Do y’all mind chancing me?
A Junior currently but was wondering what my weaknesses in my list are so I know what to expect
Race/Ethnicity: Asian male
Major: Statistics at Columbia
Academics: GPA: 3.73 UW, 5.05/5.0 W ACT: 34 (8/12 Writing) . SAT I:1520 (18/24 Writing) ~Top 20% (around 670 people in our class) Top 10 ranked public high school in Texas; very competitive. Will take Subject Tests soon
IB Diploma Candidate
APs/IB taken so far/will take: APUSH (5), AP Physics 1, AP Macroeconomics, AP English Literature, AP European History, AP Chemistry, AP Calc AB, AP Spanish Lang, AP Statistics, IB Spanish SL
Senior Year AP’s/IBs: AP Lang, AP Calc BC, AP Psych, IB Literature HL, IB History HL, IB Chemistry HL, IB Psychology SL, IB Math Studies SL
EC’s/Community Service
DECA (9th-) State Qualifier/Finalist (3x); Parliamentarian (10th) and Secretary (11th)
Varsity Debater (9th-): Won some awards; Qualified for State tournament (3x)
HOSA (3 years): State Qualifier (3x); Parliamentarian (11th)
SkillsUSA member (9th): 3x State Qualifier; Secretary (10th) and Parliamentarian (11th)
NHS (11th-): Headed some committees; Also a tutor
Key Club (10th-): Co-founded the club (10th); Secretary (11th)
Spanish Honor Society (11th- )
Speech & Debate Honor Society (9th-)
IB Committee (11th-)
Summer Library Volunteer: (2015 and 2016; 48 hours)
Temple volunteer (~50-60 hrs)
Business/Leadership Internship with my City (Upcoming Summer)
Going to perform some outside research for a Statistics research paper over the summer
Volunteer at a homeless kitchen/other service organization
I realize that my GPA/Class Rank are way below the average for these schools but I was wondering which school would give me a better shot…
Thanks!
I was just waitlisted at Columbia, and honestly I think your chances are very slim. However, that’s because almost everyone’s chances are slim! Definitely focus on improving grades, but I would also try to do something a bit more… unusual? As far as extracurriculars. It’s hard to start something new junior year, but I didn’t start my most impressive EC’s until beginning of senior year, and that got me waitlisted!
I started a club my sophomore yr and am going to do this internship this summer. I’m not sure what else to do EC wise that shows to Columbia my interest in Statistics (other than me doing research over the Summer for a Statistics paper, though I was already going to do that). Any suggestions for improvements/ doing something “unusual”?
I think that you have a pretty good chance. Your ECs are strong in your area of study, I think what @blairebabe means is that even if its not in your EC list, try to bring out a sense of something you really enjoy doing that not everyone applying to a prestigious university does (photography, culinary arts, boxing, etc)
@vegucated26 Isn’t it too late now? Like wont colleges know that this person just wants to stack up on other ECs just for college or is it worth trying?
Also, does my GPA/rank automatically make me uncompetitive? Really worried about those two.
Hm I understand your point… I guess what I was thinking was that as long as you bring out a sense of personality and uniqueness in your essays (talking about things that they may not already know about you) then that would make your application even more impressive.
On the gpa: I think that considering the amount of APs you are taking and all of the other things you do, your GPA is still competitive and if you score high on the SAT/ACT it will make up for it at least a little