<p>Hello, I am an impatient Junior with nothing better to do than post this, so here it goes.</p>
<p>I was a very poor student until sophomore year when I ended with a 96 average (unweighted). However, I had no honors courses because I was stuck on the slow track.
This year, in APUSH and Honors Physics, I expect to have a 90-92 average unweighted.
I expect to take very hard classes next year (as may APs as I can).
My ACT is a 33 thus far and I am planning to take every one until I apply (and tests from years prior every weekend), so I expect that to go up.
I know I can do well on my Physics SATII (I am very good at sciences, but have no passion for them) as well as my US history one, which I am also very good at. Other than that I have taken no SATIIs (I’m behind).</p>
<p>My class does not rank, but I am on Dean’s List (90 or above, better than honor roll), which is about top 20%. </p>
<p>I am not applying on my grades which are obviously not outstanding. I am applying on my personality and my ECs. </p>
<p>I plan to have done:
2 years of MUN
A writing center tutor for 2 years
Opinion Page Editor of the school newspaper (part of my theme, which is politics)
I raised money for, built, and sent computers to poor schools in the Philippines (That’s not a major aspect, however)
I run a fledgling Political Club that shows movies and attends a series of debates in NYC (we’ve had very little success, mainly due to poor publicizing).</p>
<p>The real kicker is that I run an opinion website where people at my school can voice their opinions about OUTSIDE school issues. It’s now entirely political. Because of about a year of fighting with the administration about commenting and anonymity issues, I am the predominant poster (with about 99% of the posts coming from me, but I will have some of the more intelligent people at my school posting soon). Also very very few people from my school actually look at it (probably only a few teachers). I’m not BSing anybody, it’s basically just MY website. I have gotten a few thousand hits so far.</p>
<p>The quality of the material is very high, much of it highly intellectual (I think that even Columbia would be impressed). It’s well beyond what Columbia would expect to see from a high school student. I also make very good use of the website aspect of it, meaning that I post very timely and use a lot of multimedia.
The website is not conservative by default but, because I am the only poster, it is. The website right now has over 100 articles (ranging from 1000 words to the majority being only a few sentences linking to an interesting column). I post almost every night and truly enjoy writing my opinions. It has also helped me immensely by teaching me how to express myself by writing, something that, until last year, I was very bad at. In fact, I had to sit down with my father to write many of my middle school papers. Oh yeah, my mother died when I was 9, not that it helps me or anything. </p>
<p>My hook is that I am a non-evangelical, Jewish, highly informed, <em>intelligent</em>, conservative. I’ve been taking crap because of my political beliefs since middle school and have never been afraid to voice my opinions. I think it is one of the reasons I want to go to Columbia; For once in my life I want to debate with people who, presumably, know what they are talking about. I accept, and even welcome, the challenge of attending a very liberal school (story of my life). Plus I took a course there two summers ago (summer after freshman year) on Media and Politics and really enjoyed it. This past summer I have worked at a computer camp teaching coding to kids, several of whom have special needs. I spent a great deal of time with one child who had Aspergers Syndrome (whose father, oddly enough, is a professor at Columbia). Next summer, I will either do that again or get an internship at a conservative think tank (doubtful). </p>
<p>I think that many of my ECs link at the common political theme, which is deliberate. My website, my club, MUN, the newspaper, and something else I feel like I’m forgetting (it’s almost 3 AM), all have the theme of politics. I also regularly attend intellectual debates in NYC (I don’t think that I’ve ever seen a Columbia professor but I am attending one next week featuring Karl Rove and Bill Kristol). </p>
<p>I am a white male from an upper middle-class family. No legacy. I go to a private school but we don’t have very good college admissions (3 people in the past 5 years have gone do Columbia, all had a 95 unweighted average, over 30 have applied). We send about 3 or 4 kids to Ivy schools each year. I only speak English. I’m pretty generic, but on the other hand, I am also real. Getting into an Ivy college has not been my sole goal. I have been focused on “living”. </p>
<p>As a side note: I’ve been considering saying this somewhere, but it seems a bit manipulative (although entirely true): By applying ED to Columbia (against the wishes of my family), I am disregarding a triple legacy (My Father, his Father, and his Father) to UPENN.</p>
<p>I know it’s preliminary but I want to see if you guys think I even have a shot. I also love the Great Books program at Columbia. I’ve always wanted to be “learned”. My numbers are not all that impressive and I make too frequent use of parentheses, but I feel that Columbia will notice my individualism. I think I can really add something unique to the campus discourse and the University. </p>
<p>Thank you and I apologize for the long post.</p>
Plenty of ignorant schmucks out there who need an intellectual beating.</p>