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Is Columbia's "On Hold" essentially a Waitlist?

No. Reserve is a waitlist. Hold means the same as it does at every other school.

Ok, so what does "Hold" mean? I don't understand the difference....

Everybody will tell you that Hold is different. In fact, it's basically the same.

Some people right now are on Hold, while others are "first reserve". Hold means that you're on a waitlist that gets reviewed in April. You either get accepted, rejected, or sent to the second circle of hell, first reserve. The same cycle happens here in May. You might get the pleasure of landing in second reserve, which is the penultimate wait list.

According to the threads I read from last year, there are a few that get admitted from Hold in mid-April, then a few trickle in towards the end. The rest get rejected or soft-rejected (reserved).

Hold means you are still in the regular applicant pool and they will still get back to you before deposits are due in early May, whereas waitlist means you are no longer in contention for immediate admission and will not be re-evaluated until sometime over the summer, once spaces open up. I think one reason a hold confuses people so much is because it's essentially meaningless - it's a way of saying 'btw, no decision on you yet.' Some schools use it when they have promised a decision in a certain time frame, like within four months of the application, and then don't feel like making one.

BaiAilian2013 wrote:Hold means you are still in the regular applicant pool and they will still get back to you before deposits are due in early May, whereas waitlist means you are no longer in contention for immediate admission and will not be re-evaluated until sometime over the summer, once spaces open up. I think one reason a hold confuses people so much is because it's essentially meaningless - it's a way of saying 'btw, no decision on you yet.' Some schools use it when they have promised a decision in a certain time frame, like within four months of the application, and then don't feel like making one.

Except that it's totally a wait list, because they don't look at you again until April (note the email requests from Columbia to Held applicants asking for LOCI's before the 7th). You're not in the 'regular applicant pool' at all. They don't continue to consider you, and Held applicants don't get decisions until mid to late April.

If last year is any indication, most of us get sent to the "real" wait list, then are never heard from again.