<p>We attribute this continued and growing interest in Columbia to a variety of factors, including . . . our first-year membership with The Common Application.
— Jessica Marinaccio, Dean of Columbia Undergraduate Admissions</p>
<p>I’m thinking of submitting my “change of perspective” essay from the Brown supplement on my Harvard app. I really feel like the essay turned out well and highlighted an interest that I didn’t get to expand upon anywhere else in my application. How do you think Harvard would view this? I’m planning on applying early to Harvard if that makes a difference…</p>
<p>I’m not sure you’re really listening, Gibby. Even though Columbia began accepting the common app last year, they still require an extensive supplement with multiple brief essays. This means the amount of work an applicant has to do to apply to Columbia is significantly greater than for Middlebury or Harvard, neither of which require a supplemental essay. Nevertheless, Columbia’s applications increased 17% more than Harvard’s and 26% more than Midd’s. That pretty much discredits your hypothesis that Harvard eliminated the supplemental essay in order to increase applications. But please don’t let the facts stand in the way of your desire to impute bad motives to Harvard’s admissions committee.</p>