What could this theater oriented junior do to improve for Columbia?

admissionsgeek
Tue, 08 Mar 2011 11:58:24 +0000

so advice to you and other students:

1) what you say youre going to major in matters. you will be judged a) as to whether or not you are up to snuff for that major, b) compared to other students. just because you might end up majoring in economics, doesn’t mean you should shoot yourself in the foot.

2) based on what you’ve written here - your depth of understanding of economics is very superficial. it probably would not impress and admissions officer compared to other students who apply (from South Jersey even). if you are serious about econ, you need to push yourself more than learning about it in a history class. take ap econ, or figure out a way to take further econ. do something this summer econ related in terms of internships or a research project.

3) the liberal arts are beautiful. don’t be afraid to explore them in college. it is your last time in which you can explore them. and not only are humanities and arts underrepresented, universities like columbia take pride in them so they will always continue to seek out folks that will attend.



in the end getting into an ivy requires that you stand out even amongst a group of stand outs. so if i am being harsh, know i just want you to not rest on the laurels of being top in your class. you seem smart and have pretty good stats, you’ll be going to college. i just want to emphasize that getting into an ivy requires quite a bit, and you need to start thinking about how your application will be received, which is not something that your guidance counselor probably is emphasizing.