<p>did anyone else get an invitation for a phone interview? I already had an alumni interview… they said in the email we should do it regardless of whether we had an alumni interview, but it’s just kind of weird to me… I had to sign up for it too. o.O</p>
<p>-It was for extra opportunity program, apparently?</p>
<p>@awkwardpenguin13
Maybe they want to make you a John Jay scholar or some other type of scholar?
Haven’t heard much about it, except that the scholars get some extra opportunities.</p>
<p>Was dodging my email for a few days, but checked it and found a likely! Wahhh!</p>
<p>I didn’t know about the ED possibility, so this is the first semi-acceptance-kind-of-thing I’ve ever gotten. And from Columbia, of all places, is a total honor. I’m blown away.</p>
<p>Congratulations!
I on the other hand have been checking it regularly, hoping that by some miraculous mistake that I could get one 
I expect a rejection though, considering the fact that I’m a sub-par candidate :P</p>
<p>Sub-par? Nah, you’re probably awesome and glowing with tremendous chances. Plus that’s the fun with admissions, the elusive idea that juuuust maybe it won’t be a rejection. 
That little ray of hope makes trudging through the apps and essays and groveling for recs totally worth it.</p>
<p>Okay I’m gonna ask again haha: where do they post likely letters? is it in the mail or an email or your columbia account?</p>
<p>Check yo email. I all but forgot about the Columbia portal but thankfully they do email you. Go for it!</p>
<p>Does Columbia track mailed items? I mailed 3 college transcripts and it doesn’t show up on my portal.</p>
<p>I know it’s kind of late for me to start, but my extracurriculars are really lacking, mostly due to personal reasons. What kind of ECs do y’all do?</p>
<p>@jubilee27</p>
<p>I know for sure that Harvard and UPenn (schools that I mailed something to) don’t, so I would think that Columbia is the same when it comes to document tracking</p>
<p>@FromNorCal</p>
<p>My school doesn’t offer clubs/teams and I end at 6 everyday so all of my ECs are done on my own:
Badminton, Skiing, Longboarding, Photography, Painting/Drawing, Writing, Student Government (class president), Vocal and Guitar performance</p>
<p>I believe that that’s it 
(unless foreign languages count, then I suppose that Mandarin and Spanish are also ECs)</p>
<p>Oh and I work part time to help my mom at her store and I have done some volunteering with habitat for humanity</p>
<p>@Ragdolls</p>
<p>So for activities like Photography and Writing (both things I’m interested in), how did you describe them on your application? I feel like they’re both activities that are more difficult to quantify and prove.</p>
<p>^I used photography as my short-answer EC. I had a story about disappointing pictures>praticing/studying photography>going to the same place two years later>getting pictures published on a major wildlife magazine’s website. Not sure if they would be impressed by it. (obviously not written in this style :P)</p>
<p>The last part isn’t even important. Just write about your passion for it, or a particular photograph you took, or whatever you feel captures your interest in them. (if you don’t plan on writing your essay about one of them then just give a description of what you do relating to those interests in the description box).</p>
<p>Well, first of all I sent a photography portfolio to each school that I applied to to showcase my skill (and I actually wrote my Yale supp essay on photography and how it has influenced my outlook on life at an early age)
And in the description, I mostly quantified it by listing the various awards that I have won.</p>
<p>^I didn’t realise that was allowed. I thought portfolios were just for art/design-applicants. Otherwise I definitely would have added my portfolio. :(</p>
<p>^
Don’t worry, from what I read it doesn’t really influence the decision in any way so I don’t think that I’ll get in because of the portfolio :P</p>
<p>Thanks @Ragdoll!</p>
<p>I think USC (out of the schools I applied to) was the only school that tracked mailed items; I was just worried because they listed “HS/Coll transcripts”</p>
<p>Is anyone who received a likely letter going to join the Facebook group?/ Are we allowed to?</p>
<p>Typically how many people receive likely letters?</p>
<p>About 100 non athletic likely letters and about 200 athletic likelies (not certain about those numbers, but they’re close)</p>