<p>Everyone seems to be mentioning how important the essay is to admission at columbia. Does this mean that the traditional GPA, SAT, and ECs are less important to Columbia than the essay? Also there is much talk about being passionate; for me my passion is community activism (a mix of school leadership, political leadership, and service, does this count as a passion?) I feel as though i have a variety of interests from theater to academic decathalon to varsity skiing, i am serious about all of them but does variety and diversity of interests diminish passion?</p>
<p>Truthfully, and many people may disagree, I think a variety and diversity of interests DOES diminish passion. I'm a pre-frosh and I didn't include a lot of superfluous, stupid high school stuff. I didn't even mention that I've played the cello for 15 years (something kind of large that others might mention) simply because I wanted to focus almost exclusively on a serious passion (which was indeed musical, but not cello related). And I'm assuming they liked it. There's a name for kids that do a whole bunch of ridiculous, cliche stuff...a BWORK: A Bright, well-rounded kid. And that sounds nice, but I really don't think Columbia digs that type of kid. And I think most colleges are starting to adopt this attitude as well. Do something you love, and I mean seriously love...and hopefully it will be atypical like basket-weaving or playing an odd instrument REALLY well. But about the essay, I didn't write about something I did like work with little kids or something cliche like that "changed my life" and "opened my eyes." I wrote about my thoughts on certain books and music. I'm telling you, my scores weren't super stellar and I wasn't an athlete or URM. Passion and a good esssay is the way to go. Plus you'll probably enjoy life much more by doing something you love than a bunch of meaningless **** that you think is good for college.</p>
<p>The paradox is that you need to fit a certain profile in order to be competitive and 'match up' with the other candidates, yet also distinguish yourself in a unique way to possess an edge.</p>
<p>Your current profile of activities seems less than unique, try to put in some sort of focus if you want to have an application that stands out.</p>
<p>THere's a big difference between dabbling and being serious and committed to more than one activity. My son was admitted after highligting his two major interests (his essay combined the two); he also listed his minor ones.</p>
<p>The parent poster Soozievt has written extensively about her daughter who is attending Brown (also accepted to Penn and other schools). Not devoted to one area, she was valedictorian, a champion ski racer, played several insturments extremely well, danced, was into community service, etc etc. Everything she's done, she's reached a very high level of competence. Reading her activities made my head spin. But she wasn't just a BWRK, which implies a nice kid who did pretty well in several areas. She was a star multiple times over, and got into a wonderful array of colleges.</p>
<p>I really don't think it's necessary to "hide" interests, but I do suggest highlighting a couple of ones in your application to showcase the most important things to you.</p>