<p>Hi guys! So I am currently a Junior in the state of Florida, like many of you, I am a huge NYC fan, specially a Columbia fan - its my dream school. Therefore, I was thinking of applying early decision this incoming fall, yet I was a little worried as to what I should be ready to present. </p>
<p>What I mean is: what should I expect to earn in the SAT or ACT, GPA, ECs, etc. in order to be a competitive candidate. </p>
<p>I have a 740 in the SAT math portion and working on getting the other two sections into the 700s. I have a 3.5 unweighted and about a 5.1 weighted plus the AP courses I am finishing this year. I am a hispanic immigrant and my first language is Spanish, and that is just the gist of it. </p>
<p>What is Columbia really looking for? By the way I want to be an engineering major.</p>
<p>If anyone can help me, I would really appreciate it!!! Thank you!!! :)</p>
<p>By the way, if anyone can really help me. Ill break down pretty much everything that encompasses me, as in: ECs, Awards, APs, College Courses, SAT II, SAT scores, Senior year schedule etc. etc.</p>
<p>Increase the Math SAT I score … if you’re doing engineering, you want to show you’re pretty good at Math. Take the Physics SAT Subject Test and do well. </p>
<p>Schools don’t care about weighted GPA, they will determine the rigor of your courseload from your transcript.</p>
<p>The unweighted GPA is not very good … make up for it with a good score on the SAT.</p>
<p>Also, make sure to write good essays. I assume you do several things outside of school that you could talk about.</p>
<p>Columbia, like other top schools, is just looking for intelligent, hard-working, interesting students. </p>
<p>If you’re having financial issues, it is generally recommended you don’t apply ED as otherwise it is kind of hard to get out of the ED binding contract if you end up with bad aid.</p>
<p>Keep the senior year solid … that first half of the senior year could help you out as colleges like seeing an upward trend (say, you had a 3.0 Freshman year, and then Sophomore year you got a 3.5 and then Junior Year you got a 4.0 … you’re improving every year).</p>
<p>I am also a junior looking at Columbia (the College, not SEAS). I live in NY, so I was able to visit Columbia on an open house day. Two of the things that they really stressed was cultural roundness and social awareness. Of course, strong grades and standardized test scores are important too, but I would definitely recommend reading a LOT this summer, going to shows and museums when you can, and doing a lot of community service. And everything that ansar said.</p>
<p>GPA: using my county’s system (93+=A) 3.4, using normal (91+=A) 3.6- Unweighted
Course Rigor: Hardest possible: only 4 non honors classes.</p>
<p>SAT: 800CR/690M/610W=2100…but I’m planning to pull Math up to 800 and Writing to 700+</p>
<p>Essays: above average
Recs: probably really good, but who knows</p>
<p>EC: Keep in mind i’ll be getting leadership positions in these as a senior
Selected to be in special high school for leadership in 8th grade (11% acceptance rate)
Academic Team Co-Captain (3 years, 5th in state- Damn you Maggie Walker!)
History Club-4 years
Model UN-4 years
One of 2 students selected from each school in the county to go to the Hague International Model UN
NHS (2 years)
Friends of the Earth Club (3 years)-Position-Chief Maple
Beta Club (2 years)
Worked at temple as teacher’s aide for 300 hours per year for 3 years
Misc. 150 volunteer hours
Capt. of Rec. tennis team
Boy’s State
I fence (not competitively)</p>
<p>Internships:
State public defenders office-100 hours
Historical park-160 hours</p>
<p>Is it worth applying ED to take advantage of the 27% acceptance rate?</p>
<p>^ The ED acceptance rate is definitely not 27%. What they say is that the caliber of applicants is across the board stronger in ED. Judging by your info, you’re not applying to SEAS. CC rates was like 18% this year.</p>
<p>The GPA is pretty low–and they don’t care about “normal scales”. Lot’s of schools have harder scales than that. My friend goes to a school where a 95 is an A.</p>
<p>The SAT CR is nice, but work to get the other two into the 700s if possible.</p>
<p>But who knows what they look for? If you want to go, apply ED and see what happens.</p>