Columbia, UMich, NYU, UCs, Cornell?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I’m a first generation Asian American female planning to go into the literature-ish field. I’m not entirely decided on my degree & career plans yet but here’s what I have as of now.

SAT I: 2310; R 780, M 800, W 730
ACT: 34, will take again
SAT II: Math II 800, Literature 770, Biology E 760

Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.97674

Weighted GPA: 4.67442
Rank/percentile: Unweighted 33 / 96.23%; Weighted 46 / 94.45%

Intended Major: English/Creative Writing
Minor or possibly double major: Molecular Biology

APs: Biology (5), Human Geography (4), Calculus BC (4). APUSH (4), Spanish (3), Psychology (5), Lang and Comp (5)

Senior Year Course Load: AP English 12, AP Statistics, AP US Government, AP Econ, AP Chemistry, Newspaper Staff, Creative Writing

Major Awards:
• 2013 Scholastic Art and Writing Gold Key
• 2014 Scholastic Art and Writing Silver Key
• 2014 Finalist in Ayn Rand Anthem essay contest
• 2014 Arizona taekwondo state champion (junior division)
• 2014 Winter Trophy Speech and Debate PF silver medal
• 2015 AP Scholar
• 2015 Scholastic Art and Writing Gold Key (x2)
• 2015 Scholastic Art and Writing National Silver Medal
• 2015 Las Vegas Taekwondo State Championship bronze medal (pair forms)

Extracurriculars and Clubs (place leadership in parenthesis):

• Taekwondo (for 11 years; 3rd degree black belt and instructor at my dojang)
• Archery until sophomore year; regularly won state tournaments (can’t remember the details at the moment)
• Phoenix Youth Symphony
• All-Region and All-State Band in 9th, 10th, and 11th grade

Job/Work Experience:
• Young Authors of Arizona: student leader and events manager
• Hamilton Paw Print (school newspaper): co-editor-in-chief and magazine designer; soon to be editor-in-chief
• Modern Ink writing club: president
• Brooklyn Arts Press: intern; helped with new marketing techniques and editing poetry books
• Polyphony HS (online literary magazine): First Reader
• Two Views (teen news source): Opinion Editor
• Published in two annual Best Teen Writers of AZ anthologies

Volunteer/Community service/Clubs:
• Volunteer weekly at taekwondo dojang and day care
• Member of NHS
• 2015-2016 member of Link Crew
• Advisory board for school’s GSA

Summer Activities:
• 2014 Stanford Pre-Collegiate Studies for Sociology
• 2015 Attended National Scholastic ceremony at Carnegie Hall
• 2016 Brooklyn Arts Press internship
• 2016 Polyphony HS editors’ workshop

I’ve also been contacted by the Associate Director of Writing Recruitment at UPenn, if that counts for anything.

Chance me for Columbia, UMich, NYU, UCSD, UCLA, Cornell?

(Also, will the 3 in AP Spanish do any significant damage to my chances?)

2

I can’t speak to the other schools but your chances for Umich are great. I have not heard of an applicant with similarly robust transcripts being turned down.

3

Reach: Columbia
Slight Reach: Cornell
Match: UMich, NYU, UCLA
Very Probable: UCSD

And no, a 3 on AP Spanish will not hurt you in any way. AP scores are basically meaningless to adcoms

4

Your resume looks great! You should definitely have a chance at the Ivies. I don’t know if things have changed since I applied (I just graduated from college), but do you really need that ACT score? You already took the SATs and your score is great, so I wouldn’t re-take the ACT score. Also, when you apply to Columbia, be sure to look up the Core Curriculum courses (in particular, Literature Humanities and Contemporary Civilization). Since you’re considering literature, you should emphasize that in your app (there’s a supplemental essay asking about your potential major) and link it to Columbia’s Core.

5

Wow, you’re an outstanding applicant. The only real reach on your list is Columbia. Cornell is a high match/ low reach and the others are pretty much low matches/safety (even Berkeley of you are in state; if not, high match). Great test scores (DO NOT RETAKE ACT; IT IS A WASTE OF TIME IMO), great awards, great ECs. I don’t really see any weaknesses in your app. Write great essays and get good letters of rec and you’ll have many college options.

Chance back?

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1903498-separate-my-college-list-into-low-medium-high-reach-match-or-safety-i-will-chance-back.html

6

I honestly think you have PHENOMENAL chances at all of these schools- if you’re going for English major, that is. Everything about you relates to English. I think you should be fine.

Chance back? http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/19813138/#Comment_19813138

7

@sbckim

I think you have good chances at Michigan - make sure you apply early and show your passion in your supplements and application!

Also, by writing the name of your school newspaper, you have essentially given us your high school and potentially compromised your anonymity. Please be more careful with your posts.