at ONE specific thing like let’s say you’re a genius at chess or a genius at robotics. they also really like athletes. basically you have to play up one of your extracurriculars. i know someone who wasn’t ranked that high but got in because she was amazing at playing the clarinet.</li>
<li>Boston - match</li>
<li>Emory should be match, rice is gonna be low reach/high match</li>
<li>Barnard, idk much about this place</li>
<li>Georgetown, they really like if you take Latin / have political ties with politicians lolol. but yeah you should have extracurriculars in the “political field” like JSA or Model UN, etc.</li>
</ul>

<p>work REALLY hard junior year. write AMAZING essays. don’t screw up the SAT, as in 2200+, preferably 2300+.</p>

<p>you’ll do great! good luck!</p>

17

<p>^ I agree with everything he said. Get those sat scores in and work hard! Good luck</p>

18

<p>Again, silly to chance a rising junior, but I like your chances!

  1. 2300 SAT
  2. Beat the crap out of junior year.
  3. stick to what you love.</p>

<p>You should be pleasently suprised if you follow the above recipe.</p>

<p>Chance me?
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=1165758[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=1165758&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

19

<p>Still got a long time to go, but it’s never too early to start looking at this point in high school. If you keep up everything and improve steadily, I can see you getting into most places you’re looking at. Stanford could be a bit of a reach.</p>

20

<p>You look exceptionally strong pretty much everywhere, and I wouldn’t start worrying yet. Even with a decent sat score(2000+) you are a match for most of you’re schools, and with something higher a match for all of them. All I can suggest is self studying physics C mech/e&m for senior year so that you have a science, and taking ap Spanish or at least the ap exam. Get the blue book for sat. Good luck!</p>