<p>Since October, I've received tons of emails/letters from Columbia. Most have said they think I'm a "good fit," and so on.</p>
<p>My ACT and SAT scores are well below their 25th percentile, the school I attend has sent only one student to an ivy in the past four years, and I'm white.</p>
<p>However, I am from NC, and I am also low-income. </p>
<p>I'm not sure what to make of these letters. Should I even take them seriously? Should I even waste the $75? I mean, I love the thoughts of being in NYC but my chances of admission are close to zero. </p>
<p>well to put you in perspective, i never received those emails/letters, which usually only go to folks that are somewhere around a good fit, and was admitted.</p>
<p>allen- yeah I keep getting those too. more and more lately. I had the same question. I don’t want to apply though unless it really means something because the 75 is a chunk of change.</p>
<p>admissionsgeek: congrats! Maybe they are serious letters, I guess I’ll never know until I apply. ;/</p>
<p>pfips123: I know, $75 is a lot of money, especially for me. I have two fee waivers for applications left, so I guess I’ll just use one of those. /:</p>
<p>I read a few weeks ago that Ivys do send out letters like the ones pfips and I have received just to encourage more people to apply, so their selectivity will appear to go up. </p>
<p>Do any of you think this is true? Or do you honestly think this is legit? </p>
<p>BTW, whenever I say my ACT and SAT are well below their 25th percentiles, I’m talking 27 Comp and 1770 combined. Haha</p>
<p>Sort of like I how read in the Harvard forum that , Harvard wants a Harvard application coming from every household in the USA. Selectively goes up, and they get more money.</p>
<p>It depends, I visited right before my Junior year, and they continued to tell me to apply that fall, even though I was a junior. So yeah if you visited or filed with them a “put me on your mailing list” form, then that’s probably why they are emailing you. They assume that if you fill out an info sheet, you are interested and probably have some sort of chance. But apply if you really want to go to Columbia.
Good Luck!</p>
<p>Silence: that sounds exactly like what I read. Maybe it was the same thread. Who knows. In my opinion, it’s a rather cruel method if it’s not legit. Low-income students get 4 fee waivers, encouraging them to use one of those on their application just so they can make theirself look more selective is really wrong. But Idk, that’s just what I think. </p>
<p>And gunit: I’ve never indicated any interest in Columbia and I’ve never even been to NYC. After the third letter, I requested more information, but that was all. It’s a really odd situation. Haha.</p>
<p>it could also be that you released info to schools via ap scores/psat. that usually will make the usual list of selective schools send you something regardless of whether or not they really expect you to apply/think you’ll get in.</p>
<p>Columbia obviously wants to attract more low-income students who wouldn’t otherwise apply, since the VAST majority of their applicants are middle-class or upper-middle-class. That said, these letters do not mean you’ll get in. Until you apply, Columbia doesn’t know your grades, ECs, etc., though they may know your test scores. Apply if you like Columbia, but don’t assume that you have a good chance at admissions. I don’t think it’s wrong for schools to try to attract more applicants, since they want to choose the best regardless of socioeconomic status, but it does mean that they encourage a lot of people to apply who simply will not be admitted.</p>
<p>Llooppii: maybe it was because of my AP scores. I made a 5 on Calc. But who knows.</p>
<p>Pwoods: yeah, I see what you’re saying. I mean, it’s great that Columbia wants to attract more low-income students, but for the students that are very limited on the amount of money they can spend on applications, I do still think it’s rather cruel. Since I’m one of these kids, I know how it feels. Encouraging a student to apply and having them think they think they will actually get accepted when they most likely won’t is… wrong. Especially whenever they could spend the other $75 on a different school’s application.</p>
<p>Has anyone else received letters/emails from Columbia that didn’t show interest in them?</p>