Columbia University ED Class of 2022

Colleges & Universities Columbia University
781

@RoarLions i dont think we should turn this thread into chancing, but i’ll share my honest opinions with you since the post is already here

the ACT is a big weakness that I see since columbia’s 25th percentile score is a 32. not being in the 30s will not help you since that means 75%+ of their class has a 32 or better, and the other 25% probably has somewhere around a 30 or 31. a very small percentage (i’m guessing about 5%, pure conjecture) will have a score of 29.

nothing in the admissions process is “waived” (ie: something good will not outweigh something bad because everything is considered holistically and not on a pure scale of numbers). your toefl score is only slightly above the minimum needed to attend columbia, which is 100, so i don’t think this is enough indication to explain your scores to the degree that you want. remember, columbia receives thousands of applications every year, and whatever any of us lack (athletics, scores, ECs, etc) they can find in somebody else. i don’t think there’s an indispensable applicant that exists, so if any of us are weak in a certain area, they could always find someone who is strong there (as cruel as it might sound to all of us). they’re looking for people who have high achievement in many areas, and the ACT is one of those areas.

if you don’t think your essays were the best that also worries me a little bit, but if you think the content was fine and meaningful then that’s great

i like your ECs and think they’re really cool and impactful, but something that i think is missing is direction. if you asked me to guess your major i would never be able to do it because i see you like robotics, politics, math, music, drama, etc. you’re well-rounded, but i feel like columbia often seeks out applicants who go deeper into one or two fields rather than explore many fields.

and, to answer your last question: yes i do think the ACT score will matter a lot. early decision might help you get a little boost and some slack from the AOs, but at the end of the day scores do matter a lot for schools like columbia. i don’t think you’re cut out of the running of course, but it’s more of an uphill battle probably

this is all my personal opinion, of course!!

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@mooseyellow i wish i could but im a guy =)) barnard looks great though :((

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@1984ad yeah it does–it’s basically columbia–but its financial aid packages include loans so I’m not sure if I would go even if accepted

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My son’s GC got a letter from Columbia saying decisions would be released on 12/14. As far as he knows, he is the only applicant from his school.

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@1984ad I want to do Computer Science, all my essays are focused that way, and the two non-profits combined with the company and all the talks I have done are also directed to it.

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@1984ad Also if you perform a google search with my name, tons of interviews I have done about my major appear, so that was clear, but yeah thanks for your honest opinion it matches what I was expecting.

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I’m a freshman (in high school lol) and although it’s early I really hope to apply to Columbia ED when the time comes. By any chance does anyone have some advice; perhaps things you wish you yourself had known earlier on?

Best of luck to everyone!! :slight_smile:

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Is it just more or did anyone one else see that on the portal the list of application materials is no longer there?

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@NateCoul23 Yup, gone

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@RoarLions people who do science majors are typically expected to have deep investment into CS. i like your ECs overall, but having a strong concentration in CS could have helped you more. ultimately, i think the thing hurting you most is the ACT score

@lumen3141 if you’re a freshman, my best advice is to forget that college exists right now. you’re still adapting to a new school most likely, so you shouldn’t divert your energy towards thinking about columbia or other colleges at this time. i think considering college at such a young age is actually detrimental because you get stuck in trying to be a perfect applicant instead of just being yourself throughout high school. focus on your grades, develop your passions outside the classroom, and don’t be afraid to make some mistakes along the way. also, you probably think columbia is your number one choice right now, but it will likely change MANY times over the next few years as you discover and explore new colleges. you may think that columbia is definitely for you and that nothing will change your mind, but even many of the people in this thread have changed their mind in a span of months. a lot can change in 3-4 years, so make sure you’re open to all your options!

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has anyone gotten an email about when the results are coming out? I saw on an Ivy website that Columbia was releasing the scores the evening of Dec. 15 but i never got an email… has anyone else?

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Princeton just started their release date so I was hoping Columbia would too.

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I had looked at Barnard for a while, and while I’m still interested, I didn’t love it. For me, the physical footprint was wayyyy too small and even though it’s a part of columbia & right next door it felt so isolated. For example, I like Smith and Wellesley’s campuses more, although location has a nice bump :wink: After Columbia, I have three that are kind of all tied (Macalester, Smith, Wellesley) and then Barnard.

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Is it just me or has anyone else’s financial aid tracker disappeared too?

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i’m not sure what your point is. Columbia is not going to create a custom email announcing time in each time zone nor will they create different release times so that they all technically fall on 12/14 (if that’s the date) in each country. i suppose they assume that applicants in different time zones can do the math on their own. If 6 p.m. on 12/14 in New York is actually 12/15 in Moscow…oh well. The applicants can stay up late to get their decisions

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@Xuxuss Yup

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@heywassaphello UPenn’s emailed people on Tuesday. They get their results on the 13th

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@Xuxuss Mine has as well. Strange, they never said anything about that disappearing.

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@1984ad Thanks for your reply again, but I will have to disagree with you. My ECs vary a lot but I am pretty confident that I have more work and experience in CS than most of the applicants (not trying to sound arrogant)(I am taking a dual enrollment class at a college and im in a Computer Science class level 300) but yeah no doubt that score is hurting me a lot

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@RoarLions don’t feel bad about disagreeing; it’s just my opinion anyway