pls chance me for Fu Foundation

Colleges and Universities A-Z Columbia University
1

<p>Hi, need your opinion for my chances. I know the international pool is highly competitive, so please consider that too. Any help is greatly appreciated.</p>

<p>Asian male, from Singapore</p>

<p>One of the 2 most competitive high schools in Singapore.
SAT: 2290 (C740, M780, W770) one sitting
SAT 2: have not taken. will take MathII and Chem, expecting >750 on each
Rank: HS does not rank</p>

<p>Courseload:</p>

<p>Heaviest workload possible in my HS, and in my country.
Grade 11:
Math A
Chem A
Phy A
Bio C (this is considered to be stellar in my school)
Econ B
General Paper A</p>

<p>Grade 12:
I expect my grades to fall this year, maybe an average of B. but i'm expecting average A on my actual 'A levels' exam.</p>

<p>Volunteer:
Led a nation-wide fund-raiser and raised $40k for a charity.
Taught a web design class in a primary school for 2 month
Selected for tutoring of weak math students in my school
public performance of calligraphy in a local museum</p>

<p>ECs:
local math olympiad bronze
2 year president for an academic club
stanford EPGY
National science fair: Entered 3 projects, received Bronzes on 2
Science research program
presented papers at a science conference
school projects day: high distinction, top project for category
play varsity inline hockey
class representation (elected)
volunteer for interact club
4 years calligraphy
1 year judo
2 year computer club
5 year karate (brown belt, under a very rigorous grading system)
5 year swimming (with many awards)
1 year of self-initiated research project in which i designed a medicine database, filing for patent, but most likely to be unsuccessful</p>

<p>Awards:
Creative multimedia competition -1st place. this is a national web design competition
ministry of education award for leadership
international bronze for calligraphy
various awards for needy students (i come from a humble background)
qualifier for the most prestigious national science talent search</p>

<p>Work/Internship:
1. Spent one summer servicing computers and servers for a semiconductor factory
2. Internship at Legal Aid Bureau: 1 week full time
3. Internship at Centre for Strategic Infocom Technologies: 4 weeks full time, with research paper
4. Intership at National University of Singapore 1 month full time, 2 month part time, with research paper supervised by Assoc Prof.
5. paid Internship at a renowned graduate medical school, 2 month fulltime, 1 month partime. with research paper with NOVEL results <--*(hook?)
6. attachment with mediacorp. i was casted in a local game show.</p>

<p>extra:
1. I'm first generation college student, neither of my parents went to college.
2. I come from a humble background, even by local standards. I cannot attend college without financial aid.
3. I am very serious about karate, i will likely make it my essay topic.</p>

<p>What I want to know if whether I have a realistic chance of columbia Fu Foundation, with FA/scholarship. thanks!</p>

2

<p>your chances are well but do not expect an appreciable scholarship</p>

3

<p>warden, all of that is pretty strong if you ask me, i think you definitely have a good chance at getting into fu, scholarship is always difficult, i think you have too much that you are trying to show, colleges like people who are a more focused on fewer things, 4-5 serious commitments with stellar achievements in 2-3 of them is always more favorable, because in college students tend to get involved in fewer things more intensively. I think your scores are good, you're quite balanced between ecs and academics which fu likes, academics are a little sciency but that's ok if it's common for singaporeans to do that before going to engineering schools. I would play up your more serious committments and play down less serious ones, like mentioning a one week 'internship' probably is not going to help, if anything it'll detract attention from more serious activities. i think you definitely stand a chance at getting into the scholarship league. essays will make the difference</p>

4

<p>thanks all. anymore input?</p>

5

<p>Your fundraiser puts you ahead of most everyone else.</p>

6

<p>haha thanks i didn't think that would be significant.</p>

7

<p>ya definitely highlight the fundraiser</p>

8

<p>I think the C in Bio, no matter how stellar it's considered, will raise flags.</p>

9

<p>oh. you have no idea. my school is known for her university standard bio exams. </p>

<p>hm thanks for pointing that out. btw a question. must i provide evidence for everything i have done? there are some things that are impossible to get prove for anymore.</p>

10

<p>anymore input? any stray comments are welcomed</p>

11

<p>Mad bio = HCJC?</p>

<p>Anyway, doesn't the school just send in your predicted A-level scores (since the actual ones obviously aren't out by the time you have to apply for college)? I'm not sure how they predict, but I guess you should study for prelims to negate that C.</p>

12

<p>timepiece, exactly. yep i guess nobody wants to send in their internal exam results. they are invariably a bunch of Ds and Es for most people. But all end up with 4As predicted grades.</p>

<p>in case you're curious, they predict by percentiles. Like since last year 95% had A in their A levels Bio, so the top 95% achievers in the internal exams will get predicted A. give or take. with a small component of tutor's discretion. and yes, 95% isn't a hypothetical statistic. it is actually 95%</p>