To apply, or not to apply ED?

PMCM18
Thu, 11 Aug 2011 12:05:59 +0000

Wow, I really hope you weren’t put off by the thread title. Anyway, hello! I’m a rising senior from Puerto Rico and I’m heavily considering applying to Columbia ED. Up until now my plan was to apply to UChicago and Georgetown SFS under EA, but the more I learn about Columbia the more excited I become about the prospect of studying there. Should I stick to my current plan of Early Action to Chicago and Georgetown, waiting until I have more credentials in January to apply to Columbia, or should I risk applying Early Decision? I say this because I’ve heard that the strongest students tend to apply SCEA to Ivy League schools like Yale and Princeton, so I’m guessing Columbia isn’t very different. I plan to major in Political Science, with a focus on International Relations. Here are my stats:

School Type: Private, considered the best and most rigurous in PR
GPA: 4.17 W, around 3.89 UW
Class Rank: NA
AP’s: Psychology (5), Human Geography (5), Spanish Language (5), French Language (4), USH (5)
Side Note: My school is very strict when it comes to taking AP’s, I pretty much took all the non-science ones as they became available and my schedule allowed it.
Senior Year Courseload: Anatomy and Physiology, Puerto Rican History, AP Calc AB, AP Spanish Lit, AP English Lit, AP Euro, AP Economics (both, self study), considering AP Comp Gov (self study
Awards: not much :/. AP Scholar with Distinction (3+ in 5 AP’s, no reason I wouldn’t), National Merit Semifinalist (predicted), Presidential Scholar nominee (predicted). School awards for being the highest/second highest grade in the classes of World History (no AP offered, btw), Biology, Chemistry, AP Psychology, AP Human Geo. Outstanding Effort (lol) in AP French. Yeah, I know those school ones don’t matter much.

EC’s:

1. Community Service Club: Pres 11 and 12, VP 10

2. United Way Student Chapter: Treasurer 12

3. Film Club: VP 11

4. Model UN: member since 8th, have gone to NAIMUN the past three years

5. Environmental Awareness Club: The moderator, who is my Bio teacher and will write a rec for me, is witness to how I’ve helped keep this alive despite not getting any positions.

6. Model Organization of American States: Member this year

7. Project H2O: Club dedicated to spreading awareness of water crisis, member since 9th (there’s no board)

8. NHS: Up until now our chapter did nothing, but I spoke to the moderator and he has put me in charge of a tutoring project for the club.

9. Current Events: Discussion/debate club on, yeah, current events that I want to start. Any suggestion for a more catchy title would be welcome lol.

Summers: International Summer Program in St.Andrew’s University, Scotland (2008); CTY Lafayette, course on US Supreme Court and cases (2009); Ecology Project International trip to the Galapagos (2010); The Oxford Tradition summer program, course on International Business (2010); CTY Civic Leadership Institute in Baltimore (2011); family trips to various countries in Europe, as well as Israel, Egypt and Jordan.

Standardized Tests:
SAT: 2250 (650 M, 800 W, 800 CR)
ACT: Will take in October
SAT ii’s: 700 Biology M, 750 World History, 800 Spanish. Will take both Maths and possibly Lit in October.