<p>So I am a high school junior living in CT
I got one of the top (if not top) high schools in the state</p>
<p>GPA as of now: 4.5 (It seems to be going up since I bombed my freshman year, so im predicting 4.55-4.6 by the end of this junior year)
Unweighted: ? (Since my school doesn't do unweighted)
Class Rank: Top 5% (About 25/550)
I took 2 ap courses last year (bio and stat, got 4 and 4 on AP exams)
Can't take any AP Courses freshman year
I am currently taking 4 AP Courses (2 of which are guaranteed 5's)
Next year will take 4 AP courses and 2 actual university courses</p>
<p>SAT Scores:
SAT: Took it yesterday, expecting around 2150 ish - Will definitely go up (expecting around 2250 when I retake in March)
SAT Subject Test(Only took 2 so far): Math 2: 800 Bio M: 710
Planning to take chemistry and physics (both of which I will definitely get 800) and history (hopefully 700+ , not too good at history :|)</p>
<p>Extra Curricular:
The usual...
National Honor Society
Foreign Language Honor Society
Science National Honor Society
State Science Fair Participant couple of times...could possibly make it to nat'l next year
Varsity Debate
Started table tennis club
President of that table tennis club
Several trophies at table tennis tournaments (national and state)
Captain of B Team for Science Quiz Bowl (Will be A Captain next year)
Part of A team for Math Team (We have #1 math team in CT)
Spend 20-30 hours a week playing table tennis
State #1 ranked (Under 18) for table tennis
Ranked #45 in the US (For my age)
Im still working on the table tennis so I am hoping to go higher up
I do research involving chemistry at a nearby university (will have about 250 hours by the time I graduate)
Member of Chess Club</p>
<p>No JOB Experience (Can't get a job yet...still 15 :(...will turn 16 during the summer after junior year)</p>
<p>Community Service:
Key Club (Do required hours, 20 per year)
Train people at table tennis for free
Volunteer at religious/cultural events
Volunteer at MathCounts (Middle school national mathematics competition)
Help Seniors (60 years or older) get acquainted with computers
Help out at local school fairs/events
Tutor Middle School students on a regular basis (once a week for the whole school year)</p>
<p>These are all the EC stuff I can think off the top of my head, will update if I think of more</p>
<p>I would really appreciate it if you could tell me if I have a somewhat chance of getting into Columbia. Also, if you have any suggestions for me to improve my chances of getting into a prestigious college</p>
<p>As a side note, my high school does have a good amount of people going to top colleges in the nation, not sure if this makes a difference or not</p>
<p>You have about a good a shot as any other well-qualified applicant. It looks like your GPA is out of 5.0. I am not entirely sure how this translates to the 4.0 scale, but I’m assuming ~4.6 is a fairly competitive number. For the SAT, a score of 2200+ would be solid. AP test scores aren’t really a big deal for admissions. They are more beneficial to you for getting college credit and placing you out of intro courses. However, taking a good number of AP courses (as you are) shows that you’re taking on a fairly challenging course load. You seem to be involved in a good amount of ECs, but the number does not matter so much as your passion and commitment. You seem to have a long-time commitment to table tennis, which might be something to stress on your app. I’d say the most important thing for you at this point, besides keeping your grades up, is to write a couple stellar essays.</p>
<p>Thanks!
Anyone else? :P</p>
<p>Also, my teacher recs are extremely good
one from ap calc teacher, one from ap chem teacher</p>
<p>Also the guidance coulnselor knows me pretty well, so I am sure he will write me a pretty solid rec</p>
<p>isnt this like your 20th chance me thread? lol! Maybe boost your EC’s, I’d apply ED if you know Columbia’s your top, and make your SAT is good and your golden.</p>
<p>traveler- no, its my second lol
The only other one I have is on Cornell</p>
<p>What do you suggest for boosting my ec’s?</p>
<p>depends on what your going into, but at this point I would try to concentrate on a few. The colleges are now saying they want you to show passion and commitment not necessarily diversity, or in other words, they don’t want to see a few hours for a million things. Still, yours look pretty good, if it were me I would just try to get a ton of hours in. Seriousely though, I think you have a pretty good shot. What are you hoping to major in? Sometimes that can affect your chances.</p>
<p>bump,</p>
<p>other responses would be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>Hi, thanks for the chance. There is not much I can tell you other than that your stats are great. Your ECs seem very, very prototypical however, try to either get really deep into one of them or do something new and exciting eg. Become nationally ranked in squash. as of right now I would say that columbia would be a low reach right now. what other schools are you looking in too? I would say that you would be a match for UWash, perhaps Berkeley and a couple of other institutions that are equal in education but not quite as prestigious as Columbia?</p>
<p>Yeah, thanks
I am not sure what you mean by “prototypical”, also, I don’t play squash, I play table tennis :P</p>
<p>I want to do something chemistry related, either ChemE or Research or something along those lines, so I was looking colleges that were good for these such as Cornell or MIT (High reach, I know, but it cant hurt to try). I would say my reasonable options are Cornell or Carnegie Mellon (semi-low reaches), I am also applying to BC so I have other options if Columbia doesn’t work out. Im just contemplating the fact if I should apply ED or not…any ideas?</p>