<p>Does applying early really increase ones chance to get in? Is it possible that an applicant who would not be accepted RD would be accepted if the applicant applied ED?</p>
<p>Another question:
Does legacy help one more if applying Early?</p>
<p>I have a FINE profile, everything good. But I guess not amazing. I am an international student and I have a sibling whos a Columbia Alum. I dont see myself as a very strong applicant, but I just want to maximize my chances and apply Columbia. I just wanted to know how much applying early with a legacy would increase my chances.
I will ask for fin aid.</p>
<p>My profile is just what you would say "you miiight have a little chance of getting in".</p>
<p>Something else you need to know about ED is that it is binding, so if you are not independently wealthy with plans to pay the whole bill, it is usually not a wise choice.</p>
<p>1) I would say it does increase the chance of being admitted - not just percentage wise, but in a smaller applicant pool it is easier to stand out, and applying early already means you’re telling columbia you heart it.</p>
<p>2) This is the ideal scenario, that which columbia openly says is the true case, but honestly it is something that is unproveable because we don’t necessarily have the exact same student applying both early and regular.</p>
<p>3) Legacy has its greatest boost for those who apply early, they even let us alums know that, but they make it clear that it is a preference and not an automatic admission, you still have to have a good profile. Legacy only qualifies for students of cc/seas graduates.</p>
<p>4) The ultimate question for you and your family is what do you reasonably expect to get in finaid from columbia and is it worth it. For some families having their child go to a school like columbia is a no brainer, others don’t think it makes sense. To modify MDMom’s statement, for the most part if you’re family’s income is less than 80k (especially under 60) then you’re pretty set with a good finaid package, or depending on your family’s finances if you’re more than 200-300k than the same thing; it is the folks in between where you need to do a lot of research, use financial aid calculators to really get an idea who much money you might possibly get, and be ok if it is worse.</p>
<p>In the end the most compelling reasons not to apply ED - 1) financial aid is a major concern, 2) you aren’t set on wanting to attend columbia.</p>
<p>Our income is around 70-75k. Is it still possible that they offer us very little fin aid and ruin the entire situation? Any chances to appeal to that, in such a case?</p>
<p>I’ve heard that ED helps a lot with Columbia. I think I’m going to apply ED because I really like Columbia and it would be a dream for me to go there. Just so that all of you know, after being accepted as an ED admission you still can decide to not go there ONLY DUE TO FINANCES. If you can’t afford Columbia and they don’t meet your needs and what not, you can break the bind that ED puts on you.</p>
<p>70-75k, supposing typical assets, so a modest home, not crazy amounts of cash in the bank, also a question is whether or not it is income direct or if it includes owning a business or anything like that, which will of course change things. you hsould get a sizeable finaid from a place like columbia - the majority of the total cost.</p>
<p>yes you can appeal, but usually an appeal will not necessarily change things unless you can give them either more context or something like that. </p>
<p>before you go to far - use the available finaid calculators/estimators. columbia i hear is developing its own calculator based on the one that the dean helped develop in mit, i believe, but as of yet does not have one of its own. but for now i really like the princeton calculator, and princeton is at times more generous than columbia, but that usually isn’t until the much higher income ranges, so where you are at chelios this should be a good starting point - <a href=“https://sweb2.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/FinAid/finaid_form.pl[/url]”>https://sweb2.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/FinAid/finaid_form.pl</a></p>
<p>Hey Admissionsgeek, a great link you have provided. It should be pretty much a lifesaver for a lot of people here on cc.
The calculator just gives you a choice of being a US or Canada citizen. I’m an international student. Does that change everything? I cant believe how i missed to mention that huge point. I guess being international almost minimizes my fin aid chance huh?</p>
<p>chelios - you’re an international legacy? you don’t have any us citizenship or permanent residency? it makes it hard if you’re applying because it is columbia’s interest to use the international finaid budget to try and help students that are superstars be able to attend, and so columbia is not need-blind for international students. however, if you have any form of permenant residency here you would qualify for american aid.</p>
<p>where in the world do you call home and what is (are) your citizenship? (feel free to pm me, i can tell you about some of your options).</p>
<p>Chelios, I’m also appyling ED to Columbia and am in a similar situation–my profile isn’t amazing, but its passable, I guess. ED is probably the only way I’d ever get in.
WHat are you going to study? I’m curious</p>
<p>Well I will apply SEAS, but I am still not really decided about my major. I am trying to narrow it down these days. I have these left:</p>
<p>Civil/Structural Engineering
Mechanical/Biomedical Engineering
or
Industrial Engineering/OR</p>
<p>I’m aware that they are not very related to one another, however they each and all are in my interests, so I dedicated my entire time these days to get to know these three better, hows the college academics, job opportunities and all…</p>
<p>You have anything in mind? What are you going to study?</p>