<p>I've personally had no problems adjusting, and I love my suite (I live in a Wallach single within a suite). Most of my friends have also bonded with their floors/suites/roommates -- however, a few of my friends (all in Carman) have had problems with too much partying on their floors, switching into rooms on quieter floors (and the ppl they switched with are glad to switch, too).</p>
<p>To give a brief overview of freshmen dorms (large generalizations here):
- Carman: the reputed "party dorm," all doubles (I believe a handful of singles are reserved for special cases), all first-year
- Furnald: the reputed "anti-social dorm," mainly singles, freshmen and sophomores (newer, better dorm, though)
- John Jay: all first-years, good for bonding, mostly singles (I believe), somewhat older dorm though
- Wallach/Hartley: suites: freshmen through seniors live in each suite, mostly singles as well</p>
<p>*All first-year dorms are located on main campus. </p>
<p>What I love about Columbia is the large amount of singles (I plan to go all 4 years with singles), but there are plenty of opportunities to meet new people and bond. You get to rank your choices in order of preference, which they are usually pretty good about.</p>
<p>Hello, phantom, Thanks for really doing this
I just submitted my application (ED), but I could not enter both my SAT I & II scores because I'm taking I next Saturday, and my II scores are not available yet which was supposed to come out on 22th of October.
Do you think dose this really matter? and since my scores are not up yet, I could not send my scores, Am I really screwed? But it is totally ETS's fault, I really want to see my scores. + Do they accept Nov. scores?</p>
<p>Plus, because my first language is not English, I had to take TOEFL, but the problem is I entered wrong birthday when I was taking it last july, and when I called them last week, there is no way to change my profile now point. They asked me to talk to people at school. Do you know anything about this? my scores were great and don't want to retake it (it costs about $150 in U.S) please respond ASAP, I will really appreciate.</p>
<p>dodam, the columbia admission officer that I met told my friends(since I alredy had my scores) that they should have planned better, and if they are squeezing all their SAT within this last 2 month then its not anyone's fault if their scores doesnt get there in time. with that said.. your OCT score will arrive on time for sure if you asked them to send. I believe phantom alredy answered the Nov sat question.</p>
<p>Dawn - For RD, their deadline is the December test date (if I remember correctly...I'm 95% sure). </p>
<p>Dodam: The birthday mistake shouldn't be an issue. No need to retake it. Try calling the office. I agree with lynda that your should not have waited until the last two months to take your SATs. However, Columbia will receive your Oct and Nov scores on time if you sent them, regardless of whether you can see them or not.</p>
<p>I personally think there's a strong sense of community here (though not much school spirit -- our sports teams SUCK...I think we're the only Ivy not endorsed by Nike...). </p>
<p>The enclosed campus separating the school from the city is very conducive to a community environment, I think. "Community" is such a vague word though...it really depends on what you're looking for. IMO, Columbia is a very friendly place and I've found friends in all years of college and in all sorts of activities.</p>
<p>lovecolumbia - I hesitate to answer your question just because I can only give you my impressions and I don't want to generalize. I'll just say that I've seen a fair range of scores, and I want to reiterate the point that there is NO "cutoff" or "throwaway app" rule in the office.</p>
<p>gocollege123 - by all means send in the additional essay if you feel it will help your application. the adcoms can choose to read it or not. i would have a powerful opening sentence to get their attention. lol. go for it.</p>
<p>first of all, thanks so much for doing this! it's really helpful.</p>
<p>my specific question: as you mentioned earlier in the thread, columbia's online app is discouragingly non-user-friendly. i mean it's REALLY, REALLY hard to work with. i'd understand limiting character count like the yale supplement does, but why must they limit EVERY LINE? this seems excessively conservative, and it just doesn't make sense. i'm having a very difficult time concocting passionate, eloquent, thoughtful, coherent, grammatically accurate responses in the spaces provided on the online app. so the upshot: i'd really like to submit a paper app, as i think this would better allow me to express myself. however, i know columbia strongly encourages online submissions. how severely do they frown upon paper apps? could applying by snail mail significantly hurt my chances of acceptance? i'd really appreciate any insights you, as someone who's seen the inside of the admissions dept., could offer me.</p>
<p>also, i assumed the format of the 'why columbia?' essay meant that what they want is a list. am i mistaken? if so, please let me know so i can begin the painful process of converting mine to an essay with lines that fit the (excessively rigid) format.</p>
<p>thanks again, and i apologize for whining. this is just so frustrating!</p>
<p>I'm just wondering how long it takes to process things (submitted my app on saturday). I had a community college transcript sent out on the 18th (just called and confirmed with the cc) and it still hasn't shown up as recieved/processed...kind of disconcerting. And erm, is there any way to confirm whether supplementary materials have been recieved...sent out a sup. rec, and a sup. grade report that included first quarter grades.</p>
<p>Sorry this question was more logistics/boring. But thanks for that last response. Another question, what dorm are you in/how is that? </p>
<p>"could applying by snail mail significantly hurt my chances of acceptance?"</p>
<p>very doubtful -- online apps are easier for us to process, which is why they're preferred, but I doubt snail mail will stigmatize your app (the actual adcoms don't touch the apps until after we've sorted everything out for them and give them a nice file-- so I doubt they care about anything before that point)</p>
<p>"also, i assumed the format of the 'why columbia?' essay meant that what they want is a list. am i mistaken?"</p>
<p>I wrote mine in paragraph form. All the ones I've seen so far are in paragraph form. And it seems our system automatically converts the lines on the online app into a paragraph...however, I don't think a list-format will hurt you, esp. if it gets all your pts across clearly though. But if it's not too difficult, I think paragraph would be better...</p>
<p>Any other ED-er do list-form here, who can shed more light on this???</p>
<p>cannedish - Can take anywhere from a day to a few weeks. Really depends. Oftentimes, it's in our system already, but no one's checked the "yes" box yet so that you can see it on your account. And to confirm whether supps have been received, you can just call (supps are labelled clearly in the system...I'm sure someone will be nice enough to check for you). If it looks like something still hasn't been processed in another week and a half, try calling.</p>
<p>I live in a Wallach single (within a suite) and I love it. I get my privacy, but I've bonded with my suitemates, too.</p>
<p>Phantom, I just saw the new Columbia Nike shirts at the bookstore, but its obviously no indicator of an improvement in our sports teams. Our football team was just raped by Yale, I think the score was 37-3.</p>
<p>hey phanton, thx so much for doing this. i'm an ED applicant, and i'm retaking my SAT IIs in november, but i (foolishy) forgot to designate any colleges on my score report. if i wait until my scores come back after i take the test, and then request a score report be sent to columbia, do you think that'd make it? i, like another person posted here, had to wait until october's scores came in and then i recently ordered THAT sent, so i believe that'll make it. do u think my nov. will make it too?</p>
<p>Oh, I take back what I said about the SAT scores being broken up -- I believe Columbia is planning to reprogram the computers to keep it on a 2400 scale (they had a meeting about this today). </p>
<p>I'm sorry for the wrong information, but it really shouldn't make a difference. And anyway, they STILL take the combo of your best scores, and that's the important part.</p>
<p>Request now that the November scores be sent, so that as soon as the scores are available, they will go directly to Columbia. do NOT wait until after you get your November score report (that will take too long).</p>