<p>I was reading some of these posts and how and why did some people get in with gpas with less than 3.5's and SATs in the 600's while others got waitlisted or rejected with gpas near 4s and SATs near perfect? Are admissions really weird like that?</p>
<p>I rather doubt that anyone got in with GPA under 3.5 AND an SAT1 section under 650 or so. Either/or is plausible (hell, I had a 3.3 unweighted), but probably not both.</p>
<p>but Columbia looks for more than numbers. It favors diversity like other selective colleges. On top of that, they look for peopl who are more likely to thrive in Columbia’s core curriculum so0o0o.</p>
<p>I have to agree…Columbia is far more interested in the total package than one may think. What you contribute to the community is far more important than your overall scores…too many people are cookie-cutter type applicants these days because they base how they live on what will look favorable to colleges. </p>
<p>Students who demonstrate passion in a couple particular areas and who are successful in the classroom have the best chance.</p>
<p>I’m planning to apply ED to the SEAS at Columbia next year and I’m personally worried though that as my passions arent in the SEAS department set (heavy political activism, I plan to join and hopefully advance in the Columbia College democrats if I get in and Columbia Model Congress) that they will reject me because I dont have passion in their specific school o_o</p>
<p>and personally I thought Columbia was the college that cared the least about extracurriculars in admissions, as the collegeboard.com thing listed extracurriculars only as “important”, not ‘very important’. but if its true they like extracurriculars then I’m set =D</p>
<p>in 1.5 years ill be posting my results here too (nervous nervous)</p>
<p>rootbeercaesar: show some interest and passion in science/math/engineering and it won’t be a problem. more than most engineering schools columbia wants students to have interests outside science/math/eng.
You are going to be majoring in some form of engineering and if you do not demonstrate both an interest and an ability in it, they will not take you, but other interests (esp political activism) are actually more of a plus than a minus for seas. collegeboard is often outdated and often not too accurate on a lot of things. either way an important vs a very important can be a definitional issue more than a weightage preference.</p>