<p>I can't move on to the next part of my application since I have a problem with the payment part and it'll take a while to sort it out. But meanwhile, I thought I can brainstorm about my essay. From what I've read, is it about reasons why columbia is appealing? And only 600 word limit?</p>
<p>600 character limit for Why Columbia.. dl the paper appl to see the essays.. there’s another longer essay of 500 words.. free topic</p>
<p>Try write about the Core, perhaps identify a book you would like to read, Polybius or Dante etc. My son wrote about interest in Renaissance etc got in RD, I am not saying essay did it but it can swing a close call.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Geez, sane teenagers actually want to read Polybius or Dante? What did you do to your S to damage him so badly? If you want to read a book, go to the library, don’t pay $200k for the privilege 
</p>
<p>Overall, I would say that this is bad advice. Doing this means that you are trying to tell the admissions officer what you think they want to hear, instead of what you think. Then again, my opinion is as authoritative as all the other posters on this board.</p>
<p>Note the recent thread:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/columbia-university/416138-how-much-does-hurt-if-you-wrote-about-city-why-columbia-essay.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/columbia-university/416138-how-much-does-hurt-if-you-wrote-about-city-why-columbia-essay.html</a></p>
<p>I’d still argue that writing about “the core”, absent more specific reasoning or consideration of what the core means to YOU, is a bad strategy.</p>
<p>groovygreek, I damaged him very badly, reading out aloud Plato’s Laws and Symposium, Greek tragedies, Virgil etc. He then became interested in the core, I used to call it the Great Conversation, is in SEAS but will take both LitHum and CC. I really must send him to a therapist, don’t you think?</p>