columbia...maybe..maybe not???

Applying to College
1

ok… although im still only a jounior i cant help but wonder what are my REAL chances of geting into the number one collage of my wildest dreams…columbia!! here are my stats basically…

Im an international student, and i have lived in about a million different countries, iv always attended the top private schools some that are even the best in the world and im originally egyptian.

Academics:
freshman and sophmore GPA’s 4.0/4.0 ( A+'s, and A’s, like 1 or 2 A-'s)…top 2% of high school class although my schools never offered official rankings
Freshman Classes: English, Arabic, Physical Science ALGEBRA I, World History,Physical Education)
Sophmore year classes: Honors bio, honors english , honors History, geometry,Comp I,Arabic,speech and composition
** I got abpout 7 pretty nice recomendation letters from my grade ten teachers and councelors but they arent nessecarily written for collages they just wrote them before I left my old school
Courently im taking the full ib diploma programme and we dont get Abcd grades but like we get graded on a scale of 1-7 and in the only mid year report we got so far in it my grades were mostly 6’s a 5 and a couple of 7’s so i dont know my gpa i take ;
4 Higher levels ( english A1, bio, econ, history)
2 Standerd Levels(French ab initio, Math studies)
1 self taugh ( spanish B SL)
TOk
Im fluent in english, arabic and spanish and im learning russian and french
I trook my sat I for the first time and got a CRAP score (1150) but im deff taking it again and i think ill b able to get at least 1350 if not 1400 … im poretty confidant about my SAT IIs i think ill do alright on them as im good in most subjects

Extra Criculars
Im an EC maniac, i get involved in almoste every single school activity:
-Student coucil grade REP grade 10, Student coucil service officer grade 11(founded/wrote the whole school constitution)
-Academic Bowl
-all school concerts, assemblies and such( dancing, roles in theater plays ect…)
-danced ballet for about 7/8 years ( cairo opera house for 2 years, royal academy of dance, lima peru for 3), various preformances solos and such
-Captain of JV soccer Team ( grade 10)
-Captain of JV basket ball team ( grade 10)
-Co-Captain of JV basket ball team grade 9
-was on both varsity and JV teams of soccer and bball ever scince grade 7
-competitive participation in MANY international/National/exchange type sports tournaments, where we ranked 1st mostly and at times 2nd
-Active participant in Model United Nations, many different confrences arounde the world, and embassador of school, wrote many passing resolutions

  • Many different sources for Community service hours
  • Muslim Religion studies
    -amnesty International
    -School Newspaper
    -Write poetry ocasionally, and won a nation wide competition sponsered by HSBC , and got a congratulations letter from the superintendent of the school (grade 10)

AWARDS
I always get a lot of awards throughout the school year for different academc acheivments, and sports awards and such, I got Athlete of the year (grade 9), some atletic leters, and about 9 other athletic awards of that type mostly MIP, also awards for posetive contributions to the school and active poarticipation in events…poetry awards…lots of letters of recomendations from previous schools iv been too, previous councelors, and a super intendent,coaches…

i think im pretty well rounded but i fear that scince IB is really rigorus and my school grades us only on the IB gradeing scheme and assesment style * unlike other schools that dont) my day to day grades arent all 7s and they are 5/6 and few 7s usually and in my report cards i dont get straight 7s either i get 6/7/5 and maybe universities wont know that we were assesed only on the IB style assesment …also what should i aim for as a SAT score and SAT iis as well? My dream uni is columbia so what do u think should i just forget about it or do i have some kinda chance… also im not american so will that have a negative effect on me??? and lastly what other unis do u think i should apply to i wanna deff. major in POLITICAL SCIENCE
thnx so much for ur help!!!

2

<p>No one knows the real chance. You haven't even retaken SAT or have SATII's anyway, so you can't even judge if you are "in range".</p>

3

<p>so ur basically saying that SATs are the most imporatnt factor eh?</p>

4

<p>They're not. </p>

<p>Your ECs look pretty good. Keep your GPA up, get good SAT scores and you'll have a good shot.</p>

5

<p>Keep your grades up, shoot for a 1500 on your SATs, choose teachers who can write great recs and start on your essay now! Good luck, my daughter's dream school too and she was recently accepted.</p>

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<p>o ya...well congrats to ur daughter!! she must b really happy.. anyways thnx a lot ill try to get a 1500 on the sat although i may not b able to as english really isnt my FIRST language or anything but i suppose if i study for it then maybe.. o well thnx a lot!</p>

7

<p>Start your essays now? Are you kidding me? Screw applying to college until you need to man, enjoy your time, the undergraduate college doesn't matter too much unless you REALLY know what you want and are REALLY talented. I mean if Harvard can only offer you all the math that you need, then go there (and if that is the case, you'll get in). Otherwise, freaking live your life man and if you get in, awesome, if not, have a good time at a state school and try again when you want to go to graduate school.</p>

8

<p>well ya i suppose you have a point!</p>

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