@jbxlwrc @mynewhobby
Don’t lose hope!
Hey guys, I just checked my portal. I got rejected 
I think my application was pretty standard for accepted students. My SAT was a 1520 and my ACT was a 34 which is admittedly a bit low for Columbia. However, my essays were quite great and I got many people to read over and edit it. I’m assuming my letters of recommendation were very strong from what my guidance counselor and other admissions officers have said about it, although I can never be sure. I think my extracurriculars were one of the main things that dragged me down. I did EVERYTHING.
I played 1st singles in varsity tennis but only got to county championships. I did science research but only placed 3rd at LISEF. I volunteered at a soup kitchen but I didn’t start the organization. I studied abroad and taught English but I didn’t write my essay about that.
You can see the pattern here.
I think they look for more focused people than well-rounded students, in extracurricular activities anyway. I was never the type of student to limit my horizons to focus on one thing because I knew it wouldn’t make me happy. My Common App essay developed and explained that but I guess it wasn’t what they were looking for.
At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter which college you end up attending but rather it is what you make of your time there. My Indian parents told me it was nothing to get upset or disappointed about, and from what it seems they couldn’t care less about the name or prestige of the school I attend. Of course, Columbia’s status is not why I wanted to go, but I expected it to matter to my parents at least a bit so it’s refreshing to know it doesn’t. I’m going to apply to other schools in the city because it’s convenient location-wise and they have the programs I need.
Good job to anyone who got accepted and good luck in the future to those who were deferred!
Being deferred is such an achievement in itself! Wether you get rejected, deferred, waitlisted, or accepted, just remember you will end up where you are supposed to be! Even if you don’t realize it now, you will soon enough :).
Rejected
My S got accepted. Recruited athlete playing at Global level. 1480 on SAT. 2 750s on Subject Tests. Straight As. Good recommendations from teachers.
As a parent, we are keen on his personal development and how he turns out in society. A good college anywhere in the world can help shape that.
Rejected
35 ACT and 1530 SAT
4.3 W/3.8 UW
Recs from teachers I’ve had more than 3 classes with/grown very close with
Research supplement
Music supplement
EC’s are some of the strongest in my school
I know bigger doors will open for me, but I hope this gives some insight.
Rejected
33 ACT
4.0 UW/4.5W
750 SAT II Chem, 760 Math II
In the range but still low for Columbia
EC’s are ok but not exceptional in any ways. I guess I’m more into doing different stuff so I wasn’t really focused on one thing or two. Columbia probably was looking for people who are doing more in-depth work in one field, so I guess that makes sense. I knew that I was not getting in, but I felt really disappointed. Being Asian probably didn’t help me lol.
My Why Columbia essay was decent, asked a current undergrad at Fu Foundation to look over and he said it was great.
I fell in love with Columbia when I visited in the summer and I felt like I belonged there. But honestly I wasn’t too bummed about it. It is just not meant to be.
Good luck to rest of y’all.
Hey everyone! Just wanted to say good luck to everyone and to everyone that got rejected I know you all will do great things in your future. I got deferred
Decision: Deferred
Objective:
ACT (breakdown): 36 (35E, 35M, 36R, 36S)
SAT II: Math 800, Physics 720
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.99
Weighted GPA: 4.66
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): N/A
AP (place score in parenthesis): Chinese Lang (5), Spanish Lang (5), Physics (4), Bio (4), AP World (4)
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: AP Stats, English IV, AP Chem, Neuroscience (H), AP Psych, Orchestra (H), Multivariable Calculus (H)
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Not sure what qualifies here… NMSQT Semi-Finalist?
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Piano, cello, orchestra (In top symphony for hs students in area, section leader at school), volleyball (4 years, JV captain for two), Softball (varsity for two years), spanish honors society, trim music society, peer leading
Job/Work Experience: Internship over summer before senior year
Volunteer/Community service: lots of music service, 100+ hours at local hospital
Summer Activities: traveling, internship
Essays (rating 1-10, details):
Common App Essay: 8.5 (very personal story about how i got past a certain obstacle in my life)
Ideal Community Essay: 6 (not sure what they wanted but i talked about 3 things)
Lists: 7 (showed various interests of mine)
Why Columbia: 6 (my first ever “why us” essay, definetely not my best)
Intended Major Essay: 8 (tied into my common app and had a story behind it, strong motivation…)
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1: 7.5/10 (this teacher likes me a lot, and i’ve grown a lot in her class, i’m not terribly close to her though…)
Teacher Rec #2: 5/10 (no idea what this teacher wrote, i didn’t have many options for teacher recs as the teachers i were closest with left the school, but i did well in his class and he seemed to like me)
Counselor Rec: 7.5/10 (i’ve gone in a few times for hours at times and talked to him and i feel like he knows my personality well)
Additional Rec: n/a
Interview: n/a
Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: Y
Intended Major: biomedical engineering
State (if domestic applicant): CA
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: private
Ethnicity: asian
Gender: female
Income Bracket:
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none
Reflection:
Strengths: my common app was definetely a strenght i think, extracurriculars i had a decent amount
Weaknesses: not many leaderships / work experiences, probably needed more expereince in more STEM stuff
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: I think I had an okay shot, but in a pool of amazing applicants, I don’t think it was enough.
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Deferred from MIT, rejected - caltech
General Comments:
I just wanted to say congrats to everyone who got in! And to those who didn’t, let’s push through these next few weeks together! We got it!
My son is currently a freshman at Columbia. He was top of his class of 360, 1600 SAT, musician, athlete, class president JR/SR year, volunteer for local hospital in ER for 2 years. He was waitlisted (2 rounds) at Harvard, accepted at Dartmouth, Colby, UVM and 5 others. Rejected by UPENN, and Brown. As a parent who tried to make any sense of any of this, I found there was no rhyme or reason to any of these rejections/acceptances, etc. Please, just be the best you can be. Do not let an acceptance or denial define you. You have all done so well to even get to the point of applying!! While my son absolutely loves Columbia, I am a firm believer that you can be happy and will be successful anywhere you go! Best of luck to all!!
Decision: Rejected
Objective: Columbia SEAS
ACT (breakdown: 34 (35E, 34M, 35R, 33S)
GPA (out of 4.0): 3.9 (the past two years my GPA has been a 3.96)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1
AP (place score in parenthesis): World History (4), US History (5), Calc AB (4), English Language (4)
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Calc BC, Honors U.S. Gov & Politics, Operations Research, AP Econ, AP English Literature
Major Awards: Valedictorian, Hillman Prize in American History, Spanish Honors Society
Subject:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Varsity Soccer (captain), JV Basketball (captain), Varsity Crew, Mathletes (president), Grey Party (bipartisan political organization, co-leader), Cyber Patriots (founder), Head RA in dorm
Job/Work Experience: Worked full time (45 hrs/5 days/11 weeks) at a local law firm this past summer, interned on a state reps campaign last summer
Volunteer/Community Service: 100+ hours volunteering at local library
Summer Activities: working, playing soccer competitively, went to a NASA-U.S. Navy sponsored summer camp to learn cryptography & coding basics
Also: I also submitted supplemental research I completed investigating U.S. intervention in Iraq over a period of 20 years.
Essays (rating 1-10, details):
Common App Essay: 8.5 (in depth look at all my different passions how different people have influenced who I am as a person—> very self-reflective)
Ideal Community Essay: 9 (I talked about everything I wanted in a school & tied it into my CommonApp Essay about the importance of diversity)
Lists: 9.5 (I’m a huge reader)
Why Columbia: 7 (my first ever “why us” essay, definitely not my best because I think I could have made it more personal)
Intended Major Essay: 6 (I didn’t tailor it as specifically as I could have to Columbia and I applied to SEAS despite my varied interests)
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1: 8/10 (this teacher likes me a lot and has been my math teacher for 2 years, soccer coach for 3 years, and dorm parent for 1 year—> Math)
Teacher Rec #2: 9/10 (this teacher pushed me a lot in class and I think she wrote the most on my resilience and motivation —> English)
Counselor Rec: 9/10 (I am one of his 12 advisees and he and I are pretty similar personality wise)
Additional Rec: Got a rec from my boss at the law firm
Interview: n/a
Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: N
Intended Major: Applied Mathematics (1), Operations Research (2)
State (if domestic applicant): CT
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: boarding (was at public high school freshman year)
Ethnicity: white
Gender: female
Income Bracket:
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none
Reflection:
Strengths: My work experience & extracurriculars were definitely a strength
Weakness: I’m more well-rounded + not super focused in just STEM (I also love current events).
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: I think I had the scores but the applicants are so amazing I don’t think I stood out. I definitely could have improved my ACT- my parents are very against standardized test tutoring. Also my school has no relationship with Columbia and even though they reached out the last person who got in was an athlete 5 years ago which I think hurt me. I do second-guess whether I should have applied to the general college instead of SEAS because I have so many different interests outside of STEM.
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Deferred from UChicago
General Comments:
This is like a month and a half late- I really wish I knew about this discussion board the first few weeks after I heard the news. Columbia was my absolute dream school and I toured it 4 times to make sure I was sure about EDing. That being said congratulations to everyone who got accepted, I genuinely wish you all the best of luck!! I think there are so many amazing candidates who would succeed at Columbia and I just hope you guys enjoy the opportunity. This has definitely been a much harder experience than I would have imagined, and I’m definitely still struggling to get past it. Finally I think rejection builds character, and anyone who is the same spot as me I hope you can look at it the same way (I am still trying to).
Anyone did not get an interview ?? It’s February
@BAMMBI – same. still waiting.
Same no interview
My daughter did not have an interview last year, and she was accepted. I think it depends on whether an alum/interviewer is available for your region.
Did anyone here get an interview? Its mid Feb…
My son still did not get interview. It is March already.
My daughter did not get an interview, no communication from the university whatsoever, and she was accepted ED class of 2024!
For those who posted earlier in reference to ED, I’m just curious, and with kindness, how did it end up for you in terms if acceptance to Columbia?
Hello,
I also want to maybe apply to Columbia for ED, but I don’t want to waste it on a school that’s unrealistic for me. I have a relatively high GPA of 4.74 (weighted) and 3.97 (unweighted), I also did an exchange year in France. My problem is my SAT score, I got a 1190 on the PSAT, and I’m hoping to work up to 1300 or 1400, which sounds unrealistic. Should I try applying anyways?