<p>I currently attend a CC in Florida.</p>
<p>I'm in the honors program, have a 3.7 GPA.
I'm editor-in-chief of the newspaper, president of the journalism club, a member of Phi Theta Kappa and the National Society of Collegiate Scholars. I'm a Big Brothers Big Sisters volunteer, work part time, have a blogging internship, and was recently nominated for who's who among students in college and universities. I'm in the club for my honors program, where I was on the board of directors for a semester, as well as two committees. I recently received an award for leadership, and was just accepted to intern at the Republican National Convention in August.</p>
<p>I have two great recommendations, and the director of my honors program knows the admissions directors at Columbia. My essay is solid, etc. The only problem is that I have REALLY low SAT scores (like 1600.) I'm getting an SAT tutor so I can take it again. If I can get to a 2000, can I get in? I also had around a 2.5 in high school, and I know they consider that.</p>
<p>Speaking honestly as someone who just got rejected from Columbia, the stats you provided are below the level that is competitive for acceptance into Columbia. Especially since your HS GPA and SATs scores hover around the 50th percentile, in your place I would definitely try to get the best possible score you can on your SATs. Try to raise your GPA and focus any additional ECs on something that shows you’re passionate about that activity.</p>
<p>Try not to be too discourage since you’ll never know if you’ll get in unless you apply. Lastly, since you know that Columbia is a definite reach school for almost all applicants, apply to other schools and really consider why you want to go to Columbia.</p>
<p>High school GPA and scores hover around the 50th percentile? Huh??? They aren’t even on Columbia’s grid!</p>
<p>OP, even with a 2000, Columbia would be a huge reach. Their average is about 2200. Are you traditional college age? Their non traditional student program is much easier to get into.</p>
<p>What was your class rank in high school? Did you take challenging courses?</p>
<p>It’s really hard to go from a 1600 to a 2000+. But I manage to go from a 27 to a 29 on the ACT’s, so that should give you some hope.</p>