<p>Isn’t the whole point of the app, though, that you have to condense your thoughts into a very limited space? The 600-character “Why Columbia?” for instance is certainly by design.</p>
<p>^ Well perhaps it IS the point, it’s just that I personally don’t find that point particularly compelling. I don’t see as much virtue as many others on this forum seem to see in expressing one’s reasons for wanting to go to Columbia in 600 as opposed to, say, 1500 characters (although I didn’t feel particularly constrained by that particular limitation). What I most disliked was the limitation on EC description, which seemed to favor those with relatively strong stats and weak extracurricular involvement.</p>
<p>Well they can certainly still enforce those aggravatingly restrictive character limits on the CA supplement.</p>
<p>^ That’s true, but the common app allows, at a minimum, significantly more space to list, describe, and explain EC’s.</p>
<p>If I remember correctly, you were more or less restricted still to one liners in describing ECs in CommonApp - witht the exception of one in which you could go into much greater detail. That just seems like an incremental improvemnt at best and I liked the current Columbia system… One line is really more than sufficient, it’s a laundry list, not something that demands crazy detail into every small achievement.</p>
<p>The Class of 2015 will will apply during th Fall of 2010.</p>
<p>Columbia has said that they will accept the Common App during the Fall of 2011.</p>
<p>I’m confused. lol</p>
<p>As copied from the bwog:</p>
<p>Marinaccio’s full email explaining the switch to the Common App after the jump.</p>
<p>“Beginning this fall, Columbia will join the more than 400 member institutions accepting The Common Application for admission, using it as our exclusive application for first-year and transfer applicants.</p>
<p>“With our recent financial aid initiatives, we offer one of the most generous need-based financial aid programs in the country and believe The Common Application will make applying to Columbia more accessible to students from every background, thus adding to what is already one of the most ethnically and socioeconomically diverse student bodies among private universities. In addition, we recognize the anxiety students and families feel throughout the admissions process, and hope that the standardized nature of The Common Application will make applying easier, more convenient and less stressful for students and the counselors and teachers who support them.</p>
<p>“In selecting a class, we utilize a holistic, committee-based admissions process, considering a variety of factors outside of grades and test scores like a student’s academic history, extracurricular interests, intellectual achievements and personal background. The Common Application will aid us in determining which students are the best match for our institution with its comprehensive, broad-based questions and flexibility to ask Columbia-specific questions in its supplement and allow us to continue to attract the best and brightest students from around the world.”</p>
<ul>
<li>the spec’s fall 2011 (poor kid reporting) is the only mention of it. regardless, it is commonplace to refer to classes by when they start school.</li>
</ul>
<p>what the hell is wrong with Princeton?
Its a great school with great people, you don’t have to go bashing it!
All schools have their pros and cons. Columbia has a great campus, NYU, but terrible surrounding area. I applied to both, but all schools have great things.</p>
<p>Personally, I enjoyed filling out Columbia’s application. The questions were interesting and they actually asked you about your hobbies and how you spend your free time. apart from EC’s, these kind of details tell alot about a person.</p>
<p>the commonapp was pretty boring and I only used it for cornell this year.</p>
<p>@taichi
First off, that’s irrelevant. Secondly, what do you mean? A great campus, NYU, but terrible surrounding area? Finally, Puck Frinceton.</p>
<p>^pwoods, I think taichi was trying to say that Columbia has access to the NYU neighborhood, just as Princeton has access to the Columbia neighborhood. [insert smiley face]</p>
<p>Taichi, I invite you to visit Columbia in the modern (post-1990) era, so you can see the surrounding area as it is, not as it once was.</p>
<p>wow, like, nobody applied to SEAS.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t say that “nobody applied to SEAS.” Nearly 4,500 prospective students applied to a freshman class of 350 students.</p>
<p>Why isn’t Columbia on Common App’s list of members?</p>