How many books is too many?

<p>I read a lot, and columbia provides a combined 300 words to list books. I currently have 11 on the required reading and 12 on the "for fun" reading. I just wanted to see what you guys were doing with those prompts, how many books are you all doing?</p>

<p>I only put a few. They’re asking you for your favorite books, not every book you’ve read in the past year. I’m pretty sure that they have a 300 word limit to keep it in uniform with the rest of the application. I don’t know about your school, but I probably only have 11-12 required readings per year. Listing all of them really tells Columbia nothing about you.</p>

<p>I put 5 for each. I highly doubt that 11 or 12 books count as “favorites” so try to condense the list based on the ones you really really enjoyed :)</p>

<p>But that’s the thing, I read all the time, and went through a solid 40 books for fun this year. So the 11 I have on the “for fun” section are the favorites :/</p>

<p>Put however many you’d liked to. If you enjoyed 11 books then put that. The key to college admissions is not putting what you think college admins would like to hear, but being true to yourself. Good luck! I put around 20 ;)</p>

<p>Did you guys just list or did you add something about the books? I feel like I should add some basic thoughts about what some of the books meant to me…</p>

<p>I asked a Columbia rep this question once, and her response was very clear that they JUST want us to list the books and their authors, they don’t want anything beyond that.</p>

<p>@brm there’s the question asking you to pick one piece of entertainment and talk about what it means to you. So for those question just list (there’s specific directions in the Help Center beside the Columbia Writing Supplement page on the Common App)</p>

<p>Oh. I’m over-complicating this. Thanks guys!</p>

<p>Would you say the same thing for films, concerts, shows, exhibits, lectures, etc? I feel like a list doesn’t really cover that, beyond a list of movies, which I don’t want to do.</p>

<p>Sorry, I didn’t mean to hijack the thread. To answer the OP’s question, I’m applying to major in English so I’m also listing a lot of books. I think if you’re genuine about your interest in them (and that you’ve READ them) why should there be anything wrong with it?</p>

<p>Did anybody list anything other than a book? Like a short story or a poem? Does a play count?</p>

<p>Just trying to get a feel for what people are doing. This was my only school that required short responses instead of an elaborate essay.</p>

<p>I believe that I listed at least thirty texts for “favorite books,” most likely more, including plays and collections of short stories and poems.</p>

<p>What is too many … when you pad the list to make it look bad with extra books or books you didn’t like. What is too few … when you cut books because you’re guessing what number Columbia is looking for or trying to hide a genre. What’s the right number … the honest answer to the question without adjusting for that you think Columbia wants to hear. (all this is IMO)</p>

<p>Exodius did you mention specific poems?</p>