thoughts on where i should apply? columbia ed??

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Class of 21
School Type: Private
Location: NJ
Race/Gender: asian female
Prospective Major: not really sure? biochemistry or english.
Unweighted GPA: 3.93
Weighted GPA: 4.2
No class rank.

Sat Score: 1580 (first try, 790 both sections)
PSAT: 1500, will qualify for merit

SAT II Scores: Haven’t taken any due to rona. hopefully i can take chem and lit in august.

AP Scores: School doesn’t really let us take AP’s until junior year. I’m taking lit, chem, and comp gov this year.

Extracurricular Info
*Opinions Section editor for school newspaper (all three years, progressed from staff writer to opinions associate, to editor)
*School literary magazine editor ( 2 years)
*School science journal editor (2 years)
*Science Center Mentor (tutor classmates in math and science subjects.)
*Founder and Co-head of school literature club
*Research experience 6 weeks at a well-known University last summer

  • got my name on a few abstracts, research presented at conferences
    *Took a 3-week biochemistry course at Rutgers. (Cheap, not prestigious, but learned a lot.)
    *Founded a literary magazine online, published a few issues. Lead a team of about 15 editors.
    *Accepted to highly prestigious Iowa Young Writers Studio this summer.
    *I had a research internship (more biochem) at columbia this summer but it likely won’t happen due to corona :(.
    *Also I’m a second degree black belt in taekwondo, I was an assistant instructor my freshman and sophomore years, over 100 hours of unpaid work. Quit junior year to focus on other stuff.
    *and I play varsity volleyball (jv for 2 years tho)

Awards & Publications
*Published in literary magazines (Rising Phoenix Review, Teenink Magazine, National High School Poets anthology, etc.)
*NCTE Award Nominee (school nominated one student of the junior class to be considered for national writing award) results come out next week (fingers crossed!!)
*2 regional scholastic gold keys, one honorable mention
*Bunch of piano awards, played at carnegie hall, not sure if i should even include.

Help! Pls just list some colleges you think might be a good fit for me? Reach and target? thanks so much. I am in love with columbia and duke, do u think its even possible?

What do u think a good angle for my apps could be? Thanks

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you have good scores, good ec’s but remember college is a crapshoot. still def apply.

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you have the stats and EC’s to apply anywhere you want and have a good chance of getting in. and also of not getting in. so the reach schools are the easy ones. picking some safeties is harder.
Columbia and Duke are pretty different, IMO, so what is it about them you love?

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@joecollege44 as you can probably tell from my ec’s im into writing and research. columbia’s creative writing program is amazing and duke’s research opportunities + more open curriculum appeal to me. but yeah agreed they are very different.

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Columbia SEAS ED seems like a good bet. You’d have a good chance of getting in.

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Other good CW programs:
NYU
Iowa
Knox
Johns Hopkins

Look at places with authors as profs that you enjoy. That’s how you will really learn about CW, right? It’s a CRAFT and you are entering an APPRENTICESHIP. And no matter your grades and SAT scores, that won’t help you get published and earn a living. But excellent craft will.

Bard has Neil Gaiman
Vanderbilt has Lorrie Moore
Princeton has John McPhee and Joyce Carol Oates and Jhumpa Lahiri

Do a little research into who is on the faculty and that will help your career. Name of school won’t help your CW career as much as being able to write well.

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the trick is to a have a balanced list. here it is important to make sure your reach/safeties are good

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You have an excellent resume, and have strong credentials for both research and creative writing. Congratulations on getting so much done in high school, and no matter where you attend, you should be proud of what you have done.

However, as you wrote, you only have one, or rather, two ED opportunities.

In general, for somebody like you, I would say that neither Duke nor Columbia are the best choices.

I would recommend, actually, that you look at a Liberal Arts College. They tend to have better research opportunities for undergraduates. Not more, but better, since undergraduates are given the opportunity for actual research activity, rather than support for graduate students.

Looking at Adroit’s list of the best creative writing programs, I would recommend that you look at Kenyon and Middlebury as LACs, and Emory or Bucknell as smaller universities. These would be in the low reach/high match for you, and applying ED could push them into the Match range

If you want to look at universities with a much lower acceptance rate, rather than Columbia or Duke, I would recommend Princeton, UPenn, or Yale. Toss in Stanford, if you really feel like buying a lottery ticket. NYU is great and is in New York, if you want an urban university.

In general, your profile makes you competitive for any university/college out there. However, it is rare that more 15% of the applicants with your profile are accepted at any given college with single digit acceptance rates.

PS. For creative writing colleges, I do look at Adroit Journal’s list, since they are writers, rather than business people. https://theadroitjournal.org/2019/04/18/best-creative-writing-colleges/

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What is it about Columbia and Duke that you love?

Can you afford expensive private colleges? If you can afford not to compare college financial aid/merit, I would recommend applying early action/early decision as most colleges acceptance rates will be more favorable vs. regular decision.

Regarding “a good angle” for your apps. I’m a big believer in really understanding what each college is looking for, the type of student they want, and “packaging” yourself to fit their needs. Tell the adcoms a compelling story of why you would be a great fit for their college. Your ECs and LORs should validate and compliment your contributions to your high school, your community and ultimately your future college aspirations.

The top colleges want to see much more than high tests scores and GPAs. Try to think about what things in your application the adcoms can hang their hat on when “arguing” on your behalf in front of the committee. Give them lots of ammunition.

Since your ECs seem to suggest your passion and commitment to writing, literature, editor, etc. that is probably the approach I would take in your personal essay since it would be consistent with your majoring in English / Creative Writing. Also important might be to consider colleges that would let you switch majors in case you wanted to pursue biochem or similar STEM majors as you have intimated.

You are on the right track and I predict will be very successful during your college application season.

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@MaineLonghorn could you pm me?