Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In at Harvard!

Strong student all around (GPA 3.9, SAT 1510), particularly accomplished in 2 areas. Teachers told us they wrote that he is one of the most passionate they’ve seen in entire teaching career. If I had to guess, the teacher recommendations were what put him over the top. Feeling so grateful and incredibly lucky!

Congrats! What made the teachers write the great letters? Of course, I am sure your child is excellent. Did he interact with the teachers a lot? Is it a private or public school? Thanks.

Private school. Small classes. Teachers got to know him well. He loved their classes and went above and beyond as a student in their classes. He discovered passions for those 2 subjects, and the teachers nurtured that passion.

Anonymous wrote:Columbia College and the School of Engineering and Applied Science released offers of admission to 2,218 students on Tuesday from 60,551 applications, causing the acceptance rate to plummet to a record-low 3.66 percent.

Of course no mention of the thousands accepted into SGS. The 1/3 of the undergraduate class that take classes right along with the matriculated freshmen. Columbia’s figures are skewed.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The core classes in the humanities at Columbia - contemporary civilization, literature, art, music, frontiers of science - are probably the best courses taught in the Ivy League for undergraduates. The students will carry this training and experience with them for a lifetime and use it not only in their studies but apply it to many activities and to other things throughout their lives.

The university spends millions in making these the best undergraduate courses available. Top training.

The Columbia boosters are more genteel than the UMD boosters but no less OTT

Seriously.

I am a lawyer and on a number of occasions when Columbia grads were writing briefs, they told me at the time, and afterward, how their core courses continued to be a wonderful help for depth and breadth to enrich their critical writing and to provide illuminating analogies to mine when arguing points.

And to write complex sentences using words like "enrich" and "illuminating".

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The core classes in the humanities at Columbia - contemporary civilization, literature, art, music, frontiers of science - are probably the best courses taught in the Ivy League for undergraduates. The students will carry this training and experience with them for a lifetime and use it not only in their studies but apply it to many activities and to other things throughout their lives.

The university spends millions in making these the best undergraduate courses available. Top training.

The Columbia boosters are more genteel than the UMD boosters but no less OTT

Seriously.

I am a lawyer and on a number of occasions when Columbia grads were writing briefs, they told me at the time, and afterward, how their core courses continued to be a wonderful help for depth and breadth to enrich their critical writing and to provide illuminating analogies to mine when arguing points.

Maybe, but opportunities in New York City always have things done in a grand way.

In at Columbia! Valedictorian, 1600, ordinary activities but all show leadership. Rejected or waitlisted from the other Ivies.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The core classes in the humanities at Columbia - contemporary civilization, literature, art, music, frontiers of science - are probably the best courses taught in the Ivy League for undergraduates. The students will carry this training and experience with them for a lifetime and use it not only in their studies but apply it to many activities and to other things throughout their lives.

The university spends millions in making these the best undergraduate courses available. Top training.

The Columbia boosters are more genteel than the UMD boosters but no less OTT

Seriously.

Anonymous wrote:The core classes in the humanities at Columbia - contemporary civilization, literature, art, music, frontiers of science - are probably the best courses taught in the Ivy League for undergraduates. The students will carry this training and experience with them for a lifetime and use it not only in their studies but apply it to many activities and to other things throughout their lives.

The university spends millions in making these the best undergraduate courses available. Top training.

The Columbia boosters are more genteel than the UMD boosters but no less OTT

Anonymous wrote:In at Harvard!

Strong student all around (GPA 3.9, SAT 1510), particularly accomplished in 2 areas. Teachers told us they wrote that he is one of the most passionate they’ve seen in entire teaching career. If I had to guess, the teacher recommendations were what put him over the top. Feeling so grateful and incredibly lucky!

Congrats! What made the teachers write the great letters? Of course, I am sure your child is excellent. Did he interact with the teachers a lot? Is it a private or public school? Thanks.

Columbia College and the School of Engineering and Applied Science released offers of admission to 2,218 students on Tuesday from 60,551 applications, causing the acceptance rate to plummet to a record-low 3.66 percent.

Anonymous wrote:In at Harvard!

Strong student all around (GPA 3.9, SAT 1510), particularly accomplished in 2 areas. Teachers told us they wrote that he is one of the most passionate they’ve seen in entire teaching career. If I had to guess, the teacher recommendations were what put him over the top. Feeling so grateful and incredibly lucky!

Congratulations!
I have a kid who was just admitted to the top two US boarding schools (not a Harvard level accomplishment but as good as it gets at his age). An influential teacher wrote the same thing in a rec: "best kid in my 20 year career". That wording seems to hold a lot of weight with admissions committees.
Much of it is the luck of the draw---is your child given an opportunity to show a teacher just how awesome they are? The stars aligned just right and my child was able to shine with this teacher in a unique way. I doubt it will happen again for him when college comes around.

The core classes in the humanities at Columbia - contemporary civilization, literature, art, music, frontiers of science - are probably the best courses taught in the Ivy League for undergraduates. The students will carry this training and experience with them for a lifetime and use it not only in their studies but apply it to many activities and to other things throughout their lives.

The university spends millions in making these the best undergraduate courses available. Top training.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ivy RD is out. Anyone in? Stats please.

Accepted at Yale, Columbia and Penn. Waitlisted at Princeton and Brown. Rejected at Harvard.

Congratulations! Stats/EC’s /hooks etc please

I say a major hook or hooks to get into 3 ivies.

Not in our case. No hook at all, no donor, no URM, no athlete. Humanities oriented. A lot of theater during high school; languages; volunteering.

Congrats. Yale is probably the artsiest of the bunch. Not that I know from experience. I was never that smart.

But don't forget Columbia for humanities. It's got the Core for students interested in humanities.

How is the core good for students interested in humanities? If you like those classes and would have taken them anyway you have to take them with a bunch of students who are there because they have to take them whether interested or not. And if perhaps you might have been interested in different classes you lost the chance to take them.

In at Harvard!

Strong student all around (GPA 3.9, SAT 1510), particularly accomplished in 2 areas. Teachers told us they wrote that he is one of the most passionate they’ve seen in entire teaching career. If I had to guess, the teacher recommendations were what put him over the top. Feeling so grateful and incredibly lucky!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ivy RD is out. Anyone in? Stats please.

Accepted at Yale, Columbia and Penn. Waitlisted at Princeton and Brown. Rejected at Harvard.

Congratulations! Stats/EC’s /hooks etc please

I say a major hook or hooks to get into 3 ivies.

Not in our case. No hook at all, no donor, no URM, no athlete. Humanities oriented. A lot of theater during high school; languages; volunteering.

Congrats!!!! I have a theory that the kids who get into Ivies get the best teacher recommendations— meaning they know their recommenders outside of class in other contexts and the teacher is able to say the student is one of the best they have ever had and can write a detailed recommendation. I would be curious to know what information you provided to the teacher for him/her to write the recommendation.