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If anyone cares to read this, thanks for the help in advance.

Scores: SAT - 1440 (740 V; 700 M) - might retake
ACT - 34 (I was shocked by this, I honestly didn't study for it at all)


Grades/Courses: I go to semi-prestigious Catholic Prep school. We don't have a 4.0 scale. Instead, we have a 100 scale. My 4 yr. avg will be around 97-98 which should put me in the top 5-10% of my class. I would say I'm 17th out of 400 (that's a guess). My school doesn't offer AP's or anything, but our course load isn't easy. From what I've been told, colleges "know [my] school."

Clubs: Speech and Debate: Varsity Co-Captain - 4 yrs. numerous awards, college tourneys, etc.
ETV (AV Club) - 4 yrs. News Director (2), Productions Supervisor (3), President (4)
Hospital Volunteers - 2 yrs, self explanatory
Volunteer Club - 3 yrs. I tutor Spanish speaking lower-income kids through this and I love to do it. I'm thinking about writing an essay about this.

Awards: NHS, National Science Olympiad participant/commended, "Character Award" (some dumb thing from the school), and others that I can't think of right now.

By Ivyman (Ivyman) on Friday, August 01, 2003 - 09:02 pm: Edit

I'm a suburban white guy now at Columbia. I had similar grades, scores (slightly higher SAT but same ACT) and went to Catholic prep with similar clubs etc. and similar Volunteering (i.e. Hospital, NHS, SpeechDebate). I think you got a good chance.....try to find a way to distinguish yourself and present yourself uniquely and that will increase your chances even more. This can be done, for example, in your essay by examining part of your life that is unique to your own character etc. GOOD LUCK!
Ivyman
Columbia, Harvard

By Genericname (Genericname) on Sunday, August 03, 2003 - 12:52 am: Edit

cool, thanks for the help. If I could ask one more question, do you think Columbia is in anyway biased to the SAT? I did pretty well on the ACT, and I dread having to go through the SAT again. Could I get in with just the 34 ACT? Thanks again!