<p>So, do you think I should take the application head on this fall, or wait until the winter? </p>
<p>Thank you.</p>
<p>In other news...
here are some stats:</p>
<p>Stats:[ul]
[<em>] SAT: Consistently scoring 2100's on practice tests, the last time I officially took it was Freshman year and scored 1820.
[</em>] SAT IIs: 760 Chem, 790 Spanish, 670 US history, 710 World History
[<em>] GPA: ~3.75 unweighted, 4.3 weighted
[</em>] Rank: 14/265 >_<
[<em>] Other stats: AP Scores: Chem-4, Environmental Science(self study)- 4, US History- 4, Spanish- 5, English Lang - 4, World History (self study)- 5
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[</em>] Essays: pretty good, very personal. I have two written already: one about pokemon and one about my late grandmother.
[<em>] Teacher Recs: EXTREMELY GOOD.
[</em>] Counselor Rec: Probably average
[<em>] Hook (if any): probably none
[/ul]Location/Person:[ul]
[</em>] State or Country: Massachusetts
[<em>] School Type: Public, pretty competitive
[</em>] Ethnicity: white, but don't know if I should report
[li] Gender: male[/li][/ul]Other Factors: Studied Chinese and Spanish in high school(skipping a grade level in both languages through independent summer study and outstanding achievement), independently studied Portuguese and Japanese for about 3-4 years, took intro to bio at a local university in order to take AP this year, NHS vice president, Chinese club vice president, Spanish Club for 3 years, JSA for two years, Interning for research at BU this summer, Soccer, Track, and Tennis for 4 years, worked at McDonalds for two years, working at Target since November, National Spanish Exam medalist for three years, was a TA/ lab assistant for my chemistry teacher this past year General Comments: I wasn't able to do as much throughout my sophomore year including last summer because my grandmother was very sick with a rare blood disease and I had to commute to New Jersey almost every weekend</p>
<p>you are at an advantage applying ED…this is because it shows an interest in the school…which to columbia is very important…on last years application they asked if you had visited, read viewbook, spoken to alumni…stuff to find out if you were really interested in the school. I suspect interest will be particularly important since with the introduction of the common app more people will apply overall and they’ll really need to know who really wants to and will attend to protect their yield. The ED pool acceptance rate at CU is also a lot higher than the RD pool. Yes its a self selecting group so more qualified people apply…but it doesnt necessarily make it harder to get in. Think about it if in ED pool 100 competitive people apply while only 20 people who are below CU standards. vs RD 80 competitive apply and 40 below CU standards…yes the ED pool is more competitive but since they accept a much higher percentage of students it works out better(very random numbers i know). I would highly recommend ED since you’re convinced you want to attend CU. The only reasons i wouldn’t consider ED if i had a clear first choice school is for financial reasons or if i thought i could make my app better with the extra time for the RD date. Besides when you apply ED there is a chance if you’re not accepted you could be deferred which would mean your app gets a second look during RD. Acceptance rate for ED last year was 21.07% vs 9.16%.
Some colleges say that applying ED doesnt make it easier to get in…they claim its just that the pool is just more competitive…maybe this is partly true but i dont think fully…colleges want to protect their yield. Worst case is that you are rejected ED…in that case you would ahave learned something during that app and can improve on your other apps. Personally i believe its more likely that someone who was rejected RD could have been accepted ED than vice versa. I maybe wrong but i dont think ED puts you at a disadvantage.One thing you have to realize is that nothing is clear cut with college admissions…applying ED may be advantageous for you but some factor causes it not to be for me.
On another note you might want to do SAT 1 asap like october since the deadline for SATs are earlier for ED and start working on your essay.</p>
<p>Thank you, that was pretty helpful. You answered what I didn’t know which was that acceptance rates are high because of interest. I completely thought it was because the applicants were much more qualified. I think I’m fine for financial aid because my household income is less than 60K and during the visit they said if you fell into that category you would basically get a free ride. And yes, I signed up for SAT1 in October. I tried to take it twice last year but each time I had to postpone it in order to visit my sick grandmother. </p>
<p>Some questions:
What is viewbook?
and
How can I come in contact with an alumni?</p>
<p>Good luck at Columbia and congrats on making it :)</p>
<p>A viewbook is basically a brochure of the school. It’s a sort of packet or booklet containing everything you should need to know about the school, from most popular majors to the average SAT scores - it has everything. And if you want to get into contact with an alumni, you can just e-mail the admissions offrice and ask if you could meet up with an alumni - it’s that easy. hope that helped, and good luck :)</p>
<p>While the ED pool is more competitive than regular, it’s not enough to outweigh the benefits of applying ED. You have to consider that about half the class is chosen from the ED pool, and last year the ED acceptance rate was ~18% while the overall rate was ~9%. In addition, this year’s regular decision round is going to be a slaughter now that Columbia is transitioning to the Common App, so I would definitely advise you to apply ED if Columbia is your first choice. And as lizzy09 (who I believe was an ED admit herself) said, applying ED gives you an opportunity to show Columbia how much you love the school and why you would be a great fit. I applied ED last year because Columbia was my absolute top choice and I wanted the chance to show that to the admissions committee. And honestly, I’m not sure I would have gotten in had I just applied RD! Given that Columbia is your top choice, I wouldn’t worry about the competitiveness of the ED round. Many people with stellar standardized tests were rejected last year (as you saw in that thread) but many others with lesser standardized tests were admitted because their qualitative factors were impressive. Just make sure you take the SAT again and get over 2000 (ideally 2100+), and you have a good response to the supplement questions, particularly “Why Columbia?”</p>
<p>I actually applied RD, i didnt apply ED or EA to any school mostly because i was concerned about fin aid …and as an international student i didn’t want to be bound to one school i kind of wanted to consider my options here as well. However for someone who doesn’t have these concerns and has a clear first choice school…i think it only makes sense to go the ED route…or EA for that matter.</p>
<p>in your case, where youre only wondering which one will be more competitive than the other: apply ED. it shows interest and with the rapidly increasing # of applicants, they want to protect yield</p>
<p>Good point, lizzy. ED can lock you into paying $50K/year for tuition. if you’re a domestic applicant, you’re guaranteed to get 100% of demonstrated need covered (although they might determine your need to be less than you think!) but if you’re an international student, you’re not guaranteed anything. Your choice to apply RD was smart and worked out great for you in the end. I guess I was just so sure you’d be a Columbian that I thought you had applied ED ;)</p>
<p>If you can pay the tuition and are 100% sure you will attend if you’re accepted then go ahead. For some schools, e.g. Stanford, applying early mean acceptance is more difficult but I’m sure Columbia isn’t one of those schools.</p>
hope that helped, and good luck :)</p>