Do you think I have a chance? (RD)

Colleges and Universities A-Z Columbia University
1

<p>I know these are annoying, but looking at the old Accepted/Rejected threads make me nervous. Do you think I would be a competitive applicant in the Regular Decision pool for CC?</p>

<p>My stats:
GPA: 3.89 (I think this will go up - my math grades have improved this term)
SAT: 2190 (760 CR, 660 M, 770 W)
ACT: 32
Rank: Top 2% at public school...not incredibly competitive
SAT IIs:
- French 690
- U.S. History 650
I'm also taking Literature in December, which I think I'll do well on.
AP Tests:
World History - 5
U.S History - 4
French Language - 4
Calculus AB - 4
Calculus BC - 3</p>

<ul>
<li>Newspaper reporter 3 years, editor 2 years</li>
<li>National Honor Society, Animal Shelter committee head</li>
<li>Academic Team</li>
<li>Mentoring at-risk kids, volunteering at youth basketball league</li>
<li>I've also won some awards at regional art shows...I don't know if that will even be looked at.</li>
<li>Commended by National Merit Scholarship</li>
</ul>

<p>I'm a pretty good writer so I hope that my essays will be eye-catching, there's really no way of telling what the admissions committee will like. I know at least one of my teacher recs will be amazing - my French teacher loved me - and I think that my guidance counselor one will be good, too.</p>

<p>I'm female, biracial (black and white).</p>

<p>Thanks for looking! :)</p>

2

<p>My frank assessment is that your scores are a bit below average for Columbia, your GPA isn't stellar, and neither are the ECs. The one thing that might play to your advantage in the applicant pool is the whole biracial thing, but I wouldn't try to bank on that. Work hard on those essays, I bet you could find a way to stand out there. Best of luck.</p>

3

<p>well Columbia basically pays more attention to your GPA and EC. I guess they will like your SAT and ACT scores but again, they have rejected people with a perfect SAT and ACT score, just because they were not quite involved with EC. I would recommend to get great letters of recommendation and an amazing essay!</p>

4

<p>Thanks for the feedback. I didn't list all of my ECs, just the few that were important to me...my full list is longer, but I didn't want to copy and paste. </p>

<p>I'll definitely work hard on the essays...I've starting writing about living in a foreign country and growing up military, and my openings are definitely attention-grabbing. My teachers have liked them and are going over them with me, so hopefully that will make me a little more competitive. Thanks!</p>