<p>During my info session at Columbia, the adcom said they had accepted someone with a 980 SAT. </p>
<p>If you have a low GPA you should try to emphasize your other good points as much as you can and show that you are amazing in other realms. A 3.9 weighted is not going to impress the adcoms at all, but you do have a chance.</p>
<p>thx everyone for ur advices. yea im really dedicated to music, and i plan to bring that out on my essays. like talk about, how i love to express myself thru it, and i love delivering a message to everyone during my music community services, about how great music is in life, and stuff like that. i really have a penchant for music, and i want to bring that on my essays. as for my resume, i want to show how versatile or well rounded i am. so combined with my essays, i guess i want everyone to think that i am both a versatile, AND dedicated candidate. so i really hope to impress the adcom that way. as for leadership, i plan to be coedior or something for a newspaper club, and secretary for tri-m or something like that. i also have a question. can leadership be like academic leadership, or leader (principal) cellist, that kind of thing? or is leadership only like office position? i hope it can be concerning music leadership position too. well anyway, thx for all of ur advices. SAT scores......hmm im aiming for 2200 and above. or maybe thats too low.... eh gotta work hard!</p>
<p>2200 is right in at average at Columbia, so thats a great goal. I put down principal oboist on my application (go classical musicians!). </p>
<p>You sound like you really have your head on straight woo. I wish you the best of luck in the next 2 years.</p>
<p>Sorry, I forgot to mention the main point of the post in my other post.</p>
<p>I think you have the potential to be a competitive candidate provided that you have good standardized tests scores (very important) and solid, not necessarily a lot, ECs that you are dedicated to. Good luck to ya man.</p>
<p>thx a lot.</p>
<p>o and also, can anyone help me out on my resume so far? i want to know how i can improve it, or how good (or bad!!) it is so far too. thx a lot! ^o^</p>
<p>RESUME</p>
<p>Honors/Awards
-National Honors Society
-Spanish National Honors Society
-Tri-M International Music Honors Society
-Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society
~A Tri-State (NY, NJ, CT) Competition Winner.
~Nine groups out of sixty groups that auditioned were selected for this honor
~Young Musicians Concert
--Performance at Alice Tully Hall
~Strings International Music Festival Scholarship
--invited to have master classes with renown musicians from the Philadelphia Orchestra<br>
-Tilles Scholarship Award (C.W. Post Chamber Music Festival)
~one of few chosen for scholarship into the festival
-Best Ensemble Award (C.W. Post Chamber Music Festival)
~awarded for demonstration of skill, enthusiasm and dedication to various chamber music
-LISELA (Long Island Science Education Leadership Association) Award
~awarded for excellent Leadership Role in Earth Science
-Earth Science Leadership Award
~awarded for excellence in Earth Science
-Honor Roll
~rewarded for excellence in academics for all four quarters of the high school years</p>
<p>Clubs/Activities
-Member of Mathletes
~team was ranked 2nd place in Long Island
-Member of the Ping-Pong Club
-Member of the Chess Club
-AMC (American Math Competition) Participant
-Tri-M (Modern Music Masters)
~chamber ensembles
--Leader of trio ensemble outside of school
~performances
~master class with Shanghai Quartet at Tilles Center
-GERF (Geological and Ecological Resource Foundation)
~one of few students in school selected to give a presentation to the Board of Education about earth science and the importance of setting up this foundation at school; the foundation would serve as a visual aid for earth science students, making it easier and more fun for them to learn.
-LISFA (Long Island String Festival Association)
~Associate Principal Cellist {3rd chair}
-All-County NMEA (Nassau Music Educators Association)
~Principal Cellist {1st chair}
-All State NYSSMA (The New York State School Music Association) Conference
~orchestral performance in Upstate New York
-School Symphony/Chamber Orchestra
~Principal Cellist (1st chair}</p>
<p>Athletics
-Boys Swimming (Varsity)</p>
<p>Community Service/Work Experience
-In-School Volunteering
~Chairperson for Nyssma Festival
--checked attendance for incoming Nyssma auditioners
--helped in setting up rooms for festival
[12+ hours]
-Gig Performances as trio and quartet ensembles
~Leader of gig groups; arranged job dates and times, rehearsal dates, music
preparation, etc.
--churches
>mass accompaniment
--parties
--country Clubs
>performed for the Master Works Foundation at Woodbury
Country Club
--Weddings
-North Shore LIJ (Long Island Jewish Hospital)
~office work; filing, charting
~equipment management/transport
~patient care
[50+ hours]
-LuHi Tennis Camp at SportTime
~Volunteer Counselor (PIT): Person In Training
--aided in running camp
--clean up
--served lunch
--office work
--organizing equipment/t-shirts
[200+ hours]</p>
<p>Summer Programs
-C.W. Post Chamber Music Festival
~chamber orchestra
--Assistant Principal Cellist {2nd chair}
~master classes
--with members of the Pierrot Consort
--with Larry Dutton of the Emerson Quartet.
>only a few groups in the entire festival were chosen for this honor
~chamber ensembles
--Leader of a trio and an octet
~performances
--best ensembles of festival selected to perform</p>
<p>GPA: 4.0 (almost certain)
SAT 2: Biology M-710
I'll probably take 3 more; math IC, Chem and US History next year, and probably two or three more during the senior year.
AP: Euro-3 : (</p>
<p>I HAVENT TAKEN THE SAT YET SO CAN ANYONE GIVE ME AN IDEA OF WHAT A GOOD SCORE WOULD BE? I ALSO TAKE AP EURO THIS YEAR AND IM GOING TO TAKE AP US NEXT YEAR, AND PROBABLY 6 MORE APS.</p>
<p>my gosh, your ECs are amazing.</p>
<p>If you don't get above 1450 on math and verbal parts of new SATS and you get admitted, please post this. Absent top SATs, I can't see you being admitted with a 3.4 uw gpa. However, I would love to be proven wrong.</p>
<p>bump....... thx!</p>
<p>bump bump bump...~!</p>
<p>Are You Guys Serious? Even If Your Gpa Is Low, Colleges Look At You RANK!!! How Can Anybody Forget That?!</p>
<p>I would highly doubt that the original poster is in the top 10% or even 15% with a 3.4 GPA!</p>
<p>^^ you got a point there.</p>
<p>actually it's 3.9 in case u forgot, but i also found out that my school doesn't rank. so i dunno....</p>
<p>your weighted gpa should be well above 4.0 . A 3.9 implies that you didnt take much AP/honors courses. And even if you did, the weighted gpa would indicate that you got poor grades on them.</p>
<p>to say that the persons gpa should be well above 4.0 is a stretch. there are alotta people on here that have 4.85 but only because their schools add mega points for all honors/ap classes. not all schools do that. also some of them go to schools where A's are common and half the school has a 4.0 or better. now thats not going to impress adcoms.</p>
<p>columbias admit rate is really low so no one can really say if you'll get in or not but you have a good chance.</p>
<p>
[quote]
A 3.9 implies that you didnt take much AP/honors courses. And even if you did, the weighted gpa would indicate that you got poor grades on them.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>My final GPA was 3.98. I took nine APs and got A's on all but one (B+ in French). Yup, that's definitely the portrait of someone who didn't take many APs and did poorly on them. :rolleyes: </p>
<p>woo - Ignore any comments about weighted GPA, because without more information, they're useless. taxguy is bashing 3.9s left and right but the two Columbia acceptees from my school this year had a 3.8 and 3.7 weighted, without anything super-amazing in terms of ECs. Now while this may be blasphemy to some people, in my school district you only get .5 for AP classes and nothing for honors, making it impossible to get near, let alone break, a cumulative 4.2 weighted. See what a difference that makes? If you want an accurate guess at your chances, post your unweighted GPA, or at least tell us how your school weights.</p>
<p>honors and AP equals 1pt extra. like from 4 to 5. but i havent taken that many APs yet. and even with this 1pt extra stuff i still only have a 3.9 weighted gpa. and unweighted i think is 3.85 or something
not much difference. eh.........</p>
<p>bump......thx</p>
<p>A 3.85 unweighted is fine, but the lack of honors/APs will probably hurt you.</p>