Chances +)

Colleges and Universities A-Z Columbia University
1

<p>Hello!</p>

<p>So Columbia has been my dream school since I first became conscience of it, and now I'm wondering what your guys' opinions are of my chances to be accepted!
(I'm due to apply this fall, and I intend to do early application for Columbia.)</p>

<p>+Academics:
Projected class rank: 2~ out of 700+
Projected graduating weighted GPA: 4.47
Projected graduating unweighted GPA: 3.99</p>

<p>+Standardized Testing:
ACT with writing score: 34 (9)
SAT composite: 2150
SAT II: 780 Math 2, 770 US History, 720 Chemistry, 690 Biology
AP: 4 Art History, 5 Calculus AB, 5 US History</p>

<p>+Sports:
Began swimming April 2010, participated in three teams including a USS team and high school team</p>

<p>+Employment:
Certified and working lifeguard as of Summer 2011</p>

<p>+Extracurriculars:
California Scholarship Federation membership throughout high school
American Cancer Society: 20 hours of community service
Boy Scouts of America: active since 1st grade, 300 hours of community service, numerous leadership positions (approximately 3 years of active and main leadership positions), led 250 man-hour project at local animal shelter, Eagle Scout with multiple palms (distinctions)
Science Bowl team member: will be participating in science bowls in November and February
[[Joining Junior States of America club this upcoming year (political debate club)]]</p>

<p>+Classes:
Freshman: Honors Biology, Freshman English, Algebra 2, P.E., Health/ Social Studies, Spanish 2
Sophomore: Honors Chemistry, Advanced Sophomore English, Pre-Calculus, P.E., Modern World History, Spanish 3
Junior: Honors Physics, Honors American Literature, AP Calculus AB, AP Art History, AP US History, Spanish 4
To be taken Senior year: AP Environmental Science, British Literature, AP Calculus BC, Photography, Government/ Economics, AP Spanish
--All of these classes have been the hardest available course at my school for that level except British Literature in my upcoming Senior year. Pre-Calculus was my only B+, the rest were in the A spectrum.</p>

<p>+Student Background (for what it's worth):
Half Irish, half Portuguese (Hispanic)
Catholic household, personal apatheistic views
Bisexual/ gender neutral
Middle class (financial aid will be extensive)</p>

<p>I'm interested in pursuing an education in political science/ government. Schoolwise, I'm also applying to Yale, Harvard, Georgetown, Duke and Princeton. Ambitious! I know. </p>

<p>If I forgot something, I'll include it in a comment later!</p>

<p>Questions are welcome!</p>

2

<p>You have an outstanding and competitive GPA. Your EC’s are great as well. If I were you, I would try to raise your SAT score a bit. But, either way, you have a decent shot at gaining admittance. Good luck, and I hope to see you around campus in the near future.</p>

3

<p>Also, make sure you express that your a URM (half Portuguese will suffice). This will only boost your chances.</p>

4

<p>@tsar10027 What would an acceptable SAT score be in your opinion? And thanks! Congratulations on your admittance (as I understand it!)</p>

5

<p>I think you will make it in (:</p>

6

<p>@Dorky Me too +)</p>

7

<p>Hmmm… break 2200</p>

8

<p>Looks like I’ll be retaking…</p>

<p>Bump!</p>

9

<p>Just because I’m a bit confused:
You said you’re bisexual AND gender neutral? (You realize gender neutral isn’t really a widely accepted term in sexuality studies and the actual term is usually either bigender or genderless, depending on how you meant it. Not sure if you meant you are BOTH male and female or you are neither male NOR female)?</p>

10

<p>@NYU2013 I got the feeling that it’s just an indifference in the gender of other people when it comes to attraction. Maybe I got the wrong term.</p>

11

<p>No. Gender neutral as applies to objects/ideals/entities means a gender indifference. E.g. gender neutral housing is housing that is not discriminatory based on gender. </p>

<p>A gender neutral person on the other hand would be a gender identity of oneself such that oneself does not identify as either gender OR they identify as both genders, simultaneously. Gender neutral would be bigenderness or genderlessness. As when one claims to be ‘gender neutral’ they are claiming to be a specific ‘gender’. Bisexual is a sexuality. Bisexual is a sexual orientation. ‘Gender neutrality’, if such a term were to exist, would refer to a specific gender-identity. Does the difference make sense?</p>

12

<p>@NYU2013 Ahhh, okay! Thanks for the clarification! Glad you corrected me before I got into any sort of odd predicament because of it.</p>

13

<p>Also… Georgetown’s strength is not in government/politics; it’s a common misconception. Georgetown’s strength is in IR. </p>

<p>The following universities are considered to be better than Georgetown in political science.</p>

<p>Columbia University
Cornell University
Duke University
Emory University
Harvard University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
New York University
Northwestern University
Princeton University
Stanford University
University of California-Berkeley
University of California-Los Angeles
University of Chicago
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
University of Rochester
Washington University-St Louis
Yale University</p>

<p>A few little notes:
NYU has a highly analytical approach to politics. One of the most mathematical in the 'country, since almost all professors (save some political theory) teach analytical methods (“Political Methodology”). It deals with a lot of game theory, graphing, number correlation analyzations, etc. I would presume MIT teaches a similar mathematically-inclined curriculum. George Washington, while it has a good political science program, is not at the same level as the aforementioned schools, it however does have a very good program and may make a good safety/match. It has been argued that since 2007, George Washington’s politics program has been stronger than Georgetown’s. </p>

<p>Two programs that are also good at political science but whose real strength is in International Relations are Tufts and Johns Hopkins.</p>

14

<p>I wouldn’t retake the SAT. Your score on the ACT is enough. Spend your time on things that interest you, rather than another testing session.</p>

15

<p>@SeamyBear: I think the word that you’re looking for is pansexual.</p>