<p>Decision: Accepted CC
SAT I (breakdown): 2170, 2 sittings (790W, 750R, 730M)
ACT:33
SAT II: 780 Chem, 750 Math II
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 98/100
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 2/52
AP: 5 on chem (which is the only AP offered at my school)
IB (place score in parenthesis): no
Senior Year Course Load: College English, College Molec Bio, Govt, Regents Physics, College Spanish Year 2, College Public Speaking, (college courses taken at high school from certified teachers)
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Commended Scholar, School Award for Tenacity in Statistical Problem Solving
Subjective:
Extracurriculers (place leadership in parenthesis): 3-Year Captain of 3-time Class D State Cross Country Champion team, 1-year track captain, 4 years track and XC, 2nd place for XC in NYS in class D (numerous top-12 finished throughout HS), qualified 2013 for Junior Olympic Track Nationals, broke lots of school records and 1 all-time, all-school-size county record for a relay, summer local track club, 4-year member of language club and envirothon (hosted exchange student, went on cultural and language host immersion trip), Catholic church (sacraments, oldest in choir), school musical (a lead senior year) school select voice group, 4 years piano, student council co-president (started fundraisers and newspaper), 2 years high school bowl (qualified for nationals)
Job/Work Experience: 4-year summer job at local market
Volunteer/Community service: Sunday school teacher, tutor 1 hour per week for a seventh-grader
Summer Activities: cross country camp, work, spend a million horrid hours studying for standardized tests (ha, still recommend it, kids.)
Essays: I seriously spend 40 hours on these things, because the Columbia app is so long. they were REALLY good. I drafted the main commonapp essay a lot of times, and had my english teacher read them. it was about my summer job, and how much I love living in my town; I wrote about this because it shows “where I come from,” and I thought it would be unique in its simplicity. it included a lot of personal details. supplements were about love of performing, love of literature, love of writing, interest in chemistry, desire to make a positive change in the world with what I know, and of course love of Columbia for the last one. they were extremely personal. my “on-your-own” reading lists filled up the pages, and I wrote little descriptions of why I like the publications/required reading, because I didn’t fill up the space.
Teacher Recommendation: AMAZING. One of my teachers explicitly stated, in his letter, that it was the best recommendation he’s ever written. I submitted 3. They were all glowing and personal, from people I’ve known a long time.
Counselor Rec: Great, she loves me, I’ve come to her office to ask school a lot, and she knows me as stud-co co-pres
Additional Rec: nope
Interview: nope, never contacted
Other
State (if domestic applicant): NY
Country (if international applicant): USA
School Type: tiny public
Ethnicity: white
Gender: F
Income Bracket: high. no aid whatsoever
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none.
Reflection: happy. I feel that Columbia is truly the best school for my personal characteristics, and I think I fit in really well there; I did an overnight before applying ED. Showing that Columbia is the “place for you” (if it is) can really, really help; for RD applicants, show how you’ll further blossom at Columbia, and why the culture of NYC/CU is good for you, and v.v.
Strengths: Essays, grades, recommendation, reading list (my essays and reading lists approached Columbia’s emphasis on being informed/well-read really well, said I want to be a high-impact citizen and approached my want for the Core that way, love NYC
Weaknesses: School doesn’t offer APs. I am the absolute most over-represented student group (white wealthy)
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: because I love NYC and Columbia, my essays really showed who I am and why they are good for me, my teachers’ recommendations were amazing, my tests/grades could at least get my application looked at more closely
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: didn’t apply elsewhere
General Comments: I definitely wasn’t banking on acceptance. I thought it was possible, but I honestly had no idea. To non-acceptees, if you think Columbia is truly the school for you, maybe apply again and see what happens, either RD if you got deferred or as a transfer student if you got rejected. I have read these posts from past years, and honestly, I don’t think you should take rejection very personally. Maybe admissions missed something; it seems that a lot of the time, it takes quite a bit of luck, to get accepted. Apply elsewhere, shoot for the moon, see what happens . . . you have lots of other great options, and you never know where you’ll get in. Admissions at any school could potentially see something in you that they like. You never know what they are looking for. Good luck to all. You guys are all great :)</p>