Beating the odds: Columbia Reserve c/o 2016 Forum

eomea5 · Post by **eomea5** » Wed May 29, 2013 1:16 pm

slack_academic wrote:Boy I can't wait to get dinged so I can stop telling my family I'm "waiting on Columbia."

"OH, SO YOU THINK YOU'LL GET IN?"
"No, grandma... not at all."

+1... when i told family members i was waitlisted at columbia, i had a hard time explaining/convincing them that it's basically a rejection. they still ended up being much more optimistic than i ever will be.

RetakeFrenzy · Post by **RetakeFrenzy** » Wed May 29, 2013 1:20 pm

eomea5 wrote:
slack_academic wrote:Boy I can't wait to get dinged so I can stop telling my family I'm "waiting on Columbia."

"OH, SO YOU THINK YOU'LL GET IN?"
"No, grandma... not at all."
+1... when i told family members i was waitlisted at columbia, i had a hard time explaining/convincing them that it's basically a rejection. they still ended up being much more optimistic than i ever will be.

lol yeah.. it's not just Columbia... with every WL, family members think it will eventually happen...

06102016 · Post by **06102016** » Wed May 29, 2013 1:22 pm

LRGhost · Post by **LRGhost** » Wed May 29, 2013 2:05 pm

slack_academic wrote:
RetakeFrenzy wrote:
eomea5 wrote:
slack_academic wrote:Boy I can't wait to get dinged so I can stop telling my family I'm "waiting on Columbia."

"OH, SO YOU THINK YOU'LL GET IN?"
"No, grandma... not at all."
+1... when i told family members i was waitlisted at columbia, i had a hard time explaining/convincing them that it's basically a rejection. they still ended up being much more optimistic than i ever will be.
lol yeah.. it's not just Columbia... with every WL, family members think it will eventually happen...
So true. I don't bother explaining the improbability of it anymore. When one of them says something like, "But they wouldn't waitlist you if you didn't have a chance," I just say, "gee, I guess you're right!"

Eh, that is true.

porch · Post by **porch** » Wed May 29, 2013 2:06 pm

06102016 · Post by **06102016** » Wed May 29, 2013 2:07 pm

stone_fox · Post by **stone_fox** » Wed May 29, 2013 6:52 pm

RetakeFrenzy wrote:
eomea5 wrote:
slack_academic wrote:Boy I can't wait to get dinged so I can stop telling my family I'm "waiting on Columbia."

"OH, SO YOU THINK YOU'LL GET IN?"
"No, grandma... not at all."
+1... when i told family members i was waitlisted at columbia, i had a hard time explaining/convincing them that it's basically a rejection. they still ended up being much more optimistic than i ever will be.
lol yeah.. it's not just Columbia... with every WL, family members think it will eventually happen...

This. My mom was on a roll bragging to people about all the places I've been waitlisted. I had to softly let her know that you don't really do that, since the probability of being accepted is so low. She still thinks I'll make it in.

bailey8078 · Post by **bailey8078** » Thu May 30, 2013 11:08 am

So has anyone gotten a phone call yet? What happened to all the activity in this thread?

ht2988 · Post by **ht2988** » Thu May 30, 2013 11:19 am

bailey8078 wrote:So has anyone gotten a phone call yet? What happened to all the activity in this thread?

I'll be sure to report back after mine, which is scheduled for next week.

bailey8078 · Post by **bailey8078** » Thu May 30, 2013 11:26 am

ht2988 wrote:
bailey8078 wrote:So has anyone gotten a phone call yet? What happened to all the activity in this thread?
I'll be sure to report back after mine, which is scheduled for next week.

Thanks HT. I know it's a long shot but I'm still holding out hope that Columbia can be kind. Good luck in your interview!

BigZuck · Post by **BigZuck** » Thu May 30, 2013 11:30 am

bailey8078 wrote:So has anyone gotten a phone call yet? What happened to all the activity in this thread?

None of us are actually getting in, "reserve" at Columbia just means rejected. The Columbia adcoms were laughing at us for having hope and so we cut down on the activity so as to not give them any satisfaction.

CaptainLeela · Post by **CaptainLeela** » Thu May 30, 2013 11:36 am

Welcome to TLS

Monochromatic Oeuvre · Post by **Monochromatic Oeuvre** » Thu May 30, 2013 11:58 am

CaptainLeela wrote:
BigZuck wrote:
bailey8078 wrote:So has anyone gotten a phone call yet? What happened to all the activity in this thread?
None of us are actually getting in, "reserve" at Columbia just means rejected. The Columbia adcoms were laughing at us for having hope and so we cut down on the activity so as to not give them any satisfaction.
Why? Why do they use this system? It's a serious question, I don't understand it at all. Was there an incident with a rejected applicant at Columbia so now they reserve everyone? It's so perplexing...

Why do applicants apply to safety schools they know they'll never go to? To cover their butts. That's what Columbia is doing by having such a large number on reserve--keeping everyone they could potentially need, depending on how many people drop out and what areas (GPA/LSAT/URM/sticker payers) they need to beef up.

kola141 · Post by **kola141** » Thu May 30, 2013 12:10 pm

It's definitely not the case that "none of us are getting in." I have a friend who got in off reserve towards the end of July last year after a phone interview. That said, it probably is true that they go to reserve based on what they need (GPA/LSAT/URM/etc.) From the people who've been contacted here in this group, it seems as if they are trying to shore up high LSATs and they may have their GPA stats covered, which doesn't make me that optimistic since I'm basically a reverse-splitter with respect to CLS's medians.

It seems like the phone interviews were mainly given to people who maybe had something to explain. People here mention being asked to explain a low GPA or a resume item or something like that. Maybe some of us haven't been contacted about a phone interview because they don't need any more information from us? I can't really imagine being asked about a less-than-spectacular LSAT. This may just be wishful thinking on my part...

CaptainLeela · Post by **CaptainLeela** » Thu May 30, 2013 12:12 pm

Welcome to TLS

BigZuck · Post by **BigZuck** » Thu May 30, 2013 12:20 pm

kola141 wrote:It's definitely not the case that "none of us are getting in." I have a friend who got in off reserve towards the end of July last year after a phone interview. That said, it probably is true that they go to reserve based on what they need (GPA/LSAT/URM/etc.) From the people who've been contacted here in this group, it seems as if they are trying to shore up high LSATs and they may have their GPA stats covered, which doesn't make me that optimistic since I'm basically a reverse-splitter with respect to CLS's medians.

It seems like the phone interviews were mainly given to people who maybe had something to explain. People here mention being asked to explain a low GPA or a resume item or something like that. Maybe some of us haven't been contacted about a phone interview because they don't need any more information from us? I can't really imagine being asked about a less-than-spectacular LSAT. This may just be wishful thinking on my part...

Well, of course some anecdotes will get it. But for all intents and purposes we don't have a chance. This is the Columbia waitlist, not the Harvard waitlist.

Monochromatic Oeuvre · Post by **Monochromatic Oeuvre** » Thu May 30, 2013 12:40 pm

CaptainLeela wrote:
Monochromatic Oeuvre wrote: Why do applicants apply to safety schools they know they'll never go to? To cover their butts. That's what Columbia is doing by having such a large number on reserve--keeping everyone they could potentially need, depending on how many people drop out and what areas (GPA/LSAT/URM/sticker payers) they need to beef up.
I understand the purpose of a waitlist, but Columbia in particular seems to take this to an outrageous extreme compared to their peer schools. I wonder why they are so liberal with their reserve sysem.

I don't understand why other schools aren't. Shoving us on reserve costs the school nothing and keeps its options open. Sure, it make the process more nerve-wracking for students, but what do they care? In their mind, the worst you can do is withdraw. Columbia probably thinks they're doing you a favor because in their mind, giving you a 1% chance to get in is nicer than giving you a 0% chance. The only reason to ever deny an applicant would be if you just want to clear some files out of your system. It's a miracle schools send out as many denials as they do.

sc-123 · Post by **sc-123** » Thu May 30, 2013 1:16 pm

kola141 wrote:I have a friend who got in off reserve towards the end of July last year after a phone interview.

Any chance you can get in touch with your friend and post some tips / what to expect in the phone interview?

jmjones · Post by **jmjones** » Thu May 30, 2013 1:36 pm

Relax people. We're all getting in.

RetakeFrenzy · Post by **RetakeFrenzy** » Thu May 30, 2013 1:38 pm

jmjones wrote:Relax people. We're all getting in.

hahaha that's the spirit!

porch · Post by **porch** » Fri May 31, 2013 1:14 am

RetakeFrenzy · Post by **RetakeFrenzy** » Fri May 31, 2013 1:46 am

porch wrote:Lets all withdraw from the reserve okay?

aaaand i promise i'm not doing this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCn7Xk_6sb8

3, 2, 1 you didn't do it!

Lesterizer · Post by **Lesterizer** » Mon Jun 03, 2013 1:46 am

Any news? May 30 came and went, and I didn't get any notification whatsoever.

Tekrul · Post by **Tekrul** » Mon Jun 03, 2013 12:05 pm

Good luck everyone on your interviews today and this week!