What are my chances for Yale and Columbia?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I’m a current high school junior. A few stats: 1500 SAT, 4.3 GPA. My area of interest is definitely in the Humanities, something with international relations or political science or something of the sort.

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.

SKILLS
Play 5 instruments: piano, cello, flute, piccolo, gayageum (Korea traditional harp)
Black belt 3rd degree in Taekwondo
Black Belt 2nd degree in Hapkido

VOLUNTEER AND WORK EXPERIENCE
Flute Teacher (2018 – Present)
• Give young children in the community beginner-level flute lessons
Tutor (2015 – Present)
• Volunteer to help elementary and middle school students with their math, english, social studies, and science
Youth Court Volunteer (2018-Present)
• Acting as a lawyer, judge, or jury member at the local courthouse, handling cases of truant youth and giving them a chance to receive a lesser punishment and no trip to actual court
Project Skip Volunteer (2018- Present)
• Volunteer at a local courthouse, giving truant youth a second chance at high school without having to face severe consequences for their actions and providing support as a student support officer (SSO).
Conductor Assistant (2017 – Present)
• Volunteer with a local youth orchestra conductor with admin requirements and assist the younger musicians
Flutist, Church Choir (2012 - Present)
• Volunteer time and music skills by serving as a flutist in local church choirs
Assistant Instructor (2017 – Present)
• Volunteer as a teacher in a Korean Learning Institute, helping young children learn to speak, read, and write the Korean language
Special Needs Volunteer (2018 – Present)
• Volunteer with a local church and their programs to support children and their families with special needs (SOAR)
Junior Taekwondo Instructor / Assistant Master (2015 – Present)
• Volunteer time after school, on weekends, and over the summer to teach Taekwondo to young children
Captain of International Martial Arts Demonstration Team (2015-2017)
• Volunteer time after school, on weekends, to help plan and lead a competitive Demonstration Team
Teacher Assistant (2013 – Present)
• Volunteer at the local elementary and middle schools to assist teachers with admin requirements and instructional activities for their students

High School Clubs (2016 – Present)
• Plan, hold leadership, and volunteer time with several clubs in high school (National Honor Society, National English Honor Society, Model United Nations, Leo Club, RhoKappa, Student Council, UNICEF, Academic World Quest, Academic Decathlon, Tri-Music Honor Society, Categories) and conduct community support projects through them

LEADERSHIP
President of Freshman Class Student Council (2016-2017)
Treasurer of Tri-Music Honor Society (2016-2017)
Treasurer of Orchestra Board (2017- present)
Project Leader for book Drive for National English Honor Society (2017-2018)
Project leader for hospital music performances for Tri-Music Honor Society (2017- present)
Treasurer of National English Honor Society (2018- present)
Project Leader for Fundraising for National English Honor Society
• Proposed and currently in charge of fundraising for a non-profit organization (Teaching North Koreans Reading) (2018-present)
Captain and Founder of Academic World Quest team (2018- present)
Founder and Secretary General of Model United Nations
• Currently starting this club and taking a leadership position in organizing to ensure its success

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION
Honor Roll (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019)
Selected For Prestigious Robotics Program called STEMinar in the University of Tsukuba (2016)
Volunteer of the Year Award (2016, 2017, 2018)
Gold Volunteer Award (2017)
Junior Leadership Award (2018, 2019)
Lettered in Community Service (2018, 2019)
Lettered in Orchestra (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019)
Kansas Eastern District Honors Band (2017)
Section Leader, Metropolitan Conservatory Orchestra (2018-Present)
Section Leader, Korean Learning Institute Symphony (2017-Present)
Section Leader, School Symphonic Orchestra (2016-Present)
Far East Honors Orchestra (2016-2017)
Far East Honors Band (2016-2017
Korean Music Educators Association, Platinum Medal for Flute Solo (2014-2017)
3rd Degree Black Belt Taekwondo
2nd Degree Black Belt Hap-ki-do
Individual Gold Medals at multiple Taekwondo Competitions (2013-2017)
Taekwondo Demonstration Team Gold Medals at multiple international competitions (2014-2017)

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

AP CLASSES
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 Human Geography).

SUMMER PLANS
I have secured an internship at a non-profit organization in the area and plan to continue volunteering through my summer

I’m not sure of what could make my application more attractive. Summer volunteering program? Any general suggestions?

2

Definitely one of the most unique profiles I’ve seen here. You have a lot of initiative and are involved in many organizations. I would say you have a fairly good shot but no one can ever predict HYPSM.

As for the summer, I would say the internship is better as long as it is related to your major of interest.

3

So of course, you got too much here to wade through. Your application needs to tell a story…the ADCOM can remember and you want to play to what makes you uniquely you. LIke this is the kid who excels in Robotics and Music and wants to be a teacher. I can’t tell from all this where you would fill a niche at Columbia. Give this some thought. Good Luck!

4

Consider Georgetown and Tufts as target schools to apply to. Princeton Woody Woo might be a reach worth applying to as well.

5

you have a good shot

6

SAT is a bit low for Yale and Columbia. But you have a really story, and you could probably write an awesome essay about it. Are you going to turn in an arts portfolio with the flute, since you’ve seemed to be nationally recognized for it?

7

When you craft your application, pare down and tell a story. Omit minor things that don’t add to the picture you’re portraying or that colleges at that level don’t care about. Definitely don’t list immaterial things like Honor Roll as the first award the AO reads - list the awards in order of importance to your story. The app should be less a chronological listing of everything you’ve done/a resume and more a story about who you are and the impressive things you’ve accomplished.

Your story sounds interesting and has so much potential to capture the interest of an AO, don’t make them wade through miles of nonessential, unhelpful detail.

If you are a strong writer, consider taking a look at UChicago. UChicago has top notch humanities offerings and applicants interested in humanities seem to get an admissions boost. The college just rolled out the EMPOWER initiative are specifically looking for children of military members. You’d qualify for not only significant scholarship but also special programs within the college. It’s a unique environment, so tends to be polarizing - people either love or hate it - but the core course requirements bear similarity to those of Columbia.

Good luck.

8

@Hamurtle honestly when it comes to Georgetown, a 1450 SAT and a 4.2 GPA would be enough for admission. I think a 1500 SAT and a 4.3 GPA would make Georgetown a pretty easy target school.

9

Georgetown’s REA selectivity this year was on par with a lot of Ivies. I wouldn’t call it “pretty easy.”

10

Get your SAT up a bit. Weighted GPA is a pretty useless metric to judge from. Also trim your application a lot. There is too much here to sort through. I have troubles telling who you are or what interests you.

11

With no “hook” per se, my advice would be to try and reach 750 on both sections of the SAT, and have at least 2 SAT Subject test scores that start with a 7. Once you have shown them that you can do the work at Yale, as alluded to above, you need to show them what kind of student you will be on campus by outlining a narrative about yourself. How have your wonderful experiences shaped how you think and what you want to do in the future, why? Good luck. Both schools are very competitive so make sure you have a solid list of schools with varying mixes of acceptance rates.

12

1- Go back and read @milee30 's response again. Think about what actually tells your story without this data dump. Common App’s going to ask for 10 activities and awards, so think about continuity and leadership.
2- Consider non-Ivy. You’re looking at majors that commonly have grad work associated with them, so why not go to a top notch school that will give you merit and extensive time with professors while an undergrad, and leverage your APs to support a 3-year degree or a double major? Think long-term.
3- Try the SATs again. Yale’s average for their first-year students was a 1540, so you are below that. Doesn’t mean you wouldn’t be admittable - 49% of their class was below that - but it lowers your chances in an area where you can improve your potential outcome.

But first, go back and read @milee30 again. ^^

13

You asked this question in September, December and again in February. Nothing in your posted portfolio has changed. Before you post it again, follow the very good advice you have been given above: shape your profile. Put some thought into what your story is.

Otherwise, all you are doing is feeding your anxiety monster. You will get some posts who say:

=> ‘oh yes! you are so amazing you will definitely get in’ (mostly from other students / posters with not too many posts), OR

=> ‘broaden your horizons: schools who accept 5-7% of their applicants also reject 90+% of their applicants- the vast majority of whom are just as qualified as you are’. OR

=> (as above)'shape your story AND

=> ‘build your list from the bottom, not the top’, and it’s corollary “don’t 'fall in love with one college”.

There are a many, many students applying who have lived in around the world- many of whom have a general IR/PS interest. There are many, many students applying with a performance art. There are many, many students applying with high stats.

40,000 of them, give or take. Of whom ~2200 will get happy news.

Your story, as you present it, is not especially unique. There is no obvious reason why you should be in the 5% any more than tens of thousands of other students.

Equally, there is no reason that you should not be. And your story, as you shape it through your narrative, might well be the kind of unique that says to the Columbia ad comm ‘this one will add to this particular class’.

But stewing about it won’t make it happen. It’s the hard thinking about who you are that will make your essays as strong as they can be.

In the meantime, put your back into your marks for the rest of the year: every time you start daydreaming about wearing that sweatshirt go put some sweat equity into your work. It’s more likely to make a difference than another ‘chance me’ thread.

14

Lots with music, Tae Kwon Do, and with younger kids. Nothing with poli sci or intl relations. (If they live in an area with teen court or similar, lots of kids do that. In some areas, the hs facilitates it.) Playing music at a hospital or fundraising for a distant land are not the sort of service in your own community a tippy top hopes to find.

I get the impression you may not understand what Columbia or Yale look for. (including that it’s not about weighted gpa.) You don’t get to throw it all against the wall and hope someting resonates. This is not about how “leader-y” you sound, all sorts of random hs awards, or how long the EC list is, but the quality, stretch, some impact- and whether or not a candidate understands what matters. For that level of competition, you need to know what to present.

Yes, culling. If you list it all, they could question your thinking. But also fine tuning. Adding what’s missing.

You can’t do the “narrative” without understanding what they need to see.