@BrynMawr61 lol of course who could forget shopping? shopping is my cardio… not really. but it’s fun!
@alaqsasaya3ud I’m ashamed to say that my reading list was not as long as yours! To be fair, I ended up not liking some of the books that I tried out…
Life after Life by Kate Atkinson; Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell; Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn; Room by Emma Donoghue; The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
lmao I think I put my own concert in the list of films, concerts, shows, exhibits, lectures and other entertainments. I didn’t go to any others and it was truly enjoyable, though the interior decor of the Walt Disney Concert Hall is surprisingly ugly!
I have played tennis since I was 8 and love it! I play in tournaments year round and for my school’s varsity team during the spring. I also enjoy running, reading (classic literature is a true love of mine), and volunteering with my local animal rescues as I have always been a huge animal lover. I read the news a lot and love Broadway music and ballet! The rest of the time I fantasize about living in Manhattan and attending Columbia. :x
@dr0wning don’t worry, mine wasn’t super long either! mine is:
Behind the Beautiful Forevers - Katherine Boo, A Brief History of Time - Stephen Hawking, Three Cups of Tea - David Oliver Relin and Greg Mortenson, The Grand Design - Stephen Hawking, Quiet - Susan Cain, A Dance with Dragons - George R. R. Martin, Sono: Cantos - Sarah Arvio
and my required reading ones were:
Walden - Henry David Thoreau, Into the Wild - John Krakauer, “Frost at Midnight” - Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Turn of the Screw - Henry James, Freakonomics - Stephen J. Dubner and Steven Levitt, “The World is Too Much with Us” - William Wordsworth
Oh I forgot to mention, I do MMA too! (Mixed martial arts) Hopefully that’ll be unique and contribute to my application lol
And before that, I raced BMX for 9 years (bicycle motocross) And I placed nationally and have qualified for World nationals! Now I just stick to MMA though 
@dr0wning Well, it’s almost certain that your GPA is considerably higher than mine, so don’t feel bad.
How much stock do you think they put by these reading lists?
@michigangirl2016 Hey I put down a Brief History of Time too!
@alaqsasaya3ud
Close to none, I think Columbia just wants an idea of who you are and what you like as a person and academic
I think the reading lists may be pretty important! Not necessarily to get in, but to view your application with a better understanding of who you are as a person!
As in, they won’t be like “They didn’t read advanced books so no” but more like “Oh I understand a bit more of who they are now”
@alaqsasaya3ud hah, don’t be too certain… 
I think it’s not super important, considering that they specifically ask for a list instead of an explanation. It’s just to learn a little more about you!
@alaqsasaya3ud they mostly use these reading lists to get a sense of who you are. they add depth to your app, but whatever you answer can’t hurt you much.
@soph1112 no way! That’s awesome. I casually draw - never taken any formal visual art classes beyond, like, middle school arts-and-crafts, but I’ve actually learned a lot about drawing the human face from makeup, of all things. I also love making friendship bracelets. And it’s cool that you go to concerts! Despite Denver’s halfway-decent music scene, I’ve never really gone to a real show. It’s more jazz and free shows in the park and whatnot.
Seriously, CC has some really interesting people. @alaqsasaya3ud, your list is so political! I mean that in a positive way, of course - are you looking at International Relations? I don’t have my list on me right now, but I put down some stuff by Kazuo Ishiguro, some Neil Gaiman, a few fiction-writing handbooks, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, some classic sci-fi, Paper Menagerie (it won a Nebula - and for good reason. Go read it. It’s short), A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, and maybe some more bizarre fiction.
In case you can’t tell, I’m a real Donnie Darko/Kubrick/the like fan… hehe.
@michigangirl2016 Haha, my required reading list is only three books long. My school is terrible - I was only required to read one book to completion last year. My AP Lit teacher is much better than most of the other teachers at this school, though, so we’ve already had to read two books and a play.
@soph1112 ah cool!! it’s such a good book, one of my faves. it really makes you think.
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro is one of my favorites! @wherevioletsgrow
@wherevioletsgrow That’s awesome! BTW, I used to live in Colorado Springs! I miss Colorado a ton
@soph1112 YO IM A MARTIAL ARTIST TOO
@graceann that’s awesome! I actually got into a conversation about it with my Columbia interviewer. Apparently, they made it into a really awful movie…
@soph1112 ooh, I do BJJ! Niche sports ftw.
@dr0wning SERIOUSLY THOUGH! I’m a competition dancer but shopping is the best cardio ever!