quick chances please??

Colleges & Universities A-Z Columbia University
1

<p>ok i saw the ED results from Columbia and that was fairly brutal
I got deferred by the PLME from Brown</p>

<p>I'm applying RD to Columbia and would love to go there!</p>

<p>so here I am</p>

<p>Gender: M</p>

<p>State: NJ</p>

<p>School: Public/ rarely sends grads to top schools</p>

<p>Rank: 1/190</p>

<p>taken most rigorous courseload available</p>

<p>Standardized Tests:</p>

<p>SAT: 2200
CR: 710
M: 700
W: 790</p>

<p>SAT Subject Tests:
US History: 790
Chemistry: 770
Math II: waiting for result</p>

<p>ACT: waiting for result</p>

<p>I took 2 AP's last year (most I could have taken)
US History: 5
Chemistry: 3 (one of 3 people that passed...in 2 years lol)</p>

<p>taking 4 more this year</p>

<p>EC's</p>

<p>S.H.A.R.E. (community service organization in my school, been involved here all 4 years and it is what i'll be writing about, i got a rec from the advisor who also happens to be my APUSH teacher)</p>

<p>Varsity Soccer
Varsity Track
NHS
Italian Honor Society
bunch of other unimportant stuff...lol</p>

<p>Awards: not too many (not much is offered at my school)</p>

<p>Rensselaer Medal Award
Nominee for various Leadership conferences: NYLF, NYLC, Boys' state etc.
HOBY alternate
NJ Governor's School in the Sciences nominee</p>

<p>I plan to write my essay about my middle eastern heritage (Iraqi woooooOO!!! lol) and my immigration experience
I plan to do pre-med and possibly major in Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies</p>

<p>.....so how's it looking?</p>

2

<p>I think the only thing you really have going for you is your rank, as you are 1, but everything else you are short on except SATIIs (but you will have to wait for your math results, as they recommend one of your two SATIIs be Math IIC).</p>

<p>Your SATs are in range but your math/reading is low and your writing is high, which is definitely not good. </p>

<p>Two APs definitely puts you on the low end for hard classes in the Columbia applicant pool. </p>

<p>Lack of leadership is absolutely awful for any Columbia candidate. Other than SHARE which I have no idea about, your other ECs are fairly generic, things like NHS shouldn’t even be on your list if you ask me. </p>

<p>Other than the NJ Governors school (I don’t know how good this is), all your other awards/nominations are fairly generic, and I don’t think nominations even count for anything unless you actually attend the program, and I’m pretty sure NYLF, NYLC, and Boy’s State is not anything special.</p>

<p>Your essay is a very common topic for immigrants, meaning in order to use your essay to your advantage you have to write it especially well.</p>

<p>I feel like your school definitely has a lack of opportunity that makes you seem weaker in the curriculum side and the EC side, which is very understandable to a student like myself who was in a similar situation in terms of ECs. That being said, things like a 5, 3 while taking only 2 APs to me seems to say your school is easy although I do not believe Columbia looks at AP scores. </p>

<p>Looking at the semi-bloodbath of the ED thread, and considering RD is significantly more selective than ED, I would say your chances are very low. I might have been a bit harsh but there is just nothing that stands out. Do well on Math IIC and write a killer essay, that’s the only advice I can give you.</p>

3

<p>well thats pretty much all the relevant EC clubs available at my school…would being elected president of NHS really have helped considering presidents of clubs really do nothing at all (its really just a title and a popularity contest)? I was nominated for various leadership conference things (I know most people get nominated for those but doesn’t show any leadership skills?)
I couldn’t even get a job because I’m still 16 and apparently no one in my town likes to hire 16-year-olds…
I was lucky to get a chance to volunteer at Mount Sinai Medical Center over the summer only because my dad works there…</p>

<p>my SAT is the highest my school has seen in a few years and the last person we sent to an ivy was 3 years ago to cornell (this year someone got into cornell ED also)…so in context of my school, im fine, but i guess when you compare me to kids with perfect scores (such as yourself) and kids who had taken 8 AP’s by junior year… I fall short…my school doesn’t even offer 8 AP’s…
I’m not trying to make up excuses but is there really no chance for somebody from a school where the students are not conditioned from freshman year to apply to an ivy?
Doesn’t it help at all that I come from a school where the average SAT is <1500/2400? I know I am nothing special by any means, but is that a crime nowadays in college admissions? Can’t I just be an involved, hard-working student who barely understood English 10 years ago and hope for some chance at admission?
well that’s my rant, lol sorry</p>

<p>Don’t get me wrong Masochist…I appreciate you chancing me and giving me some perspective on things considering everyone around me is like “Oh you’ll get in anywhere don’t worry about it”</p>

4

<p>Don’t worry about the APs. They will look at it in the context of your school, so if they’re not offered…don’t worry.</p>

<p>I can’t properly say “you stand X% of a chance”, so just make sure your essay is amazing (easier said than done). If you look at the ED results, many people with similar stats were denied/accepted/deferred, so it really comes down to how you present yourself on paper.</p>

5

<p>A good admissions officer will look at your application in the context of the opportunities that your school offers…</p>

<p>But keep in mind that you simply don’t have the concrete stats going for you (which a lot of people do). Hence, you are at a distinct disadvantage when compared to the rest of the applicant pool. Also, a 3 in an AP exam is fairly mediocre, regardless of how poorly your school prepares you for it (prep books are your friends).</p>

6

<p>I really understand where you are coming from, I really do, but here’s the thing: if you don’t have the opportunities to do crazy ECs, take crazy classes, and the such, you have to somehow show potential that if you DID have those opportunities you would definitely have excelled. Now that puts you at a disadvantage because not everything is handed to you as it is in prep schools and you really have to go out of the academic box your school provides and prove yourself in other ways such as high standardized test scores, self studying APs (like myself), founding clubs, showing leadership through officer positions etc. </p>

<p>I understand that leadership is basically a popularity contest, but in the context of the real world, if people like you then they will look up to you as a leader, so popularity does have something to do with it although you must first have ability. </p>

<p>I understand you have worked hard, especially coming from a non-American background; I myself could not speak English well 10 years ago. I’m sure adcoms will take that into account. Try look on this years ED threads and compare your stats with people who go to poor schools and see how you fair. I’m sure you have a chance but with the 8% acceptance rate of RD I can’t say its a solid chance.</p>

7

<p>point well taken, my SAT is not very high…lets say i get a 33 or a 34 on the ACT i took on saturday, would that change things or would it have little to no effect?</p>

8

<p>uhh all this your “your score is too low…”</p>

<p>im got accepted into Fu foundation school of engineering and applied science at Columbia University with a 29 on act, and 1820 on SAT</p>

<p>although mine was odd…i have a 29 on act and 1820 on sat …all the tests ive taken i had problems like hurricanes, solo performances the same week etc. 103 avg, 20 out of 800 public scl.</p>

<p>my essay was revised 12 times myself and i had 6 ppl review it.</p>

<p>my hooks are ethnicity, Questbridge, I met the admission counselors dean and financial aid and students when they paid for me to visit.</p>

<p>and on top of that i did football varsity, Track var, Orch Var, and academics. And had many familiy difficulties. </p>

<p>I believe that over scores it would be how you convey yourself and who you are and what you stand for on your essays…and use the extra information form to your advantage. Your application has to accurately reflect you.</p>

9

<p>sry i just dont believe that your scores on a standardized test should decide your future. Rather…i believe what you make use of your time should sculpt you to be prepared for your future self and that you make a positive impact in/on your world.</p>

<p>sry about grammar and spl errors did not take too much time to fix them lol…</p>

10

<p>Masochist, congrats on getting in and its nice that you want to bestow your infinite pre-frosh wisdom on others in these chances threads but the vast majority of what you said here is misleading, inaccurate, or just plain wrong …it seems like you’re just comparing OP’s stats with your own and decided that since his are lower he has very little chance of getting in. Let me just point out the most ridiculous things you said:</p>

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<p>who says that math/reading are more important than writing…OP has an excellent score with all sections >= 700. There is nothing wrong with this SAT score at all…no reason to retake or take the ACT in my view</p>

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<p>as long as OP is taking the hardest curriculum his school has to offer then its fine! you are absolutely wrong that columbia would expect OP to self study APs and the like because he just happens to go to a bad school </p>

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<p>pure and utter BS! </p>

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<p>i wasn’t particularly surprised by the results in the ED thread…basically what happens every year it wasn’t a “semi-bloodbath” nor was it particularly remarkable </p>

<p>one thing i do agree with Masochist on though is that your essay topic is dangerously generic! I would highly suggest thinking of another one quickly. This topic is basically the default topic for a third of applicants…to stand out you need to not take the easy way out.</p>

11

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<p>this is also pretty bad advice…you can’t compare URM and non-URM candidates like that</p>

<p>but as i said before OP’s SAT I and SAT II scores aren’t holding him back</p>

12

<p>haha I guess that is a pretty generic essay topic… I wrote about the same thing pretty much… it got me in though :]</p>

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<p>noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo </p>

<p>what got you in was that you are a URM with MONSTER stats compared to other URMs! I’d be surprised if they even read your essay!</p>

14

<p>shraf…thank you for ur series of insightful posts…you have given me a glimmer of hope…i think i know what to write about now…thanks again :)</p>

15

<p>what is a urm</p>

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<p>no prob…just thought i needed to correct the record after an unnecessarily brutal post </p>

<p>feel free to PM me if you want advice on your new topic</p>

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<p>underrepresented minority (black, hispanic, native american)</p>

17

<p>If im a junior and i have:
Ethnicity: South Asian
Age: 16
State of Residence: CA
Born in CA</p>

<p>Class Rank: Top 5%
Unweighted GPA: 3.94
Weighted GPA: 4.30
PSAT: 233
SAT Critical Reading: 760
SAT Math: 800
SAT Writing: 770
Combined SAT: 2330</p>

<p>SAT II Biology: 780
SAT II Chemistry: 790
SAT II Math II: 790
SAT II Physics: 790
SAT II US History: 800</p>

<pre><code>AP Tests
</code></pre>

<p>AP Biology: 5
AP Calculus BC: 5
AP Chemistry: 5
AP Comparative Government: 5
AP English Language: 5
AP Environmental Science: 5
AP European History: 5
AP Physics B: 5
AP Statistics: 5
AP US History: 5
AP World History: 5 </p>

<pre><code>Awards and Extracurriculars
</code></pre>

<p>Tennis:</p>

<p>4 years Varsity Singles
3 years All-League

  • 2 years League Second Team
  • 1 year League First Team
    Team Captain</p>

<p>Debate:</p>

<p>4 years Varsity LD Debate
National Forensic League Special Distinction

  • 500+ points
    -State Championships
    -Freshman, Sophomore year Most-Dedicated Member</p>

<p>District Youth Advisory Commissioner (Leadership):</p>

<p>-2 years</p>

<p>American Cancer Society:</p>

<ul>
<li>School Club Founder and President</li>
<li>Relay for Life Captain</li>
</ul>

<p>Global Youth Action:</p>

<p>-School Club President and Founder</p>

<p>O-Ambassador:</p>

<ul>
<li>O-Ambassador Team Founder and Captain</li>
</ul>

<p>Red Cross: </p>

<p>-Bay Area Youth Commission Ambassador
-School officer
-LDC member
-LDC staffer </p>

<p>Volunteering:</p>

<p>-Volunteers for Hospital
-Tutors at the Homeless Coalition</p>

<p>Journalism: </p>

<p>-2 years
-Web-Editor
-Section Editor</p>

<p>School Awards:</p>

<p>-Most Activity (Extra-Curricular) Points
in my grade level</p>

<p>CSF Member:</p>

<p>-3 years</p>

<p>NSHSS (National Society for High School Scholars):</p>

<p>-3 years</p>

<p>National Honor Society (in Irvington High School):</p>

<p>-2 years</p>

<p>Over 400 Service Hours</p>

<p>PYLC: Presindential Inauguration Scholar </p>

<p>wut r my chances?</p>

<p>thankssss everyone ;)</p>

18

<p>crap srry for the long post…im a newbie and a first time user…:p</p>

19

<p>tbh desiwhatever i reckon you’ve got as good a shot into Columbia as any. And I have a feeling that you know that and only posted your stats for an ego massage.</p>

20

<p>@ .Masochist: Not all of us are born leaders. Some of us just don’t want to take up that responsibility but can shine in other aspects. Vying for leadership positions for the sake of a strong resume is unethical and tasteless. So no leadership positions isn’t going to kill your application in any way.</p>

<p>Congrats on your admission to Columbia University.</p>