<p>Hi everyone, I'm a junior and Columbia is my number one choice but I'm pretty sure my stats aren't good enough so if I can get advice on how to improve it would be great!</p>
<p>I'll be applying as either an economics or polysci major</p>
<p>Location/race: affluent long island/ white girl</p>
<p>SAT: M 700 V 720 W 680
These were significantly lower than my PSAT scores so I was wondering if that's normal or not and what kind of prep is best for them</p>
<p>GPA: 4.5, somewhere in top 5 kids of class we don't rank though</p>
<p>Extracurriculars: Debate with awards and Captain, Mock Trial with awards, Student Council VP, Orchestra principle violin, Key Club, Honors Societies, possibly more leadership positions next year</p>
<p>AP classes Junior year: Stat, American History, Lang and Comp</p>
<p>AP classes that I'm taking Senior year: Economics, European History, BC Calc, Chemistry, Spanish</p>
<p>debate team.. mock trial.. student council.. all great activities.. but also activities that everyone has.</p>
<p>currently your activities , scores, classes.. tells me that you are qualified, taking a goodnumber of APs.. have alot leadership positions.. but I have no idea who you are, what you like, why econ? </p>
<p>in general it's not you stats that arn't goo enough, you are coming off as a "typical ivy league applicant" (stress on the applicant part) but I want to know who YOU are..</p>
<p>I would second what lynda says. Columbia's undergrad admissions office wants to see passion. They get thousands of applications which read: 4.0 GPA, all AP classes, mock trial, debate team, orchestra, student council, etc. And they deny a large portion of these applications. What you have to do to gain admission is to appear unique.</p>
<p>What do you have to do to be unique? Show a passion. Interested in Biology? Done research with anyone? Interested in theater? Starred in any plays? You get the idea. From what you've posted, it doesn't look like you have a passion(maybe you do, but didn't show it here). Your activities read "I'm involved in ECs solely so I can get into a good college." This is not what Columbia wants. Columbia wants someone's activities to read "Even if I wasn't trying to impress the adcoms, I would still participate in these activities because I find them enjoyable and enlightening."</p>
<p>So, work on your ECs/passions. Your grades and SAT scores are more than enough to get you considered - but you need to be unique to be admitted.</p>
<p>All of this is good advice. I would say: you're within striking distance. If you think you could make a big improvement (like 100+ points) on your SAT, then retake it, otherwise focus on other things.</p>
<p>Really take to heart the point on passion. Figure out what you actually enjoy and come up with creative ways of pursuing that. Push your limits, bend some rules, involve some other people... walk a little bit off the beaten path.</p>
<p>I would suggest taking the orchestra thing and running wth it. Do you have Tri-M in your school? Join, and take a leadership role. Get a few awards for your music, do community service related to music.</p>
<p>Show that you have something unique to add to the Columbia student body. What is something only YOU can do?</p>
<p>you spelled principAL violin wrong... need higher scores (SAT wise)... go well on subject tests... and make yourself unique through your extracurricular activities. e.g. just being captain of the debate team does not mean a lot unless you have won awards nationally, regionally, etc. So take that into account. Even if you are part of activities that so many other people are involved in.. you need to show that you are BETTER than them to stand out. Good luck!!</p>