<p>I applied early to columbia, but now I am getting nervous.</p>
<p>I have good test scores. SAT:1430 SAT II: Writing:750 MATH:720 LIT:710</p>
<p>I am african american and first generation college student.</p>
<p>But my grades suck. I did not know that B's were the Ivy League equivalent to F's!!!! I have a lot of B grades. and about 6 C's. My unweighted GPA is around 3.26. Does this equal automatic rejection???</p>
<p>I have good rec letters and a great essay. </p>
<p>I simply cant stop thinking that my grades will stop me from getting accepted. Do you all think that I have a chance???</p>
<p>I'm pretty sure that you will be accepted into the school with so few black students scoring above 1300 on the SAT let alone scoring above 700 on the SAT 2's. You're GPA is kind of low but then again during the addimissions process, readers are tipically more leniant on minority applicants, but the question is how leniant?</p>
<p>I have a question for everyone regarding anxious1's stats:</p>
<p>Doesn't his (or any other applicant) relatively high SAT score and low GPA reflect him AS (not necessarily is) a person who doesn't like to work hard but find shortcuts to get good test scores?</p>
<p>No offense to the thread starter but I'm just curious how does these two reverse factors "reflect" the average applicant.</p>
<p>I think it's unfair to characterize all of us with sub-4.0 GPAs as lazy. I have a high SAT (1560), but I never did any test prep or anything, just took it in one sitting. The reason I have a 'low' GPA (3.7) is that I haven't really ever been a math/science person; my one C in high school is in a math class, as well as the vast majority of my B+s and under. It's hard to justify working hard to yourself when you know you'll never use the stuff they teach you.</p>
<p>Also, statistically higher SATs correlate better with higher college performance than higher high school GPAs do.</p>
<p>It is true that people could have that opinion when they look at my stats, but that simply is not the case.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>I am very active in debate and it required a lot of my time. However, I just learned to manage my time. That is why my grades have been getting better progressively.</p></li>
<li><p>There was never really that much of a stress on grades in my house. So i had to motivate myself. Also, there were no ramifications if I did badly. A lack of structure can really be hard to overcome. Also, where i am from sadly a C is not that bad, and a B is excellent.</p></li>
<li><p>I worked throughout the entirety of my high school career. And you can cross apply my answer from above about time management.</p></li>
<li><p>I would like to believe that my test scores are a reflection of my dedication to learning even if no one encourages it. They show that I know something. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>I know you went through great lengths to ensure that your post was not personal Delfire, but I still feel that it was. </p>
<p>I just want to let you know that I am NOT by any means lazy. Everything that I have I have worked for. I have had to support my myself and my mother in some ways. I know however that I may appear lazy from my stats and I am always angry because that is simply not TRUE.</p>
<p>My fault if I came off like that but I'm curious because I have an African American friend who's in a VERY similar situation as you so I just inquired, no offense.</p>
<p>"..make sure Columbia knows this or that at least you put this in your application."</p>
<p>Yeah, I would HEAVILY suggest that...play somewhat upon money & ethnicity.</p>
<p>from what i hear.. school grades are the MOST important things..</p>
<p>you may be a great person with a great essay etc..
but after all columbia is a top notch school.. grades matter.. school grades which shows your development as a student over a long period of time is what counts the most.</p>
<p>but having said that.. selection can be unpredictable.. so i think everyone has a chance, noones an "automatic rejection"</p>
<p>B.S. There are automatic rejections.
There was a prestigious college's admission rep who came to our school and said</p>
<p>50% of the application is your transcript
25% are your test scores
25% is everything else.</p>
<p>Now obviously it's not the same for all schools, but I imagine it must start from there. 6 c's and quite a few b's won't help the URM status. Sorry if I seem too harsh, but that's what I believe. I hope I'm proven wrong :/</p>
<p>Well, clearly, my friend's 3.2 (actually, 3.28, sorry) was not enough to get him an auto reject (or a reject at all). So this poster's 3.26 is not enough either, probably.</p>
<p>Duskstamper, you're pretty arrogant, aren't you? Believe it or not, Columbia's average GPA is 3.8 and not 4.0.</p>