2011-2012 Columbia Application Thread

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masrawy said:
are interview invites over? i just sent a letter of continued interest... what are the chances of anything coming of this?
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I think a current student said a few posts back that the last interview date was Febraury 10th. So I imagine that invitations are over at this point.
 
masrawy said:
are interview invites over? i just sent a letter of continued interest... what are the chances of anything coming of this?
Click to expand...

The last formal interview is this friday. That being said, they have been known to do a few after the end date because your application stays open until decisions are made


I should also note that while post interview decisions come in march, they did send pre interview rejections a little earlier last year
 
This may have been answered already (I didn't see it though) but what is the percentage breakdown for initial acceptances, waitlists and rejections + how are the waitlists tiered if at all?
 
CloverHoney said:
This may have been answered already (I didn't see it though) but what is the percentage breakdown for initial acceptances, waitlists and rejections + how are the waitlists tiered if at all?
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200 initial acceptances more or less. 100ish off wait lists, which in the past hass been 600ish people. No firm tiers but people near the top often have personalized letters. People without personalized letters also get in, I'd guess most of those who didn't have personalization.
 
mmmcdowe said:
200 initial acceptances more or less. 100ish off wait lists, which in the past hass been 600ish people. No firm tiers but people near the top often have personalized letters. People without personalized letters also get in, I'd guess most of those who didn't have personalization.
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👍 👍

:xf:
 
mmmcdowe said:
200 initial acceptances more or less. 100ish off wait lists, which in the past hass been 600ish people. No firm tiers but people near the top often have personalized letters. People without personalized letters also get in, I'd guess most of those who didn't have personalization.
Click to expand...

edit: wrong thread. lol sorry
 
Hey mmm, do you know if Columbia is giving out all post-interview decisions by snail mail like they have in the past?
 
I believe this is my first time posting although I have been on this site for years...


I was interviewed at Columbia even though my stats are not near the average for people who get accepted (my overall gpa is low because of my initial years at college about 10 years ago).

Anyways, I'm going a little crazy because I sent thank you letters by snail mail and email to my interviewer and Dr. Nicholas but never received any reply. I also sent another email to my interviewer a couple days ago telling him how I have been communicating with people from certain clubs. I told him how helpful they all were and how my interests in Columbia have grown even stronger (he hasn't responded). Another reason I'm a little upset is that I was invited to go to a diversity seminar the day before my interview. I read the invitation by email a few days before the scheduled seminar and replied that I would be going. My ride canceled on me the day of the seminar and I emailed the school telling them I would try to get there by train or renting a car. It was too late for the train and when I called to ask for the rates on rental cars they told me I needed a credit card (I don't have one). I emailed the head of the diversity department telling them I could not make it and they said it was not a big deal but I think that hurt me.

I have a couple of questions. First, what do you guys think about my situation? Should I just expect that my interviewer is really busy and not worry so much? Also, I don't want to bombard the school with emails but I sent my thank you emails for the interviewer and Dr. Nicholas through the psadmissions@Columbia email address (instead of their personal emails). I stated my intent at the end of each thank you letter, saying that Columbia is my number 1 choice. Being that I got no response from either thank you letter I've been concerned about whether or not they received these emails. Should I email my interviewer again, directly this time, expressing my intent? Or perhaps I could resend my thank you letter to him directly and say that I was concerned that he might not have received my last one? Not sure what to do......

I know I'm being neurotic about this but I've been interviewed at a lot of schools and none of them compare to Columbia.
 
I think you're just being neurotic. I've interviewed at a lot of schools and none of them reply to thank you e-mails or letters.
 
Futl2Doctl2 said:
I believe this is my first time posting although I have been on this site for years...


I was interviewed at Columbia even though my stats are not near the average for people who get accepted (my overall gpa is low because of my initial years at college about 10 years ago).

Anyways, I'm going a little crazy because I sent thank you letters by snail mail and email to my interviewer and Dr. Nicholas but never received any reply. I also sent another email to my interviewer a couple days ago telling him how I have been communicating with people from certain clubs. I told him how helpful they all were and how my interests in Columbia have grown even stronger (he hasn't responded). Another reason I'm a little upset is that I was invited to go to a diversity seminar the day before my interview. I read the invitation by email a few days before the scheduled seminar and replied that I would be going. My ride canceled on me the day of the seminar and I emailed the school telling them I would try to get there by train or renting a car. It was too late for the train and when I called to ask for the rates on rental cars they told me I needed a credit card (I don't have one). I emailed the head of the diversity department telling them I could not make it and they said it was not a big deal but I think that hurt me.

I have a couple of questions. First, what do you guys think about my situation? Should I just expect that my interviewer is really busy and not worry so much? Also, I don't want to bombard the school with emails but I sent my thank you emails for the interviewer and Dr. Nicholas through the psadmissions@Columbia email address (instead of their personal emails). I stated my intent at the end of each thank you letter, saying that Columbia is my number 1 choice. Being that I got no response from either thank you letter I've been concerned about whether or not they received these emails. Should I email my interviewer again, directly this time, expressing my intent? Or perhaps I could resend my thank you letter to him directly and say that I was concerned that he might not have received my last one? Not sure what to do......

I know I'm being neurotic about this but I've been interviewed at a lot of schools and none of them compare to Columbia.
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1. I'm pretty sure that little things like that seminar won't matter in the end. Best to not worry about it..

2. Sometimes, faculty members may be instructed to minimize contact with their interviewees after the interview. I can't remember what the case was at Columbia.

3.I remember the psadmissions email being checked somewhat infrequently early on in the application cycle. Responses were sometimes inconsistent. You shouldn't worry about it too much if you don't get a reply to your emails; I'm sure if you sent something in, it'll be on file somewhere.
 
Futl2Doctl2 said:
I believe this is my first time posting although I have been on this site for years...


I was interviewed at Columbia even though my stats are not near the average for people who get accepted (my overall gpa is low because of my initial years at college about 10 years ago).

Anyways, I'm going a little crazy because I sent thank you letters by snail mail and email to my interviewer and Dr. Nicholas but never received any reply. I also sent another email to my interviewer a couple days ago telling him how I have been communicating with people from certain clubs. I told him how helpful they all were and how my interests in Columbia have grown even stronger (he hasn't responded). Another reason I'm a little upset is that I was invited to go to a diversity seminar the day before my interview. I read the invitation by email a few days before the scheduled seminar and replied that I would be going. My ride canceled on me the day of the seminar and I emailed the school telling them I would try to get there by train or renting a car. It was too late for the train and when I called to ask for the rates on rental cars they told me I needed a credit card (I don't have one). I emailed the head of the diversity department telling them I could not make it and they said it was not a big deal but I think that hurt me.

I have a couple of questions. First, what do you guys think about my situation? Should I just expect that my interviewer is really busy and not worry so much? Also, I don't want to bombard the school with emails but I sent my thank you emails for the interviewer and Dr. Nicholas through the psadmissions@Columbia email address (instead of their personal emails). I stated my intent at the end of each thank you letter, saying that Columbia is my number 1 choice. Being that I got no response from either thank you letter I've been concerned about whether or not they received these emails. Should I email my interviewer again, directly this time, expressing my intent? Or perhaps I could resend my thank you letter to him directly and say that I was concerned that he might not have received my last one? Not sure what to do......

I know I'm being neurotic about this but I've been interviewed at a lot of schools and none of them compare to Columbia.
Click to expand...

No it didn't hurt you to miss it. If you are concerned about the receipt of your letters just call the admissions office and confirm that they made it to your file. I would not read into not receiving responses, nor would I get too crazy with resending things without first checking with the office. As long as your letters are in your file they will be read when your file is evaluated.
 
Hey mmmcdowe you were my tour guide for my interview day. You did a great job, thanks! I was addressing my letter of interest to Dean Nicholas; would I be better off just addressing it to the admissions office and asking them to send it to him? I only have the psadmissions e-mail address.
 
Does a post-interview interest letter really help? Is it worth sending? Also, what if I have nothing new to update the admissions committee on?
 
muleta4 said:
Hey mmmcdowe you were my tour guide for my interview day. You did a great job, thanks! I was addressing my letter of interest to Dean Nicholas; would I be better off just addressing it to the admissions office and asking them to send it to him? I only have the psadmissions e-mail address.
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Send it to the admissions office and address it to him or the committee. Either way, it will be read by the appropriate individuals.
 
canibeadrplease said:
Does a post-interview interest letter really help? Is it worth sending? Also, what if I have nothing new to update the admissions committee on?
Click to expand...

If columbia is a top choice (or ideally the top choice 😀), it doesn't hurt to let them know. It isn't necessary however, many people never send any form of correspondance.
 
mmmcdowe said:
The last formal interview is this friday. That being said, they have been known to do a few after the end date because your application stays open until decisions are made
Click to expand...

Wait, so interviews are done? I sent an in-the-area email last week and received this in response today (I got the auto-reply last week):

Dear X,

Thank you for your email. Should the Admissions Committee decide to grant you an interview, we will try to accommodate the date you have provided.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any additional questions.

Sincerely,
P&S Admissions

Is it useless to send a letter of interest at this point? I have nothing to lose right? But if interviews are over, then there's no point I guess...
 
capn jazz said:
Wait, so interviews are done? I sent an in-the-area email last week and received this in response today (I got the auto-reply last week):

Dear X,

Thank you for your email. Should the Admissions Committee decide to grant you an interview, we will try to accommodate the date you have provided.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any additional questions.

Sincerely,
P&S Admissions

Is it useless to send a letter of interest at this point? I have nothing to lose right? But if interviews are over, then there's no point I guess...
Click to expand...

Additional interviews have been granted after the end date in the past. As you said, you have nothing to lose and your app is still open.
 
Thank you all for your responses..I really appreciate them because they all made me feel a little better.

I have one more question. At another school I went to everyone googled their interviewer on their phones to learn about them (because the names of the interviewers were presented ON the day of the interview for the first time). I thought this was weird at first and didn't know if it was wrong or not to do this. They did it so openly though and we were in a conference room where the faculty was nearby and could probably hear us. This led me to believe that these students were just more experienced than me. Anyways, I did this at later interviews and I even told one of the students attending the medical school what I was doing. Now looking back I wonder if there is something wrong with this. Would it be looked down upon if the school knew you googled the interviewer or is it common to look them up?
 
I don't think this is common or expected, although I doubt it would be looked down upon, depending on how you went about it.
 
I had one interview where the interviewer said "Let me tell you about myself ... well, you might already know because nowadays everyone uses their smartphones to Google us before the interviews," and he laughed about it. I don't think it's a big deal or a negative thing.
 
thanks guys...i'm curious as to what you think about this mmmcdowe, would Columbia look down on me? I didn't think it was wrong at the time and I even told a student who was giving me a tour at Columbia. When I went home I started thinking about it more. BTW, have you done this, or do you know of any of your colleagues at Columbia that have done this?
 
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Futl2Doctl2 said:
Thank you all for your responses..I really appreciate them because they all made me feel a little better.

I have one more question. At another school I went to everyone googled their interviewer on their phones to learn about them (because the names of the interviewers were presented ON the day of the interview for the first time). I thought this was weird at first and didn't know if it was wrong or not to do this. They did it so openly though and we were in a conference room where the faculty was nearby and could probably hear us. This led me to believe that these students were just more experienced than me. Anyways, I did this at later interviews and I even told one of the students attending the medical school what I was doing. Now looking back I wonder if there is something wrong with this. Would it be looked down upon if the school knew you googled the interviewer or is it common to look them up?
Click to expand...

Futl2Doctl2 said:
thanks guys...i'm curious as to what you think about this mmmcdowe, would Columbia look down on me? I didn't think it was wrong at the time and I even told a student who was giving me a tour at Columbia. When I went home I started thinking about it more. BTW, have you done this, or do you know of any of your colleagues at Columbia that have done this?
Click to expand...


Well it has definitely gotten more common now that everyone has a smart phone. No one is going to care, so long as you don't walk into the interview suite and point at the interviewer and state "I know who you are!" I personally googled every one of my interviewers back in the day when I was able to (had to find a computer on campus back then because I didn't have a smart phone). It was just a way of knowing of any mutual interests that I might have with them that would be worth bringing up if the situation presented itself, and also to know if they might be an expert in something that would interest me (i.e. student advisor of xyz group or something). I think I actually used the information I found maybe once over all of the interviews, but at least it passed the time.

Besides, we students that give tours are not involved in admissions process. We don't report back to the committee about our feelings on you guys. The only time I've ever seen students get involved here is if it is a relative, close friend, girlfriend, etc.
 
mmmcdowe said:
Additional interviews have been granted after the end date in the past. As you said, you have nothing to lose and your app is still open.
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letter of interest sent in a hail mary attempt. come on columbia! :xf:
 
Futl2Doctl2 said:
thanks guys...i'm curious as to what you think about this mmmcdowe, would Columbia look down on me? I didn't think it was wrong at the time and I even told a student who was giving me a tour at Columbia. When I went home I started thinking about it more. BTW, have you done this, or do you know of any of your colleagues at Columbia that have done this?
Click to expand...

I seriously wouldn't worry about anything like this. Interviewers and students alike are busy, actually...very very busy. So trust me, they don't over think these situations and neither should you (although it's not very abnormal to do this, so don't worry 🙂)

The best advice I could give you about your messages to the interviewers and this current situation with googling your interviewer is to not worry about it. There is absolutely nothing wrong with looking up your interviewer, my friends did it and I saw a lot of other students doing it while I was traveling around. No one will hold it against you.

You'll be just fine, just let the rest of the cycle run its course and I'm sure everything will work itself out.

Hope you hear some good news soon!
 
Hi,

Is it too late to send a post-interview LOI? Do you think that decisions have pretty much been made at this point??

Thanks for any input,

mika 🙂
 
My interviewer told me that decisions are made in "late February." Also, I just sent one, so I hope it's not too late!
 
mika2234 said:
Hi,

Is it too late to send a post-interview LOI? Do you think that decisions have pretty much been made at this point??

Thanks for any input,

mika 🙂
Click to expand...

I don't think it will have an effect at this point in the game. I would save it for if you get waitlisted.
 
mika2234 said:
Hi,

Is it too late to send a post-interview LOI? Do you think that decisions have pretty much been made at this point??

Thanks for any input,

mika 🙂
Click to expand...

Decision making is in progress, but it definitely isn't too late for a LOI.
 
Any idea when decisions will be sent? First few days of March? And by snail mail?
 
did anyone else get a semi-personal letter from dean nichols thanking them for interviewing? is it an early rejection?
 
I recently got a completely generic response to my update letter saying it was received and I was still under active consideration. Semi personal sounds promising!
 
LJ1000F, is this the same email you got? Is this the same message everyone's getting for update letters?

Dear X,

Thank you for your gracious letter and update of DATE, 2012. I deeply appreciate your continuing interest and enthusiasm for P&S.

We will continue to keep you very strongly in mind.

With all best wishes,

Steven W. Nicholas, M.D.
Associate Dean for Admissions
 
EyeLuvRcadeFyre said:
did anyone else get a semi-personal letter from dean nichols thanking them for interviewing? is it an early rejection?
Click to expand...

Was this in response to something you sent them? If so, it probably doesn't mean too much either way. If it was random, then I would think it looks promising as well.
 
rivercity said:
LJ1000F, is this the same email you got? Is this the same message everyone's getting for update letters?

Dear X,

Thank you for your gracious letter and update of DATE, 2012. I deeply appreciate your continuing interest and enthusiasm for P&S.

We will continue to keep you very strongly in mind.

With all best wishes,

Steven W. Nicholas, M.D.
Associate Dean for Admissions
Click to expand...

Haha uh oh, mine was basically that without the nice adjectives like gracious and deeply. Guess I can brace for the worst =O. Somewhere between the thank you email and update letter I must have done something to lose the very strong consideration lol.

Thank you for your update letter of 2012. We will include this letter along with your application. I appreciate your interest and enthusiasm for P&S. Your application continues to be under active consideration by the Admissions Committee.

I wish you all the best.

Though I had also gotten a:

Dr. X and I appreciate your interest and enthusiasm for P&S. I also enjoyed seeing you. I can assure you that your application will receive very strong consideration.

With all best wishes,
 
mmmcdowe said:
Decision making is in progress, but it definitely isn't too late for a LOI.
Click to expand...


Thanks, as always, mmm for the encouragement! Just got published today so I really need to send them that information.

Also, I wrote my interviewer a card and I got a very generic letter back. The file had the word template in it. So, I am not placing too much stock in the letter though it would be nice to.

So anxious for March! 😍
 
So is it a bad sign if I got a generic response instead of something personalized or encouraging?
 
rivercity said:
LJ1000F, is this the same email you got? Is this the same message everyone's getting for update letters?

Dear X,

Thank you for your gracious letter and update of DATE, 2012. I deeply appreciate your continuing interest and enthusiasm for P&S.

We will continue to keep you very strongly in mind.

With all best wishes,

Steven W. Nicholas, M.D.
Associate Dean for Admissions
Click to expand...

This is the basic gist of the letter I got. Just wanted to make sure it wasn't something like a very long breakup.
 
Yeah, that's kinda how I was feeling too. I'm afraid after all this time I've put in to waiting, Columbia is going to tell me they want to go on a break, and we all know that breaks never work. Especially if Columbia has another guy they like more than me, then it's just gonna get messy. And friends will have to pick sides, and they'll feel caught in between. Columbia will move on, but I'll mourn the loss of something great. Just to forever be another jilted waitlist/rejected lover of Columbia.
 
rivercity said:
Yeah, that's kinda how I was feeling too. I'm afraid after all this time I've put in to waiting, Columbia is going to tell me they want to go on a break, and we all know that breaks never work. Especially if Columbia has another guy they like more than me, then it's just gonna get messy. And friends will have to pick sides, and they'll feel caught in between. Columbia will move on, but I'll mourn the loss of something great. Just to forever be another jilted waitlist/rejected lover of Columbia.
Click to expand...
:laugh:

guys relax... easier said than done i know. just a few more weeks..
 
rivercity said:
Yeah, that's kinda how I was feeling too. I'm afraid after all this time I've put in to waiting, Columbia is going to tell me they want to go on a break, and we all know that breaks never work. Especially if Columbia has another guy they like more than me, then it's just gonna get messy. And friends will have to pick sides, and they'll feel caught in between. Columbia will move on, but I'll mourn the loss of something great. Just to forever be another jilted waitlist/rejected lover of Columbia.
Click to expand...

Ugh, yes, QFT my friend, QFT. I'm with you with every fibre of my being.
 
rivercity said:
Yeah, that's kinda how I was feeling too. I'm afraid after all this time I've put in to waiting, Columbia is going to tell me they want to go on a break, and we all know that breaks never work. Especially if Columbia has another guy they like more than me, then it's just gonna get messy. And friends will have to pick sides, and they'll feel caught in between. Columbia will move on, but I'll mourn the loss of something great. Just to forever be another jilted waitlist/rejected lover of Columbia.
Click to expand...

Haha, no girl likes a pessimist 😉 Only a month or so left, let's stay positive!

Just sent an update letter (via email) and updated transcript a few days ago.
 
ha..mmmcdowe I didn't know it was you who answered my question...when i look at this site from my phone it only shows numbers not names, thanks!
 
aside from the fafsa...are we supposed to fill out anything else prior to hearing the adcom decision?
 
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