Hi everybody,
I am currently a freshmen at University of Southern California. I am planning on transferring to CU for Fall 2016. Now I am brainstorming ideas for my application. I created a map of all my ideas. Anybody can help me have a look at it? I really want to hear some advice from current Columbia students. What should I add? what should I remove?
Here is a link to the map that I created.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/s23ovtrjjzqsmns/Columbia%20MindMap.pdf?dl=0
Thank you in advance!!!
You seem well planned out…I think u shud write the essays then ask for help. MAke sure to spend only a sentence on each twig and a paragraph for each branch. Good luck!!
Thank you for your encouragement. I will try my best to compose my essays
A lot of this stuff could be generalized to any given applicant to Columbia. As @RerunGirl pointed out, none of us know how this is going to be actualized. But make sure that your essays are specific to you. It’s helpful to tell stories about yourself in your application. It seems like your essays are more about your way of thinking than specific things that have happened to you. That’s fine, but make sure they aren’t completely abstract - the committee probably wants to know who you are, what you’ve done. For example, under “more intellectual stimulus,” you list both “more competition” and “sense of belonging.” Most people would mark those two qualities as polar opposites, and yet you seem to think they go hand-in-hand. What makes you think that? What experiences have you had that make you believe that increased competitiveness means increased sense of belonging?
For stuff like “cooperation / group work,” make sure to put it in terms that are actually human - for example, describe what one of your meetings with your friends might look like, rather than just saying you can work well with others. Your essays really make or break your application - either you can write about yourself creatively, and paint yourself as an interesting person with interesting thoughts, or you can just write a lot of boring stuff about leadership, etc. You have a shot at the former with this material, as long as you realize it in an interesting and compelling way.
Thank you for your advice. I am really enlightened by your words in someway. I will try to work on the paradox you mentioned. It seems a pretty good jumping board for my whole essay.