3.87/171 Am I good at Columbia without ED? Forum

[Dr. Strangelove]

I think you could get into Columbia w/o ED.
You have a pretty good shot at Stanford: Harvard and Yale are out.

[bofaem]

with those stats (171/3.87), if the goal was to get into the highest ranked school possible would you guys ED columbia (highest ranked ED school) or blanket the t14?

[WestOfTheRest]

Don't ED. You have an hys shot and a fairly good shot at Columbia.

[rx3r]

do i have a realistic shot at stanford who takes lower stats but looks more at your app and if you have good softs--assuming i had some standout ones

or are the lower stats coming because they take kids 168-172 from HYP

If it helps, of the ~400 students in the class of 2013 at Columbia, over 1/3 went to an Ivy league college (over 15% from HYP alone).

[lawls]

with those stats (171/3.87), if the goal was to get into the highest ranked school possible would you guys ED columbia (highest ranked ED school) or blanket the t14?

The qualifier--highest ranked school possible--doesn't really change much, I don't think. If that is your sole criterion, you basically have to weigh the risk of losing out on Columbia because you didn't ED (a small risk because ED doesn't make a huge difference; you might be fine without it, but you might be rejected with it) with the chance you might hit HYS (not likely, but you do have an outside shot).

If you don't have strong preferences for Columbia, don't ED. You'll just be wondering what might have been. And maybe you get money somewhere.

[mleibman]

To be sure for any IVY aside from Cornell, I would only feel comfortable with a 175+ LSAT....

[Kretzy]

Don't ED. You have an hys shot and a fairly good shot at Columbia.

I agree with this (as someone who was in RD at Columbia and Stanford with a 170 and around the same GPA).

- If you just want a top 4 school, ED Columbia.
- If you'd consider significant money (75K or so) from a T10, don't ED, because you'll get that somewhere.
- If you'd be mad at yourself for not trying to get HYS, don't ED. I was at a T30 liberal arts UG, so being at a "middling" top UG isn't a complete turnoff to them. I met folks at ASW from UTEP, Louisiana-Monroe, NC State, etc.

Apply as early as possible. At Columbia, this is Sept. 1, Harvard was Sept. 3 this year, and Stanford was Oct. 1 or so. Stanford starts accepting early December, and this is where a lot of applicants get in.

Good luck!

[bofaem]

is it true ED doesn't increase my chances at columbia that much? anyone with any inside knowledge? I was told that it made a huge difference to them

[bofaem]

and also does it matter how early i apply if i'm going ED?

[somewhatwayward]

i wouldn't ED at columbia. you have a moderate shot at HS and a good chance at columbia, and i think you will be in at NYU (171 is median, GPA is above median). personally, i would want that shot at the T3, even if it *might* mean going to NYU instead of CLS - they are njot really different in terms of quality/prestige.

fwiw, i was 171/3.89, in at CLS and NYU with no ED....yeah, it's only one person, but i didn't even consider ED to columbia bc i really wanted HLS (didn't get it, though). i guess it depends on how muchyou want the T3.

[bofaem]

so i found statistics from my schools last full cycle

out of 50 kids who applied to hls from my school 7 were accepted (better than i expected) with avg lsat of 171.9 and ugpa 3.9. I'm slightly below that, but does that change the equation for me a little? My softs almost positively make me one of the strongest candidates among other kids at my school. But at the same time the stats don't indicate urms so they could be very skewed...my thinking is that among my classmates ive got a good shot, so if they are bound to pick at least 2-3 from my school i stand a shot (but are my stats good enough to get me a look beyond the numbers?)

on the same token at my school 12 kids got into columbia with an avg of a 172.5 and a 3.8, which im below and above slightly respectively. but of those 12 only 3 matriculated, something im sure columbia hates so do my chances go up even more if i go ED there?

on a side note we had 2 yallies and 1 sls, but no scores were reported because there were only two/one...i guess they don't want kids to know

my schools mean lsat was a 159.4 and mean college gpa was 3.41


does this have any impact? or should i stick with columbia ED

[calidreamin]

I had your exact stats and got in to Columbia RD. Check out my LSN if you want to see my full cycle results. Also note I was an LSAT retaker with a 166 first time.

[bofaem]

your lsn looks promising for me, and i was a onetime taker so that may help more, but you were ivy, im not (top 20 though)...how much difference do you think that will make for me? based on my schools stats it seems like at least a few kids get in hys every year