Official Columbia University 2016 RD Results

Astr0boy
Mon, 02 Apr 2012 10:56:58 +0000

Decision: Accepted - CC (Likely Letter)

OBJECTIVE:

[li] SAT I (breakdown): 2340 second sitting (800 W, 790 CR, 750 M) [/li]
[li] SAT II: Latin = 770, Math II = 770 [/li]
[li] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.21 unweighted (A- = 3.67, A+ = 4.33) [/li]
[li] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): school doesn’t rank, but I’m in Cum Laude (within 10%) [/li]
[li] AP (place score in parenthesis): AP English Language and Writing (5) [/li]
[li] Senior Year Course Load: AP Latin, AP BC Calculus, AP English Language, Auditioned Jazz/Rock Band, AP US History, Independent Study in Molecular Biology (1 on 1 with my teacher, almost like Williams’ tutorials) [/li]
[li] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Latin Awards (Golds and a silver), Cum Laude; various local, state, national debate trophies, various school awards [/li]
SUBJECTIVE:

[li] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Auditioned Jazz/Rock Band (3 years); Astronomy club (2 years, founder/president), Auditioned, nationally recognized a cappella group (1); pit band in musicals (1); Editor of school newspaper (1); non-auditioned a cappella group (2); Varsity Science Olympiad (2); JV and Varsity debate (2); Advisory leader in community service (only offered 1 year); liaison to national charity in junior year; Habitat for Humanity ReStore (2) [/li]
[li] Job/Work Experience: 7 weeks (summer) in major university biology lab doing research, outreach research program in astronomy sponsored by JPL (published in major astronomical journal) [/li]
[li] Volunteer/Community service: raised about $15k for school WISER, Stop Hunger Now, Amnesty International; organized service project for the junior class, raised $4,000, H for H ReStore [/li]
[li] Summer Activities (fresh, soph, jun): Debate camp, biology research, astronomy research [/li]
[li] Essays: [/li]
[li]Common app = VERY PERSONAL - wrote about overcoming illness and how it motivated me [/li]
[li]Why Columbia? = talked about all of the stuff, academic and extracurricular, that I would do there [/li]
[li]Talk about a book = Discussed “Death of a Salesman” and how it relates to society today [/li]
[li]Talk about a class = Discussed my experimental/reactionary literature class and how it influenced my thinking [/li]
[li]Why did you choose those majors? = explained why I like biology and classics in the context of my life and how I’ve grown up loving those subjects [/li]
OTHER:

[li] Applied for Financial Aid?: yes, will apply [/li]
[li] Intended major?: biology, classics, astronomy [/li]
[li] State (if domestic applicant): NC [/li]
[li] School Type: independent [/li]
[li] Ethnicity: white [/li]
[li] Gender: M [/li]
[li] Income Bracket: 100k [/li]
[li] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): NONE [/li]
REFLECTION:

[li]Strengths: GPA, SAT scores, essays, research [/li]
[li]Weaknesses: lack of AP classes, but I explained that in my school it’s hard to get into APs [/li]
[*]Why you think you were accepted: I think I really conveyed that I loved Columbia in my essays, and I thought that I was a good fit for the school, especially because of the science + music