<p>This is straight from the admissions office (it doesn't answer every single question, but I think it helps, and hopefully this will soothe some anxieties):</p>
<p>"Students who have already applied for admission should consult our application tracking Web site (<a href="https://admissions.columbia.edu/%5B/url%5D">https://admissions.columbia.edu/</a>) before calling the Office of Undergraduate Admissions to check on the status of their application. Applicants can track the processing status of their application materials (for both admission and financial aid) using this on-line feature (available 24 hours a day), which is the same feature we use to track processing status in our offices. Please note that even though you may have submitted your application materials before the appropriate deadlines, it may take us several days to process your documents. </p>
<p>Applicants should really wait a few weeks after the submission of any documents before calling the Office of Undergraduate Admissions. We have thousands of documents to process and they are not all processed within hours or even days of arrival. </p>
<p>**If we are missing any credentials, we will notify applicants via e-mail of any missing documents. Applicants will then have a few weeks to send in any remaining documents.</p>
<p>Bottom line, there really is no reason to call to check on the status of your application when you can do the same thing we would do here in the Office and check yourselfÂ….on-line. **"</p>
<p>And as a work-study student in admissions, I can confirm that we are still processing thousands of app parts a day. All the parts are separated out, so even if they arrive in the same envelope, they may not all be processed together.</p>
<p>If you have more specific questions, post them here, and I can ask someone in admissions when I get the chance. I hope this was helpful, even though I'm sure many of you knew most of that already. Just rest assured that you WILL be notified if parts are missing.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Call for your App ID if you haven't received that yet. </p></li>
<li><p>Admissions started doing the first reads of completed applications the day Early Decision letters were sent in mid-December. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>"With our application numbers approaching 20,000, we needed to start right away and will continue to read until February 28. Our admissions committee then convenes on March 1 to make decisions on those who will be offered a spot. ** We will continue to process any received documents until April 1. ** It could take 2-3 weeks for any 1 document to be processed (though we obviously process the vast majority of documents faster than that)."</p>
<p>Once again, I'll reiterate that admissions is still processing thousands of documents. There is no need for panic yet.</p>
<p>phantom: i have a quick question for you...</p>
<p>I submitted my application online on 12/31, but when I look at my online status report, it says my application was recieved Jan. 4th. Why is there this time lapse, and will it hurt me in the admissions process? It kind of appears that I submitted my application late, but I didn't. Thanks for the help</p>
<p>hey phantom, thanks for all your help. I was contacted on Jan 25 by my interviewer for Columbia by email. I emailed him back on the 26th saying that any day would be good with me, but he still hasn't gotten back (as of today, Feb 1). Should I send another email? Call the admissions office? I am going to call anyway since I still haven't recieved my applicant ID</p>
<p>allie -- don't worry about the time lapse -- it's natural and they won't think you submitted it late (heck, I think it's impossible to submit online after the deadline anyway)</p>
<p>rikataka -- well, I would say be patient because you do have to work around his schedule, but perhaps it's best to e-mail him again on Monday if he still hasn't responded (make sure its polite though)...</p>
<p>ok, thanks phantom. it sure is nice that people who are already in college come back to these boards to help out all the propectives; it really is a great deal of help, so thanks :)</p>