my stats and my deferral

<p>just thought i could at least help out other up-and-comers for next yr by giving them a glimpse of the harsh reality (for me at least).</p>

<p>Asian Male, NJ
STATS:
-2340 SAT (790M,790W,760V), SAT2: 800 (phys),800 (math 2c),780 (american)
-GPA=4.15(weighted) in competitive public school in NJ
-AP taken: Phys (5), American Hist(5), Calc BC (5), Stat (5), Span Lang (3)
-AP taking sr yr: Chem, Govt and Politics, Euro History, Economics </p>

<p>EC:
-Chief founder/organizer of tsunami relief fundraiser concert - $5500 and all donated to Direct Relief International</p>

<p>-Chief organizer/leader of hurricane katrina tsunami relief project - raised $1300 and all donated to DRI</p>

<p>-Selected to and attended Columbia University Sci Honors Program (Junior and Senior yr)</p>

<p>-300+ volunteer hrs (all done for 2 or 3 yrs)- Fair Trade shop, special autistic children program, learning disability kids summer camp.</p>

<p>-Selected and attended M&T Summer Institute at UPENN junior summer</p>

<p>-Selected to NJ Region I Alto Sax
-Selected to NJPAC Jazz for Teens (only applied soph.yr)
-Winner of Amer Music Assoc Compet @ Carnegie (piano)
-4 year starting varsity member of fencing team
-4year member of stage jazz band, wind ensemble, sax quartet, and concert band
-Played piano for 10 yrs, Sax for 6 yrs
-3yr participant in NJ Essex County math league
-member of astronomy club and 4 yr intramural quizbowl participant</p>

<p>Summers (soph and junior summer together):
-Internship at KBS (broadcasting station)
-SAT Math Tutor
-Volunteered at learning disabled summer camp (2years i volunteered there added up to 9weeks)
-Lead 13 member community service program (fundraisers and volunt)
-attended M&TSI at upenn
-Kumon Tutor</p>

<p>-pretty good recs and essay.</p>

<p>just wondering: what do you think was the determining factor for my deferral?</p>

<p>just curious. dont get me wrong , im not bitter. im actually really happy for those who were accepted from our school. ive discovered that it doesnt help anyone to stay depressed. im moving on toschools like penn and duke . thanks.</p>

<p>wat is your uw gpa?</p>

<p>dont know, we dont do uw</p>

<p>how many ap/hnors classes have you taken?</p>

<p>counting this yr, 9 APs (5,5,5,4,3 scores w/o this yrs)
everything else honors</p>

<p>hmmmm, i htink it has to do with your unweighted gpa</p>

<p>tidal,</p>

<p>(i have no idea why i couldn’t have said this in an im box and why im posting but here it is anyway)</p>

<p>lifes not always fair, but everythings usually done for a reason. if u didnt get in here, im sure u’ll end up at some place u love, and want to go to even more than columbia. u know ur friends will always be here for u, and we wish u the best best bestest of luck for duke and penn, cuz god knows u deserve it.
life goes on, im glad ur not bitter or depressed…but in case u r, its absolutely understandable, we’ll always be here if u need a friend.</p>

<p>i think asian male from nj kills you… plus your essays probably didn’t stand out nuffe… who cares, just say **** COLUMBIA! and move on to the next hoe, i mean school. Your stats/ECs are incredible though</p>

<p>wow.</p>

<p>that is suprising.</p>

<p>hahaha amen skier, amen.</p>

<p>i’d say that columbia, more than other schools, really enjoy not accepting kids with FANTASTIC sat scores: like you. i think you’ll definitely get in regular.</p>

<p>^ doubt it.</p>

<p>a friend of mine just got in with a 2360 SAT score, 800/800/780 and 4.0 UW so i doubt thats true.</p>

<p>It’s heartbreaking when you have obviously done so much. You are a great candidate and I don’t doubt you will get in great places. (See Elleneast’s post about the students who got into Harvard RD after not getting into Columbia ED). Your biggest drawback as far as Columbia goes? I agree it is probably that you are from New Jersey. Bet that would be an advantage if you applied to Stanford. Maybe add that to your list.</p>

<p>Another possibility – Columbia has a great fencing team and, presumably they recruit for it. If they didn’t want you for fencing, they might very well have taken another fencer who had good stats, even if not as good as yours. So, at a different school, you may be just the fencer they want. Similarly, a couple of years ago, they were just building up their jazz program and you would have looked great. Now, they have a lot of student jazz musicians; their ensembles were practically overwhelmed. That is where luck enters the picture.</p>

<p>The other thing that stands out in what you listed is that your recs and essay were “pretty good.” So, I would guess that what your teachers wrote and perhaps what you wrote did not add much to your stats. The key is to leave a committee with a phrase that identifies you in their minds.(That’s the kid who…) What in all that list of activities really defines you? There is SO much on the list that, if they didn’t look closely, it might seem like stuff done for resume building. If what is most important to you is working with autistic kids, for example, get someone at the camp or program where you worked to write a letter about you. If what’s most important is not just that you play music but that you think of creative ways to use music for causes, then think about writing another essay that ties those things together. I think you still do have a shot at Columbia if you want to send more recs (from a prof in the Columbia science honors program?) and a letter. (Lots of good advice about that on the other thread.)</p>

<p>These are just suggestions, not criticisms. A lot of what people forget when discussing stats is the impression a particular application makes on a particular day to a particular person who may spend five minutes on it. A deferral, however, means they will pay you particular attention in the RD round, so you can add to the impression they have if you want to. (If your GC can get any feedback, that would be excellent.)</p>

<p>Good luck. You will make a great contribution wherever you go, I am sure.</p>

<p>tidal, thanks for making this post, it took courage on your part to set aside the deferal and provide the futures applicants with this reality check.</p>

<p>I agree with all the above posters that you are indeed a very strong candidate and fully deserves an admission, and I believe that you will be just as competitive of an applicant in the RD round. good luck to you and hope to you can make it .</p>

<p>we’ll be rooting for ya.</p>

<p>thanks to anyone who took the time to answer, i appreciate it.</p>

<p>only *****y part about getting deferred is having to do like 10 bazillion other apps/essays on this wonderful snowday. a little blow to the self-confidence fo sho too, but ill get over that.</p>

<p>lol…man i know…the tufts essays are killing me…</p>

<p>Wow, that is really surprising!</p>

<p>Deferral, not rejection. Huge difference.</p>

<p>I don’t understand why this message is so difficult to accept, but it is true for all of the highly selective institutions. The Early Round is about hooks. It is about the hooks that that particular college favors (in general, & then specifically this year as well). When examining hooks, one cannot do it outside of the context of the college or University’s stated mission & apparent preferences.</p>

<p>I do not see a <em>Columbia</em>-type EARLY hook in the above profile of this excellent, excellent candidate. New Jersey is not a hook. Middle-class income or above is not a hook. Asian male is not a hook. Great stats are not a hook.</p>

<p>This candidate appears to be an ideal RD candidate for several Ivies, including Columbia – given (for Columbia) his clear global commitment & initiative in some of his e.c.'s. (Kudos to you, OP.) I will go so far as to say I will be surprised if he is not admitted RD to Columbia – unless there was something really, really “off” in his essays or recs.</p>

<p>Columbia looks heavily at the following in the Early Round: ethnicity, income, geography, immigrant status. COMBINING those with leadership (such as he’s shown) would be a significant boost for ED acceptance.</p>

<p>sac, I appreciate what you say about the OP’s characteriziing of the recs & essays, but I’ve seen a whole bunch of students do this on CC. And that would include a lot of accepted students, too. They tend to shrug them off or they get vague. Sometimes it’s very hard for them to actually give those recs & essays a “grade,” if you will. You could be right, but that would not be my first guess. Logic says this is simply about non-hooked.</p>

<p>Just another round of praise for tidal in (1) posting this info for the education of cc’ers (2) all that tsunami relief work + autism volunteering. My hunch is Columbia will grab you RD. They are very community service aware.</p>

<p>One more thing: The only other thing that could have affected Early acceptance would be statement of purpose or contribution to Columbia. I don’t know what you said, how you articulated in all the ways possible, how you plan to contribute to C. If that wasn’t really focused, & you maintain an interest in admission, just make sure that you review & restate that more powerfully if necessary in any supplements you send. I still think that it wasn’t a Why Columbia? answer that did it, but your SES instead, for this round. But just review that, that’s all.</p>

<p>From personal experience, epiphany, I can’t agree. My Jerseyboy, white, high stats but not as high as the OP’s, musician but not as accomplished, in every way hookless, S, was accepted ED two years ago. I tend to agree with sac, that maybe he was playing the right instrument they were short of that year. I also think that connecting with the adcom thru your essay, recs, and interview report, is really vital at Columbia, and that my S was fortunate in that he did. By no means do I mean that his were better than the OP’s, just that it’s hard to figure which essay, rec, or interview report will resonate with the right applicant reader. I just want to reiterate that they do take hookless applicants in Ed.</p>

<p>To the OP – I would like to agree with those who assert that you will have wonderful choices in April, and that Columbia could well be one of them (they take a higher percantage of deferees than RD’ers.) It’s a mystery to me why you weren’t accepted, (I personally would love to see you there), but I know that you will end up there or some place else fabulous–you are an outstanding candidate!!!</p>

<p>^^^Tuft’s Syndrome^^^</p>