junior at a pretty good high school
GPA 5.5 weighted 3.9 unweighted
SAT 1590 (new). SAT bio 800. prob will take chem and math 2 in spring.
ap bio, euro, chem: 5
captain of varsity policy debate. this consumes a lot of my life. 2 state championships, 1 time state finalist. national speech and debate leadership committee. 50 hours of community service within debate. i teach younger kids how to debate.
captain of varsity swimming. MVP award. 5th in the section. 7th at junior olympics and part of zone team in club swimming.
community service at a nursing home and library.
lifeguard 4 hours per day in summer
science research. 1st at westlake symposium and JSHS. worked 10 weeks 8 hours per day over the summer at a pharmaceutical over the summer.
tutor SAT and bio, and elementary school subjects
founded german club. i like languages. i’m fluent in chinese. i take spanish in school. i taught myself german and french.
i can’t think of anything else off the top of my head right now.
i’m asian…don’t know how much that will affect this.
i also got into Columbia’s science honors program, i learn sciencey stuff on saturdays for about 3 hours.
“Asian” affects you a lot since you will have to be almost perfect in order to get into a school like Columbia. The thing that concerns me about your chance thread is your 5.5 weighted GPA. Does your school base GPA from a 4.0 scale or a 5.0 scale? If its a 5.0 scale, your 3.9 UW might hurt you since you must be in the top 1-5% of your class to get in.
Your ECs and test scores are already fantastic, and ED will increase your chances significantly.
To answer your last question: some alternatives are UChicago (almost identical core curriculum to Columbia), Amherst, and other liberal arts schools with a core curriculum.
Try to get in as a recruited athlete. Send your stats to the coaches. Are they laudable?
Actually, Amherst does not have a core curriculum (i’m not sure the OP is looking for a core - he might just like New York)
You have great stats and as good a chance at Columbia as anyone else, but getting in to the top 6-8 colleges is a reach for everyone. Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Chicago, MIT, Stanford and Columbia all accept less than 8 percent of their applicants, despite getting applications from a pool of the best students in the world. Tons of people just like you get rejected every year. So you have a chance but you can’t count on getting in. You need matches and safeties to go along with reaches like Columbia.
What is it about Columbia that interests you? Tell us that, and people can suggest more schools that might be good fits.
- The core curriculum is great and NYC is also great
- My schools weighted gpa is on a 5 scale, by the highest possible is a 5.7 since we can't take honor level classes on our freshman year
- Prob can't get recruited
- Intended major is prob biology or finance
- Is there anything else I should do/work on in my junior year? Thanks for all the help!
My advice when applying ED to Columbia is to not circle biology. (The major that you circle on your CA is not set- and you declare your major after your sophomore year.) Since you won so many debate awards, circle something like public policy, since not a lot of asians demonstrate passion for public policy, which will give you an advantage. After you get in, or course, you can change your intended major back to bio.
@bubblepop12444 can you change your major depending on the school you apply to? For example, can I apply as biology to one school and chemistry to another even if they are both through the CA?
Yes, of course. The major you indicate on your Ca is not your true major- it’s just to give admission officers a glimpse at what you’re interested in.