<p>My SAT's are at 25 percentile for Columbia, UGPA is 3.9 and I will receive an IB diploma next year. I'm graduating at top 8 % in class of 300 at a top suburban school. SAT II's are at 680 and 670.</p>
<p>I won't get in with this but I do have a passion for web publication - I sold my first website when I was 14 - one that I built it when I was 10.</p>
<p>Since then, I have had over 32 projects including libraries, blogs (one for an editor of a national magazine), and commercial websites. My latest project is a curriculum resource for genocide education which received a write up in a national weekly newspaper. I currently run my own business at blogwhatdesign.com, to be launched this November. </p>
<p>I also have loads of extracurricular activities including 24/7 summer camp counseloring and 14 years of dance (at around 5 hours a week) I currently perform a semi-pro company at such venues including Lincoln Center. </p>
<p>Will ED help? Also, is Columbia ( or anywhere else) doing much on courses relating to the growth of this medium.</p>
<p>This actually might not be a bad hook. It's different than the usual stuff that everyone has. If you can show long-term determination and success, I'd play that up.</p>
<p>So Columbia 2002 one poor person emails you about their college essay and you condescend to them by saying you do NOT accept unsolicited emails but now you are actually advising some poor person on their application essay?</p>
<p>Unless you sit on a university admissions committee somewhere then your advice is inconsequential and this poor person should realize that.</p>
<p>Remember, no one here knows when or if Columbia 2002 actually graduated from Junior College.</p>
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So Columbia 2002 one poor person emails you about their college essay and you condescend to them by saying you do NOT accept unsolicited emails but now you are actually advising some poor person on their application essay?
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<p>Lots of people spam me their essays by PM. I don't read them. If they ASK me if I can read it, I'll probably tell them to send it along.</p>
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Unless you sit on a university admissions committee somewhere then your advice is inconsequential and this poor person should realize that.
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<p>I'm a member of the Alumni Representative Committee, which conducts interviews on behalf of the Columbia admissions office. Sorry to disappoint.</p>
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Remember, no one here knows when or if Columbia 2002 actually graduated from Junior College.
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<p>Yeah, I happen to know all sorts of intricate details about Columbia even though I didn't go there. Good one.</p>
<p>mockfrog - that website thing is really a great way to differentiate yourself from the pack. The dance isn't an extraordinary thing, but shows longterm commitment.</p>
<p>You would stand a good chance of admission if you:
- Retook the SAT and bumped yourself over 1400.
- Emphasized one of your two major activities (dance, websites) in your application somehow. If some personal anecdote or story makes a good essay, this would be best.</p>
<p>I'm a high school senior and I absolutely love Columbia. I was going to apply through the Questbridge scholarship but I decided not to because I did the application last minute and my essays weren't good at all. Columbia looks at all of the Questbridge application, so I figured it would hurt my chances of getting in. I'm thinking of applying ED now, but my essay is really crappy, I really need time to work on it and I don't know if I could get it done by the due date.
my stats for now are
SAT 2060 (taking it again in November)
SATIIs Math IC 780, Bio670 Chem(from soph year)630
HS avg weighted 101.4
AP classes in World History 4, Bio 5,
taking English, Calc BC and Psych now.
EC:
Varsity Cross Country, Indoor Track, Outdoor track for 4 years
a few medals from that.
Desi (indian cultural) club
past publicist and secretary, Vice-President now.
Math Team for 4 years
AMC top scorer, Invited to take AIME
Computer Editor for Schools Gold (2 years) Silver (1 year) Medalist Math Magazine
3rd runner up Miss Jr. Teen NY pageant 2005
ARISTA national honor society.</p>
<p>im just really worried about the essay but I really want to go to Columbia and I don't know what I should.
any advice?
thanks</p>
<p>Did 250+ hours community service
plus about 100 hours peer tutoring</p>
<p>Sorry to say, but no.
Although you do have some interesting ECs, your stats are not at the Columbia level (ED or RD).
With all this fuss about ED and it's validility, the early pool will be BRUTAL. Expect only the best to be accepted. The rest will be deffered/rejected...</p>
<p>megaphone - what part of my stats arent at/near the columbia level?
is the early pool significantly more difficult to get in through than the regular one?
my SAT is a 1380 right now, how much more would I need to bump it up to be considered? (that falls in the middle 50% of last year's applicants, but on the low end of the spectrum)
I'm also ranked 4 in my class of 1085 if that helps.
and i went to City College of NY in the summer of my soph year to take 2 college-level courses and Barnard College last summer for the Young Women's leadership Forum.
the community service hours were at a library where i was in charge of the Children's Reading club and I volunteered at LIJ Hospital. I have had a Part-time job since last june as well. My course schedule includes almost all honors or ap classes. I have had a Part-time job since last june as well.
also, anybody else have any more advice?</p>
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your stats are not at the Columbia level (ED or RD).
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actually, you have a VERY good chance of getting in. my friend with similar stats, got into Columbia (~College) ED last year. she originally received a 2040 on the SAT, but retook it and received a 2140, with similar, if not lower SAT IIs. However, when a rep from Columbia came to our high school (also in NY-queens) she ended up interviewing her after finding out who was applying early (this was around October of last year), and told her retaking the SAT wasn't necessary for her. Her GPA was 99+..ranked 7/880+ students. The fact that you received medals for the things you've done really help. Your E.C.s seem on par. Your rank is awesome..i would recommend taking another SAT II though. Her essay was very well written and the entire thing was a metaphor of life and Cross Country. So..focus on that and teacher evals. BTW, what high school are you from? Good luck.</p>
<p>thanks biggy boy, im really scared about columbia (college). I don't think I have a chance to take anymore SATII because im taking the SAT in november, so the next SATII date i would take is in December, and for ED thats too late. thanks for your advice, yea my essay is my big problem right now. A Columbia rep came to our school the other day as well. I said I was going to go in regular and/or through the scholarship I was applying for, so I wasn't considering ED, but now I really am strongly considering it because the applicant pool is so much smaller and a higher acceptance rate, but the applicants are probably very well qualified. I go to francis lewis high school.</p>
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actually, you have a VERY good chance of getting in. my friend with similar stats, got into Columbia (~College) ED last year.
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<p>This is pretty horrific advice. Nobody has a "VERY good chance" of getting into CU (except 4.0/1600 types, but even then it there are no guarantees). It's an uphill battle for everyone. Moreover, your logic -- that the one person you know's acceptance means a smilar fate for this other person -- simply doesn't hold up.</p>
<p>columbia2002- of course nobody does. what chances do you think i have of getting into columbia and what do you think i could do to help them at all?
Is ED a good idea?</p>
<p>It'll be very very hard for you to get in, but you're clearly not at the point where they'll throw your app away in 3 seconds. Your standardized tests are on the lower end of things. Your ECs aren't anything remarkable. No hook that I see. </p>
<p>Should you apply ED? I don't know. Depends what your other options are and what else you want to do.</p>
<p>What can you do? Kick butt on the SATs in November. Write a good essay. There's nothing much else you can do. Your ECs are what they are.</p>
<p>i still think you have a good chance of getting in ED. something i just realized though, the person i was referring to attended Columbia's summer high school program. you can argue that it has no affect on your admission, however..if you look at columbia's faq on this topic it goes something like this: "Q: does attending a summer high school program at Columbia make chances of undergrad admissions better? A: not necessarily." point being, yes..in some way it does. if it truly wouldn't matter they wouldve bluntly stated "No."</p>
<p>your chances are definitely diminished if you apply under RD because your SAT scores arent too high. though..Columbia wants people who greatly express their interest in the school, along with an unique commitment to something outside of academics. this is what makes columbia an awesome school..a 4.0/1600 SAT won't suffice if you simply think you're "smart enough." columbia is known for rejecting people who ultimately end up at places like harvard, penn, uchicago, johns hopkins etc. if you're not able to provide that thoroughly under ED, chances are you'll be deferred.</p>
<p>btw, i know of francis lewis and i'm sure that the other top 25 students in your school will be consider a school like columbia. good luck with that. as far as nyu (even stern), bu, SB honors, bing, urochester..you'll definitely get in..maybe even barnard. </p>
<p>i made the mistake last year when not applying to Columbia, or any other school under ED. ultimately...this caused a rejection (though there are other things to consider). i too had a problem with SAT II scheduling, but if there is a possibility for you to do well, and write good essays, you should do it.</p>
<p>I'm pretty sure there's a monty python skit that sounds a lot like About Time.</p>
<p>Anyway, Swati, you probably should've started your own thread, but here's my two cents. (1) Columbia ED would be a fine decision, but pleasepleaseplease visit some peer institutions like Penn, Brown, Swarthmore, etc. You may find that getting out of the New York mentality will be a breath of fresh air. I note with concern that all your other schools on the list are in NY State. You may want to narrow down the safeties on that list and considering visiting some places farther afield. For all you or I know, you might fall in love with Tufts or GWU. </p>
<p>(2) C2002/biggyboy's advice is spot on when they emphasize the essay. This may in fact be a make/break issue for you. Your profile is basically that of an applicant to CU in the 2nd-tier bucket, i.e. you're within their range of acceptees, but there are thousands of people roughly as impressive as you, and you are not in the "so amazingly spectacular that we'd be a fool not to accept them" bin. (neither was I, for that matter, not by a long shot). So the primary way you'll distinguish yourself and the way your mind works is by your essay. If you're having trouble with that, PM me and i'll give you my usual bits of advice. I wrote my columbia essay in 2 hours one evening, and with a little editing it was ready - you have to find that 'right' subject that makes everything click and just flow from your mind onto paper.</p>
<p>I thought this was about the posters issues not yours?</p>
<p>Attending the summer high school program is one element in demonstrating a commitment to Columbia. Arguably, this would help without ED but would make no difference with ED.</p>
<p>This is a good article and though it is for Penn and several years old it indicates how adcoms work:</p>
<p>thanks Denzera/c2002/biggyboy
Denzera-
as for the other schools outside NY, i guess ill try to visit them and see but i do want to stay relatively close to home, and i love ny, thats probably why im applying to almost all ny schools.
i know the essay is really important, thats what the admissions officer expressed and it is, indeed for people like me who are applying, a defining factor. right now my essay isnt quite there, i have my ideas, i just need to pick one and run with it instead of writing about various topics and using such a formal writing style. ill probably PM you soon about it if you could help. thanks a lot.
biggyboy-
i did attend Barnard's Pre-College Program for the Young Women's Leadership Institute if that helps?</p>