<p>my gpa freshman/soph(a D in chem:() year was pretty poor, but i have a 3.9uw(all As, B in spanish) this year
taken all honors and 5aps(ap gov, lit, stat, physics em, compsci) (by end of senior year), except standard spanish all years, one year of standard math(finished calc)
no rank- top 100 public HS in the us, Lower Merion HS-philadelphia,pa</p>
<p>total estimated gpa: 3.0UW, 3.9W
no sats yet, 208 psat</p>
<p>my hook:
-heavily into robotics and electrical engineering/comp programming
i've built and competed my own "combat robots" since 7th grade, North east awards
-built an electronic heart rate monitor(lcd, computer download/email the whole works) in 10th grade and won a first place national award with it at TSA
several national science olympiad awards</p>
<p>being featured in a local magazine as a technology inovater of the region (along with CEOs!)</p>
<p>ECs:
founded TSA/engineering club freshman year- officer all 4years
science olympaid (7th place overall nationally) officer
mualphatheta- founding member
oriental cultures club(though i'm a jewish white male)-4yrs
chess club-4years</p>
<p>going to do a westinghouse science entry this summer- labwork at penn</p>
<p>will my upward trend in grades help over come my poor start?
is my hook/awards enough to get me in at columbia (SEAS)</p>
<p>rejection- I don't mean to be mean, but as the top junior poster, and as someone who is very informed on college admissions, you have a very small chance. Especially SEAS. I have hung and been a VERY frequent poster on the columbia board throughout the ED process- many can attest to that. People with stat's a million times better than yours were rejected. I don't mean to sound harsh, but that's reality, and I would rather you know that ahead of time than to live with so many false hopes. You are such a weak canidate, I can't even tell you. I saw my friends with better stats than you get REJECTED, not deferred, but rejected.</p>
<p>Weaknesses:
grades- D's kill, really, reallly kill. This alone could destroy any slim hope the best canidate has</p>
<p>Classes- Most will have take at least 6AP's/hardest courseload, and yours seems a bit weak. Plus, most will at least be through AP calc AB</p>
<p>gpa- This is horrendous for any ivy league. That's the truth. 3.0 is good, but not even close to ivy material. Not even close. Weighted it's high, but that's not what matters. You're going up against people who mostly have 3.6 and up gpa, 3.0 just isn't going to cut.</p>
<p>Also, my eyes have been opened in a way I never thought, there isn't one factor that will get you in- stop depending on your EC's and find a more appropriate list before you apply. Columbia is ivy leauge, just because it's not as known doesn't mean it's not one of the toughest universities to get into. This may sound harsh, but I KNOW what I'm talking about</p>
<p>thanks for your help, considering it's only the beginning of my junior year, what can i do to help my chances?
is SEAS harder to get in then the main college?
and, as i said, please help me improve my chances with suggestions. by the end of my senior year my gpa may be higher, but i'm thinking about ed</p>
<p>SEAS and College applicants are evaluated by the same officers and are subject to the same standards, so no, it's not easier to enter through the College. </p>
<p>I didn't mean SEAS is harder, as in SEAS does its own seperate applications. I meant engineering students tend to have higher stats as opposed to other colleges in general.</p>
<p>Hmmm...I feel I should say something about this:</p>
<p>"3.0 is good, but not even close to ivy material. Not even close"</p>
<p>I'm afraid that I have to agree with celebrian...but instead of totally ending your hopes, what I can offer you is an alternative suggestion: On your additional info part of the application, you can fully describe WHY freshmen year you received low stats (Mis-guided? Troubled teen? Family problems? Not sure of direction in life?), and then develope upon that of how you became enlightened and is firm at heart in continuing this trend.</p>
<p>BUT BUT BUT BUT...
If you were just lazy freshmen year and didn't give a S H I T, then the ivies are probably not right for you because you might continue THAT trend.</p>
<p>Then again, this is all just my 2 cents...and you are still a Junior, you can think of something.</p>
<p>i actually did have family problems/illness, especially sophmore year (and a conflict with the chemistry teacher who gave me the d).
i've gotten many awards (several national) for my work in science and robotics, but should i focus on one in particular in my essay? (probably the optical heart monitor)
i've read (in the ed decisions thread) that many applicants were accepted with low scores because of ECs, and dedication to engineering, and that columbia was different than many ivies in this respect?
how do i show my dedication to columbia and to engineering?</p>
<p>i will also be the founding captain of the first robotics team next year, and i've shown a large initiative in getting the club started at our school.</p>
<p>Hey guys, give him a chance. starbot, are you black or hispanic? 7% of Columbia, after all, have GPAs under 3.0 and got in. But I'm guessing 90% of them are legacies/URMs/athletes.</p>
<p>You can still apply ED, see your chances. Who knows, you might be a fluke. However, a D is awful. Even having a conflict with a teacher is no excuse. What is a 3.0? Isn't that straight Bs...</p>
<p>You might want to look into other excellent colleges. Your chances aren't that good :/</p>
<p>i'm white/jewish, like i said i think it's probably higher, i have a 4.0 gpa uw this year and most likely next year, soph was 3.0, fresh was 2.8. it may end up around 3.5(i'm trying everything i can to get it up, 4.0 is the best i can do though;). I've only had one standard class-spanish. I'm going to try to see what i can do about my chem grade, maybe see if i can take it again senior year.</p>
<p>i know 9th/10th was awful, but i cant do more than i already am to change that, i'm hoping columbia will realize i've turned things around, and also see the extreme dedication i have to engineering, and their school (through my awards and essays).</p>
<p>so what do you guys think, even with a 4.0 11th/12th grade i will not be able to overcome my past. Does it matter that it was found i had adhd in 9th grade i wasn't properly medicated until last 1/2 of soph year?</p>
<p>I wonder how they see family problems...I had family problems also and now, (parents seperated, now divorcing). You have a chance, but no matter how good you do this year and next, your past will be something that will always cause second thoughts, which is never good for an adcom to do. I know I don't have a chance (I'm black, but I got a C second semester algebra 2, I took the seperation really hard, a B- average for the year. So I want to give you hope, but not false hope, which too often leads to crushed dreams</p>