<p>How would you rank these items based on what Columbia considers more or less important while admitting students? </p>
<li>GPA</li>
<li>Rank</li>
<li>Course Rigor</li>
<li>Extracurriculars</li>
<li>Essays</li>
<li>Recommendation Letters</li>
<li>Ethnicity/Race (I’m Indian. Woo.) </li>
<li>“well-roundedness” v. being really good at one particular thing</li>
<li>Leadership & Dedication </li>
<li>Early Decision v. Regular Decision</li>
</ol>
<p>1 and 2 are definitely first and 3 fits in naturally with those two, but an argument can be made that if you are particularly strong in any other major aspect you listed, you would be just a strong of a candidate.</p>
<p>But the truth is that many people applying and those who ultimately get admitted have too similar GPA, ranks, and course rigors (> 4.0, 1st, 2nd, 3rd ranked, all AP’s), so its the other things that will set you off. In that you can’t really change much about 6, 7, or 8, focus on improving the other things.</p>
<p>ED has a higher admit rate, I believe, but you’d most likely have equally as good of a shot at making it in RD.</p>
<p>You missed test scores?</p>
<p>and i’d put #10 at #8</p>
<p>oh damn, i totally did. those aren’t my ranks, just 10 things i came up with. but yeah test scores, i forgot.</p>
<p>from my experience, 2 is seriously not as important as people make it out to be. by the time your admissions rep sees your app, s/he knows your school pretty well to understand the context of your GPA.</p>
<p>1 and 3 are first, followed by a tie for 4 and 6 (9 is kind of encompassed by 4). then 10 (okay seriously, ED is easier. i know they saw the pools are the same, but anecdotally, they are definitely NOT). then 5. this all together is essentially ONE package though. think of it as a tier… not a rank of each specific aspect.</p>
<p>then going off the tier-idea, one tier down are aspects 6, 7 and 2.</p>
<p>oh if you factor in test scores, i say that goes along with points 4&6.</p>
<p>yeah, rank’s not that huge. my school only does unweighted rank and i was 44th (although later when my school weighted my rank for a scholarship i found out i woulda been 1st). i still got in.</p>
<p>gpa and test scores i mean obviously. </p>
<p>but if there’s one thing columbia looks for especially it’s probably just a certain kind of intellectualism or curiosity about things as well as an eagerness for diversity and exploration. i know that’s all glittering generalities but what else can i give ya.</p>
<p>You also forgot legacy.</p>
<p>haha hopefully they see that glitter when I apply ED next year. </p>
<p>Academically, I meet their averages easily. Mostly smack dab in the middle for all of the SAT scores. 3.8/4.3 GPA - nothing spectacular, and in my school, might kick me out of the top 5%. But my EC’s are really, truly strong in terms of dedication, talent, awards, and leadership. I have a lot of stuff that really helps me out, but everything is outside of school. Like getting poems published and winning money and stuff at science fairs. I don’t know how bad it hurts me that my in school academic performance isn’t special at all.</p>
<p>hmm…so GPA is that important! anyway, what IB score do you think would be considered sufficient by the admission offices? im an international student</p>
<p>38+/42
40+/45
preferably 40+/42, and 42+/45</p>
<p>below 38 you need to have something really special, and even then it’s still unlikely. It also depends on how accurate your school has been in the past / how credible their predictions and grades are. If your school is less credible then even 38 might not be able to cut it. they get 45 candidates applying. a kid from my school who did ED to Columbia had a 45 predicted and achieved it no sweat also.</p>
<p>^^
…i was always under the impression that a score of around 38 would be somewhat adequate, just that i wasnt so sure…</p>
<p>sigh. who doesn’t love a good rat race?
ahaha i think i’m getting quoted in the NYT and they asked me what school I wanted to go to and I said “Columbia” so hopefully someone from columbia sees that! </p>
<p>(don’t shatter my dreams :P)</p>