<p>I am a freshman in public school who really wants to go to a school like Columbia, Stanford, etc. </p>
<p>I do well in school--I have a 4.0 GPA. So far I have not taken the ACT or the SAT. There were no A.P classes offered this year, but next year I will be taking two, possibly three AP classes (AP Biology, AP Environmental Science, and maybe AP US History), as well as Math Analysis, Engineering, Spanish 2, and English.) </p>
<p>I do some extracurricular activities.
-Tennis for 3 years
-Piano for 6 years
-Skiing for five years
-PR Officer for Kiva Club
-Volunteer to teach horse riding to people with disabilities
-I also taught skiing to small children last winter.</p>
<p>I attend a public high school, which is highly competitive.</p>
<p>I would really like to get into Columbia in the future, but I feel like there's nothing that really "sets me apart" from the rest of the perfect GPA, millions of extracurricular crowd. Does anyone have any tips or advice about how I could achieve this goal? How am I doing so far?</p>
<p>I’m also a freshman in highschool and from what older people on this site have told me to do is find something your passionate about and excel at it. Also try to be an excellent student , which you already seem to be.Hoped this helped.��</p>
<p>You’re a freshman. It’s too early for this. Get good in sports. You seem to like science, so do some original research, and submit it to fair; get into research programs, and then submit things in larger competitions. Make sure you have a top SAT; Columbia has high stats students, so aim for 2350+, but don’t waste time if you can’t get there. Make sure that all your APs are 5s (IBs are 7s, SAT IIs 800s, etc.) or close. Keep your 4.0. </p>
<p>Compete in AMC, USABO, etc. </p>
<p>If you don’t like that stuff, which would be hard for me to believe based on the courses you name, join debate team, DECA, FBLA, and win some national level awards. </p>
<p>How the hell can you be in tennis for “3 years” if you are a freshman. No offense, but the Math II subject test may not be for you.
Other than that, the best advice I can give you is to go after it. What do I mean by that? Don’t be timid, GO AFTER leadership positions. Establish solid connections with your teachers and use that to your advantage by making them write a letter of rec. Get excellent grades, and solid test scores.
Just Be confident and you have a shot, although minimal, at best.</p>
<p>Giraffes, this is the perfect time to do some strategic planning if you’re tempted by the super-elite schools.</p>
<p>You need to think of your application as being a portfolio of elements and there should be minimal strength in each aspect of that portfolio plus an unusual kicker to make you stand out from the crowd. These elements include: most rigorous course load that your school offers; very high GPA; very high SAT/ACT; very strong SAT II subject tests; multiple extracurriculars with leadership roles (and you should accomplish something in these roles and mention it on your app, either in an essay or on the one-line description allowed under the listed activity); a strong community service element; and, ideally, something distinctive that makes you memorable to your application reader.</p>
<p>Some people will tell you that you don’t really need X or Y. It might technically be true that you can miss out on one of the above elements if you have an amazing accomplishment in another element. But in general your chances will be better if you have all of them. You never know, for example, who your readers and potential advocates will be and what their “hot buttons” are.</p>
<p>Now here’s the end of the whole process; try to work backwards from there: your overworked regional rep, sick of reading applications by the hundreds, sees something interesting in your app that makes you memorable. At some point, your regional rep will have 15 seconds to summarize you as a person, make a recommendation and perhaps fight or swap favors to get you in. What can you you do and how can you present it so that you “come alive” off the page as a person rather than another set of stats? If you can figure that part out in a way that matches your unique combination of features, then you’ll be golden.</p>
<p>If you want more details in regard to strategic planning, let me know.</p>