<p>@Britanorex: Hi! Are you considering attending?</p>
<p>@T26E4: What you said is perfectly valid. I’m not pining for one, though, I got one with the 6/7 batch and was trying to gather more info. :p</p>
<p>@confusedhexagon congrats! A columbia rep told me “a few hundred at most, normally less” before, which isn’t a scientific answer but as close as we’ll get. Approximately half of those go to athletes, so a rough estimate of about a hundred max academic likely’s? Again this is all through the grapevine but that’s what I know.There’s for sure no quota, it’s really more about how many kids they REALLY want (which is a big chunk about shaping the class and fit, honestly I think I got one because I’m just a good fit for them right now plus my good stats). </p>
<p>Anyways, did you guys get the email today about an early financial aid estimate? Do you all think that’s a good sign for a decent aid package? (yes it’s all need based, but my need is wobbly because of a sort of weird financial situation and can easily be multiple numbers depending on the intricacies of how you calculate it)</p>
<p>Just wondering, were all of these likely letters through email? Or did anyone receive an actual letter?</p>
<p>I got the email on the 6th and the paper letter on the 8th (actually didn’t know I had received the likely until the paper came in the mail since new gmail filtered the email into promotions). It’s not a big ostentatious envelope or anything, just a simple normal-looking one that is VERY easy to miss. It has nearly identical wording as the email. I would think most people would get both emails and paper letters. </p>
<p>@neuromajor: Congrats to you too. I was baffled when I saw the email, and that’s largely because I’m an international applicant requiring significant financial aid (Columbia isn’t need-blind for internationals). And yes, I received the early estimate email as well. I said yes, I had no reason not to! I’ve been told that I’ll be contacted again shortly.</p>
<p>@mermaidgirl: I haven’t received paper mail yet, but then again I live in India. I’m quite confident that neuromajor is correct when he says that both email and physical letters are sent.</p>
<p>Today I received a likely letter, yet it did not have an early financial aid estimate. Did your letters include one?</p>
<p>The early finaid estimate email came about a week or two after getting the likely letter. Also it doesn’t include an estimate…it simply offers to set you up with a finaid officer and provide you with an early estimate later on. </p>
<p>Doesn’t that defeat the point of an early meeting, since the official financial aid info comes out in 13 days with the official admit anyways?</p>
<p>Did anyone receive Likely letters for Columbia Engineering ?</p>
<p>D got likely letter for Columbia Engineering yesterday.</p>
<p>I got a Columbia likely two days ago!!! So shocked wow, i never thought my chances of getting in were that high. International STEM student here. Lots of Extra-c’s though.</p>
<p>I got a Columbia College likely letter yesterday!!! I’m an international student, and I’m quite heavy on the humanities (mainly languages). I was extremely surprised, as my SAT superscore was around 2180, and I have a pretty average set of extra-curricular activites ( the usual - school band, leadership position, debating, team sports volunteering). However, the major I opted for is Classics - which is quite unusual and not very sought after. Could this be a possible reason I received a likely letter, even though my test scores and ECs were not outstanding?</p>
<p>@psyche21, it is ENTIRELY possible that might be the reason. For one, they really appreciate their international students. For two, likely letters seem to be partially about class shaping. If they didn’t get a lot of classics majors applying, they might really want you to keep their program going. For example I think my neuroscience major helped me personally, plus my stats and lots of ECs, because they’re really focusing on growing neuroscience right now. The same may be true of you. Also, do you have a high GPA (or whatever equivalent in your country) or other scores that may offset that SAT? (It’s not a terrible score either on its own). </p>
<p>I received a likely letter 3 days ago in an email too! I had absolutely no expectations whatsoever regarding getting anything from colleges at this particular time since I am overseas and it had been days since I last used the internet, but VOILA. 
It wasn’t for athletics for sure, but I am an african-american female who applied for chem… I’m still shocked but elated!!! And I hope everyone who received the letters and who will be admitted in a couple of weeks enjoys their next four years either at Columbia or the college of their choice! We did it guys :D</p>
<p>@neuromajor Thanks for the insight and congrats to you! For my SAT subject tests, I got an 800 in the French with Listening, 790 for Latin and 750 for Literature. In my country we have a ranking system for university admissions, and my results (we finished high school in November 2013) placed me in the 99th percentile of the state - so I suppose that would have contributed to it as well. At the moment I’m extremely confused about whether I should go to Columbia if I do get an official offer, as I’ve already been admitted into a great dual degree here at home, at a top university. Also, in my country, university is practically free as you can defer the payment until you get a well paying job and then pay it off gradually, whilst Columbia is obviously quite expensive. :-/ </p>
<p>I received a likely two weeks ago, and a week later received another letter that said that I would “likely” be named a Rabi scholar. Both of the letters, though, seemed to emphasize that things weren’t official yet. They kept mentioning that I need to maintain my academics and stuff like that, and that they will be doing a midyear review before sending out official decisions. What does this midyear review mean? Are they simply re-reading our applications? Haven’t they already processed our gr 12 marks? How would they figure out that I’m maintaining my academics? </p>
<p>The mid year review is looking at your first semester senior year grades. You should have sent in your 1st semester transcript already, if not talk to your counselor and do that ASAP. If you’ve been a straight A student, they expect that you maintain close to that (a few B’s probably won’t change their minds, for example). They treat the likely->official the same way they treat official->enrollment, if you massively dip your GPA (I’m talking straight c’s or failing) or have dicsiplinary action against you, you may have your likely/acceptance rescinded. Disclaimer: the school sets the limits for recindinces, this is just my opinion on it. My point is, if you’re strong enough to get a likely for Columbia, I’m assuming your preformance has been good. Keep
doing what you’re doing and you should be fine. </p>
<p>Thanks for the info, neuromajor! </p>
<p>“They kept mentioning that I need to maintain my academics and stuff like that”</p>
<p>Even your admission letter at the end of March will state the same. The colleges don’t want people taking the rest of the year off just because they got a college admission.</p>
<p>Got a likely letter I think Thursday. Great to see everyone on here with enthusiasm for Columbia. I will almost definitely be traveling up from Kentucky to join Class of 2018!</p>