Will my EC's kill my chances?

<p>Hi, I'm a junior from Southern California, and I'm looking to apply to Columbia next year. MY GPA is around 3.8, but as all my classes are weighted this year (i'm in the IB program), my GPA should go up significantly, and hopefully I should be ranked in (or a little out of) the top 10 of my class. </p>

<p>My scores are 1520 SAT I (800 V, 720 M); SAT II's are 780, 760, 720.</p>

<p>This year I made the decision to drop most of my useless extracurriculars that I don't really do much (such as California Scholarship Federation, NHS, IBA, and Interact), and focus on two clubs that I contribute significantly to. One is a class that plans activities around campus (10-12) and I have been in charge of several committees in the class and plan to run for cabinet next year. The other is a club that works with disabled children (9-12), and I am currently the president and should hold the position next year also. </p>

<p>Other than these two things, I've did an international internship in the summer in law, and I did a short internship for a political group.</p>

<p>I also like to write, and I devote a lot of my free time to this. My English teacher can probably attest to this; however, what I'm worried about is that, (besides her recommendation), I will have nothing to show for this in my application. It's one thing to say I spend a significant amount of time writing, but will it matter that there seems to be no actual...manifestation (for lack of a better word) of my interest? </p>

<p>I plan to apply ED next year, and I want to major/minor or double major in political science and English.</p>

<p>Any thoughts/comments would be greatly appreciated.</p>

<p>The only idea I have (if you haven't been published anywhere... school literary journal, etc) is to make it absolutely clear on the essay that you're a hellacious writer.</p>

<p>I don't actually mean tell them you're a writer... if you're actually a writer you'd think that would come across in your essay regardless, which is probably your best shot at sneaking it in along with that reco.</p>

<p>hey!! so this is just my lil two cents..if i am wrong correct me or add in your own intepretations!!
Just to let you know, columbia does not have minors, it has concentrations..or at least this is what my interviewer told me. a concentration is like a little more than a minor and a little less than a major..if you have a major you have to do this whole senior project..so you can graduate with just a concentration and not a major. so what you would probably want to do is either a double concentration or a major/concentration. </p>

<p>About extracirricular activities. THis is my interpretation of Columbia's application and I got in with mediocre numbers compared to a lot of others that applied (1460,710,720,650, 3.89 uw). Again...this has been solely made up in my lil head. Well, before I applied to Columbia..i analyzed the application. I figured that you can tell what a school looks for often by their application. I realized that it didn't really leave you that much room to discuss what your extracurricular activities actually were, you just sort of give them a title. In order to back my extracurricular activities up..i used the personal information part where they ask you about the books you've read, events that you have been to, publications you read..that sort of thing. So my major extracurricular "themes" in my application were political science, gay and lesbian activism, and art, therefore the books that I've read were both fiction and nonfiction and some invovled poli sci..some did not. Also I went to a lot of art exhibits and I was sure to list them all together and I also listed the gay and lesbian film festival. The publications that I read were also poli-sci related. Everything I said on my app was true...but I made sure to stratigically place everything so my interests and passions shined through. They definitely do not give you enough room, so make sure what you list in that section is very stratagic. I personally think that its great that you are focusing your extracirricular activities, just make sure what you do (read, events that you go to, etc) back up the philosophies behind your activities. Your personal qualities..in my opinion, seem to matter a lot to Columbia. Some kid that lists a lot of ec's and has nothing to back it up their passions probably will not fair well with a kid that has one or two selected ec's and amply demonstrates how they are passionate. and keep your summers busy. i don't know how much the columbia app changes..but they do ask about your summer this coming year and the summer last year. And I didn't mention extracurriculars at all in my essay because I figured it would be pushing it. In my PERSONAL opinion, you should use your essay to tell them about your personal qualities for them to better understand the things that you do. this is just information that I used on my own application... I hope it helps. Columbia's my dream school and I know I wrote a lot but I remember last year when I was anxious about information about the admissions process and I just wanted to help :D.</p>

<p>Thanks lilsmileycolumbian- that helped a lot. =)</p>

<p>no prob. i'm done with college admissions. i'm done with my first semester of senior year. i dun start skoo next semester until eleven. i'm good. very happy. anyone need help, i'm there for them</p>

<p>You dropped CSF? Interact? NHS? Are you crazy?</p>

<p>Nah, you're actually quite sane for doing so. I did the same--unless you're heavily involved in a club there's no reason to mention it in the application. And what lilsmiley said above is dead-on--it's exactly what I did. The "theme" of your application is extremely important for it conveys who you are; it does exactly what a hodgepodge of limited EC's doesn't.</p>

<p>Then again, its possible to be in many things and good at all of them, but focusing never hurts. I'm applying for engineering...and naturally my books/publications weren't engineering related. I didn't mention clubs in my personal essay, but I did mention some experieneces that are academic in nature. Columbia wants to see what you do outside of school, but I don't think they place as much emphasis on it as other schools. </p>

<p>I think its good that you are actually achieving something in the things you do, as compared to just showing up to meetings for everything.</p>

<p>ditto.
also, you are not even 1/2 way done with your junior year. props for getting on the college wago nand already being interested in your future. best of luck buddy.</p>