<p>i know this year especially that there are a ton of applicants to columbia...but how many of these applicants do you think actually have what it takes to get in? do you think a lot of kids apply just out of pure hope(dont we all though) or do you think the majority actually do deserve to get in(looking at rankings, test scores and GPA)....im just curious</p>
<p>I would say that oh, maybe 9.7% for Columbia College and 23.5% for SEAS actually had what it took to get in last year. However, the number of people who actually deserve entrance can't be estimated.</p>
<p>My first impression to the question what exactly what karot posted, but I was beaten to the sarcasm line.</p>
<p>By the way, what the F does it mean to "deserve" to get in? There are some people who have absolutely no chance and are pretty clear rejects, but the bulk of the applicant pool has at least some chance and merits a close reading of the application and some discussion among the committee. It's hard to say that ANYONE deserves to get in.</p>
<p>^ And that's exactly why admissions is a crapshoot.</p>
<p>There's some arbitrariness to the process -- especially at the margins, but it's not a total crapshoot. Just because most applicants are academically fit to do the work and pass classes at Columbia doesn't mean that the adcoms don't have a method to their madness.</p>
<p>They have a number of ways of separating out the lucky few from the many who will be rejected: they can get a sense of who really wants to attend Columbia, who has meaningful ECs, who is academically driven, etc. Some of the stuff is subjective, but it's much more than "I liked his essay about his dying grandmother, lets let him in."</p>
<p>Well, when I went to a Yale meeting the director said that about 90% of students are academically qualified. But as we all know, that's just the bare minimum for getting into college.</p>
<p>Really? The Yale person I heard speak just said that if they threw out everyone they accepted and took another batch there would be no noticable difference in the strength of the class... and that they could do that again
so about 27-30% of the aplicants are "entirely" the same...</p>
<p>so it's probably at least that high for Columbia too I think?.. >< bah, but no one can really tell.. I agree with Def, admissions is a total crapshoot ._. and we can all only cross our fingers.. and I should have stopped getting on CC after I sent in my apps >< why am I still here...</p>
<p>In my interviews among a handful of perfectly qualified applicants, there was one who really stood out in her achievements and personality - the depth and breadth of her thinking, really. That shone through to me in an hour's interview and I imagine that such things become clear to those who devote their lives to it. It's like becoming an expert at poker, or even stocks - there are many nonquantifiable things that you just need to develop a feel for.</p>