Question about the Columbia Supplement

Colleges and Universities A-Z Columbia University
1

<p>Or, rather, two questions. I'll warn you: both may seem kind of lame and amateurish, and I ask that you reserve judgment wholly. </p>

<p>Question 1: Regarding the "list the books you've read in the past year" thing, any tips on the number of books you guys are putting down? (Let me be clear. I'm not planning on making up a random list of 20 books that sound eclectic, and that I haven't read. I will have actually read the books I list on the application).</p>

<p>Question 2: When Columbia says "list," do they legitimately mean provide names and authors, and no other relevant detail. No hows and whys? I figured it was worth double-checking.</p>

2

<p>Q1- I listed as many as i possibly can. I filled up the pleasure and listed around 10 books for Required Reading
Q2-I actually listed. no authors</p>

3

<p>In regards to number 2, I reallyyyy want to put some hows and whys…Have any admitted students done this? Would this be looked down upon?</p>

4

<p>why… do you want to put hows and whys?</p>

5

<p>A little explanation can help reveal a lot more about you than merely a list.</p>

6

<p>what do you mean by ‘required reading’?As in,those that you had to do for school?Because,my school doesnt have any ‘required’ reading list…</p>

7

<p>Aren’t there (severe) character limits on the supplement? Back when Columbia wasn’t on the Common App, and we had to walk 15 miles in the snow in order to complete it, there was a limit of 300 characters on each of the supplement questions. You only had room to list titles (and possibly authors) but they didn’t expect you to give a reason. It’s supposed to be a list, not an essay response.</p>

<p>Regarding reading in school, perfect, didn’t you read books for English/history/philosophy in high school? If you read it for a class, it’s “required reading.”</p>

8

<p>Nah,im an international student and we dont have ‘required’ readings after what,8th grade.Thankfully for me,I read a LOT anyway!</p>

9

<p>The supplement gives you 600 characters to answer those questions…which is actually quite a lot of space.</p>

10

<p>I’m inclined to think: if Columbia wanted these responses to be developed in an essay format, they’d say so. The application is not meant to trick anyone. “List” means list. </p>

<p>But I figured it was something worth checking up on, since this is, you know, college.</p>

11

<p>I think the supplement of U chicago is more interesting. find Waldo haha</p>

12

<p>I am listing the books but I am also putting authors</p>

13

<p>Are you supposed to list first and last name of the authors, or just the last name?</p>