I’m in ninth grade and I get straight A’s, I do several extracurriculars and sports, I am scheduled to take the most rigorous classes my school has to offer, I will start volunteering at a hospital soon. I don’t know my SAT/ACT score yet but that’s because I haven’t taken them. I really want to go to Columbia to study pre-med to eventually become an anesthesiologist. I know that Columbia is super competitive, so I want to know what kind of stuff I can do to really stand out to the AO’s. I’m also planning to do some kind of medical research internship my junior or senior year. Please offer any advice you think would be useful!!!
First off- you’re doing great! Second- you have a long time to go before applying anywhere. It’s good that you have a goal of where you want to go, but don’t let it stress you out.
Honestly, do whatever makes you happy. Remember, admissions officers are looking for people, not an application that looks like 1000 others. Focus on having unique ECs that are representative of who you are and you’ll be fine.
Thank you! you sound so much like all my teachers and guidance counselor about the stress part… HA HA!
It is way too early to think about specific colleges (especially the hyper-competitive ones). You don’t even have one full year’s GPA and you have no standardized testing. You also need to recognize that HS should be an experience in and of itself – a time of learning and growth and not just a 4 year college application prep experience.
It is good to take school seriously and know that college will be on your horizon, but it is too early to start planning for specific colleges. I would highly recommend that you get off of CC until your junior year.
For now you should focus on:
–Working hard, learning, and doing as well as you can in the most challenging curriculum you can manage.
–When the time comes study for standardized tests.
–Continue your involvement in activities you care about and work towards making meaningful contributions to those activities. If you can get internships in areas you are interested in that is great too.
–Enjoying spending time with your family and friends.
When the time comes asses your academic stats (including GPA, standardized tests, course rigor) as well as your financial needs and apply to a wide range of reach, match, and safety schools that appear affordable (you will have to run a net price calculator for each school you consider) and that you would be happy to attend. There are tons of wonderful schools out there where you can have a great 4 year experience and get where you want to go in life.
BUMP
UPDATE: school year is over and my final GPA was a 4.0 (our school is unweighted only).
Also, these were my ECs: school musical, soccer, basketball, softball, speech and debate team, environmental club, student government (class rep), 2 years of competitive academic summer camps and one more this summer, and volunteer work at a library (I know; not very sciencey but they didn’t require prior experience, which I didn’t have.), College-level noncredit exercise science course, local writing contest 1st place (state pending IDEK tho), foreign language club, school board grading committee, writing workshop, working in my town tourism dept.
CLASSES: Algebra I, Spanish II, Earth Science & corresponding lab, Global 9, English 9, Chorus, student internship (working in an elementary school classroom), gym
NEXT YEAR CLASSES: Geometry, Spanish III/IV, Bio (“living environment”) & its lab, Global 10 and APWH self-study, English 9, college-level public speaking and intro. to sociology, Select vocal ensemble, HS health, intro to comp. sci, gym
ECs: soccer, softball (I hate b-ball so I’m quitting), Science Olympiad, Speech and Debate team, student government ( class president), possibly chess, 2 more competitive academic summer camps next summer (hopefully), another college-level noncredit course in medicine, library AND hospital volunteering, and hopefully with VA, too, hopefully NHS, Hugh O’Brien Youth Leadership Conference, foreign language club, school board grading committee, Tri-M, writing workshop, starting a Red Cross and a tutoring club, pushing to get more APs audited at my school, applying to JHU CTY and Conrad challenge. Oh, and I’ve contacted some local uni research depts so hopefully research.
please reply with critique/feedback.
Why are you taking English 9 again next year? Did you mean English 10?
Yes, I meant English 10-thanks for the catch!!
I think that you need to step back and take a breather. You’re incredibly involved, but you’re doing things for the sake of impressing colleges, and it shows. Theres’s not even enough room on the Common App to list all of your freshman year ECs! Pick, like, 10 ECs max that you’re interested in and pursue those.
Please, please take the advice of commenters like happy1.
You are so right! My freshman year I thought that being hyper-involved was KEY to getting in, and now I realize that and I’m narrowing my focus to more medical/science stuff. Plus of course, I’m not going to put EVERYTHING on the EC section. I will pick and choose. But still. thanks. Some of The stuff for next year is also just for fun; writing workshop, etc. I’ve gotta enjoy myself somewhat! (ok, the workshop will also help my writing skills tho)
Remember, ECs include hobbies. I’d include baking cakes over half of your ECs since it at least shows you’re a normal person with actual interests that the adcom can relate to, rather than some robot student on a warpath to med school. Also, Columbia is great for pre-professionalism, but there’s a very heavy pretension surrounding “going to school for the sake of going to another school” here. That’s why we have the Core. If you can demonstrate that being pre-med is a facet of your experience, and that you are primarily concerned with learning for the sake knowledge, following intellectual pursuits for their own gain, etc., you’ll have a MUCH higher chance of getting in.
Do I look like a robot student on the warpath to med school? I mean, I guess I kind of am though 
But those ARE my hobbies. I find pleasure in very little besides academics; that’s just my personality. I’m not doing all this stuff just to get in. believe me or don’t, that’s still the truth.
I’m not even sure where I want to go to med school maybe Columbia P&S, but that’s only b/c I’m thinking of Columbia for undergrad. When you said “that’s why WE have the Core”, do mean to say that you are a Columbia student? Because I would love to learn more about it.
Uh, yeah? Do people who aren’t students of whatever school post in that school’s forum? That’s kinda screwed up, if you ask me. How are you supposed to discuss Columbia if you aren’t an interested person or a current/past student?
I guess that’s why CC kinda sucks, ha. But, yeah, I’m a student at Columbia College. Ask away.
I am interested in Columbia. That’s why I’m here. I mean, I probably should have posted in a different forum, but I’m also a complete newbie to CC.
What would you say was the biggest factor that got you in?
Demonstrated intellectual passion. I was interested in a somewhat niche major with very little high school backing in the subject, compared to super prep schools that feed kids into the Ivy League. So I read a lot on my own and took independent classes regarding the subject, which I emphasized on my Common App and especially on my Columbia supplementals. One of my essays, for example, was about how I and a group of friends founded a semi-successful quiz bowl team entirely because we loved learning and wanted to compete in a field where that was paramount, and how shocked we were when we qualified to and arrived at the nationals tournament and all the other teams were just in it for the competition aspect. Columbia loves that type of stuff.
But, honestly, I’m white. If I were black or native american or latino, I’d have to say THAT would be the biggest factor.
@aurelian ^ ethnicity is way too hyped on these forums. Sure, it’s a hook, just like coming from an under represented state, but less than legacy or being an athlete. Top schools want students who are exceptional in some way. There are thousands and thousands of Hispanic or Native American students in the US. It takes way more than just what you are to get into any top 25 college.
What you describe is a very good example of what students may do: something authentic and a bit different from what most students think they “must” do. However showing you love to learn (learning something, not saying it but proving it through what you’ve done), being passionate about the world of ideas.
@futurecollege00 :
You won’t major in premed. You will major in whatever you love and declare your intention of going to medical school - being premed is an intention only. Right now, philosophy or medical humanities are strongly appreciated by medical schools, and the Core will be very helpful to you. You will take premed pre-reqs - basic intro classes in the sciences (they have nothing medical), plus English, psychology, sociology., and a diversity-focused course. The difference between you and a regular student will be that you’ll have to rank top 10-20% in each and every one of them.
So, one way to make yourself competitive is to figure out how you’re different from other overachievers, then pursue that difference to excellence, while taking a rigorous academic curriculum (4 years of English and social science/history, foreign language through level4 or AP, math through calculus, all three from bio, chemistry, physics honors plus if possible AP chemistry and/or AP biology, a minimum of 4 APs with 6-8 preferred, total, over your high school years ).
Right, I know I won’t Specifically major in “premed”. However, that is the track that I plan to follow because I want to pursue a career in anesthesiology.
Do you think that CC or SEAS would be better for my intentions? Becuase they both have the pre-medical requirement classes, but since SEAS has the special “Engineering core”, it’s a little easier in terms of getting all my reqs in because the classes will be mainly focused on science.
I’m going to be taking most of those classes you mentioned through dual enrollment and a few APs. I know Columbia doesn’t accept dual enrollment credits, but will it still show the same rigor as APs?
hi
It’s too early to focus on a college.
(At this point, it’s a bit as if ten years ago you mused ‘what is better for my birthday, an alezan pony or a unicorn-white pony?’ 
It’s nice to muse and daydream but it doesn’t relate to reality or ways to achieve your goals.)
If you really want to do something useful and college-related, buy a Princeton Review’ Best colleges 2018 and find 5 colleges in each region of the country (Northeast, Midwest, Great plains, midatlantic, South, Southwest, Pacific Northwest) which you’d never heard of, then pick two which would be either matches or safeties based on acceptance rates (respectively 35-45% and 50%+). That means finding 35-40 colleges you didn’t know about and selecting about 15. Then you can post your discoveries here and discuss the reasons behind some likes or dislikes.
Ok. I sort of did that except for I really only want to go to school in the northeast. These are my schools. Obviously, the list will be shortened over time.
**QUESTBRIDGE SCHOOLS I WOULD RANK: (-denotes up for debate)
Amherst
-Bowdoin
Brown
Colby
Columbia
-Dartmouth
Hamilton
NW
Oberlin
Tufts
UPenn
-Yale
*OTHER QB SCHOOLS I MIGHT RANK:
Princeton
Wellesley
Williams
Vassar
*POSSIBLE OTHER COLLEGES: (NOT QB BUT I LIKE THEM)
Colgate
JHU
Union
GW
Barnard
SLU
Clarkson
RIT
U of Rochester
Stony Brook
Cornell
**SAFITES/ FINANCIAL SAFITES:
Canisius
Adelphi
SUNY Albany
SUNY Geneseo
UBuffalo
SUNY Binghamton
SUNY Polytechnic
ACPHS
Yeshiva (I don’t know if I can go here; I’m not Jewish. Any insight?)