<p>The Columbia app asks us to list books, films, events, lectures, etc. that we enjoyed. I really feel like my lists are pretty unimpressive...anyone else feel the same? I wonder how much of an impact it has on admissions/ what they like to see. Of course, I'm not gonna tailor to what I think they'll see as impressive because then it's just not me.</p>
<p>Your lists aren’t supposed to be impressive. It’s supposed to be you. If you’re not going to tailor them to impress anyone, why are you worried?</p>
<p>Because it’s a pretty pathetic list…I wonder how that would impact admissions.</p>
<p>Probably doesn’t influence admisisons too much… your essays are really what count, those lists are just an appetizer for them. How long are your lists?</p>
<p>They don’t matter that much lol. I put like 5 for one of them.</p>
<p>I legit average like 6 per list. Sadly, I haven’t done much reading outside of class and I don’t watch too many movies.</p>
<p>Yeah same here about 6 or so</p>
<p>my college counselor told me that the list they put a lot of emphasis onwhat books you read. they even call the applicants “good read” “bad read” and “ok read”. so pay attention to what kind of books you’re putting down don’t throw in any crap romance novel</p>
<p>^ I don’t believe that’s true. They can’t judge applicants based on their reading tastes; That’s just ■■■■■■■■. Well, they CAN but at least not use it in evaluating the applicant. As I said, that’s ■■■■■■■■.</p>
<p>I didn’t put much thought in that list, I just put my favorite books that I read in the past year.</p>
<p>I put Gossip Girl on my list, and I was admitted.
'nuff said.</p>
<p>As long as you show them that you are an intelligent person who reads seriously, I think you should feel free to put down whatever else you spend your time reading.</p>
<p>I had a few books that supported the very specific academic interest I wrote about, a legit novel or two, some poetry, some pulp sci-fi, and the Klingon dictionary. One of the blogs I wrote about specializes in reviewing trashy romance novels. I don’t know. It would be unreasonable to expect applicants to read only serious, intellectual material all of the time. It’s probably the “junk”, for lack of a better word, makes an applicant seem like a real person.</p>
<p>“I don’t believe that’s true. They can’t judge applicants based on their reading tastes; That’s just ■■■■■■■■. Well, they CAN but at least not use it in evaluating the applicant. As I said, that’s ■■■■■■■■.”</p>
<p>Seriously? Why the **** do you think they have the question, just to screw with you? Obviously, Columbia cares a lot about the intellectual and literary interests of their students; they can afford to when they get so many applicants. And finding out someone’s reading tastes and engagement with the outside world and larger culture tells you something that you just can’t get from such “objective” academic measures as GPA and standardized test scores.</p>