<p>29, never matriculated out of school...lots of APs...all 4s and 5s...1510 on old SAT....have taught ACT verbal sections/Science professionally could ace or 35 them in my sleep, and I am sure I could score a 31 or thereabouts on Math with a week's worth of tutoring from my dad.</p>
<p>Ive already been directed to the non-traditional board, it is a veritable wasteland.</p>
<p>I wrote a question into CC and received back a response which refers to this program.</p>
<p>I am currently enrolled in CC and taking normal if unspectacular courses to move me towards an Associates with my APs included. I wont get there by summer.</p>
<p>I am interested in Soft Sciences/History Education and eventually administration, and obviously Columbia has a world renowned dept.</p>
<p>I have no notable achievements or ECs...</p>
<p>Thoughts?</p>
<p>Note: Im sorry for the structure/grammar it is very late and my contact has fallen out.</p>
<p>yeah i mean you definitely seem like a reasonable candidate.</p>
<p>i think they not only look for prior demonstration of academic aptitude–which you clearly offer with your test scores and presumably strong CC grades–but also specificity of interest, i.e. why the unique columbia g.s. program, with its flexibility and simultaneous access to the deep university curriculum, is a great fit for you. </p>
<p>so i would certainly flesh out and emphasize these long-term academic interests and why C-SOGS (i think that should just be the school’s official name) is the place to pursue them.</p>
<p>that’s just one humble, uninformed man’s opinion, though–i’m only hoping to apply myself a year or so down the line</p>
<p>Your essay will be the most important part of your application. As the previous poster says, talk about why you want to go to GS (and not just because it’s in NYC, is an Ivy, etc). What about the program speaks to you? </p>
<p>One thing I want to add regarding flexibility, is that the Dean of GS, Peter Awn, famously tells all incoming students to GS that the school is “both expensive and inconvenient”. It’s funny, but it’s also true. What is meant by that is there aren’t night classes for people working full time, etc - you go to class when everyone else (CC/SEAS) does. </p>
<p>So, what about that environment speaks to you? </p>
<p>You mention teaching in your post - what have you done on a professional level since high school?</p>
<p>you really think that a 1-2 semester membership in a club that they’ll realize isn’t very hard to join (as you put it) will be significantly weighted in their evaluation, johnny445?</p>
<p>OP seems like a smart guy and pretty intense student with well-defined academic interests…</p>
<p>he might spend his free time reading about subjects relevant to his intended field of study, he might work an internship or a part-time job a couple of days week for hands-on exposure to that field, hell he might spend it playing chess online or socially (only without the formal affiliation you chose to obtain, presumably in part to impress an admissions committee, a common reality that may well be transparent to evaluators).</p>
<p>i’m not trying to debase your or anyone’s extracurricular pursuits, since they often are governed by sincere interest in the activity itself and its enjoyment in the context of a college atmosphere–and even when they aren’t, but are indeed more resume-oriented, I respect these motivations, too, since, hey, a lot of life is jumping through hoops, and who’s a rambling CC poster like me to judge?–but i just (and maybe i’m rationalizing my own lack of it to comfort myself…in fact i know that’s what i’m doing) simply do not want to believe that the columbia school of general studies factors participation in school organizations to the same extent that traditional schools factor the common app brag sheet geared towards high schoolers. their evaluation process is an expressly holistic one that defies the seeming “check off on the clipboard that he had a leadership position in a club” mentality that many perceive as defining the stereotypical admissions committee at ivy league x.</p>
<p>i’ve looked at a lot of the accepted students’ stats on here and most of them actually did have some impressive string of activities at their community college or prior school-- the sort of record that may well be, in general studies adcoms’ eyes, an indicator of a vibrant, intellectually and socially curious individual who will contribute to the campus–so there’s a solid chance i’m just blowing smoke out my rear here. </p>
<p>EDIT: and maybe the school wouldn’t like someone who basically makes schoolwork his singular focus and doesn’t participate in any correlated clubs. i really don’t know.</p>
<p>I’ll have to take blame for the wording of my post, I did not realize it would be perceived that way. I was not trying to say that an EC activity would be a critical factor of the application, but if left empty would leave the Admissions Counselors wondering: Why is it blank? If it is easy to do virtually anything and label it EC, why didn’t the applicant do anything worthy of entering if it is so easy? Having plenty of informal EC’s is great, (I have many myself) but it will not help much if you are unable to produce some type of documentation or organization you worked with. It’s like the difference between someone standing up and saying “I use computers all the time” compared to someone that produces a degree that says “BS in Computer Science” We know who will win that choice.</p>
<p>I picked those two examples at random, although I have been a USCF member since 2008. (A decent amount of time before I knew the GS program even existed.) </p>
<p>Let’s be honest though, the GS program is clearly looking at people beyond just their academic achievements. True, we applicants have a break in education since high school, but what did/are we doing with that time? Academic achievement is only part of the equation. I personally would not dare to leave any blanks at all on the application, unless say it is related to some family box. I did choose a few EC’s that were of interest to me because 1) They were fun and 2) It would help with my application. Nothing wrong with that :)</p>
<p>tl;dnr : Leave no blank boxes if you can help it imho :)</p>
<p>I hate how people will always scan for weaknesses and then make it sound like everything is hard. Considering his academic record I believe he has an excellent chance of getting in. I saw a survey where Columbia GS admin marked GPA and SAT as “extremely important” in their admissions criteria. If your SAT is not longer valid just do it again and try to get over 2200.</p>
<p>“…you really think that a 1-2 semester membership in a club that they’ll realize isn’t very hard to join (as you put it) will be significantly weighted in their evaluation, johnny445?”</p>