I’ve made this post before, but I have new standardized testing scores, so I’d love any feedback on my chances now.
I was wondering if anyone could chance me on being accepted to Columbia University. I am openly gay and intend to write about this on my application. I am currently a white male high school junior. I have a 4.0 GPA at a fairly non-competitive high school. I have placed on the state level in the Tennessee Math Teachers Association once and at the regional level thrice. I am actively involved in my school’s Model United Nations club and Mu Alpha Theta (Math Club). I play trumpet in both marching and concert band and made the all-state band last year as a sophomore, and I suspect I will make it again this year and next year. My composite ACT is 33 (35 English, 36 math, 30 reading and science), and a 1560 on the new SAT (790 math, 770 English/reading). I took the SAT II for Math I and made a 770 and US History and made a 780. I have made 5’s on all four AP exams I have taken so far and plan to have two more at the end of this year. I will also be attending the Governor’s School for Scientific Models and Data Analysis this summer. With all these qualifications, could someone help me get a more comprehensive understanding of my chances of being accepted?
Please imagine that this is being said in a very kind voice (b/c that is truly how it is intended):
The fact that you are openly gay is seriously uninteresting to the Columbia AdComms readers. You would probably be amazed how many ‘I am gay and it has made my life hard in this way’ essays AdComms read- and the Columbia AdComms readers are so used to openly gay people that it is no more of a deal to them than somebody having curly hair.
So, if you decide that this is what you want to write about, you will need to work hard to take it to the next level: ok, being gay in your family/church/town was painful: then what? What sets your challenge about coming to terms with yourself apart from other students who facthe mixed race girl who is pulled between the white and black sides of her family? the boy with the visible birth injury? the new kid who belongs to an unpopular minority in town? I don’t know if those are good examples, but I hope you get the point: lots of kids have challenges in coming to terms with who they are when it doesn’t fit with the community around them. What will be interesting to the AdComms is not the fact of the challenge- there is nothing unique in that- but how you dealt with it, which speaks to who you are and (importantly) where you are going.
As for your chances, you are at the low end of the middle 50% of admitted students for ACT; assuming that your GPA is UW, and that your class rank is strong you look like a credible candidate- which to me is all that anybody can hope to be.
Agree that the essay would need to include something more than the fact that you struggled with your identity. While that’s important, and writing about your passion is vital in order to bring life to your voice, being gay in NYC is about as common as water. But moving people with a common occurrence is not impossible. I recently attended a performance that explained the pain of coming out. The author, for lack of better word, was loved for his/her amazing talents, charm, beauty and made sure to relay his/her lovability in words and through images first. The story was told perfectly. Perfectly. The audience was in tears. It’s not the content but how you tell it. Think about your story structure and voice. First build love in the reader for you as a person–a character in your own story–before proceeding. Use your most winning voice. Win hearts and minds of your reader. Place your character in danger (the specific stakes in your life that are at risk) while staying away from the maudlin. Character triumphs in the end–as you have. That’s one possible structure among many.
You have a 6% chance of being accepted. Showing that you have the ability to move others with your story can help. The facts of your story are not sufficient in themselves. How you tell your story may make the difference.
My good friend is a year older than me and will be graduating HS this year - he is openly gay and will be attending Columbia. He wrote about being gay on several of his applications and was rejected at all but one of them (Pomona), but he did not mention being gay in his Columbia app, and he got accepted.