<p>I just was thinking about Columbia's need blind policy and I just wanted to clarify something..</p>
<p>Did they ask a question like "what are your parent's occupations?"?
I might be confusing Columbia's application with the common application, but if they do ask this question, can't they estimate your family income and decide whether or not you will be asking for financial aid?</p>
<p>Yes they did...but I think that was a pretty standard question on all applications I filled out....so I didn't think much of it.</p>
<p>Yes, the section about your parents' occupations is standard on every application, but I don't believe the admissions officers use that information to gague whether or not a student will be asking for financial aid (the two might be related in most cases, but the link is indirect enough that it just wouldn't be right of them to judge that way).</p>
<p>They can much more easily tell whether or not you're asking for financial aid by looking at...the little box you check that says you will be asking for financial aid. ;) Yes. That's on the app too.</p>
<p>so am I screwed?</p>
<p>No. You're making the assumption that asking for aid is such a negative that it's an automatic rejection. Just think for a minute...how could that be possible?? If they admitted students that way, no one at Columbia would be on any kind of financial aid program, and that's far from the truth. The admissions officers are creating the student body for an institution of academic excellence, not screening members of a country club.</p>
<p>That's not to say they are 100% "need-blind" at the admissions stage. They'll tell you that they are, and it's true that if you're really what they're looking for, the financial aid issue won't matter in your acceptance. But it's also often said (though not by most working admissions officers) that if you are really neck and neck with another applicant in every way and aid money is getting tight, the officers will go with the student who can pay every cent.</p>
<p>But that's still not to say asking for aid always works against you--as I said, if you're right for the school and have managed to stand out, aid usually shouldn't matter.</p>