Fall 2016 Admissions

I received an email with a CUID about a week after submitting my app. I will say however that I submitted my app before the Jan15 date, last letter of recom. was sent on the 19th and I still have had heard nothing. @NatashaLaPaz did you end up hearing from them yet? Last time i spoke with admissions I was told it was “with the committee”…but as long as you have green check marks next to all required materials you are fine!

Hi guys, I’m applying regular action for Fall 2016

I’m from San Diego, CA. I think I have some resources that might be helpful:

  • Columbia GS is visiting San Diego on Monday March 14th in City College @ 1:30pm, in case you live close by.
  • If you're taking an SAT or ACT and feel rusty you can check out your central library, many have free tutors with loads of experience for these tests.
  • The SAT just changed. The english part is less confusing and the useless vocabulary work has been cut out. The math section goes up to Algebra II and some Trig, but I find the problems less confusing. I'm taking the SAT in May, btw. The new test looks a lot like the ACT but without the fast pace.
  • I visited Columbia for the October 28th information session and it was amazing. You can sense they really get involved with their students. Dirk Vanderlaan was the host for the info session, really patient with the group. Daniel Rodriguez from Financing was a champ. Anyway, Dirk mentioned that the GS Exam is basically the Old SAT English section, so if you're struggling with math and practice for the old SAT english, you can get a good score.
  • You can brush up on math for free with khanacademy.org, I loved it and since I want to go for computer science I'm planning on going all the way through Calculus and Linear Algebra.
  • If you want to brush up on other topics khanacademy.org has great content. You can also look at coursera.org and edx.org, they have great courses from top universities and the content is free.
  • If you're international and have to take the TOEFL, I recommend you practice with prompts for the essays and the speaking sections, because even if you have near perfect english you're not used to recoding yourself, modulating your voice, etc. It boosted my score big time.
  • I'm finishing-up my essay and my english tutor at the library will help me to edit it out a bit. Hence why the free tutor thing helps.

Good luck to everyone!

@Mike2011 Yeah I spoke with them and they told me that, because they didn’t get all of my documents on time, my application was moved to a later date, to which I argued that they are inconsistent with their regulations and emailed the Head of admissions. Unbelievable…

@NatashaLaPaz yea it is really confusing. it has been 8 weeks since my app has been complete so you’d think that there would be some communication regarding the status of it you know?.. or at least when to expect a decision

Do you guys now what is the “event payment” for when you submit your application and pay the application fee?

its for the GSAE exam

@Mike2011 ohhh, thanks!!

@Mike2011 I know! They are terrible at communication, I applied to Brown as well and they answered to my every email within an hour or even less. I will call Columbia every day if I have to in order to sort it out. I am sure that they made a mistake…

@mmm6291 what do you mean you didn’t pass? you got a 0? because I also did it and got a 99? do you mean you just didn’t get an 100?

I applied Feb. 22nd for the March 1st Eearly Action deadline and submitted my essay around March 9th. Haven’t received anything from them yet… don’t know why.
International student from Israel

I got 98 on TOEFL, the requirement is 100.

An update: The power of being cheeky. I have sent them numerous emails stating that they have done a mistake and after a week and 5 emails to different people, I finally got a response from the director of admissions that apologized for the inconvenience they caused me and that I should’ve been considered as an Early applicant. Now I have an direct conversation with them as they are scheduling a phone interview with me. Power to the people!!

yea I really don’t want to call again but it’s been 9 weeks now and it does say decisions are made on a rolling basis and generally takes 6-8 weeks. The last time I called the woman I spoke with said it was under review/ with the committee but I haven’t gotten an email or anything and my status still says “submitted.” The last email I received was a pretty generic “because your letter of recommendation was received after the Jan.15 date your application is considered March 1 and you should receive a decision May 1.” 16 weeks until I get a decision?

I completed my application on Jan 15th, and I had a phone interview two weeks ago. But It took them one month to decide to have a phone interview. The staff told me that I would get admission decision no later than March 11th. But guess what, I am still waiting now. A little bit disappointed by the efficiency of their work. I am gonna email them. And I guess I should expect the email response after two weeks…

@MoTeak I hear ya, it’s very frustrating and to me seems unfair. The lack of communication with the applicants seems very disrespectful. And if I were you I would’ve called. And ask as many questions as you need to sort it out.

Hey all, I’m an early action applicant but due to my schedule, I can’t visit new york to take the GSAE until April 26th. Considering that the acceptance release date is around May 1st, would this be a major problem?

@krcausit Your application will not be considered EA according to what I was told by an admissions counselor. So most likely you wont get a decision in May.

@NatashaLaPaz did you have your phone interview? have you heard anything since?

@jswolfson I did, it went ok I think. He seemed to like my story but I don’t know. We’ll see on Monday.

Interesting @NatashaLaPaz – why do you say you will know on Monday? Is that what he told you? I’m glad you got your interview and hope you get in!!