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This is a big post, there are two parts:
1. Stats, the usual "can i get in" bs
2. a few questions that havent been tackled yet on this board, skip down and read those if you dont feel like sifting through this resume of sorts.


indian from a very competitive hs in central jersey

SAT I --1540: 800 V 740 M
SAT II -- Math 2C: 770
Writing: 800
Chemistry: 770
PSAT National Merit Semi-Finalist

Taking all AP's Senior year
GPA: 4.0 unweighted
Top 5% of Class, we don't do class rank


Extra Cirriculars

-Been playing Piano/Guitar for 4 years
-Class of 2005 Treasurer (2 years)
-Class of 2005 President (1 year) -- recently elected
-Vice President of the Social Studies Forum
-Acapella Choir, a choir which has won many national awards and such
-JV Tennis Team (1st Doubles)
-JV 3rd Singles County Champion
-JV Tennis Team Captain during soph year
-Varsity 1st Doubles during junior year
-GMC County Tournament Finalist
-Co-Founder of the Literary Circle Club
-Contributing News Writer and full time sports columnist for the school newspaper
-National Honors Society
-Spanish Honors Society
-"Best Delegation" Award winner in many Model United Nations conferences
-Raised over 20,000 dollars for the BRIDGES Child Abuse Walk-a-thon

Outside of school
--10 hour a week job during school
--lifeguard at local red cross
--night team for first aid squad during summer, 9 pm to 5 am shifts. Exciting, but no Zzz. 100 or so hours here
--Accepted into and attending a course in psychology of memory at Columbia University every saturday morning during school free of charge, some type of student outreach program they have goin for high schoolers
--200 hours volunteer work at local hospital
--attended the National Youth Leadership Conference in Washington DC, which led to my becoming a National Scholar
--Columbia Summer Program -- The Creative Writer at Work: An Advanced Workshop -- amazing time, great recc from the professor


I dont mean to brag if theres anything worth bragging about but with the amount of applicants here with president positions up their rear, it gets degrading for me. I plan to major in english or pre-med...am also applying ED..chances? comments?


Now for the questions. Part 2.

1. Does Columbia have a study abroad program where i could take a year off and study at oxford or cambridge?
2. Is there a way that i can double major in both a literature-related course and a pre-med course such as biology or chemistry?
3. Can I major in russian literature or another english-related course but still complete requirements for pre-med?
4. i guess i shuld mention that i skipped kindergarten although thats not the best grade to skip, and im handicapped in my hearing -- would that affect things for the negative in any way?
5. Can anyone that got in post stats or comments?

Thanks, any response is appreciated

By Alcyone (Alcyone) on Wednesday, October 22, 2003 - 08:43 pm: Edit

I'm not sure about the rest, but I can answer your question on double majoring because I asked it myself when I visited. Columbia's really flexible--you can double or even triple major. Or you can not major in anything and do a bunch of minors. As for pre-med, they have a "pre-med track" of classes you have to take, but "pre-med track" people can major in anything they want, including literature. I have a question to add to to that though, that I'm having trouble finding an answer to: can you double major in columbia college and in SEAS without doing one of the 5-year programs?

By Lxg21918 (Lxg21918) on Wednesday, October 22, 2003 - 09:23 pm: Edit

1. yes, junior year
2. yes, but it's difficult with the core. plus, the core gives you a pretty solid background literature and "all of the stuff you're supposed to know to sound intelligent at cocktail parties"
3. sure, if you're willing to work hard and not really take any classes outside of your major and the core. always remember that you can concentrate in something, but not major in it, which i think would be more attractive in your case
4. i'm not sure about columbia, but most schools have resources for disab, and i'm sure columbia is no different
5. my best friend currently is in her first year there and she loves it. i've stayed with her a couple of times, and she continually extolls its virtues over and over again. she's basically the one who has given me all of this information over time, because i had a lot of the same questions. i finally decided on yale EA instead though, because i didn't want ot be in a huge city for college, yale has a specific major that combines the disciplines i want to study (ethics, politics, and economics, so i wouldn't have to double major), and yale's distributional requirements are a lot more lax. i'm still considering applying columbia regular though. anyways, back to her stats. she had a 1560 on her SATs. all 700+ on her SAT IIs, mainly 5s with a couple of 4s on 7 APs, i believe. she did outside medical research and volunteered at a hospital every summer of her high school career. she had an average in the low 90s at a very competitive prep school in houston (about 20-25% go on to ivy league schools each year. over half of the grade qualified for national merit semifinalist). she applied ED and let them know how set she was on going there.

By Futuredoc123 (Futuredoc123) on Sunday, October 26, 2003 - 01:11 pm: Edit

eh i think you have a decent chance, but im not sure..i jus applied columbia ed but i guess the only one who can tell u if u have a good shot is someone who has been accepted already