Great seeing people who got admitted for Fall 2016! This gives me hope as I just got started writing my essay. Speaking of which, I was wondering if you guys can give me tips on making it competitive?
Aside from my personal introductions, I plan to talk about the Core Curriculum, possibility of studying abroad in Berlin (currently learning German), and Columbia’s Globalization Initiative.
Your goal should be to eloquently convey three very important things in the essay: 1) Why you are a nontraditional student, and how that has shaped who you are today, 2) What specifically at Columbia you want to study and why, and 3) How that will help you accomplish your goals down the line. Ideally, you want to strike the perfect balance between the first (autobiographical) and the latter two. I personally struggled a lot with this, and went through several drafts before arriving at a final essay. The major obstacle I encountered was meeting the word count, which eventually I exceeded, and you can do as well - just make sure the additional text is meaningful. Imagine your essay adequately describing your background and why you’re nontraditional in the first 1000 words, and then it smoothly transitioning into the second half with your life story providing the background of what led you to want to study whatever major you will pursue.
Thanks @nickdrake! You’re very active on this forum and it is much appreciated.
For “What specifically at Columbia you want to study and why,” do you think it’s worth talking about what I mentioned above? I wish to study international economics so I’d thought [above] would support my incentive to study at Columbia.
I was also thinking about mentioning specific courses by Sunil Gulati, a senior lecturer in global economics that I would love to learn from.
I don’t think this applies to Columbia GS, since the GS admissions office doesn’t receive nearly as many applications as does the CC/SEAS office, but it is generally recommended to avoid writing about the Core. Essays play a major role in the admissions process, so counselors are often struck by essays that stand out among the rest - thus, many, among the thousands that apply, are bound to write about the core and NYC as factors that led them to apply. That’s not to say that these aren’t TOTALLY legitimate reasons for wanting to go to Columbia, but the idea is to convey a genuine sense of interest in the school - writing about these two topics can often misconstrue that (feels like a cop-out). Again, the GS admissions process is very, very different, but if you want to err on the side of caution, maybe avoid writing about the core.
My advice would be to focus more on the Columbia Globalization Initiative, how international economics ties into this, and yes, I would absolutely mention the specific professor at Columbia that you wish to take courses with - it shows you’ve done your research. Then again, you only have roughly 2000 words to sufficiently elaborate on all these things, so maybe just go with one or two sentences on this lecturer.