Should I apply to Columbia ED? (Chance me?)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Columbia is far and away my first choice, but I am a little hesitant to apply there early decision. I am a white, female from WV and I am planning on majoring in either biomedical engineering or financial engineering. Either way I will be applying to the Fu School of Engineering.
The main reason I want to apply ED (other than being head over heals for Columbia), is that 34% of applicants who apply ED to Fu get in, which is more than double the regular admission rate for Fu (15.3%). However, my family's income is just slightly above the typical cutoff for good financial aid and I have 4 younger siblings (3 of us will be in college at the same time). Henceforth, I am hesitant to apply early and have my parents foot the bill as it would mean less opportunities for my sisters and brother. But, at the same time, the stats are so much better for ED that it is hard to pass up. I will be applying next fall, so I realize that I have time but it's been on my mind as of late. </p>

<p>Anywhoo- sorry for writing a novel, but I would genuinely appreciate any feedback you have for me.</p>

<p>Here are my stats.
White, female, no alumni connection, NOT the first in my family to attend college.
As of right now I am 4 in a class of 280. The high school I attend is consistently ranked in the top 200 public schools in the country. </p>

<p>Freshman-
1st- Straight A's (4 weighted)
2nd- 2 B's (out of 8 classes, 5 weighted)
The courses offered for freshman are restricted, so I was unable to more weighted classes.
Overall GPA- 4.4</p>

<p>Sophomore
1st- 3 B's (8 weighted classes, 3 AP)
2nd- Straight A's
Overall GPA- 4.8
I missed almost a month of school second semester for illness and yet somehow managed a 5.00, despite returning to school the week before AP Exams. I was the only sophomore in my class to take 3 AP classes. I am also the only student in the history of my school (it was started in the 60's) to achieve AP Scholar with Honors after sophomore year.</p>

<p>Junior
1st- Straight A's (7 weighted, 3 AP classes- except AP chem gets a grade for the class and the lab, so it's actually 8 weighted grades.
2nd- Probable straight A's (9 weighted credits, 4 AP classes)</p>

<p>Overall GPA will probably be a 4.7/4.8, which should bump me up to 3rd/280.</p>

<p>AP Scores
Sophomore
World History-4
Statistics-4
Biology-5
Human Geography (Challenged)- 5</p>

<p>Junior(havent taken yet)
Chemistry
US History
Language &Composition
Macroeconomics
Microeconomics (challenge)</p>

<p>I feel very confident that I will get 5's in Chem and USH (excellent teachers with great records). English will probably be a 3 or 4. Macro and Micro will probably both be 4's. This may sound conceited, but I am usually pretty accurate in judging how well I will do on tests.</p>

<p>SAT
Math- 720 (Low I know, I am retaking)
Verbal-770
Writing-720
Overall- 2210</p>

<p>PSAT- 221 ( i dont know if that even matters)</p>

<p>SAT II
Bio- 800
Chem (planning on taking these)
USH
Math II</p>

<p>Extracurriculars
Theatre- 25 hrs a week (seriously)
Dance- 4 a week
Young Dems- 1 a week
Quiz Bowl- 2 hrs a week
Math Science Bowl - 2 hrs a week</p>

<p>In addition, I have volunteered at a local hospital for the past two summers and have approx. 200 hrs of volunteering. I also volunteered abt 50 hrs for Obama.</p>

<p>This summer I plan on attending a medical/science camp.</p>

<p>I dont know if this would have any effect, but I skipped a grade. I will be 16 when I graduate high school. Thats sort of why it took me so long to get my grades together.</p>

<p>So...chance me? Again, apologies for writing so much. I thought more details might help. Also I tend to ramble on a lot...yeah. Ok, well. Thank you!</p>

<p>on a side note- do you think my chances would be altered if i applied for financial engineering vs. biomedical?</p>

2

<p>If you can afford a mediocre FA package the first year I say go for it because when your siblings eneter college they can redo your package and your sibs will also get that reduction.</p>

3

<p>Sit down with your parents and go over your financial prospects together. It sounds as thought they are on top of things, but with four younger siblings and the recent downturn in the economy, they wouldn't be the first parents caught off guard. One of the biggest drawbacks of ED is that it limits your financial aid offers.</p>

<p>Are you truly dedicated to engineering? From your post, I see a smart student whose primary interest is theater. At Fu, you'll be up against those who love engineering. An example: I dropped engineering myself when I realized that other students in my class would take perfectly good projects and do them over just to see if they could be perfected. Of course, this isn't everyone, but it does give you an example of the kind of dedication I am talking about.</p>

<p>You'll have a better idea about Columbia after your SAT and AP test scores come in during the summer. Right now, I would say you are an average applicant, with West Virginia residency giving a slight boost. Don't focus on Columbia, but do get a list of 10-20 schools together and see which ones would fit you.</p>

4

<p>thanks miktau </p>

<p>midwesterner- from what ive read i <em>think</em> i would love engineering. i like math, but i really do love applied math (as in chem, econ, stats, etc.). The closest thing that my school offers to engineering is Comp Sci, which i am taking, and AP Physics, which I will be taking next year. So I am not entirely sure if engineering is for me, but it is my best guess. Is it difficult to transfer from Fu to the college? If I were to change my major from engineering it would be to a chem/cognitive science double major, except i dont think columbia offers cog sci. anyways. thanks.</p>

<p>other schools im considering - UChicago, Swarthmore, Cornell, Duke, Vanderbilt, Princeton, Georgia Tech
my safety is UVA, im pretty much guaranteed a full ride there. I have 4 generations of legacy on my moms side and my dad was a jefferson scholar, so i feel pretty confident. i wouldnt mind to attend uva, so most of the other schools im considering are 'reach' schools.</p>

5

<p>A full ride to UVA out of state with a 2210. You sure about that? If so go there coombia isnt worth the expense</p>

6

<p>well not positive about a total full ride, but i know 2 kids with stats worse than mine that applied out of state with 2 alumni for parents and they are paying less than 5,000 a year.
and yeah, if comes down to it $20,000 for UVA vs. a possible $200,000+ for columbia, its hard to justify applying ED to columbia.</p>