Chances + International Studies question?

mlop1991
Tue, 08 Jul 2008 19:56:02 +0000

I visited Columbia U last weekend and I absolutely loved it. That combined with their generous financial aid (my family makes 65k a year), and their awesome programs in what I want to do has piqued my curiosity. Hence this thread. Soooooooooo…

Stats:

Grade: Class of 09
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
School: Large public high school (Glenbard West HS in Glen Ellyn for those who care), has a good reputation (…for some reason).
State: Illinois

Stats:

35 on ACT (36 math, 33 combined writing, 35 science/reading)

2200 on SAT (750 reading/math, 700 writing)

800s on US History and Math II SAT II’s (54th percentile on spanish but Columbia only looks at two highest SO HEY. That’s pretty nice :D).

4.0 UGPA, all honors/AP material except for requirements (including gym, stupid Illinois government), and like two slots of non honors AP. My school runs on a 5 point system so my weighted GPA is like a 5.8 but I don’t know how that translates to the 4 point scale and that involves far too much math for the summer.

Took AP US History and AP Stats this year, don’t have scores yet. Senior schedule includes Calc BC, both Government APs, both Econ APs, Spanish AP, and English AP.

ECs:

Lots of little stuff Freshman year that I didn’t continue.

Sophomore year (and junior high but no one cares): Science Olympiad

Soph/Junior - Forensics (speech).

Junior Year - Model UN.

Junior Year - Scholastic Bowl.

Junior Year - Amnesty International

Various choirs stretching from 4th grade to present, some school-related and some not.

Soph/Junior - Spanish Honors Society.

Junior Year - National Honors Society.

EC Awards-y…things:

97th percentile (Gold Medal) on National Spanish Exam

National Forensics League Degree of Special Distinction

State Finalist in Performance in the Round, 2007 Forensics.

Outstanding Delegate at U of Illinois’ Model UN Conference as Cameroon (African Union).

2nd and 3rd in Division II at State Science Olympiad tournament in two events.

Lots of regional tournament results for Forensics that no one really cares about.

Leadership stuff:

Board Member for Forensics (NFL Pointkeeper)

Possibly/probably will be Co-Captain of Scholastic Bowl next year.

Probably will have leadership position in Spanish Honors Society.

Might have leadership position in Amnesty International.

(sorry for the obnoxious projections into the future :X)

Volunteer work is grim: went on two mission trips to rural Mexico, and some Amnesty International stuff sorta counts, but other than that its not so good.

First off, thanks to anyone who bothered reading all of my crap. To summarize, my test scores rock, my transcript rocks, my ECs sucked until Junior Year and are only average now, and my leadership/volunteer work are both atrocious. Anyone want to give me an idea of my chances…?

Also on the International Studies front, can someone tell me a bit about Columbia’s undergrad program? I’ve looked at stuff but it seems sorta strange to me - does it have to be a 5 year degree? More importantly, if I chose another major, I could still minor/concentrate in IS, right?

Thanks again to anyone who bothered reading all of my gobbledygook. Also I apologize if I came off as being a pretentious prick because I swear in real life I am not :(