chances... yet, once again

<p>you guys are probably all tired of reading these threads, but i figure it was worth a shot... i'd really appreciate it!</p>

<p>South Asian Female from the suburbs of Boston. I attend a high-rated (although overrated in my opinion) super academically challenging private school.</p>

<p>SATI: 2190 Combined, CR: 730, M: 670, W: 790... yeah i know the math isn't pretty, but i tried my hardest and math is DEFINITELY not my strong area</p>

<p>ACT: 32 Combined, E 36 R 35 M 28 S 30... Writing Combined 34</p>

<p>Grades:
9th: 88/100
10th: 89/100
11th: 4 A's and 2 B's (yes one in math... i'll explain the weird change lateR)
12th: 91/100</p>

<p>I studied and lived for nine months in France through a school year abroad program through Exeter and Andove.r it was AWESOME (i HIGHLY recommend it to kids with siblings who may be interested) and hopefully my passion for the culture and language comes through in the application as well. 4/6 of my classes were taught completely in french, and it was complete immersion and so I wrote my essay on my love for the culture (it's not as cut and dry as it sounds, and hopefully not to hackneyed), and thought that the essay was good. At least, in my opinion, it covered everything i wanted to convey and reflected a great deal of my personality.</p>

<p>EC's:
Managing editor of paper (features editor 9/10 grades)
Varsity swim and dive team
boosters club (nomination only organization tha tshows service to the school)
tour guides
full line designer in annual school charity fashion show
english tutor and class aide in france
pediatric hospital volunteer
secretary of asian youth group in the community
ballet training
classical voice training
piano training
(all/most of my acti vities have been throughout high school, with a break during 11th grade, and they were all picked up when i came back from france... i did continue my voice training in france though)</p>

<p>No rank in school, national merit commended scholar, my school doesn't gice out awards or distinctions until the graduation ceremony</p>

<p>Recs: didn't read but hopefully good; one from my math teacher which hopefully shows how hard i work at the subject although i'm not a big fan of it; both recs are from my teachers last year in france</p>

<p>Brother graduated from SEAS in 2002-- not a legacy at all but still</p>

<p>Summer:
Research internship last summer
camp counselor for 5 year olds (wouldn't recommend it) the summer before
Columbia's very own CSPA Journalism Seminar, and Business ENrichment Camp the summer before that... couldn't write about it in my app though, because they only asked about the past two summers. i hold a year round job at J Crew as well.</p>

<p>hopefully that covers everything. thanks in advance for the honesty... and good luck to everyone else out there as well!</p>

<p>you have a load of ec's, which is great. if you can pick one and paint it to the level of, say, starting your own humanitarian organization or publishing a few research papers, you'd be a great candidate for columbia.</p>

<p>your grades aren't fantastic, but i don't think they'd keep you out of the race. yes, i know grades are different at an elite challenging private school (i go to one too) but they could be better i guess. but you have the improvement curve which is nice. i'm wondering why you took both the act and the sat but you don't have to answer that one.</p>