Columbia or Swarthmore Early Decision (very hard to decide)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>My dream school is Columbia and I want to apply Early Decision there but I also almost equally love Swarthmore College and I'm wondering how much better of a chance I have at swarthmore than Columbia. What do you think my chances are of getting admitted, deferred or denied to Columbia and what do you think my chances of getting admitted, deferred, or denied at Swarthmore?
Stats:</p>

<p>Freshman Year:
5 classes total/2 Honors
First Semester: 1 B (English Honors)
Second Semester: straight A's</p>

<p>Sophomore:
1 AP and Two Honors out of 5 academic classes
I added Human Geo AP as a 2nd semester class
Straight A's both semesters.
I also participated in the science fair, which counts as a class, but I entered the program too late to add it to my schedule. The class is also honors weighted. </p>

<p>Junior:
3 APs and 1 Honors out of 5 academic classes. I also took a Junior college class first semester and self-studied for the AP Comp. Gov. Exam.
First semester: straight A's
Second Semester: 1 B (pre-calc Honors). I missed about 1/3 of my days of school due to illnesses. </p>

<p>9-11 GPA: 4.6-this is horrible.
10-11 GPA: 4.7</p>

<p>Senior Year:
AP Calc BC
AP English Lit.
AP Physics C
AP Environmental Science
AP Government/AP Econ (1 class)</p>

<p>SAT: Will not take
ACT: 32 (third try) and so is this.
SAT Subject: 770 US History 710 Bio E
AP:
5-Biology
5-European History
5-Comparative Government
5-US History
4-Human Geo
4-English Language</p>

<p>Extracurriculers:
Golf (4 year Varsity Co-Captain; 2007 Co-MVP; I have made the league qualifying tournament every year, but have been eliminated in the first round; My team has made the post-season the last two years, but we have not advanced)
SCPGA Jr. Golf Tour: i have played 4 SCPGA Jr. Golf tour events and plan to play 2-3 more. My best finish is t-16 and I hope to get 1 or 2 top 10 finishes.
Key Club (10-12): I served as recording secretary of my school last year and now hold the #5 position in Key Club International
about 230 community service hours
MUN: two year member (11-12) of MUN. its a class and club. I won an outstanding award at a small conference
Junior State of America (11-12): Co-secretary and regional expansion agent as a junior, co-historian as a senior.
Spanish Honors Society (10-12)
Mu Alpha Theta Math Honors Society (11-12)
Science Team (11-12): I'm currently treasurer. I competed in Ocean Bowl last year (5th at regionals) and was on the non-competitive science bowl team. I plan on doing Ocean Bowl, Science Bowl (competitive team) and science olympiad this year.
Science Fair: participated in my school and the Intel regional (not the big one) science fairs as a junior.
Academic Decathlon (12-new club)-appointed Co-President
Last summer I volunteered at a camp for autistic children, the summer before I went to a week-long golf camp and the summer before I did summer school.
CSF Member since freshman year
High Honor Roll every semester
AP Scholar W/Distinction.
Probably National honors society (12th grade) </p>

<p>Im from CA and 1/4 mexican, but I can only put it as an added ethnicity because I have 0 connection to the mexican culture. I also look very white and have a white last name. I would be a very minor URM</p>

<p>Please be honest.
Thanks!</p>

2

<p>What’s your rank?</p>

3

<p>SAT? 10char</p>

4

<p>School doesn’t rank. I don’t even think we do deciles but I am probably low top 10%. My guidance counselor will probably put most rigorous though and the only reason my GPA is not higher is that I did not take the following honors courses: Algebra 2 Honors, Geometry Honors, Spanish 3 Honors, Spanish 4 AP. All of those courses are traditionally Sophomore or freshman courses except spanish 4 AP and I have taken the harder math courses. I also have the same number of APs or even more than most ivy leaguers that come from my school. I took pre calculus Honors last year and got an A first semester and a B second semester and I am currently enrolled in AP Calc BC and Physics C AP.</p>

5

<p>Colleges will know where you rank. If you’re at the bottom of the top decile, and also have a marginal ACT, Columbia is highly unlikely. I’d give Swat the ED application.</p>

6

<p>“All of those courses are traditionally Sophomore or freshman courses except spanish 4 AP and I have taken the harder math courses.”
???
So how many years of Spanish or another foreign language have you taken in HS?</p>

7

<p>four year of Spanish, just no honors or AP spanish (my major weakness). and the odd thing is i don’t think colleges care about rank that much at our school. The grades are really weird and like many students like me that have low rank get into top schools while some students with near 4.9 GPAs don’t get in. Our school weights lots of easy classes and our rankings aren’t that reliable so I don’t think it will make that big of a difference. I think the key thing is lots of AP, high AP test scores and hard honors classes (i.e. pre calc honors, not marine bio honors).</p>

8

<p>bump please :)</p>

9

<p>I agree with hmom, IF you would be very happy at swarthmore AND want to play the ED card then apply there ED. I would NOT play the URM card as a 25% Latina without a Spanish AP class.</p>

10

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<p>That would make your school the only one. Of course at many schools it’s not the top students who get into the top colleges–the hooked often trump them.</p>

11

<p>A lot of courses at our school that are honors weighted should not be so the GPAs aren’t that great of predictors for college apps. I have known numerous candidates with 4.6s and no URM, hooks, etc. (including many anti-hooks like ORM) beat out kids with 4.9s because the have taken better courses.
Colleges don’t think AP calc BC is equal to marine bio honors even though it is at our school. But thanks for the feedback</p>