Hi! I just started my sophomore year in high school and I’m dreaming of Columbia (I know its a long shot, but I’m willing to put in all the work I can). Here is my schedule (freshman year is completed)
9th grade-
French 1
Speech and Debate Honors
English 2 Honors (English 1 was taken in middle school)
World History Honors
Math 2 Honors (Math 1 was taken in middle school)
French 2
Biology Honors
Gym (it was required lol)
10th grade (Current)
AP English 3 Companion Course (Honors Credit)
French 3 Honors
Math 3 Honors
Chemistry Honors
Pre Calc Honors
Civics and Economics HOnors
Creative Writing Honors (I plan to switch out of this course and into AP Environmental Science)
AP English Language
11th Grade (Planned, hopefully the counselors give me these classes)
AP English 4 Companion Course (Honors Credit)
AP Calculus (yearlong)
Leadership Skills I (this is the course for Student Council)
APUSH (yearlong)
AP English Lit
French 4 Honors
12th Grade (Planned)
Leadership skills (more student council haha)
AP Statistics (yearlong I think)
AP Psychology (not sure if yearlong or not)
AP Biology (yearlong)
And some sort of english elective or online english AP if available because I run out of core English courses by then
Current GPA: 4.625 weighted, 4.0 unweighted
Current class rank: I think I’m #2 right now but the last time the counselors told ranks was when it was based on the first semester of freshman year and there were a lot of people placed as #2 for some reason. I’m in a class of about 450.
ECS: Right now I’m in Interact club and have applied for Beta Club, Governmental Studies club, and Mu Alpha Theta (Math Honors society). When I’m a junior I’ll be able to also join student council, NEHS, Rho Kappa (History Honors Society), and NHS. I’m definitely going to get a job but I’m not sure where yet. I plan on joining my city’s “Hands On Charlotte” volunteer group as well as Teens 4 Christ at my church (more volunteering), as well as volunteering at my local hospital. I want to also run for president of Beta club this year, an officer of Interact next year, and possibly president of NHS next year (really, I’ll just take whatever officer positions I can get). I would like to get an internship but I live basically in the middle of nowhere and no matter how much I search I can’t find one. I’m also planning on doing a Law Camp and Model UN at my local university the summer after junior year (because I’ll need a car to get there haha).
Background: Neither of my parents have a degree and I think I’m in the >$70,000 income bracket, however this may change once I get a job. My mother is from the Philippines (but an American citizen for decades) and my father is American. My sister is a doctor of pharmacy and went to UCONN.
Major/Future: I’m not 100% sure but I think I want to major in political science and become a lawyer.
Basically, while I still have time left to add things in, what else should I do or even change in order to increase my chances of getting into Columbia?
Some of the other colleges I’ve been looking at are: UNC Chapel Hill, Duke, NYU, Princeton