**Decision: Accepted Via Likely Letter **
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): Only taken for National Merit so scores weren’t sent but 1510 800M 710R/W
ACT (breakdown): 35 (One Time), 35 (Superscore), 35E, 35M, 35R, 36S, 25W
SAT II: Biology M 800, Math II 800
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Weighted GPA: 4.26
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/226
AP (place score in parenthesis): AP Biology, Calculus AB, Chemistry, English Lang, Environmental Science (Self-Study), European History, Human Geography (Self-study), Psychology, US History – All 5s
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: Calculus 3 (taken at college), AP Physics 1, AP English Lit, AP Micro, AP US Gov, Spanish 4, Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra.
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Natl Spanish Exam state winner sophomore and junior years, All-state violinist, State and National AP Scholar, one of six students in state chosen for Distinguished Student Program, Coca-Cola/JK Cooke semifinalist (not listed), lots of science olympiad state medals.
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Orchestra (concertmaster), Key Club (District Lieutenant Governor), Environmental Club (President), Spanish Club (Past President), Varsity Cross-country, Swimming, and Track all four years of high school, Relay for Life (Co-founder of school relay, minor leadership role) Fargo Youth Initiative (Co-chair, co-founder), Science Olympiad (Team captain), Knowledge Bowl.
Job/Work Experience: N/A
Volunteer/Community service: Key Club, Relay for Life, HOBY, Presidential Service Award (gold level).
Summer Activities: North Dakota Governor’s School in 2015, MITES (Minority Introduction to Engineering and Science) and Yale Young Global Scholars in 2016.
Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):
Essays: Personal statement: 9 (very reflective, personality was brought out well) Why Columbia Essay: 8 (wrote about an alumni I met at a fly-in program and how it related to my interest in the engineering school.)
Teacher Rec #1: 9 (have had her for spanish for 4 years, have a very good relationship with her)
Teacher Rec #2: 8 (wasn’t very long, but teacher said I was one of his best students in 30 years, not much substance though)
Counselor Rec: 9-10 (meet with her very often, worked with her to get into MITES and Yale Global Scholars)
Additional Rec: N/A
Interview: 9 (My interviewer looked like Harry Potter tbh but we had a good conversation)
Art Supplement:N/A
Other
Date Submitted App: 12/31/2016
U.S. State/Territory or Country: North Dakota
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
Income Bracket Range: Lower Middle Class (40-50k)
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athelete, development): First in family to attend 4 year institution (dad dropped out of college and mom got an associate’s degree after I was born)
Reflection
Strengths: MITES, test scores, Counselor Rec, I’m from ND, slighly low-income and first gen, state AP Scholar.
Weaknesses: Didn’t focus too much on one sport/activity, bad ACT writing score, no work experience.
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I was a pretty good candidate overall, there weren’t really any “holes” in my application (absence of volunteering, sports, etc.) and I felt I was very genuine in my essays/interview. I also have the geographic hook of being from ND and no one else from my school applied RD to Columbia who was as qualified as me.
What would you have done differently?: Focused in on finding a leadership position for one of my clubs…I really wanted to be student body president.
Where else did you apply? Applied to and accepted to Brown (likely letter), Harvard (likely letter), MIT/CalTech/Uchicago/Rice (Accepted), Stanford (Accepted REA), Pomona (Waitlisted), Carleton (waitlisted :-/ :-/), other area schools.
General Comments & Advice:
It took a lot of effort to become a valid candidate for Columbia and I’m extremely happy with the results. I’ve tried nearly everything to find my passion, make a difference, and help my community during my time in high school. I’ve experience multiple instances of failure (not elected student body president, failed to qualify for the semifinalist round the USABO after making a testing center for our school, not elected state student council president, failed to become good at the sports I’ve been in, etc) but haven’t let those things define me. I didn’t think I would get into Columbia since I didn’t really have anything “magical” about my application, but in the end coming off as a genuine, charismatic person from North Dakota seemed to make all the difference.