Official Columbia University Likely 2017 RD Results

Colleges and Universities A-Z Columbia University
1

<p>Someone was asking for this so I thought I'd start it. These things always make me depressed, but helped me during apps as well. Please state whether you got in for sports or academics/ something else to help others. </p>

<p>Remove the spaces after each left bracket.
[ size=+2][ color=green][ b]Decision: Accepted*[/color][/size]
[ size=+2][ color=orange][ b]Decision: Waitlisted[/color][/size]
[ size=+2][ color=red][ b]Decision: Rejected*[/color][/size]</p>

<p>[ b]Objective:**
[ list]
[ ] SAT I (breakdown):
[ *] ACT:
[ *] SAT II:
[ *] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0):
[ *] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):
[ *] AP (place score in parenthesis):
[ *] IB (place score in parenthesis):
[ *] Senior Year Course Load:
[ *] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):[/list][ b]Subjective:*
[ list]
[ ] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
[ *] Job/Work Experience:
[ *] Volunteer/Community service:
[ *] Summer Activities:
[ *] Essays:
[ *] Teacher Recommendation:
[ *] Counselor Rec:
[ *] Additional Rec:
[ *] Interview:[/list][ b]Other*
[ list]
[ ] State (if domestic applicant):
[ *] Country (if international applicant):
[ *] School Type:
[ *] Ethnicity:
[ *] Gender:
[ *]Income Bracket:
[ *] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):[/list][ b]Reflection*
[ list]
[ ] Strengths:
[ *] Weaknesses:
[ *] Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
[ *] Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:[/list][ b]General Comments:*</p>

2

<p>I thought I’d start people off on a positive note with my nice, but humanly possible stats.
Decision: Accepted (Academics?)
Objective:

[ul]
[<em>] SAT I (breakdown): 2360 super score: 800 math, 800 reading, 760 writing
[</em>] ACT:
[<em>] SAT II: 800 math 2, 800 biology, 790 chemistry
[</em>] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0, weighted 4.41
[<em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/306
[</em>] AP (place score in parenthesis): 6 5’s and 1 4 for chemistry (hated that teacher like no other… lol)
[<em>] IB (place score in parenthesis):
[</em>] Senior Year Course Load:AP stat, AP eng lit, AP Compgov/ world religions, US Gov/ Econ, AP Physics, AP French, Multivar/ Linear alg (CC)
[<em>] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):Nothing :smiley: I received some obscure national awards for art. I also won a few small things for debate and MUN. [/ul][ b]Subjective:**

[ul]
[</em>] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Art club (pres), French club (pres), MUN club (sec), Debate club, (not mentioned robotics and math club), I breed and sell fish (you know I’m awesome when I can talk about genetics for hours \o/), did some violin and ping pong, but very badly lol.
[<em>] Job/Work Experience: intern at a nanolab during summer
[</em>] Volunteer/Community service: tutoring
[<em>] Summer Activities:internship, summer classes at UC Berkeley, summer classes at Community college, some app designing thing at SF for a contest I won
[</em>] Essays:Common app was a giant metaphor, but I tried to concentrate on writing style for it. short answer was cheesy beyond cheesy.<br>
Let’s not talk about the extent of failure my supplements were. I found out the last sentence of one of my essays got cut off only today… This was by far the worst app I’ve written, UMich aside. I gave a lot of french books for my reading lists and I also read a lot of political newspapers for debate + MUN.<br>
[<em>] Teacher Recommendation: Probably good, MUN adviser and math teacher
[</em>] Counselor Rec: She doesn’t think I’m very smart… I dunno :confused:
[<em>] Additional Rec: Intern mentor. He didn’t know me well, because well… he never mentored me. But I think even a blind man could have seen how hard I was working to finish my project on time.
[</em>] Interview: never got an invite. I still want one though :frowning:
[/ul][ b]Other**[ul]
[<em>] State (if domestic applicant): CA
[</em>] Country (if international applicant):
[<em>] School Type: Public
[</em>] Ethnicity: Asian \o/ embracing this ethnic disadvantage
[<em>] Gender: F
[</em>]Income Bracket: high
[<em>] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): My theory is I was the only girl who applied as an electrical engineering major to Columbia. Upon realizing that there would be no diversity if I didn’t go they were forced to send one against their will.<br>
[/ul]Reflection

[ul]
[</em>] Strengths: girl in really underrepresented field of engineering with ECs that match the major. I think I fit the general Columbia vibe too. Really like the idea of the Core, cuz I’m more well rounded than focused on anything specific.<br>
[<em>] Weaknesses: I have no amazing anything and I wrote truly horrible, eye gouge worthy essays. 3 hours before the deadline makes for bad writing…<br>
[</em>] Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: random luck
[li] Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Accepted: Uchicago (EA), Berkeley (regents candidate), UCLA (not exactly, but got a call about scholarships that no one else did), U of Michigan (EA), Case western (EA); Deferred: MIT (EA and so gonna get rejected… lol) Waiting on a bunch of Ivies plus Northwestern, Harvey Mudd and Stanford. [/li][/ul]General Comments:
I don’t know how I got this… I honestly don’t, but I’m really grateful for it. Since people look at these things to figure out what to do, I’m going to advice the age old be yourself tip. I did a lot of really random useless things. Did everything I found even the least bit interesting and for most of them stuck to it. I think I expressed a passion for learning more than a passion for engineering in my app.</p>

3

<p>Decision: Accepted (Likely Letter)</p>

<p>Objective:

[ul]
[<em>] SAT I (breakdown): N/a
[</em>] ACT: 29C - 36 Reading, 34 English, 26 Math/Sci 10 essay
[<em>] SAT II: N/a
[</em>] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): ~3.87
[<em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 15%
[</em>] AP (place score in parenthesis): (3) AP Lang
[<em>] IB (place score in parenthesis):
[</em>] Senior Year Course Load: AP Chem, AP Lit, AP Stats, College Southwest History, Accounting<br>
[<em>] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Colorado Rotary Champion, All State Academic 1st Team, Colorado State Champion/Runner up Track[/ul]Subjective:

[ul]
[</em>] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Track, Soccer, NHS, LEDA, S2S, Link Crew
[<em>] Job/Work Experience: None
[</em>] Volunteer/Community service: None
[<em>] Summer Activities: Leadership Enterprise for a Diverse America (LEDA) I recommend any underclassman apply, they seem to feed their students to the Ivies (look it up online)
[</em>] Essays: Great
[<em>] Teacher Recommendation: 1 generic, 1 exceptional
[</em>] Counselor Rec: Generic
[<em>] Additional Rec:LEDA recommendation
[</em>] Interview: None[/ul]Other

[ul]
[<em>] State (if domestic applicant): Colorado
[</em>] Country (if international applicant):
[<em>] School Type:Public
[</em>] Ethnicity: Black/White
[<em>] Gender: Male
[</em>]Income Bracket: >30,000
[<em>] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):URM, Recruited Athlete, First generation[/ul]Reflection

[ul]
[</em>] Strengths: Extracurriculars, essays, URM,
[<em>] Weaknesses: Test scores/GPA
[</em>] Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Recruited
[*] Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Deferred at Princeton, accepted CU-Boulder, awaiting others[/ul]General Comments:</p>

4

<p>[ size=+2][ color=green][ b]Decision: Accepted (likely letter)**[/color][/size]</p>

<p>[ b]Objective:**
[ list]
[ *] SAT I (breakdown): 2190 (680, 760, 750)
[ *] ACT: 33
[ *] SAT II: Lit (750), Math 2 (740), Physics (640) (really bad, i know)
[ *] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.98
[ *] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 6
[ *] AP (place score in parenthesis): US Hist (5), World Hist (5), Eng Lang (3)
[ *] IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
[ ] Senior Year Course Load: AP Music Theory, AP Eng Lit, AP Studio Art, Adv Chorus, AP Gov, NJROTC 4, Art Portfolio, AP Calc AB
[ ] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): AP Scholar, Scottish Rite JROTC Award, not really alot…[/list][ b]Subjective:
[ list]
[ *] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Cross Country 4 years (captain, top varsity), track 4 years (varsity), mock trial 4 years (president, secretary, lead attorney), NJROTC 4 years (Executive Officer, Safety and Training Officer), choir 3 years (alto section leader)
[ *] Job/Work Experience: several years working at a summer camp as a crafts leader/counselor (wrote my EC essay on)
[ *] Volunteer/Community service: no long-term stuff, just community events during the years
[ *] Summer Activities: working at summer camp
[ *] Essays: really solid. both my mom (an experienced writer) and my english teacher (who is really tough on essays) said the essays were good. I spent sooooooo much time on them, especially my main common app one. Well, except the “Why Columbia” one, which I wrote like 15 minutes before submitting the app.
[ *] Teacher Recommendation: I don’t really know, they were probably good, but not phenomenal, as I didn’t know the teachers super well personally.
[ *] Counselor Rec: probably genericish since he has to write a bunch every year
[ ] Additional Rec: N/A
[ ] Interview: N/A[/list][ b]Other
[ list]
[ *] State (if domestic applicant): CA
[ *] Country (if international applicant):
[ *] School Type: Med/Large Crappy Public
[ *] Ethnicity: Native American
[ *] Gender: F
[ ]Income Bracket: I live with my mom who makes ~15k, so we live on a really limited budget, but my father, who doesn’t contribute anything other than child support (ends when I turn 18) and has no intention of paying for my college, makes ~130k :confused:
[ ] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM[/list][ b]Reflection
[ list]
[ *] Strengths: URM, diverse and strong ECs, ACT score kinda
[ *] Weaknesses: SAT II scores, lack of outstanding achievements
[ *] Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I am an URM with good stats
[ *] Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Haven’t heard back from anyone else yet[/list][ b]General Comments: I was so excited when I received the e-mail, and I really hope my father’s income doesn’t make it impossible to attend!**</p>

5

<p>Does a likely letter imply you’re in?</p>

6

<p>@ stanford: yes</p>

7

<p>Decision: Accepted (Likely Letter)</p>

<p>Objective:

[ul]
[<em>] SAT I (breakdown): N/A
[</em>] ACT: 34 (36 English, 36 Reading, 36 Math, 27 Science, 10 Essay)
[<em>] SAT II: Bio M 800, Math II 800, Chemistry 800
[</em>] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.90
[<em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 5%
[</em>] AP (place score in parenthesis): AP Bio 5, AP Lit 3
[<em>] IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
[</em>] Senior Year Course Load: AP Calc BC, AP Chemistry, AP Spanish Lit, Physics, English, Socioeconomic Development, etc.
[<em>] Major Awards: 2 time Central American Knowledge Bowl Champion (similar to quiz bowl, but a very big deal over here), MVP twice, 3 time National Champion, Best KB Player of Central America 2012, Math Olympiad winner, Superior Piano Soloist at Nationals
[/ul]Subjective:

[ul]
[</em>] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Knowledge Bowl (Captain), NHS Member, Piano, Charity Club, Charity Organization (leader), Math Olympiads
[<em>] Job/Work Experience: Every summer working full hours at a Water Analysis Lab
[</em>] Volunteer/Community service: long term charity work, over 300 hours
[<em>] Summer Activities: working at the lab, charity work
[</em>] Essays: Really strong, spent all December writing them and were very sincere and eloquent
[<em>] Teacher Recommendation: 10/10, my US History teacher wrote the best recommendation I could have asked for
[</em>] Counselor Rec: Really strong, my counselor knows me very well but not as well as my History teacher
[<em>] Additional Rec: 10/10 from my Calc teacher, she knows me well from Knowledge Bowl
[</em>] Interview: N/A
[/ul]Other

[ul]
[<em>] State (if domestic applicant):
[</em>] Country (if international applicant): Honduras
[<em>] School Type: Largest private school and best in country
[</em>] Ethnicity: Hispanic
[<em>] Gender: M
[</em>]Income Bracket: Both parents make about 50 k a year
[<em>] Hooks: Very science oriented and my Knowledge Bowl awards are great, my charity work.
[/ul]Reflection

[ul]
[</em>] Strengths: Essays, Recommendations, Extracurriculars
[<em>] Weaknesses: I would have liked a higher ACT science score, and a lot more leadership activities
[</em>] Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: my essays and overall application
[li] Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: waitlisted from Yale and still waiting on MIT [/li][/ul]General Comments: Extremely happy but waiting on the financial aid decision! I hope I’ll be able to pay for Columbia</p>

8

<p>Decision: Accepted</p>

<p>Objective:

[ul]
[<em>] SAT I (breakdown): 2250 (750 CR, 800 M, 700 W) (Highest single sitting: 2190)
[</em>] ACT: 34 (36 M, 35 E, 36 R, 31 S, 11 Essay)
[<em>] SAT II: 730 Biology (Molecular), 800 Math II
[</em>] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
[<em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): N/A
[</em>] AP (place score in parenthesis): Music Theory (5), AB Calculus (5, self-study)
[<em>] IB (place score in parenthesis): For mock exams: 41/45
[</em>] Senior Year Course Load: IB Diploma Candidate (HL’s: Music, Mathematics, Biology, and English; SL’s: ab initio Spanish, History)
[<em>] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):Nothing significant! (NMSF, National Hispanic Scholar)[/ul]
Subjective:

[ul]
[</em>] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
-Rock Climbing (Student Leader of two-week long outings, led rock climbing sport 4 days/week)
-Music (studied jazz saxophone for 9 years, but I now play mainly guitar and piano. I spend most of my time composing)
some others, but nothing outstanding.
[<em>] Job/Work Experience: Musical Director for a few bands
[</em>] Volunteer/Community service:Fund-raised/Organized humanitarian work in Malawi, Africa (spent three weeks in Malawi executing projects; raised money to send 24 Malawian girls to secondary school)
-Math Club (Founder and President; organized peer tutoring and competitions)
[<em>] Summer Activities:Composed, performed and recorded with an emerging artist. Traveled around the desert southwest on a climbing trip.
[</em>] Essays: Only spent 2 days on them, but they weren’t terrible. Definitely could have been better.
[<em>] Teacher Recommendations: Both said it was the best of their careers.
[</em>] Counselor Rec: Very good. Spent 3 weeks in Africa with her, connected really well.
[<em>] Additional Rec: None.
[</em>] Interview: None.[/ul]Other

[ul]
[<em>] State (if domestic applicant): AZ
[</em>] Country (if international applicant): US
[<em>] School Type: Small private, hasn’t sent anyone to Ivy League in 10 years!
[</em>] Ethnicity: Hispanic
[<em>] Gender: Male
[</em>]Income Bracket: <80k
[<em>] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM and First Generation[/ul]Reflection

[ul]
[</em>] Strengths: Focused but diverse ECs, IB Courseload, Recommendations
[<em>] Weaknesses: Essays!
[</em>] Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I have no idea. The stars were aligned?
[*] Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Accepted at Amherst, waiting to hear back from Stanford, Brown, Penn, and UCs[/ul]General Comments: Be passionate about ANYTHING. Do what you love, and do it well. None of my ECs are related to my major (Neuroscience), but I was able to show that I’m motivated because the depth of my involvement. Also, don’t let CC scare you. I’m glad to have been aware of the caliber of kids applying to these schools, but I scared myself into thinking that I didn’t stand a chance. And I got a likely letter!</p>

9

<p>Remove the spaces after each left bracket.
Decision: Accepted</p>

<p>Objective:

[ul]
[<em>] SAT I (breakdown): 2320 800 math 800 Reading 720 Writing
[</em>] ACT: N/A
[<em>] SAT II: 800 Math II 800 Chemistry 800 Biology E 780 Physics
[</em>] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.8
[<em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): N/A
[</em>] AP (place score in parenthesis): 8 AP’s All 5’s Not going to bother listing them
[<em>] IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
[</em>] Senior Year Course Load: Multivariable Calculus, AP Physics C, AP English Lang, AP Chinese, and AP Statistics
[<em>] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):[/ul]Subjective:

[ul] Siemens Semifinalist, AIME, Chemistry Olympiad Qualifier, Bunch of State math competitions
[</em>] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Math Club, Chemistry Club (Founder), China Club
[<em>] Job/Work Experience: N/A
[</em>] Volunteer/Community service: Like 60 hours at a library
[<em>] Summer Activities: Research
[</em>] Essays: Probably ok, not the best writer
[<em>] Teacher Recommendation: Stellar
[</em>] Counselor Rec: Stellar
[<em>] Additional Rec: N/A
[</em>] Interview:[/ul]Other

[ul] Didn’t have one
[<em>] State (if domestic applicant):
[</em>] Country (if international applicant):
[<em>] School Type: Private
[</em>] Ethnicity: Chinese
[<em>] Gender: M
[</em>]Income Bracket: 200k +
[<em>] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):[/ul]Reflection

[ul] Research Paper, Siemens?
[</em>] Strengths: Good scores, lots of science ec’s
[<em>] Weaknesses: GPA
[</em>] Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I actually have no idea. I wasn’t expecting this at all. I was just checking my email when this thing popped up, I almost deleted it since I thought it was one of those spam mails.
[*] Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:[/ul]**General Comments:[/b Deferred from Caltech and MIT</p>

10

<p>^did you end up getting accepted to Caltech afterwards?? I find it hard to believe you wouldn’t after getting a LL from an ivy school</p>

11

<p>Oh no I actually got rejected probably because of my GPA…idk. Also decided before caltech came out that I would go to Columbia anyways due to campus/social scene so w/e. I feel like I’ve seen you on a thread somewhere before HPSYCM?</p>

12

<p>Ah.</p>

<p>Lol I’m a pretty active user on cc so…</p>

13

<p>“As long as our midyear review finds that you are maintaining your current level of academic progress and good standing, you can expect to receive favorable word when admissions packets are mailed”</p>

<p>Are they referring to reviewing the mid year report we sent in Feb that included senior year 1st semester grades OR are they referring to reviewing current grades i.e., senior year 2nd semester current grades? TIA</p>

14

<p>I believe mid term report sent in February. Try and maintain your current performance.</p>

15

<p>Uh oh I got my physics grade dropped to a B+…smh.</p>

16

<p>@hpyscm: Do you think your statement regarding CalTech would hold true for Stanford as well? Am I more likely to be admitted to Stanford after having received an LL from Columbia?</p>

<p>I know the question is somewhat trivial and that know one can truly have the answer, but hey, most CC questions are haha I’m just so anxious about Stanford’s decision…</p>

17

<p>^of course! But it’s not a guarantee by any means, but a LL is a very nice confidence boost! Lol I got NO likelies (i applied to all the ivies too) but still got into caltech lolz</p>

18

<p>

</p>

<p>More likely than what? The average Stanford pool? Logic would say that if Columbia found you special, a school like Stanford, who searches for similar students is more likely than to find those similar traits vs. the other applicants. But could anyone quantify it? Certainly not. Only speculation — the weather in Palo Alto is amazing, BTW!</p>

19

<p>Hm interesting pattern from the people who’ve posted. It seems like Columbia doesn’t do interviews for accepted candidates or maybe they just have a bad interviewing system lol. Man, that makes me feel like I got rejected from Princeton now OTL </p>

<p>Also I later got a letter from Columbia telling me I was a likely aka was an Egleston scholar. My stats really aren’t up to that standard, but I’ll take that free plane ride tyvm XD </p>

<p>@aboveblues I’m in the same exact boat. Try not to think about Stanford admissions and instead be glad that you have a good school to go to next year. Or at least that’s what Columbia’s trying to do with the LL. :D</p>

20

<p>Yeah, I guess I should have framed it like “what is the overlap between Columbia’s and Stanford’s accepted applicant pool?”</p>

<p>@Wendeli: I’m reminding myself of that everyday. I’m so incredibly greatful to have been accepted; greed and nerves are just getting the best of me. What a hard (but awesome) decision that would be…</p>

<p>Also, *no (for my last post :P)</p>