<p>Columbia's application asks for the "books you read for pleasure that you enjoyed most in the past year." </p>
<p>The only noteworthy book I read that WASN'T required for school was The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. I also read the "for dummies" guide to Pro Tools (a digital audio workstation software I got for Christmas). And I actually revived my interest in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, which I started in 7th grade but never finished, and I read the last 3 books in the series this summer. But I doubt Columbia wants to see that.</p>
<p>So what I'm wondering is, what are they looking for in this list? How much does the school care about this list of books? (I got a 2320 on the SAT, I have nearly perfect grades, and I've made 1st chair Alto Saxophone in All-State Jazz Band for the past two years.)</p>
<p>I don’t think anyone is really going to be able to answer that question given that none of us are admissions officers, but they clearly care enough about your answer to ask the question, so you should just be truthful about it…</p>
<p>You remind me of my friend who, upon reading the question, said (direct quote) “Unless they want a manual on how to fix your guitar, Look I Made a Hat, and fake books, I’m screwed.”
At the Columbia open house the admissions officer talked about this question. She said that she doesn’t expect The Norton Anthology of English Literature or Finnegan’s Wake from anyone, but, and this is a also direct quote, “If your list is Harry Potter 1, Harry Potter 2, Harry Potter 3, you might want to start reading something else.” She said that the point of that question is that the admissions department is looking to see what kinds of books you’re drawn to, so in that respect I suppose books you chose for assignments would work. Honesty would be my personal advice.</p>