Yikes, @havingfunismy! Columbia might change their plan, too. 
There are just too many states on the list.
Very interesting about Cornell.
My sister is going to be a first year at UPenn in a few weeks. She got an email this afternoon letting her know that UPenn’s plans for the fall are evolving. She now has to test negative twice before she can move around the campus.
The first test has to be 14 days before she goes to UPenn’s campus. The second test will be administered when she arrives on campus. According to the email, she will have to quarantine in her dorm room until her test result comes back negative a second time. UPenn did not say how long it will take for the test results to come back but they did tell her that they will deliver food to her in her dorm room from the cafeteria while she is in quarantine.
U Penn’s email this afternoon also indicated that virtually all classes will now be fully online. My sister is only going to campus in the Fall because she is an athlete and her coach believes the team can have practice a few times a week.
Seems like many schools plans are likely to continue to “evolve”.
I am still trying to be positive for all of us. My fingers are crossed that in all the upheaval of quarantine, somehow spots will open up for all of us at Columbia.
I think we all may have to be patient for a couple of more weeks.
Hang in everyone.
A comment on R*ditt (not reliable, I know) indicated that on a recent Columbia webinar, it was disclosed that only 1200-1300 members of the Class of 2024 (which total 1800?) would be coming to Columbia’s campus this fall.
If true, that leaves about 2,000 dorm bed openings if one assumes that Columbia is targeting a 60% low-density target of 3800 on-campus students.
@havingfunismy Thank you for sharing, that is a really important development.
Which R*ditt thread has that discussion. I would love to track to see if there is any further discussion.
Thank you for sharing this!
I tried posting the link but it’s not coming through.
Look at Columbia R*ditt. Sort posts by “Hot” —-> Look at poll “Are you coming back to campus this Fall?”
There is one comment at the bottom of Poll results (which are -not- projectable)
“The webinar last week said 12-1300 of 1800 incoming freshman are going on-campus.”
@havingfunismy would that really make a difference in acceptance though? I presume the others are just taking classes online, and Columbia still has a finite number of professors. I suppose adding all of us (since there aren’t many of us) wouldn’t add a giant burden to any Professor, but I feel like what we’re hoping for is open places in the class as opposed to open housing on campus.
I am making a couple of assumptions:
• Everyone on the Extended Waitlist is a solid candidate that has already been through a couple of rounds of evaluations by the Columbia Admissions Department and is “pre-approved,” if spaces open up.
• I strongly believe that Columbia wants to retain that room & board revenue --3,800 students staying on campus = is about $57 million over the school year. (3,800 * $15,130 = $57.4 Million). Every night a dorm room sits empty, that’s about $100 in lost R&B revenue…
https://cc-seas.financialaid.columbia.edu/eligibility/facts
• If most CU classes are taught online this Fall, I anticipate many students may not want to pay for a dorm on campus. The easiest way to fix that problem is to admit more transfer students (assuming that Class of 2024 is already full).
Hopefully, Columbia will make decisions this week or next.
@8Will2 … My sense (and also my hope) is that the greater number of Columbia students who decided not to live in on campus this semester may, at least in part, be a reflection that a sizable number of the current Columbia students have also elected to take a gap year. I would be awesome to get some clarity on how many students elected to take gap years.
If there are significant numbers of current students taking gap years, that could very possibly open up academic spots for all of us on this extended waitlist. I think we would all be thrilled at the chance to fill an academic spot opened up by a gap year student. I’d welcome the chance to live and study on campus too.
I have heard stories from several of my friends of many people taking gap years, so I am trying to stay positive that Columbia will be able to find academic opportunities for all of us.
I just checked my portal, no change. I think we are going to have to be patient a bit longer.
My fingers are crossed for all of us.
I’m an extended waitlistee on the first-year applicant waitlist (class of 2024) and I was wondering how you guys think the new travel restrictions to NY would affect our waitlist? You all seem to have great insight as to what’s happening at Columbia and I’m just tired of waiting.
I think the quarantine may be more of an issue than travel restrictions. Barnard sent an email today telling students that they now have to quarantine “off-campus” for 14 days.
“Students required to quarantine are responsible for making their own arrangements and will be asked to attest in writing to the fact that they have quarantined for 14 days prior to entering Barnard’s campus. The College will assist residential students by providing information about recommended area hotels (with negotiated rates).”
So far, Columbia is letting students quarantine in their dorm rooms, but that could change.
https://covid19.columbia.edu/content/test-and-trace-program
Hopefully, they will make waitlist decisions this week.
Any chances that we hear back this Friday?
I just hope we hear back from them this week. Even if it’s bad news, I rather hear that than nothing for another 2 weeks
Columbia is still trying to nail down who will be on campus this fall. Note the new deadline of August 9 for confirmation…
“Students have until August 9 to declare their intention to be on campus in the fall. This information is required for registration in the COVID-19 Testing Program.”
https://covid19.columbia.edu/news/registration-advisory-students-columbia-health
Do you guys think it would be productive to send a new letter of continued interest? Perhaps expressing willingness to attend remotely?
Although it seems like there is a strong chance that they will cancel in-person classes all together. Today, Princeton announced the cancellation of all in-person classes and other ivy-leagues might follow suit.
@sperek27 I recall Columbia insisting that we do not send them additional documents while they were asking for our initial LOCI. Although it’s been a while since then, its probably best to avoid sending them additional stuff to look over while they figure this all out
I am guessing that Columbia will have a firm Fall campus headcount on Monday, August 10 (It is the day after the deadline to cancel fall housing without penalty and to register for the Covid testing program). Columbia‘s stated goal was 3800 students on campus this fall semester—— I would be shocked if they even have 3600, based on the R*ddit comments…
Hopefully Columbia Admissions will take a hard look at the extended waitlist next week, especially if they have spare dorm capacity.
Good luck to everyone.
Any news?
I don’t see why Columbia would take this long until on or after August 10th (this Monday) just to say that no one is admitted, especially if they have no space. We’ll see!
Agree fully. Hopefully the timing suggests that Columbia will look to the extended waitlist. Purely a hunch on my part, but I think we might hear something Friday afternoon this week (the 14th). Fingers crossed for everyone!
Decisions are out
Did any of you get in?