Columbia 2010 Forum

[crackberry]

The status checker page says all decisions are mailed. I assume that means snail mail, because it'd be silly to pay for all the paper and postage to reject people, and not spend any money on the ones they want.

To be fair, HYS all accept via phone call and reject via snail mail, thereby satisfying these criteria. Granted, HYS also send follow-up packets to admits, but I'm just sayin'.

[georgina]

The status checker page says all decisions are mailed. I assume that means snail mail, because it'd be silly to pay for all the paper and postage to reject people, and not spend any money on the ones they want.

To be fair, HYS all accept via phone call and reject via snail mail, thereby satisfying these criteria. Granted, HYS also send follow-up packets to admits, but I'm just sayin'.

doesn't H reject by email only (the friday waves), or do they send follow-up letters afterward to make sure people know they've definitely been rejected?

[crackberry]

The status checker page says all decisions are mailed. I assume that means snail mail, because it'd be silly to pay for all the paper and postage to reject people, and not spend any money on the ones they want.

To be fair, HYS all accept via phone call and reject via snail mail, thereby satisfying these criteria. Granted, HYS also send follow-up packets to admits, but I'm just sayin'.

doesn't H reject by email only (the friday waves), or do they send follow-up letters afterward to make sure people know they've definitely been rejected?

Haha true. Whoops. Point stands for Y and S though.

[los blancos]

When can those of us who went complete in January expect to hear back?

[legalnoeagle]

When can those of us who went complete in January expect to hear back?

Well, some Jan completes have already heard back, and some Oct/Nov completes have heard nothing. There doesn't seem to be any kind of pattern developing. Then again, the admissions office might be full of sadists who get a kick out of making us wait for our WL/dings.

[los blancos]

When can those of us who went complete in January expect to hear back?

Well, some Jan completes have already heard back, and some Oct/Nov completes have heard nothing. There doesn't seem to be any kind of pattern developing. Then again, the admissions office might be full of sadists who get a kick out of making us wait for our WL/dings.

lol I'm squarely in WL territory. I'm hoping for a WL so I can take the June LSAT and try to get off of the WL that way if I don't get into CCNB.

[legalnoeagle]

When can those of us who went complete in January expect to hear back?

Well, some Jan completes have already heard back, and some Oct/Nov completes have heard nothing. There doesn't seem to be any kind of pattern developing. Then again, the admissions office might be full of sadists who get a kick out of making us wait for our WL/dings.

lol I'm squarely in WL territory. I'm hoping for a WL so I can take the June LSAT and try to get off of the WL that way if I don't get into CCNB.

Yeah, there was some movement in early/mid Feb, but it resulted in 98.9% of the posters in this thread getting held. It's been eerily quiet since.

[ferris1127]

Complete early December...still waiting. Makes planning a trip to NY hard when there are no remaining ASWs of NYU and Columbia that coincide (that I can make it to). Columbia has an ASW April 7-8 right? Same as Berkeley....I just wish i knew either way so I could ask off work and plan trips. Anyone want to join my club?

[superberry]

Complete early December...still waiting. Makes planning a trip to NY hard when there are no remaining ASWs of NYU and Columbia that coincide (that I can make it to). Columbia has an ASW April 7-8 right? Same as Berkeley....I just wish i knew either way so I could ask off work and plan trips. Anyone want to join my club?

Oh ya, I'm already an established member. Complete mid-Oct and heard nothing-worst thing is I'm in NYC now and can attend the NYU ASW, but won't be able to come back for a Columbia one. Boo.

Has anyone had any luck calling them and asking if a decision has been sent? My perm address is west coast, but clearly mail delay is not the issue here..

[lunu]

i've been "Completion pending" for 2 1/2 weeks now. Normal? Will it ever say complete or well I just get a piece of mail from them when they feel like it?

[BenJ]

i've been "Completion pending" for 2 1/2 weeks now. Normal? Will it ever say complete or well I just get a piece of mail from them when they feel like it?

You should go complete soon-ish. It usually takes about three to four weeks The status checker stops updating after "complete".

[foxyeconomist]

The status checker page says all decisions are mailed. I assume that means snail mail, because it'd be silly to pay for all the paper and postage to reject people, and not spend any money on the ones they want.

To be fair, HYS all accept via phone call and reject via snail mail, thereby satisfying these criteria. Granted, HYS also send follow-up packets to admits, but I'm just sayin'.

Unfortunately, crackberry, this is not an exception, but rather reinforces my assumption that a school would not spend more money on rejected applicants than accepted ones.
They have to pay someone to make those phone calls: a cost which would exceeds the $0.30 bulk-postage for the rejections.
If an admissions officer makes $40k (and realistically the dean making the phone calls makes much more); that's $20/hour, or $1 for a 2 minute call + 1 minute of finding the number, dialing and waiting.
By comparison, the cost of an email is $0.05-$0.10.
If you are just letting someone know what decision was made (and not providing supplemental information), a phone call is the most expensive way to let an applicant know he's been admitted.

[CG614]

i've been "Completion pending" for 2 1/2 weeks now. Normal? Will it ever say complete or well I just get a piece of mail from them when they feel like it?

You should go complete soon. The status checker stops updating after "complete".

So, it is just check the mail after the complete? No back way of finding out, like using NYUs admitted student site? Any expected time frame after going complete, or does it just depend on the applicant? Thanks!

[crackberry]

By comparison, the cost of an email is $0.05-$0.10.

Where does this come from? As far as I know, email is free.

Is this some sort of opportunity cost thing?

[booboo]

By comparison, the cost of an email is $0.05-$0.10.

Where does this come from? As far as I know, email is free.

Is this some sort of opportunity cost thing?

Domain costs. Server hosting. Personnel to rig software to send automated messages of some kind.

[cougarlive]

Has anyone who applied early decision but was "held" heard back yet?? Better yet, does anyone know how many people are in this boat??

I'm starting to think it was a soft reject...

[AliceB]

By comparison, the cost of an email is $0.05-$0.10.

Where does this come from? As far as I know, email is free.

Is this some sort of opportunity cost thing?

Domain costs. Server hosting. Personnel to rig software to send automated messages of some kind.

These are all sunk costs, which they would be paying for whether they used them or not. I agree, email is essentially free. And since when does it take someone 3 minutes to make a phone call?

[booboo]

By comparison, the cost of an email is $0.05-$0.10.

Where does this come from? As far as I know, email is free.

Is this some sort of opportunity cost thing?

Domain costs. Server hosting. Personnel to rig software to send automated messages of some kind.

These are all sunk costs, which they would be paying for whether they used them or not. I agree, email is essentially free. And since when does it take someone 3 minutes to make a phone call?

I know it has been a while since intro economics, but a sunk cost is still a cost. Of course, assuming we have some notion of amortization.

[utcris410]

Has anyone who applied early decision but was "held" heard back yet?? Better yet, does anyone know how many people are in this boat??

I'm starting to think it was a soft reject...

I was held ED. Have not heard anything back.

[foxyeconomist]

By comparison, the cost of an email is $0.05-$0.10.

Where does this come from? As far as I know, email is free.

Is this some sort of opportunity cost thing?

Domain costs. Server hosting. Personnel to rig software to send automated messages of some kind.

These are all sunk costs, which they would be paying for whether they used them or not. I agree, email is essentially free. And since when does it take someone 3 minutes to make a phone call?

I don't know why I feel compelled to correct you. It's completely irrelevant to this board, but I'm an econ major, business minor and spent a year and a half doing direct mail and email marketing, so I just want to resolve this.

Actually only two minutes were for the call. One minute was for dialing, waiting, and shuffling papers between calls. And the actual caller probably makes twice what my fictional example does. So maybe it's 2mins*$40/hr*1hr/60min=$1.33

My model did not include the fixed costs (not technically sunk costs) for setting up the network since I'm assuming Duke uses its network for a variety of purposes beyond simply sending email. In this case, the per unit cost of sending email is what's relevant. Otherwise we have to take into account what printers cost, what it costs to hire an admissions officer. We need to assume (and I don't think it's a stretch) that Columbia already has printers, admissions officers and a network and would have those three things regardless of how candidates are notified. Therefore it is the per-unit cost we should be comparing.

Sending a personal email is free. Sending mass emails is not free. Business typically need to use an email management company (and possibly special software) to merge and send mass emails, otherwise their server will get flagged for spamming. For example, all the Duke admissions and acceptance correspondence I've received has come through the LSAC server not directly from Duke. This type of service costs money, and is generally charged per email. (See http://www.constantcontact.com and verticalresponse.com for other examples of this service.) FYI, I had a job doing customer outreach via email and almost no mass mailings are sent from Outlook or Mail. By comparison, email is very cheap, but not free the way personal email is.

Okay, that's all I have to say about this; I'm not going to correct anyone else on this ever again. I don't want to derail the nerve-wracking discussion we should be having about who's hearing what and when.

Edit: And I'm wishing everyone a mailbox full of large envelopes today.

[bwana73]

Does Columbia send acceptances in batches? Is there a usual day, or should I just pitch a tent right next to my mail box?

[CoaltoNewCastle]

Does Columbia send acceptances in batches? Is there a usual day, or should I just pitch a tent right next to my mail box?

Depends on where you are. If you're near NYC, you could get it any day because you'd be one of the first in a batch. Even if you're somewhere else though, they do send them in batches, but some of the batches are pretty small and only one or two people in this thread report acceptances.

[nixxers]

Withdrew today!! good luck to all of you still waiting for your centaurs!!!!

[cougarlive]

Has anyone who applied early decision but was "held" heard back yet?? Better yet, does anyone know how many people are in this boat??

I'm starting to think it was a soft reject...

I was held ED. Have not heard anything back.

Anyone else "held" from ED? Good luck utcris410. Had you visited Columbia before? I think that is what got me held instead of straight rejected (well, I'd also like to think I put together a good application).

[AngryAvocado]

Has anyone who applied early decision but was "held" heard back yet?? Better yet, does anyone know how many people are in this boat??

I'm starting to think it was a soft reject...

I was held ED. Have not heard anything back.

Anyone else "held" from ED? Good luck utcris410. Had you visited Columbia before? I think that is what got me held instead of straight rejected (well, I'd also like to think I put together a good application).

In the past, being held ED has pretty much been a soft rejection. A few people who are Held RD typically get in, but rarely do they seem to get to the ED held crew.