I was recently accepted to Columbia as a John Jay Scholar, and I was wondering if any current students in this program could provide more insight. Do students in the program receive special perks? Research opportunities? Better dorms? Study abroad opportunities? An occasional free lunch/dinner?
Because I also was admitted to Yale, Stanford, and UPenn (university scholar), the John Jay Scholar designation might sway me a bit more toward Columbia. I am an International Relations/Linguistics major.
(BTW sorry if there’s already a thread about this topic, I’m relatively new to the Columbia sub-section of College Confidential!)
There seems to be some confusion around the Columbia Scholars Program every year, as they don’t provide much information about it. My son is now a junior at Columbia (still loving it) and is a John Jay Scholar. The designation does not involve a scholarship, as financial aid at Columbia is strictly need-based. So if you’ve applied for financial aid, you should get the package on that separately. Here’s a post I made in another thread with a little more information:
“My son is a John Jay scholar. It is not a scholarship, though the scholars program does help in arranging grant money for summer projects. Rather, it’s an honorary designation. In freshman year, there are a number of CUSP (Columbia University Scholars Program) events, from social to educational, including a speakers series and scholars projects, that give the scholars some academic enrichment and the opportunity to get to know each other. My son has appreciated the program, but it’s really not a reason to choose Columbia over another school if the other school seems more suited to the student.”
Congrats on all of your acceptances. I’ve been following a lot of the applicant threads on the those schools as a part of my own college process roller-coaster and I noticed you seem to have done a crazy amount of stuff and really deserve it. I got offered the CP Davis scholarship which is basically the same thing, and will likely be there next year, so I’ve spent a lot of time looking into the nuances of the program. It seems like the two biggest draws are:
You get connected directly with the people that Columbia admissions has designated as the outstanding in its own admissions review, so its a great place to meet potential co-founders or just connect with likeminded people, especially in a school the size of Columbia.
The funding gives you a real advantage in the eyes of any professor considering doing research with you, because it's one less thing that they would normally have to worry about
Good luck on the last stretch of your college process!
@Ambitious19 Nope, now that I did some research, that grant is nothing but the need-based aid given to me by Columbia. It´s only called “John Jay grant” because I was named a scholar… I thought there were economic benefits to being a scholar, but apparently that´s not the case.
