<p>I just want to confirm that Columbia and FU school only uses the highest math and verbal scores?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>......yup :)</p>
<p>phew good.. i totally messed up verbal.. went from 690 first time to 660 to 650...
my other scores are very good, 800s on sat 1 math, 2c, chem, 780 on phy, and 740 on wr...</p>
<p>hope the 690 won't kill me</p>
<p>i'll tell you columbia acceptance isnt based on sats..i mean what ive seen is that a lot of the 1500+s who applied to columbia ed..was rejected whereas a lot of 1300s got accepted...so i dont think it will hurt u if everything else is reallllly greaaaaaaat!!!</p>
<p>ummm
thx..</p>
<p>and btw, i love your name :)</p>
<p>hey sexydesi, is that really true? were those 1300s the sort of people who had set up their own businesses or helped a 100 orphans types?</p>
<p>nope...i got in w/ a 1350...URM tho</p>
<p>i got in with a 1340 (640M, 700V) and i had my own pet buisness....so i guess the later really helped me get in.</p>
<p>sorry - what does URM mean? </p>
<p>congrats smithk! that's lovely. I have a 1340 as well, however I wasn't as motivated as you in other ways.</p>
<p>under represented minority = URM</p>
<p>I got in with a 1440 (750 M, 690 V), white. After meeting with Dean Quigley today, I got a sense as to why the December massacre here occurred. Very interesting explanation on admissions given today. Best of luck to all in the RD round!!</p>
<p>"I got a sense as to why the December massacre here occurred. Very interesting explanation on admissions given today."</p>
<p>jaug, mind explaining?</p>
<p>Well...it's a bit difficult to explain and I'm not exactly sure if some of the things that were said are supposed to leave the room. </p>
<p>What I can say is that students should focus much more heavily on specific passions, as well as maintain grades and SAT's. Stats are not everything and what I did learn was that the type of student any specific school is looking for depends truly on a year to year basis. While there is a general trend of students for a specific institution, if in a certain year they need X amount of athletes or musicians and artists or whatever, that will weigh into admissions. </p>
<p>Students, especially here on CC, need to take to heart the fact that stats are merely numbers on a page and do not reflect the true character of an individual. If you can make yourself stand out and represent yourself from that piece of paper to the admissions committee, you will have succeeded in this process.</p>
<p>That is about all I can say without giving away too much information.</p>
<p>Yeah, when I was at their info session (october '04), the Adcom Rep running it could NOT stress that enough. I remember it because she basically told us that even though the essay was open-ended, it would be in our best interest to explain what our passion is and why we're passionate about it. She specifically used the example of anime: "if you're really into japanese anime, just don't tell me that, tell me why." It was actually the only thing she said that all the Adcom Reps agreed on- she mentioned that pretty much each of them was looking at different things when they view a candidate.</p>
<p>Yeah, I got deferred with a 1510... just goes to show ya..</p>
<p>As a parent of a junior, I learned that although it's a crap shoot at times, (you'll always for the slots for the rich,athletes,alumni, etc.) the good colleges look at more than scores. On tours and talks with admissions at colleges, I would lament that our financial situation would be taxed with 1000.00 prep tests on top of all the application fees and college expenses. If I had to go beyond books and online help for my son, I would, but it frustrated me. Over and over I heard that they look beyond the scores (esp.Columbia/Amherst) and like to have a pool of kids that were excellent students, but also were passionate about something and just didn't fill their applications with what they thought we wanted to see. One guy told me off to the side, that they think we can't smell dishonesty a mile away? Everyone tweeks their application, which is fine, but don't fill it with meaningless things that you wouldn't normally want or have time for. We know a student who's parents make 6 figures or more, is prepping or had extras that help him over someone that doesn't. How can we judge a kid who went to a 7 week course for 4000.00 and got a leg up, over a kid who couldn't pay 400.00 for one? It doesn't mean you shouldn't go if you can, but not everyone will benefit from it as far a admission goes. If they extra 200 points on their SAT don't get him/her in the school and he/she hears of someone that got lower and did, they immediately think,"who did they know" "it's his/her color" etc. but many times, it's just leveling the playing field. I know this "polyanna" approach is probably more said than done, but having a student that works hard, gets honors and wont join more than 2 really loved activities, I hope it helps him! Good luck to everyone. I hope you're all happy in the end.</p>
<p>High SAT's aren't going to do you any good if you're a cookie-cutout applicant like so many. Schools like Columbia are interested in someone who does well in school but doesn't come off like someone who engineered their life for college. They like to see people with passions, not "extra-currics." Sure having the numbers helps, but don't count on them.</p>