<p>Hi, I recently submitted my application for ED, just before the deadline. I'm pretty sure (however I now find myself in doubt) that everything looked fine on my app. But when I check it now, my Why Columbia essay as well as my Why Engineering essays are no longer on the application. Is this normal? Because I also noticed that the essays no longer have restrictions on a line-per-line basis.</p>
<p>Yes, they changed that. The company probably just dropped the info from the display application. I'm sure all of our essays are submitted already to the server.</p>
<p>My son just did his app on 11/1 too. When he printed it in html format, the essays didn't appear. When he printed them in pdf format, it did. I'll check the app online now and see if the essay appears. I don't think it does.</p>
<p>Thank goodness....</p>
<p>Yeah, that also happened to me. All my other info is still on the app, but my Why Columbia and Engineering essays are no longer present. Its probably normal, unless there was some universal system error that Columbia did not intend. That would suck, so Im going to call them up.</p>
<p>Hey, how are you guys still able to preview in PDF format after you submitted it? I submitted mine online and after I submitted, i could no longer save any info or anything or view my app in PDF format. Where are you guys "not seeing" the Why Columbia?</p>
<p>oh okay i see what u guys are talking about... do you think it'll count against us given that there is no a MUCH longer allowed Why Columbia essay compared to the space we were given?...</p>
<p>not at all, that's why they changed it after we submitted it. (ED)</p>
<p>So why did they now increase the length of the Why Columbia and Why Engineering essays to 600 characters? Also, is there anything we should do now, like resubmit our essays or anything. Or do we just assume that Columbia has them in the server, even though they seem to have been reset.</p>
<p>What?!! They increased the space allowed for the Why Columbia essay??!! That was the one that took my son a while because he had to keep cutting stuff out. Why the heck would they do it after the fact?</p>
<p>they lengthened it? i feel disadvantaged now. but iguess all we could do is fill in the spaces, whether things work on their end or not is not within my control</p>
<p>I can't see mine in pdf or html format. I kind of hope it's lost and I have to resend because my was kind of crappy..</p>
<p>I can't see mine in pdf or html format. I kind of hope it's lost and I have to resend because my was kind of crappy..</p>
<p>You dont need to see it in df format. Just sign into your account with columbia and look at your application part two. There will be blank spaces for the Why Columbia and Why Engineering essay and it will say the there are 600 characters remaining. Everything else should be the same though.</p>
<p>The "Why Columbia" (Why Princeton... Why Brown...) essay is intended to give the adcoms some realistic measure of the applicant's interest in/knowledge of THEIR specific school. Why should Columbia admit Suzie, only to have her decide that she'd rather go to Yale, and thereby decrease Columbia's all-important yield numbers?</p>
<p>For ED applicants, the FACT of ED itself IS the measure of the applicant's interest. Columbia (Harvard... Tufts...) doesn't need to reassure itself that this applicant is "serious" about attending. A few sentences to screen out ED applicants who have two heads is sufficient. The adcoms already have enough to read in an app. They don't need two pages on how an Early Decision applicant will really-really-truly-honestly-really-really matriculate at Columbia if accepted.</p>
<p>result: brief paragraph on "Why Columbia" for ED apps. Longer, "convince us" essay for RD apps.</p>
<p>Yeah, that's absolutely true, Piglette.</p>
<p>Tufts' ED statement is now down to 50 words!</p>
<p>that explanation seems to have the ring of truth to it, piglette. makes sense to me.</p>
<p>I still think a longer Why-Columbia essay, 239 words on an attached page, was a decisive factor in my ED app, but I can see their point.</p>
<p>Denzera --</p>
<p>Your intuition about your own app. also has a ring of truth. It is easy to imagine a "Why [College/University] ? " response that makes or strengthens a compelling case for a particular student being an outstanding "fit" for the school. It could be, for some, a personal statement "writ small."</p>
<p>Glad to know that you ended up where you wanted to be/belong !</p>
<p>OMG, the online application allowed only ~95 words for the Why Columbia essay. I had to make it go on a major diet in order to submit it :/.</p>
<p>Yesterday I saw a 600 character limit for the Why Columbia essay. I had 250 characters left...</p>
<p>This morning? 0 Characters left, a 350 word limit.</p>
<p>Really, REALLY strange goings-on in an application that already has frustrated the heck out of me...</p>