I started an online company which did over 1 million dollars in revenue last year and may break 3 this year it also contains numerous proprietary software that I built. I was wondering how much this would help me get into Columbia since my GPA is merely 3.5 and the one time I took the ACT I got a 30. I don’t have much time for school and skip or miss it a lot. my dream school is Columbia and I know they will be able to hear my story since my sister when applying got an interview. My parents tell me I have a great shot, but with my grades, I just don’t think they will consider me because my grades fall far below their average.
I started an online company at 16 we did over 1 million in revenue. How much will this help with uni
If you’ve founded a company that will do $3M in sales, you can probably just forgo college. The Columbia AO will likely wonder, “Why does this kid want to waste time with Lit Hum?”
I have thought about this, but I think college is an invaluable part of my family. I will be the first person in my family not to go to college that I know of and I also want the support of a degree if anything happens to my wealth.
Schools don’t want to hear you have lower grades and scores because you really don’t have time for college. It’s not a big selling point.
I think it will be a big boost. This is an excellent example of the “relaxed superstar” in action. Congratulations on building a successful company and best of luck with your applications!
I will keep in in mind the lack of time piece while applying for college and leave that out
Why Columbia? Are you familiar with its Core Curriculum? Columbia, like most of the Ivies, are above all interested in students passionate about the life of the mind. I doubt they’d be much impressed with a candidate who writes “I don’t have much time for school and skip or miss it a lot.”
New York is one of my favorite cities and someone I look up to most in terms of business is a close friend and a graduate of Columbia. He encouraged me to apply and helped me in starting my own company.
Lets see, have you heard of Olivia Jade? She was pressured to go to college even though she had her own company and didn’t want to go. Now she is about to be expelled from USC and has lost a number of lucrative sponsorships for her company. Her business may go under, so again, why would you want to go to college if your already have a successful business? My inclination is that the AO would do you a favor and deny admission.
I don’t understand why you want to go to college, or why a college would want to admit the student described in this quote. I also do not think that your company will make up for your grades and test scores. If you do want to go to college, I’d suggest taking your current classes more seriously and creating a balanced list of colleges to apply to intead of dreaming of one high reach school.
I think my case is different. I am not giving any favors to colleges and actually personally want to attend college. The nature of my company is one that will allow me to taper off my workload and I think I would be able to manage my time in college.
It would help you more for an MBA from Columbia than undergrad. Along with the rest of the pieces in place.
Check out Babson in Wellesley Mass. it is an elite school of business with a nationally renowned entrepreneurial focus.
Why not learn how to make your company and other grow and innovate. This training with your obvious talent would be a great one two combo.
And the courses may seem interesting to you and you won’t want to miss them.
Also what is your ebitda not just gross rev.?
So to your question, again, I don’t think you have a realistic chance for Columbia.
Our EBITDA was around 950k we spent around 100k throughout the year on marketing and employee cost as well as freelance security and web development. We are online and blockchain based so we don’t have many costs besides marketing.
OK thank you for the input. I am going to try to raise my grades a lot in the last quarter of my junior year and keep trying at the ACT till I get a 32. I will still try for Columbia, but I won’t get my hopes up and will apply to some fallbacks.
@dapooch wrote “and I know they will be able to hear my story since my sister when applying got an interview.” I think you greatly overestimate the import that admissions officers place on the interview. If you want admissions officers to know something, it had better be on your application, in writing, and preferably backed up by comments from your recommenders and/or other documentary evidence.
You might be an excellent candidate for the Columbia University School of General Studies. You would be able to study part time while managing your business, instead of having to study full time. Check into that.
That you like NYC and admire a Columbia alum are not very good reasons to call Columbia your dream school. What is it you like specifically about the education and experience you will have at Columbia? If you can’t answer that question, you and Columbia probably aren’t a very good match.
@CU123 My thought too, but maybe a slightly different context.
@dapooch A couple people have asked you why you want to go to college, but your answers so far don’t seem sufficient. Do you care that much about your company? If so, what do you expect to learn that would compensate for the missed time?
If what you say is true, my money is on you getting admitted. Whether or not you should become a FT student is up for debate, however.