What are my chances for columbia university?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Columbia University
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I’m a current high school junior. A few stats: 1500 SAT, 4.3 GPA (will probably be higher at the end of junior year estimate is 4.6). My area of interest is definitely in the Humanities, something with international relations or political science or something of the sort.

I don’t have much leadership as I am currently in a new school, I am the treasurer of National English Honor Society and am running a fundraiser for an organization called Teaching North Koreans English.

other clubs: National Honor Society, Tri-M, Spanish Honor Society, Social Studies Honor Society, UNICEF, LEO club, Diversity Leadership Council. Model United Nations, and History Club.
I started the Model United Nations club at my school and am a shoe-in for Secretary-General next year.

teams: I am also on the academic decathlon team and the world quest team.

AP: Junior year, 5 AP classes (us history, calculus AB, biology, English Language, Macroeconomics). Sophmore, AP European history, AP Physics 1. (got a 5 in euro, didn’t test for physics) Freshman year AP world history. (got a 4) Next year 6 APs planned (AP Calc BC, AP stats, AP Gov, AP psychology, AP Microeconomics, AP environmental science).

out of school extracurriculars:
I am a Junior Instructor at my Taekwondo place, at in my old school was the martial arts demo team captain as well as a junior instructor. My team has won numerous first place championships, and individually I have placed in numerous competitions. I am a third-degree black belt in taekwondo and a 2nd degree in Hapkido.

I am an assistant conductor at my Youth Symphony in which I play cello and flute and I am the head cellist. I am a state musician for flute and have won a few awards for solo competition. I am flute section leader at the Korean Learning Institute Symphony. Head Instrumentalist in the church choir since my middle school years. At school, I am treasurer of the orchestra board and head cellist in the top orchestra. I also teach free private lessons on flute to families who can’t afford lessons.I also have been in the pit for school musicals since last year.

I do a monthly volunteer program called SOAR helping special needs kids.

As for awards, I haven’t won anything of significance. I do a lot of volunteering and have won the gold volunteer award two years straight. I have been on honor roll since freshman year. Have lettered in the orchestra since freshman year. Was selected for a program in the University of Tsukuba my freshman year studying robotics. Music awards are listed above.

If I stay on the current path I am on, I am most likely going to get AP scholar, perhaps national merit, Kansas scholar.

Some background. I am a military kid, so I move around a lot, I have lived in Korea, Japan, Okinawa, the US (I live in Kansas right now). I am half Asian, half white.

I’m not sure of what could make my application more attractive. An internship? Summer volunteering program? Any suggestions for an internship for a high school student in my areas of interest- I can’t seem to find any? Any general suggestions?

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since you don’t have a spike (any major international/national awards, a hook, or something interesting), I would say your chances are the same as the acceptance rate–5%. If you want to do humanities then look into creative writing competitions–winning some national awards here could be a boost. Also talk about you being a military kid in your essays, this could be something that could separate you from the rest and make the AO think ur not boring.

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@FUNdamentalyconfused - I would ignore @yaleivyleague’s advice. You aren’t in the least bit “boring” and you are an excellent “fit” for Columbia if you can raise your SAT to at least a 1550. Despite your family’s military background, which has required you to move a lot, you have become a good student, cellist and a good citizen, involved in public service.

If you can participate in a high level summer music program this year (Tanglewood or something comparable) that would shore up your classical music “cred.” (One question: You play flute and cello equally well? That’s unusual). Narrow down your club activities to the ones you’ve done the longest and care the most about (for example, ones that you would want to write about in a college app essay).

I know Columbia very, very well (my sister goes to school there) so you fit their “profile.” You should also consider applying to Yale since you family’s military background will carry more weight there with AOs than at Columbia. Best of luck!

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@zoebrittany Thank you so much for your helpful and detailed response. I can’t explain to you in words how much it helps me, I’m just really worried and have a lot of anxiety about college apps. I will definitely look into the Tanglewood program, it sounds pretty amazing from what I’ve read of it. Thank you once again!