<p>I have been browsing the site anonymously for a decent amount of time and figured I would present my own scholastic profile to receive input on my chances of being admitted. This is the final week of my junior year of high school. </p>
<p>I appreciate everyone's input!</p>
<p>ACADEMIC OVERVIEW
- Ranked #1 in a class of ~400 students at an 'Excellent'-rated public school. On track to being the valedictorian of my class.
- Took 4 AP classes my junior year (Government, Chemistry, English Lang. and Comp, World History) and am taking 5 my senior year (Economics, Statistics, Calculus, English Lit. and Comp, Physics). Am also taking a college US History class offered at the high school through Ohio Northern University. All courses I take are considered honors or advanced.
- Am on track to graduate with above a 5.0 weighted GPA.
- Have maintained straight A's in every class throughout my high school career, with the exception of one B in AP Chemistry.
- Latest ACT composite score is a 30, which I find unacceptable haha. I will be retaking it later this year, in addition to the SAT and subject tests in Spanish with Listening, US History, and another undecided subject.</p>
<p>EXTRACURRICULAR OVERVIEW
- Vice-President of the class of 2012.
- Three year member of the National Honor Society.
- Member of the speech and debate team for my senior year.
- Three year member of the Link Crew, an organization established to assist incoming freshmen.
- Four year member of our school's award winning show choir, serving as the Bass Section Leader. Throughout the last three seasons, our group has won over 10 championships, with one season still left to go!
- Four year member of our school's marching band, where I have played alto, tenor, and baritone saxophones, as well as keyboard.
- Leading roles in the past three high school musicals. The father and Potiphar in "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolored Dreamcoat," Nicely Nicely Johnson in "Guys and Dolls," and most recently the Beast in "Beauty and the Beast." Rumor has it that the musical my senior year is going to be Les Miserables. I plan on submitting vocal performances with the hope of participating in Columbia's choirs or drama programs. </p>
<p>My passion for Columbia stems from both my desire for a reputable Ivy League education, as well as my desire for an opportunity to explore my many musical interests - what better place to do so than in New York City?</p>
<p>If I have forgotten anything, please let me know. I appreciate your time!</p>
<p>Hey ok, so I’m assuming Columbia is your top choice, or at least one of your top choices?
Academics: I really like the balance of AP’s you have. I’m assuming since you are #1 that you have straight A’s, which is good. I’m assuming your unweighted Gpa is about a 4.0, as the weighted is 5.0? Going back the the AP’s, I like that you took AP’s from different branches of learning, something I believe Columbia values. For the ACT, your score is within the mid 50% range I believe, but someone should check up on that. You could always, as you said take it again. I took the SAT, so I can’t really judge. </p>
<p>ECs: You have lots of ECs, but I don’t see any community service beyond the Link Crew. I think community service is an important factor, but I’m assuming you have some since you are in NHS. It probably won’t make much of a difference, but in case you want to try something else. Otherwise, your ECs seem fine. Remember depth>breadth. Make sure that you do as much as you can in each of your ECs. I’ve heard this many time from college reps, but you seem to be doing this in drama, NHS, link crew, and the choir, so I don’t see problems there!</p>
<p>Overall, you seem to be a pretty strong candidate for Columbia, but you should formulate a better answer for “why columbia?” I don’t’ remember the exact questions on the commonapp, but you should be able to answer them specifically. Columbia doesn’t want general answers such as, I want to be in a big city. Not to say that that is not important, just the answers should be specific.</p>
<p>To clarify, yes, I have accumulated hours of community service through NHS and a local leadership organization that I forgot to elaborate on. I just wrote this up before I went to bed last night. </p>
<p>You sound great! But one thing I don’t think CC stresses enough is the importance of personality. What have you been through? What have you experienced? My suggestion is to take time your senior year and try to delve into who you are as a person and let that come out during your application process. Add your personal signature to it, and I think I might see you on campus :)</p>
If you write a why Columbia essay on this, you will most likely get rejected (especially when admissions rate is 6.9%). And this is not my words, it is the words from the admissions director when I attended the information session on campus before they switched to common app so yeah they are even more stringent on essays now. There are two things that they don’t want to see and you have them both in your statement.</p>
<p>CD, thanks for the suggestions! Great questions which I definitely need to ponder during my senior year. </p>
<p>Gunit, that confirms what I already suspected - I imagine they get thousands of applications with similar content. Did the admissions director happen to advise you on a more successful route? Perhaps family history in NYC? I’d hate to complete ignore those two factors, because theyre very significant, but I know I do not want them to be the focus of my essay.</p>
<p>Well you see, they ask about why Columbia in one of their supplementary questions. While NYC is an important component, I think it’s more important to talk about the Core and academics at the University. If you do talk about the city, you could talk about internship opportunities, but remember there are many universities in New York. New York should not be the focus, but the university itself. I don’t suggest saying that you want to apply because Columbia is an Ivy League school.</p>