<p>I am completing the Columbia application for RD. The activities section, School Related Activities says "Limiting yourself to the space provided, please list (in order of importance to you) the activities to which you have given your time (within your school setting). Please refrain from submitting additional information."</p>
<p>Does this mean I cannot send in a resume? There is another area for supplementary materials--but I think this has to do with art and science accomplishments. </p>
<p>there's actually a girl on my floor who met her admissions officer and she found out that she was deferred early (but got in regular) because she didnt follow the directions on the app and wrote too much about herself. the woman said my friend was an amazing candidate, but they couldnt accept her early because she didnt follow directions.</p>
<p>lesson learned: follow the directions exactly as they are written</p>
<p>and by contrast, I attached, well not a resume, but a "Summary of Activities and Accomplishments", where I gave some bullet points and had to cut it down to one page. My Why-Columbia blurb was on a separate sheet of paper (and was ~150 words). I had 4 recommendations (2 teachers, my principal, and my boss at my job).</p>
<p>In other words, I was pretty poor at following the letter of the law when applying to Columbia. Any admissions officer reading that would assume that I don't do too well with arbitrary authority or constraints. And they would have been right. And they admitted me anyway, and I unorthodox'd my way to a 3.9 GPA while doing a bunch of activities, so clearly they made a decent bet.</p>
<p>And I still don't follow directions, which is why I'm on this site during business hours. As long as you know the limits of reasonableness, sometimes it's ok to say "screw 'em!"</p>
<p>It honestly depends on the situation. If you REALLY used the app to its fullest extent and feel that there is a substantial part of the picture that the admissions officers would be missing, then MAYBE you could consider attaching a resume. The way I see it is this...the vast majority of people applying to Columbia are probably pretty impressive and most likely have resume material to fill several pages. It's part of the challenge to present yourself on the app and (I don't want to make this sound bad...) it makes it seem like you somehow think you're much more special than everyone else that you just couldn't condense yourself on the app. My personal take on it.</p>
<p>wow....this is a test about following directions, a challenge of condensation? I feel that the application is really limiting then...but, I guess I have to follow what it says. Thanks so much for your advice, as I will now detach my resume from the pdf add-on part...</p>
<p>A true resume, where you list job qualifications, is probably inappropriate. what 17-year-old has job quals that will make a difference to a college? probably nothing. they have your contact info and educational background. the only thing they'd want to know about is your activities and accomplishments from high school, in the most condensed way possible.</p>
<p>I didn't mean a resume in that sense, with job qualifications and the standard list of information. Rather, the resume I composed for the common app is a list of activities, accomplishments, employment, community service, etc....</p>
<p>**** I attached a report I wrote for my internship... do you guys think if I called them and explained they might take it off, or at least not penalize me?</p>
<p>want2bivy - if you are involved in many activities, or feel that there is not enough space on the application, and that without this "resume" a substantial amount about your interests and accomplishments would we be missing, by any means do submit it. An admission officer would most likely not be upset if the information does indeed help paint a better picture of you. As long as it justified in that sense, the school will understand why you submitted it, in which case you would likely not be subjected to any propaganda.</p>