EDing at Columbia - Chance me please! (will chance you too)

Colleges and Universities A-Z Columbia University
1

<p>Hey everybody, was just looking to see if I have any shot getting in ED at Columbia (sorry its a bit long but any help would be great)</p>

<p>General Information:
- Senior, Class of 2011
- Ethnicity: Indian, born and raised there for 8 years
- Citizenship Status: I'm a Citizen of India living in the United States, so am an International Student in terms of what I will pay (50 grand) but am considered as an American student</p>

<p>General School Stuff:
- Very good public school located in NY
- GPA: 5.29 out of a 5.0 scale (weighted)
- Rank: my school doesn't do an official rank but I fall in the top 15% of 150 students
- Rigor of Curriculum: took any and all AP / Honors courses my school offered (with the exception of band and chorus)
- Senior Year Classes: Latin H (7th - 12th), Science Scholars H (9th - 12th - is an independent science research course), all the APs listed below</p>

<p>Testing:
- SAT: 2230 (CR = 710, Math = 720, Writing = 800)
- SAT II's: Math II = 710, US History = 770
- APs:AP Euro (5), AP Bio (4), AP Computer Science (4), AP American (5) --- taking AP Calculus AB, AP Physics (maybe, might go to regular), AP English Lit, AP Macro, AP GoPo in my senior year</p>

<p>Activities:
- Debate Team: 4 years, Co-Captain, Did 4-7 weeks for 3 summers of debate camp, 65 hours a week all year, State Semi-finalist, National Forensic League Distinction
- School Newspaper: 4 years, Columnist for 2, 3 hours a week for 32 weeks
- Ethics Club: 2 Years, Co-President and Co-Founder, 1 hour per week for 32 weeks
- Summer Science Internship: spent a month in the summer after junior year doing stem cell research and developed a 20 page long paper on unique research (I intend to send it - my grades in science in school are a bit behind, so this can maybe recover?)
- Piano: 3 years (actually, ever since I was 8), multiple national and state awards
- School Choir: 4 years
- School Band: trombone, 4 years
- Curriculum Review Committee: 3 years, students in this work with the superintendent and principal to handle the school curriculum
- Cross Country: 9th + 10th, got knee surgery so couldn't continue
- Tennis: 9th + 10th
- Latin Club: 4 years, 1 hour a week for 10 weeks
- Tutoring (paid job): just senior year</p>

<p>Community Service:
Worked in a hospital in India for 3 summers (not substantial, no more than 100 hours)</p>

<p>Awards:
- National Latin Exam Summa Cum Laude in 9th, 11th, and (probably) 12th
- National Merit Semi-Finalist
- National Forensic League Distinction
- AP Scholar with Honors
- Multiple Debate Awards</p>

<p>I have solid recommendations, and I'm pretty sure my essay is solid.</p>

<p>Thank you very much. I know this is long, but it'd help a lot.</p>

2

<p>Looks pretty solid, dude.</p>

<p>What event do you do, though? 65 hours a week sounds pretty ridiculous (assuming you only practice on weekdays, you’d be at debate practice from 2:00 PM to 3:00 AM every school day :stuck_out_tongue: )</p>

3

<p>hi!
your application looks very solid; the only concern i would have is that your ec’s lack cohesion.</p>

<p>also, the 65 hours per week would definitely raise a few eyebrows, not necessarily in a good way. is that a typo?</p>

<p>I would feel good applying ed to columbia with your application, but the admissions process is so arbitrary at times that no one can know for sure.</p>

<p>best of luck! no need to chance me; i’m a junior.</p>

4

<p>hahah so i realize 65 seems absurd - that includes both meeting time at school and other hours of research and tournament time (we go away friday, saturday, sunday and fly all around the country for that). its pretty intense - but does it sound ridiculous? i plan to attach a resume to explain everything too</p>

5

<p>I guess if you explain it, then it’s understandable. The fact that you’ve done well in debate, however, would suggest that you do a lot of research imo.</p>

6

<p>Man, you are in!!! :)</p>

7

<p>I think you have a great profile! </p>

<p>You have a strong chance of getting into Columbia, but then again, it all depends upon luck.</p>

<p>I’d suggest you apply to a few colleges EA!</p>

8

<p>Your Rank will kill your application. Unless you’re hooked, you’re not getting into Columbia with that Rank. That’s just my opinion though. Good luck! :)</p>

9

<p>ptondreams, youre so discouraging. </p>

<p>i know someone who got into harvard being in the top 40 percent of their hs!</p>

<p>i also know someone who got into columbia with a 3.3 gpa</p>

<p>tennis, i think u have a wonderful chance!
just write an essay about something meaningful to you and something you think will make your personality shine through to the adcoms</p>

<p>good luck! :)</p>

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<p>and his rank isnt bad at all. ive spoken to a harvard adcom and she said she says as long as ur in the top 10-15% with challenging courses, youre good.</p>

<p>(OBVIOUSLYYY, that doesnt mean youre an auto-admit, but you get what i mean :)</p>

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<p>I know several people who were admitted to Ivies (and their equivalents) with sub-3.7 GPAs. But these kids were from Collegiate, Andover and Deerfield etc. AND their schools didn’t compute rank.
Unless tennisfan910 goes to an ultra-competitive school, that Rank will drag his chances down.</p>

<p>I didn’t at all mean to discourage tennisfan910. I definitely think he/she should apply ED to Columbia since that seems to be his/her first choice! He/she just might get lucky, like several applicants do.</p>

12

<p>Have you heard of top nyc prep schools? like Dalton, Trinity, Spence, Riverdale, Fieldston, Brearley?</p>

<p>Those schools are just as competitive too. My friend got into JHU with a 3.47 gpa and 2110 SAT score.
and she applied for engineering with only math 2 and ush scores (not even chem or physics). she got above 700 on both</p>

<p>but still, i know kids from regular public schools with other unique stats that got into very top schools.</p>

<p>the top 20 schools are truly a crapshoot ;x</p>

13

<p>Haha I don’t know too much about U.S. High Schools. The only ones I know about are ones that my cousins and siblings went to (I went to boarding school in Europe and I am not American).</p>

<p>I wouldn’t call the top 20 crapshoots but the top 6-7, which include Columbia, certainly are. </p>

<p>P.S: JHU has a 44% ED acceptance rate. I am not at all shocked that your friend, who is presumably female, got into JHU Engineering.</p>

14

<p>thanks everybody!</p>

<p>in terms of my class ranks, it may be low but it also doesnt matter since my school doesnt send an official rank. so columbia really has no way of knowing where i fall in my class (fortunately) - the school would just send an average GPA to compare with mine</p>

<p>and my essay idea is the fact that even though im from mumbai, going back makes me realize how much of an outsider i am there (because of what i see / dont see, etc) and how that has affected me - works?</p>

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<p>Your school not computing rank could certainly work in your favour. Are you applying to SEAS or CC?</p>

<p>Just about every Indian writes on that topic. But if you can make it original, go for it.</p>

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<p>CC</p>

<p>and most indians do write on the whole “culture shock” thing, i agree - but they mostly discuss the fact that they’re outsiders in the united states but not outsiders in india itself. plus i am making this unique anyways (discussing specific events, specific clubs, etc etc - my english teacher editing said that it does fall under the cliche somewhat, yet i found a way to make it unique so im not TOO worried about it)</p>

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<p>I think you have a great chance your EC’s are way better than mine. can you chance me <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/columbia-university/1005900-what-my-chances-ed-engineering.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/columbia-university/1005900-what-my-chances-ed-engineering.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;