<p>My daughter wants to go to Columbia. Any recently admitted Columbia students here that can advise me (her) on her chances of getting in with the following stats:</p>
<p>Academics:</p>
<p>GPA 3.6 (weighted 4.0)
1420 SAT (Reading 690, Math 730, Essay 11, Writing 650)
7 AP classes (4's and 5's on all AP tests...Calc, US History, etc.)
College Major: humanities and social sciences</p>
<p>EC's:</p>
<p>Mock Trial county champions and California state 3rd, 4th, and 7th place three years in a row.
Public speaking regional winner and public speaking club officer
GATE student/class
PSAT: National Merit Scholar Commendation (97th percentile)</p>
<p>Does she have a chance with these stats (assuming excellent essay and good interview)???</p>
<p>Yes. week long summer trips to an inner city camp where she tutors/mentors underprivileged kids. It's with a Presbyterian church youth group. Will that help?</p>
<p>I got in with very similair test scores (1420 SAT, 690/690/750) but I had a really strong set of EC's that showed both a wide range of activities as well as a few focused EC's. I wrote about my talents in the essay. I had a current Columbia grad student (my english teacher) write me a rec. However, I saw people from this board with better stats than mine get rejected and worse stats than mine get in, so it's almost pointless to speculate on chances on the Columba board. With that said, good luck to your daughter.</p>
<p>that's good news, She's an excellent writer. A in honors Enlish two years in a row. An 11 on her SAT essay.</p>
<p>She reads a ton of books, starting at about 5. We're the whacky family that doesn't have TV. I attribute it to her having an excellent imagination and writing skills. </p>
<p>Thank you for this advice, it's heartening.</p>
<p>She's definately in a New York state of mind! And would love to go to Columbia.</p>
<p>She'll apply to Columbia and Barnard. She also said she's going to retake the SAT in the fall and try to get over 1500. On this last test she missed the last page (10 questions in the reading section) of the test and still got a 1420. She's hilarious in that way...picture Chevy Chase in the Legally Blonde characters body and you've got my D. If your older picture Peter Sellers in Raquell Welche's body. She's a riot!</p>
<p>11 on her SAT essay? What does that mean? Out of 20? Did you know the SAT essay is actually graded more on length than on content anyway? Have her next one be twice as long.</p>
<p>I haven't watched TV aside from the presidential debates since freshman year of high school! It's great, actually. One of the best decisions my parents ever made for me. Now my brother fixed our old formerly nonfunctional one, but I never even think about watching it.</p>
<p>If she's as creative and imaginative and out of the ordinary as you say she is, she should be able to write a good application essay. Make it memorable and endearing.</p>
<p>"Long essay" good advice. "Memorable ending", excellent! I think 11 is one point short of the highest score. That's what my daughter told me and I got this from the collegeboard.com website on essay scoring:</p>
<p>"Each essay will be scored independently by two qualified readers, and each will be scored on a scale of 1 to 6 by each reader, with the combined score for both readers ranging from 2 to 12."</p>
<p>Of course this may be wrong, I've learned a lot today on this board...and prior to coming here I thought I knew it. Is 20 the highest score? Did she blow the essay with an 11?</p>
<p>Sorry about that, I just didn't know what 11 meant. I didn't mean to say that it was 20, I was just guessing. It is, however, graded on length, and also any facts can be completely wrong without any deduction. The characters from the book you write about in the essay can be wrong, and the plot can be wrong, and a history example you bring up can be wrong.</p>
<p>test scores not in your favor. bring them up a notch to be safe, but then again, you have to realize that for most candidates nothing is assured. don't invest too much emotionally, i didn't and was pleasantly surprised.</p>
<p>Jono the essay is not based on length... They only give you 2 or 3 pages to write it on. I filled up the whole thing, except for a 1 inch gap on the bottom of the last page, and I only got a 7. It's about content, believe me...</p>
<p>I got in with a similar GPA(4.1 weighted) and SAT(1460). However, I also took 5 SAT IIs, 10 APs, and a large variety of ECs that covered community service, leadership, sports, etc. So scorewise, I think she's alright. My essay was ok. It wasn't the best. Actually, I wrote it last minute and sent my application on the last postmark date. So..a killer essay isn't necessary but I'm sure it wouldn't hurt at all. Good luck to her.</p>
<p>i hope she isnt just applying to barnard as the "back door" into columbia because they usually see right through that. consider some other nyc schools as back up, if neccessary to have a back up.</p>
<p>Well, Silver Wavez was the biggest (and most identifiable) Columbia fan on this board, but was accepted to Barnard after CU turned her down. So I don't think that scares them away.</p>
<p>All the posts have been very helpful. Thank you!</p>
<p>What I've learned here and with a consultant this week will be helpful to my D. The three "key" ingredients appear to be:</p>
<ol>
<li>SAT scores (except for certain prep schools known by adcoms, GPA's are so differently applied by HS's that adcoms rely heavily on SAT's and for the most part ignore GPA differences)</li>
<li>EC Focus (an area of real interest and experience. They're looking for someone with a passion and a personality)</li>
<li>Essay/Interview (aka communication skills. They're looking for someone who can communicate and therefore contribute to society)</li>
</ol>