<p>Sorry if I came across like that. :/</p>
<p>I know several people that were accepted who aren’t particularly close to top 10%, so that’s framing effect on my part. My bad.</p>
<p>…Oh, and that wasn’t intended to be sarcastic or condescending lol I realize it sounded like it.</p>
<p>I got 5’s on all of my AP exams accept for APCHEM on which I got a 4, and I plan on self studying Euro and Human Geo. I self studied Psych and APES last year. I am very much interested in Columbia and it is one of my top choices. I have wanted to go there for years, but the matter of the fact is that I have a very small chance to get in given the sheer number of applicants this year and at this point the best I can do is hope and get a little reassurance that I am in the running. I have been in almost all my ECs for 4 years and I have been in boy scouts for since I was ten and was a cub scout before that.</p>
<p>lol tryandsucceed has a point on a lot of stuff, but perhaps he put it a little harshly</p>
<p>If youre an unhooked applicant (of course it depends on situation but for the most part if youre not a recruited athlete or URM) then not being in top 10 percent gives you like one in a million chances of getting in Columbia. It seems that Columbia has finally realized that US news puts weight on class rank, and for class of 2014, 97 percent were in top 10 percent (I’m sure like the other 3 percent mostly just comprised of recruited athletes)</p>
<p>33 on ACT is solid, maybe a little on the “weak” solid part, but I wouldn’t stress over it</p>
<p>and the AP’s you took depends on your school. If you took the most demanding courseload in ur hs, then ur AP’s seem fine. Although yeah, if you got a 3 on an AP exam, it doesn’t look very good; especially if you got like an A in the class. Then colleges will think ur school’s grading is inflated and that you didnt’ challenge yourself and didnt really master the material after all. 4’s are solid, but try to get all 5’s (which theoritically would correspond to an A in college course)</p>
<p>lol the good ole AI index…I think its a bit overrated and think I wasted too much of my life calculating and recalculating my AI before ED decisions came out haha. Considering your academics are solid but not stellar, I would put more weight on the essay + recommendation.</p>