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<p>I don’t know why people talk like this. Yes, Stanford and Penn apps are down but by less than 1%. Columbia down by 5-6%. You can’t group Satnford, Upenn with Columbia apps decline.</p>
<p>Its all those occupy wall street folks scaring off potential applicants!</p>
<p>They are finding Duke neighborhood is safer for committing to an ED.</p>
<p>brandnew, what is a likely letter?</p>
<p>also, i had an alumni interview a few days ago and he told me that they don’t normally count for much. though he could have just said that so that i wasn’t as nervous, i don’t know.</p>
<p>Reader, A likely letter is a letter from an Ivy league that states “I am writing to inform you that your profile has been evaluated and you have been designated as a likely candidate for admission…” It’s essentially the college saying that you are accepted but they can’t formally accept you until mid-December. Every year the Ivies send out about 300 likely letters each, 200 of which go to recruited athletes (like in my case) and 100 go to extremely outstanding candidates who are usually under-represented minorities. But usually the 100 non-athletic Likely Letters are given out to regular decision applicants because Ivies don’t need to compete for applicants who applied ED because they are already bound to commit there anyways.</p>
<pre><code>And yeah my interviewer said that the adcoms claim that they weight the interview equally but that he didn’t think they actually did.
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<p>Hope that helps!</p>
<p>First off, congrats to brandnew3773. As far as the interviewing process, I have my doubts about borderline/worthy candidates receiving any preference in availability. I only say this because I received an email requesting an interview so shortly after I submitted my application. It is just hard for me to believe that Columbia admission officers scanned through every application and said, “oh, okay this kid has sufficient grades and standardized test scores. put him down for an interview.” That, and the fact that my interviewer was completely blind to my grades/scores, just leads me to think it is completely random and the actual interview REQUEST has no bearing on your chances at admission. I think the interviews hold very light weight in the admissions decision. My interviewer told me he thought I would be admitted, and, though I was flattered, I pretty much disregarded that comment because, at the end of the day, he’s not the admissions officer. I think it’s to test whether or not you are some antisocial nerd…</p>
<p>Is the November 31 deadline for interviews for Early decision applicants only? I applied regular and didn’t get any notification</p>
<p>Cortana - ED applicants get a decision on December 15th which means they need to complete those ASAP. RD decisions are given out on March 31st and so they have plenty of time to interview you, probably sometime in January.</p>
<p>I can’t believe that we’re going to find out in like 3 weeks. It seems so unreal. Anyone else freaking out?</p>
<p>^ good to find someone who is also freaking out this early!! haha</p>
<p>Yes, i am freaking out also! I wish I could fast forward time!!</p>
<p>^I was freaking out yesterday. Glad to know I’m not alone! I don’t know a lot of people from Toronto/Canada who are applying to Columbia on the forum. Dare I hope my chances will be higher? :P</p>
<p>Are any of you SHPers? Anyone know if this gives an edge?</p>
<p>Good luck everyone!</p>
<p>I’m sure being in the SHP does give you some sort of edge; it’s one of greatest regrets about applying to Columbia that I wasn’t in the program. It sounds so cool! I can’t believe I never even knew it existed until a few months ago! Oh well there’s nothing I can do about it now :P.</p>
<p>i am hoping that columbia will release decisions on december 8. they did that last year and there were more apps last year than this year in ED to columbia.</p>
<p>most of my friends are sticking with UT austin or Texas A&M. i don’t think there’s many applicants to Columbia from Houston, TX as there are in the Northeast coast. Texas is the 5th most representative state at Columbia for class of 2015.</p>
<p>Has anyone had any success sending emails to Columbia (either <a href=“mailto:ugrad-confirm@columbia.edu”>ugrad-confirm@columbia.edu</a> or <a href=“mailto:ugrad-ask@columbia.edu”>ugrad-ask@columbia.edu</a>)?</p>
<p>I sent a dozen of emails with my missing document and they still emailed me back asking for it :(</p>
<p>I don’t exactly know how to gauge the success of emailing Columbia u-grad, it seems people have had problems with it. I emailed them a change in my phone number, but I don’t know if they’re supposed to reply and confirm or not, so I have no idea if they got it or not. Not a big deal for me, but for you (xxxamazexxx) I suggest calling them and working it out.</p>
<p>On another note: For Fin Aid applicants, I called Columbia Fin Aid today, they said we should be able to access our fin aid accounts after Thanksgiving break.</p>
<p>I am in the same boat as brandnew3773 - a recruited athlete who’s received a Likely Letter and who has also had an alumni interview. </p>
<p>My interview was with a young woman from the class 09, herself an athlete. She spent most of the time sharing tips on how best to maximize the Columbia experience. It was totally great. </p>
<p>Good luck to all!</p>
<p>If I didn’t receive a “likely letter” am I at a big disadvantage?</p>
<p>No, you are not disadvantaged at all. But realize that about 150 of the ED slots are already taken by recruited athletes. Last year, Columbia accepted 632 during ED. If they do the same this year, it means that there are about 480 spots open after the athletes get admittted. Some recruited athetes will get Likely Letters for the RD round, but it has a smaller effect on the pool. </p>
<p>This is from brandnew3773’s earlier post:</p>
<p>“A Likely Letter is a letter from an Ivy League school that states “I am writing to inform you that your profile has been evaluated and you have been designated as a likely candidate for admission…” It’s essentially the college saying that you are accepted but they can’t formally accept you until mid-December. Every year the Ivies send out about 300 likely letters each, 200 of which go to recruited athletes (like in my case) and 100 go to extremely outstanding candidates who are usually under-represented minorities. But usually the 100 non-athletic Likely Letters are given out later to Regular Decision applicants because Ivies don’t need to compete for applicants who applied ED because they are already bound to commit there anyways.”</p>
<p>brandnew3773 and I are, for all intents and purposes, accepted to Columbia in the ED round. We are simply waiting on next’s month formal letter from the Admissions Commitee.</p>