<p>I received a likely letter from Columbia and was notified of my official admittance today. Along with the acceptance letter, I received an additional letter saying that I was admitted as a "John Jay Scholar." What does this entail? How many John Jay Scholars are there?</p>
<p>Many thanks.</p>
<p>Congrats! Being a John Jay Scholar is a nice little title they give to some of their best applicants/students. I’m not entirely sure about all of the benefits, but I think a large part of it is monthly dinners/forays into NY with other scholars. Just check the website!</p>
<p>(Reposted from the CP Davis thread)</p>
<p>I’m a freshman John Jay Scholar in Columbia College. The Columbia Undergraduate Scholars Program comprises the John Jay Scholars (CC), the C. P. Davis Scholars (SEAS), Kluge (minority students, I think?) and the Global Scholars (international). It is essentially an honorary merit scholarship. (Honorary, because Columbia does not give out financial aid for anything other than financial need.)</p>
<p>If you’re on need based financial aid, CUSP waives half of your work-study requirement. (In the past, before Columbia instituted a universal no loans policy, CUSP replaced all Scholars’ financial aid loans with grants. Now we all have grants anyway.) CUSP gives you access to free cultural events in NYC–plays, musicals, interesting speakers, etc. Throughout the year you will participate in a biweekly seminar with other Scholars and an advisor based on a particular theme–this year we dealt with the Millennium Development Goals. And, my personal favorite, CUSP gives Scholars the chance to apply for an exclusive Summer Enhancement Fund that allows us to pursue unpaid internships, research, or travel over the summer. We also have a separate advising office.</p>
<p>It’s true that the whole outfit is rather mysterious. I remember when I got my JJ acceptance last year it was nearly impossible to find concrete details about the program. If you come to Days on Campus, though, there will be a separate Scholars reception where you can get some of your questions answered. It’s actually sort of a joke among Scholars that none of us really knows what the program is for or how we were chosen for it–simply because the idea of a merit scholarship at Columbia, where the average talent level is already so high, is a little odd. But there you go. It doesn’t have a huge impact on your academic or social experience, but there is some money involved (in an under-the-table kind of way) and we get some other nice extras throughout our four years.</p>
<p>Good luck with your decisions!</p>
<p>Thanks for the information, iteotwawki. Can you elaborate on the unique benefits for CUSP students that the Summer Enhancement Fund offers?</p>
<p>Sure. Say you want to be an intern in New York over the summer and would be making little or no money. The CUSP fund will cover your housing (whether you choose to live on campus or somewhere else) and maybe your food and subway expenses too. That kind of thing. It doesn’t need to be for a job, though. Apparently a girl once rode the Trans-Siberian Railway for a summer and wrote a travel log about her experiences using CUSP money. Basically, as long as you write a good proposal and plan on doing something interesting and productive with your summer, there’s a decent chance that CUSP will foot at least part of the bill. The only catch (and it’s not so bad) is that at the end of the summer you need to put together a cumulative presentation or report on your experiences for the next year’s group to see.</p>
<p>The Summer Enhancement Fund is apparently “selective” but I have never heard of someone getting denied funding. At least, I hope not, as I’m currently in the process of applying for it.</p>
<p>So, all that falls under the category of “Practicum or Research Assistantship.” That’s what most Scholars apply for. There’s also the “Independent Research Grant,” which is more competitive. This is generally for more advanced undergraduates who want to produce an independent academic research project. Not too sure about the details of this. </p>
<p>I know Columbia’s really vague about it all, but if you haven’t read it already, this might help at least a bit: </p>
<p>[Scholars</a> Program | Student Affairs](<a href=“http://www.studentaffairs.columbia.edu/scholars]Scholars”>Columbia Undergraduate Scholars Program | Columbia College and Columbia Engineering)</p>