Decision: Accepted - SEAS
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2120 - CR 600 (oops) M 800 W 720 (essay 9) (one sitting)
ACT (breakdown): /
SAT II: Math II 800 Physics 780 Chemistry 760
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): /
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/125 (I go to a Dutch school where kids are put in different “levels of difficulty” when they are twelve years old, just simply depending on how smart they are. 20 % goes to the highest level (which is called VWO) and those 125 people in my year were all in VWO)
AP (place score in parenthesis): /
IB (place score in parenthesis): /
Senior Year Course Load: Physics, Math higher, Biology, Chemistry, Dutch LangLit, English LangLit, French LangLit, Economics (Economics was an extra subject which I studied independently)
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): In Holland we don’t really have any awards so none
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Captain of my volleyball team for 7 years now. Played piano for 8 years, 2 certificates from the conservatory. President of a small group that organized a trip to Athens for our senior class, we had to organize everything for 125 people, pretty time consuming. Member of the gala committee (prom). Member of the Stella Maris (my school) Cabaret Choir for 4 years now, have had several solos in our very famous cabaret. (draws an audience of 4000 people every year)
Job/Work Experience: Have worked at a restaurant as a waitress for a year now, 10 hrs/week. Have tutored kids from my school for 4 years now, and I get paid by my school.
Volunteer/Community service: Went to Thailand and Cambodia for three weeks to do volunteering. Had to raise 1800 euros by baking and selling waffles, very time consuming.
Summer Activities: 3 weeks in Thailand and Cambodia to do volunteering. 2 weeks at Imperial College London Global Summer School.
Essays (rating 1-10, details): Common App: 7ish, I wrote it in one day… in the end it did come out allright and it did show my personality, but it didn’t have a stellar writing style or super advanced vocabulary
Why Columbia: 10, I wrote about specific clubs and mentioned how I could contribute to them with my experience (such as tutoring and volunteering Thailand and Cambodia) I also mentioned the Core and how it would form me as a well-rounded and educated engineer.
Why engineering major: 10, it was very personal, I talked about how I always liked Air Crash Investigation and that after studying physics at school, I could understand a lot about what they were saying and was extremely fascinated about it. I also said that I would join the Airplane club at Columbia.
What EC are you most proud of: 9, I talked about my volunteering in Thailand and Cambodia
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details): Counselor rec: 10, I saw it and it stated that I was one of the most talented people he had ever seen in his career. I had also worked very closely with him because of the Athens trip and because of my tutoring, and he talked a lot about those two things and how well I did them.
Rec Biology teacher: 10, She has been my teacher for 6 years now (high school starts at 12 in The Netherlands) and she talked about how from day one I wanted to study in a foreign country and how I worked very hard to do that.
Rec Physics teacher: 8/9, we got along very well but she is new at my school so I didn’t know her that long. I did read and it was a good letter, but a little bit generic
Interview: Didn’t get one, probably because there are no alumni in The Netherlands
Other
Applied for Financial Aid?: nope
Intended Major: Mechanical Engineering
State (if domestic applicant): /
Country (if international applicant): The Netherlands
School Type: Public, VWO (highest level in Holland, 20 % attends this level and it basically prepares you for university. It is often said that it is the same level of difficulty as IB)
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: dunno, but I didn’t apply for financial aid so it doesn’t matter that much
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Female in Mechanical Engineering. I think that there is currently nobody from The Netherlands attending Columbia… So in that sense I do add diversity, and even though I am white, it could possibly be a hook
Reflection
Strengths: My recommendations, my Columbia essays, my class rank
Weaknesses: My SAT I score for sure… especially my CR score is VERY low, but that can be explained because I attend a Dutch school and my whole family is Dutch, so I have learned English only in my English class. Perhaps admission officers took this into account.
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: I think my teachers really showed my personality in their recs and described me very well, and this personality fits Columbia. I also think I showed my passion for learning and showed them I did research into their school. Also my course load has a lot of engineering subjects, and my course load is actually the toughest it can get at my school, which my counselor mentioned in his rec.
Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected: nowhere
General Comments: ABSOLUTELY ECSTATIC!! I literally still cannot believe it… I come from a small village in The Netherlands and have never moved, but I am more than ready!! I literally dreamed about this school for years now…
My advice to future applicants is to put A LOT of work into your essays! My Columbia essays were very very good because I spent a lot of time on them, but my commonapp essay could have been A LOT better had I started earlier.
Also make sure that you have a good bond with your teachers! Give them some examples that they can write about in their recs; it makes it easier for them and it can make the recs very personal even if you didn’t know those teachers very well. AND START EARLY!!
Oh and I am living prove that test scores aren’t everything 