<p>How much weight in admission does Columbia place on having excellent recommendations, essays, and evaluations?</p>
<p>Both are very important. You need the whole package to get in.</p>
<p>Take it for what it’s worth, but after speaking with his contact in admissions, an alumni interviewer I know said that this year they are “looking even more at recommendations.” Not sure how accurate a statement that is nor how representative it is of the entire admissions office’s policy, but it’s something to consider. Personally I can’t think of a reason why they would put more emphasis on recs this year in particular so it could just be a load of fluff, but it’s what I heard.</p>
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<p>It’s a load of fluff. They don’t put “emphasis” on any one piece of the application. Rather, they consider everything and it all adds up to who you are.</p>
<p>Exactly what I thought. It’s really not as if they can gather all the readers and tell them “OK, this year we’re going to read X part extra carefully and let it color our views of the applicant 17% more than Y part does, and make sure to factor in something like 8% of your feelings about Z part of the application.” I understand it doesn’t work that way. Ah well, at least it’s nice to dream for those of us who are happy with our recs…</p>