<p>can you post your stats? like SAT scores, ECs, recs or essays etc
My GPA is low so I don't know if I should apply or not.</p>
<p>Can you spare the money? It will be like betting on an extremely long shot at the race track unless you have some special skill or passion. Reciting statistics won’t help you make this decision. If you have won some statewide contest on a musical instrument that happens to be lacking in the orchestra or one of the bands, you might get in with only acceptable stats. You might have some other special skill or athletic ability that they need. Low GPA and high SATs can be a fatal combination as it may indicate a lack of passion for learning.</p>
<p>low gpa + high sat + definite hardships + own company + first gen + low income+ youngArts + publishing novel… Chances?</p>
<p>… = waitlisted :)</p>
<p>Eventually accepted off the waitlist if URM :D</p>
<p>not urm, unfortunately. oh yeah, community service awards,plus Questbridge + amazing recs & essays + cured cancer (jk…)</p>
<p>can nothing offset the ugly gpa? </p>
<p>hope=diminishing</p>
<p>yeah, pessimistic but true. I probably won’t be applying.</p>
<p>GPA = 3.3 unweighted (3.9 weighted), at a top extremely competitive suburban public school
SAT = 800M/750V
SAT2s = 800 M2C, 800 US Hist, 750 Bio, 760 Chem, 800 Physics, etc…
APs = Bio, Chem, US Hist, Euro Hist, Eng Lang, Eng Lit, Calc BC, Statistics = 5’s. Psychology, Music Theory, Phys C Mech, Phys C E&M = 4’s. By the end of my junior year. Physics C was taken my freshman year.</p>
<p>Story:
- Classes were never a challenge for me, motivation / work ethic was. The classes I cared about, I got an A, the classes I didn’t, I got B’s. The harder the class, the more interested I was and the better grades I got.
- In service of repairing the impression my GPA gave, I got a full-time job for my senior year of HS (and worked my senior year + a gap year) in a professional position with a software company. I’d finished the requirements to graduate a year early (minus one english class that I took in the evenings)
- My boss at that company wrote a killer recommendation speaking to my maturity and personal growth, as did my Principal, who knew me personally and had OKd my “work-study” plan for senior year.
- I destroyed every standardized test I ever took (see above).
- I was really advanced in math and science; took calc-based physics my freshman year, took calculus my freshman year, multivariate my sophomore year (at a local college), linear algebra my junior year, etc. Local universities gave me course credit.
- I was passionately committed to
(A) math team, science team - lots of awards there, etc. did really well in the national chemistry exam.
(B) classical piano - gave solo concerts, did concerto competitions, accompanied school chorus & musicals, etc.
(C) cross country & track - lettered.
(D) sang in a student-led a cappella group where I arranged songs and coordinated gigs
(E) even while still taking classes in HS, I worked part-time in retail jobs so I could afford school trips
(F) a bunch of other things - coordinated / produced a play that our french class put on, won awards for a history research paper that I did, a bunch of volunteering stuff… seriously, I had a list of non-BS “accomplishments” two pages long.</p>
<p>And I was rejected by Columbia my senior year of HS. Well, waitlisted and ultimately rejected. However, I worked for another year, after which my recommendation from my boss was sufficiently compelling that they believed I had “grown up” and would be less of a high-risk applicant - so they admitted me ED.</p>
<p>That’s just one story, but… GPA is for realz, folks. Slackers in HS are usually slackers in college. I changed my stripes but it involved some serious blood, sweat and tears.</p>
<p>All hail denzera!
i wanna say denzera must be a genius</p>
<p>cap lock fails?</p>
<p>Denzera did you apply to SEAS during your senior year as well?</p>
<p>applied to SEAS during my senior year - got waitlisted –> rejected.</p>
<p>applied to SEAS ED during my gap year (and 2nd year of work) - got accepted.</p>
<hr>
<p>nahshimshimhaeyo - if you didn’t want to read stories about “people who got in with low GPA”, why did you click on this thread?</p>
<p>^ ummm wow… now i am scared *****less.</p>
<p>despite the “low gpa” (which isn’t that low considering the weighted gpa) I honestly don’t get how you got rejected from SEAS on your first attempt ;; you took a gazillion APs and you have awesome ECs…</p>
<p>Whyyyyyyyyyy Denzeraaaaaaaaaaaaaa. Now I’m going to have bouts of anxiety until Decemember :[</p>
<p>denzera i wasn’t being sarcastic. i was complimenting you. i wish did that well in high school.</p>
<p>most people calling others a genius within their earshot are being sarcastic. I’m no genius, I just had a lot of interests in high school, and I’m real good at tests.</p>
<p>Anon - I would say it’s 3 reasons, accounted for as follows:</p>
<p>(60%) Low GPA raises concerns about ability to focus and sustain interest in academics. Also suggests immaturity.
(30%) Not-high-quality essay, downright poor Why-Columbia blurb
(10%) Insufficient depth (too much breadth) in ECs. Needed to focus more narrowly on things I could really get major achievements in.</p>
<p>Obviously #3 wasn’t bad enough to prevent me getting in, when I had addressed #1 better with more work experience, and #2 by preparing better.</p>
<p>Denzera do you suggest uploading a resume as additional information, in lieu of filling out the regular EC sheet on the application? The space is very limited there and you don’t really get to explain.</p>
<p>what if low gpa was result of family hardships and stuff? (Questbridge applicant) would columbia or others cut some slack? the low gpa was not a result of immaturity or lack of passion, but lots of family issues that got in the way.</p>
<p>Probably. People who had to support their siblings or parents by working a whole lot are probably cut some slack - assuming the academic potential is demonstrated in other ways - and are likely given increased credit in the “maturity” dimension.</p>
<p>and columbias a QB partner school too. IDK ur situation does frighten me</p>
<p>oh dear. that’s all i have to say.</p>
<p>Geez, Denz, now you’ve intimidated everyone. Including me 
And I made it out of college without many bruises. </p>
<p>I think what his story demonstrated is a willingness to haul ass to get something done, and get what he wants: which most people admire.
D’s really smart, yes, probably more so than the average columbia kid–but I know tons of intelligent people who just didn’t feel like putting in the work to do something and get somewhere (although it’s something that everyone does on occasion). </p>
<p>To clarify: I’m definitely not undercutting D’s achievements, but simply stating that your ROI increases exponentially the more effort you give.</p>
<p>So yeah, use this as a bar to reach or overshoot, don’t freak out at Denz’s profile.</p>