Please help engineering chances ed

Colleges and Universities A-Z Columbia University
1

<p>I go to a very competitive private high school in New Jersey. Widowed parent, income around 40k ish, first generation college student.</p>

<p>white male (double damn)</p>

<p>SAT I: 2020 690 CR, 630 Math, 700 Writing
SAT II: Haven't taken any yet but plan on doing math 1 (is math 2 basically required?), chem, and maybe lit/history (any preference for a third?)</p>

<p>I only have the october testing date for the sat 2s since the next one is after the ed date.</p>

<p>GPA: 3.8 something UW I did incredibly poor freshmen year and had to work instensely hard to get my grades up. I don't know if they'll see that but the self-improvement was immense</p>

<p>Rank: top 10</p>

<p>Junior year coursework: Honors English, Honors Chem, Honors Alg2/Trig, Ap US History, Honors Spanish 3, Religion (required)</p>

<p>four quarter grades and then year grade</p>

<p>Honors English- 97 97 99 98 98
Alg2 Trig Honors 95 94 96 95 95
AP USH- 99 99 99 99 99
Chemistry Honors 99 99 98 99 98
Spanish 3 Honors 96 97 97 96 95
Religion- 99 99 99 99 99</p>

<p>Senior year: AP Eng, Honors Physics, Ap Art History, Ap US History, Honors Precalc</p>

<p>My school only offers ap classes in English, Art History, US History, and Calc BC, so I'm taking all I am qualified for. I tried starting a US Gov AP and Euro Hist AP but the head of the department turned me down.</p>

<p>Taken 2 courses at a local community college, intro to philosophy (freshmen year- A-), sociology (sophomore year A), looking into another one now.</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:</p>

<p>Academic Team- Captain</p>

<p>Robotics Team-builder and participant when we won the 2005 and 2006 state championships for FIRST (possible hook? Idk..)</p>

<p>New Jersey Regional Science Fair-participant</p>

<p>Spanish Honor Society- helped fundraise and tutored students</p>

<p>Model United Nations</p>

<p>NJ American Legion Boys State representative</p>

<p>Intermural Basketball League assistant coach/player</p>

<p>Chess team</p>

<p>Intermural Ultimate Frisbee League- Co-Founder, captain of a team, and player</p>

<p>American Cancer Society Relay for Life-helped organize and set up event, three years</p>

<p>Worked at Afterhours Formalwear</p>

<p>Awards:</p>

<p>· The Elmira College Key Award, 2006
· Excellence in Spanish 2 CP, 2004-2005
· Excellence in English 2 CP, 2004-2005
· Honorable Mention in Eastern Civilization CP, 2004-2005
· Excellence in English 3 Honors, 2005-2006
· Excellence in United History 1 Advanced Placement, 2005-2006
· Honorable Mention in Spanish 3 Honors, 2005-2006
· New Jersey Regional Science Fair Rutgers Student Award, 2005
· National Spanish Examination Certificate of Achievement and Merit¸ 2004-2005 and 2005-2006</p>

<p>Thanks for any help guys I really appreciate this, college planning is driving me crazy since I have to do it on my own.</p>

2

<p>I'd be concerned about that SAT score, particularly math. I would recommend you take Math 2, Chem, Physics for SAT IIs--heavy, I know, but unless you're doing your SAT I again, you need to prove yourself score-wise.</p>

3

<p>Yes I know my sat1 math is a little low. I've only had alg2/trig as my last math class so would I be ready for math 2? I can't take physics because I'm goign into physics honors next year. So math, chem, and another (does it have to be science?)</p>

<p>I'm going to take the sat2s in october. And if I take the sat1s in november can I still use them for early decision? I know columbia says not to rush any scores so I can't do that, but would taking sat1s in beginning of november still get to them for ed?</p>

4

<p>Columbia actually mandates which SAT IIs you need to take, this is from the website:</p>

<p>In addition to either A or B above [the SAT I or ACT], you must also take two SAT Subject Tests. For Columbia College, you may take any two; for Columbia Engineering, you must take any mathematics test and either Physics or Chemistry.</p>

<p>If I were in your position, I'd take Math 1 AND Math 2, and whichever you're better at for the science. And I'm pretty positive that taking the test in October would get there in time. But call and ask Columbia.</p>

5

<p>Hmm I like the idea of math 1 and 2. I will be doing chem.</p>

<p>I'm pretty positive that my october scores will get there, what about my november ones?</p>

6

<p>I'm not too thrilled about the math 1 AND 2 idea....this depends on your abilities but i think you should do math 2 to make up for your dismal SAT I math score. Even if you take math 1 and end up getting an 800 there will be people who did that well on the math 2 and they would have an advantage. I would give taking both some extra thought before doing it but i really think you should take math 2 and just study whatever you dont know. U would be hard pressed to find any male in the engineering school who did not take math 2. that's just my opinion from what I have observed.</p>

7

<p>I know, this is a predicament. I don't know if my last class, alg2/trig, will be good enough for math 2. I know all this must make it seem that I'm not good at math and why am I going for engineering. But the thing is, I am good at math, but I'm not a prodigy. I started late, I was in a simple algebra 1 class freshmen year so that's why I'm behind everyone else in terms of being in precalc vs. calc. It just seems nothing is really working well for me with colleges.</p>

8

<p>i dont think "i'm good at math, really" is a good enough reason to put down on the "why engineering" portion of the application. Also, the only way you will know how far behind the sat2 math2c is to actually take a look at a book and see how much catching up you will need to do. It is VERY common for engineering majors to have a good deal of advanced math under their belt when they enter columbia. You might want to reconsider why you want to do engineering because, trust me, you do NOT want to struggle from the getgo while, seeing differentiation and integration for the first time. What major are u looking into?</p>

9

<p>Civil Engineering. Obviously I'm not going to say I'm good at math but not on tests the end. I was just trying to eplxain that I am good at math, but the levels of math that I have taken, because as I tried stating in my last post I started late, that's why I'm not extremely comfortable with topics I haven't studied yet on math 2.</p>

10

<p>If you are willing to put in the work, then maybe Math 2, Chem, AND Physics would be your best bet. But only if you can do very well on all three. That would make up for the SAT score.</p>

11

<p>Thanks for the encouragement. I just took a practice act test and got a composite of 29, if I score similar on an actual act test, meaning 28-30 would that be better for my chances than my current sat scores, or would it be comparable.</p>

<p>Also the ACT can be taken at the end of october unlike the sat sicne I need to do sat2s on the october date(can my scores get there in time for ed?)</p>