<p>Hey guys. I'm going to be a senior in the fall and I'm kind of confused about what I should do. I've been looking / am very interested in a couple of schools, many of them Ivies...but I'm not quite sure if I'd be able to get in. I hope to do something science related.</p>
<p>QUESTION: Should I do Columbia ED because they have a good science program? Or try Yale EA and a bunch of other strong/good schools [UPenn, Columbia, Harvard] for regular and see from there? I'm scared that if I try the second option, I'll just be rejected everywhere since regular decisions is so competitive. Am I just aiming way too high?</p>
<p>My stats:
GPA: 4.3ish [no idea how to do unweighted and my school's gpa is out of a weird scale too. i believe max is 4.4-4.5ish]</p>
<p>SAT: took twice, superscore 2360. [math:760, reading:800, writing:800]</p>
<p>AP Chem, AP Lang&Comp, AP US history, AP world history: 5</p>
<p>EC:
debate: participated 8th-12th grade- varsity, president
humanitarian service club 6th-12th - president
chemistry club 11th, 12th- president
tutoring club 9th-12th- vicepresident
chinese cultural club 9th-12th- president
multicultural club 10th-12th- president </p>
<p>Other EC: I'm attending Columbia Science Honors Program, have been interning/volunteering at Columbia Medical Center for the past 3 summers and will hopefully enter Siemens/Intel this coming year. I have some random awards for Spanish competitions on the state level, piano certificates, local chemistry competition, I've also gone to the national level for the Chemistry Olympiad. Hopefully will also be a semifinalist for national merit [psat 238]</p>
<p>Apply to Columbia ED if and only if you are certain it’s your absolute first choice. If you’re not sure, you might get what you want (an acceptance letter), and then wonder whether you should have waited to apply to Yale, Penn and/or Harvard (and/or others). If you’re certain, go for it!</p>
<p>Your being the president of 5 clubs and VP of another brings to question just how much time and effort you are allocating to each individual activity.</p>
<p>i see your point! but i mean, it is do-able with time management and considering there are other officers in the club. are you implying it might raise an eyebrow during admissions or interviews?</p>
<p>maybe 5 years ago it might not have been so eyebrow-raising. However, nowadays, so many students just become the president for college and not contribute significantly to the clubs. therefore, the adcoms really doubt whether you really did any work for the clubs and how much you are/were dedicated to the clubs.</p>
<p>you need to try and show that you did spend significant amounts of time in each of them and that you did indeed contribute significantly. don’t give them the benefit of the doubt.</p>
<p>I think you should apply to Columbia ED if you are certain that you want to go there. You have strong test scores and a good GPA. I think being president of 6 clubs could go either way. Adcoms could either see it as showing leadership or not being dedicated enough to whatever your interests are. Colleges are looking for a well rounded school, not well rounded individuals. They want to see students go into depth with a couple of activities, not 6 or 7. Also, you might want to apply to a safety school just in case you get rejected.</p>
<p>I heard from a Vanderbilt adcom recently that they don’t give any weight to being president of an ethnic/religious club in school unless other achievements go along with it. If you take those two clubs off of your resume, it may seem a little less laundry list-y.</p>
<p>thanks for all the feedback on the clubs, guys. definitely will put it into consideration!
crimsonivy, yes, i’m definitely adding a few safety schools to the mix. i was thinking maybe NYU, Rutgers, etc.
dd1993, thanks! are you saying i have a great shot at columbia? or at yale+some of the other schools?</p>
<p>I don’t do “chances” posts, because I (as well as everybody else on this site) have no clue what your odds are. I do know that there are folks at all these schools with objective achievements at or below yours, so you are within range. Thus, apply! If you don’t, you won’t be accepted.</p>
<p>I think you have a great chance at columbia considering you are EDing. As for Yale and Harvard, you are competitive, but we all know these schools are too selective to say anyone without major hooks has a “great” chance.</p>
<p>^This is an example of why I don’t believe in “chances” threads. dd1993, I know you mean well, and you may be right, but there are many kids at Yale and Harvard who were rejected by Columbia. Harvard and Yale’s admissions rates are at 7% or so; Columbia’s is at 9% or so. To draw any sort of meaningful distinction among these schools (or these and a couple of handfuls of others) is misguided. If one is within range, and wants to attend, then apply.</p>