A Cheap Shot at Columbia ED

[Alexander_Seil]

<p>Bio:
White Male from Maryland
Non-citizen, fluent in English and Russian</p>

<p>Awards/Nominations:
-nominated for the 2004 NCTE high school writing competition (did not win)</p>

<p>SAT I (retook on the 9th):
Verbal - 710
Math - 610</p>

<p>SAT II:
Writing - 790
US History - 800
World history - 800</p>

<p>AP Exams:
US History - 5
US Government and Politics - 5
Comparative Government and Politics - 5 (exam only, class not offered)
Chemistry - 4
English Language and Composition - 4
Statistics - 4</p>

<p>Class Rank 56/452
UW GPA - ~3.7
W GPA - ~4.0</p>

<p>Schedule:
Freshman -
Pre-IB Biology (A)
Pre-IB English (B)
Pre-IB World History (A)
Pre-IB Spanish (A)
Sophomore -
H English 10 (B)
H Algebra II (B)
H Chemistry (B)
H US Government (B)
Junior -
AP US History (A)
AP US Government and Politics (B/A)
AP Statistics (A)
AP English Language and Composition (A)
AP Chemistry (A/B)
H Pre-Calculus (B)
H Java (B)
H Spanish III (A/B)
Senior -
AP Calculus BC
AP World History
AP Modern European History
AP Psychology
AP Macroeconomics
AP English Literature and Composition
AP Environmental Science</p>

[btbvector]

<p>Any ECs? Otherwise, I think your chance at Columbia is 30%.</p>

[Alexander_Seil]

<p>Indeed. Being an "average" ED applicant is good enough for me, really. I might impress them with the essay, though. I gather that Columbia pays a lot of attention to them. It's highly (perhaps too) philosophical, fresh and devoid of jaded references to family pets and summer jobs at food joints. They might dislike the style, however, as my formal writing tends to resemble 18th century prose.</p>

[btbvector]

<p>I see that already.</p>

[Kosuke]

<p>no offense but a 1350 SAT and not being in the top 10% of your class doesnt make you an "average Columbia candidate" in my opinion. your SAT 2s are AMAZING, and your schedule is unbelievable, your course load as a junior was as much as your freshman and sophmore years combined. but your SAT, class rank, and lack of ECs kill you, in my opinion, sorry.</p>

[btbvector]

<p>Actually I think if he increases his SAT by 100 points that would make him a very competitive applicant.</p>

[thomaschau]

<p>You might want to hold back on the 18th-century prose style...
Firstly because the essay is supposed to be -informal- and personal, so don't write in your formal style...Write casually. Use contractions. Use slang. It's not a formal literary essay. Etc.
Secondly because the adcom may read it as pretentious.</p>

[Alexander_Seil]

<p>Could be problematic, but I believe I managed, at least, to throw out most of the elements that make my essays look what they look like regularly. The essay is really the least of my worries, and I hope I could actually count it as an advantage.</p>

<p>My average score on the several SATI released tests I took in the last two months was 1490 or so. Hopefully it'll translate into actual results.</p>

[irock1ce]

<p>Do you really not have ANY kind of ECs?.... </p>

<p>Because if you dont, your going to come off as someone who spends their nights doing homework for 10 hours and then sleeping...... kind of like a machine.</p>

[freakish]

<p>I actually don't think you have that good a chance, because your transcript is littered with way too many B's as well as your SAT score.</p>

[Alexander_Seil]

<p>SAT score can be fixed, at least I hope so, although absence of ECs might seem peculiar.</p>

<p>By the way, while we're at it, what about Georgetown U?</p>

[Alexander_Seil]

<p>Just checked my new scores and got this:</p>

<p>Math 690
Verbal 770</p>

<p>Went up by 140 points...</p>