<p>Hey everyone, I just finished my junior year of high school and am going to be a senior this fall. I've been trying to start working on my applications, and I'm wondering what my chances are at Columbia. I'm not sure what exactly I want to major in, but it'll probably be science related. I have a 3.9ish unweighted GPA (and have taken 4 APs, and am taking 3 more senior year), but I think my class rank is only 50th out of 531. I play a varsity sport and have qualified for state, have a leadership position in a couple clubs, am in NHS, have a job, have done a decent amount of volunteer work, and do some other projects and random stuff I could put on a resume. I also got a 35 on the ACT, but it seems like most schools just care about SATs (which I haven't taken yet..) But I know Columbia only accepts like 10%, and there's going to be a lot of smart people applying with perfect GPAs and such. So anyways, would it be worth my time to apply, or should I stick with schools that aren't crazy competitive? Also, what kind of stuff could I do this summer that might set my application apart from others? Any opinions or ideas or anything would be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>hmm, well everything looks good, but i think your rank might kill your application, i would suggest getting that up to atleast top 5%</p>
<p>Ok thanks! Luckily it should go up a bit since that’s not factoring in this past semester, where I did really well. </p>
<p>Oh, and for the record I know that no one can tell me what my chances are for sure or anything like that! I just know absolutely nothing whatsoever about ivy league schools and know basically nobody else applying to them (I live in the midwest and everyone at my school just assumes we’re not good enough), and am just trying to figure out whether it’d be worth the effort to apply.</p>
<p>DEFINITELY apply. your ACT is great, as are your grades, and you have solid extracurriculars. i don’t have much else to say besides that you should never just decide NOT to apply because you think it won’t be worth your time. what do you have to lose? also, being from the midwest is a plus, because states in the midwest are underrepresented, and it boosts your chances for admission.</p>
<p>Ok thanks! I’ll prolly apply to either Cornell or Columbia and just see what happens. And I’m not really one of those types who has their heart set on ivy league, so I’m not going to be crushed if I don’t get in or anything. Unfortunately, I can only apply to 5 schools which is why I was debating whether or not it’d be worth it. But if my application won’t be totally hopeless then I guess I should give it a shot!</p>
<p>I don’t have an intuitive sense for the ACT, but 35/36 seems pretty high, and you’ve got a decent GPA. Columbia’s admissions rate last year was 6.9%, behind only Harvard. It’s absurdly difficult to get in. But you definitely have a shot. If you like the school, apply. If you love the school, apply ED.</p>
<p>6.9?? Ohh wow. I’ve been leaning more towards Cornell though now that I’ve had a chance to do some more research, just because it’s not quite as small, which I think I would prefer, and I feel like moving into NYC could be overwhelming after living in a tiny midwest town for my whole life. Right now I’m planning to apply to Cornell, UW Madison, Northwestern, and Washington University in St. Louis, and maybe one or two others.</p>
<p>Do colleges care about extra cirriculurs if you’ve dropped them? For example, I played piano for about 10 years, but I stopped taking lessons and now just play for fun. Should I put that stuff on there or will that just make me look like a quitter?</p>
<p>If you’ve stopped doing something, you definitely shouldn’t put it on your application. If you still love to play piano as a hobby, then I suppose it might not hurt to put it down as a hobby. But you’ll be competing against people who have won national recitals, so you certainly shouldn’t lean on that as a major EC.</p>
<p>As far as ECs you did in high school but stopped after a few years, it depends. If you worked on the school paper for two years and then quit to play basketball, it’s probably not worth mentioning. But it all depends on how you want to position yourself as an applicant and what you believe defines you. As a general rule, you have emphasize those ECs where you have a leadership position. If you quit something in sophomore year, you can’t have a leadership position. But if it’s directly relevant to your interests and passions, it’s probably good to mention.</p>
<p>Well piano was something I was really dedicated to for a really long time, and I used to compete a lot at the state level (nothing national though…), so I’m leaning towards putting it on there. I wouldn’t be majorly depending on it, I just think I need a few more ECs. </p>
<p>It would’ve been really fantastic if it had occurred to me to start thinking about this a little sooner than 2 months ago… Throughout junior and sophomore year my top priority was my social life and I honestly didn’t really care about anything else. Are there any good, decent-sized private universities I could go to for bio that would be slightly less competitive than Ivy League?</p>
<p>Applications ask for how long you did X activity (and sometimes between what years you did them). I would put it down then answer the subsequent question as to how long/what years. No reason to not put it on your application.</p>