<p>I am applying to columbia college and i marked off that I will not be needing on campus housing. I was wondering if it has any sway in the admission process. If so, what do you think the effect is? Pos. or Neg? (I need every plus i can get). (And, yes, i do understand that is a very miniscule/ non-existent factor in the entire process).</p>
<p>Doesn't matter one bit. By the way, you have to live on campus as a first year unless you're living with your parents (or some other good exception).</p>
<p>Does the housing application form come with the big package that columbia will send through the mail? Or do we have to apply online or something??</p>
<p>Columbia2002: Yeah, If i get in, I will be living with my parents. Thanks for the response</p>
<p>I have a different answer to this question. I worked in the CC admissions office many years ago; at that time, a student who said in the application that he/she did not plan to live on campus was regarded as someone who was not interested in contributing to campus life or in being an active member of the community. It was considered a definite negative. I say save that info for after you are admitted.</p>
<p>Ilya, if you get in, there are many, many good reasons why you ought to live on campus. Post here asking me to lay it out for you, once you're accepted. But the bottom line is, most people make the majority of their CU friends (not all, but a good portion) based on their floor freshman year. If you're out of that loop freshman year, you'll find it harder to get into that loop later (and harder to spend time with your friends because of the commute, harder to make it to the library, etc). A room at Columbia is basically the equivalent of $600/month, which is bargain basement in manhattan. Living off-campus is false economy.</p>
<p>commuter students don't get a chance to fit in. you might as well be a GS student if that's what you're going to do. I think ivyalum is absolutely right. columbia doesn't want kids who don't want to be on campus.</p>
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I say save that info for after you are admitted.
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<p>I agree. It's not binding if you check the wrong box.</p>
<p>That being said, they're so busy that they're not going to notice which box you check. It's not one of the more important parts of the app!</p>
<p>i disagree with columbia2002, if you say u r not going to live on campus its a negative against your application. Ivyalum's reasoning sounds pretty sound to me in that respect. It is not a binding decision and I would suggest putting down that you will live on campus and deciding afterwards.</p>
<p>But i thought the other side to this arguement is that it might be a good thing, because I am not taking up precious college housing. But thank you for giving me you views on this topic. You have all been very helpful.</p>
<p>columbia does not want to be seen as a commuter school. They set aside housing especially for freshmen so ur housing spot is already reserved for you, whether you take it or not...u r not doing them a favor by living elsewhere. there are a lot of reasons you should live on campus and it is true that people who do not are usually much less involved.</p>
<p>not only less involved, but they get lower grades too, i think. living around people taking the same classes as you means that you can work with them on homework and study with them for tests. it's much easier to form study groups when you live right around them.</p>