Essay Analysis
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11/01/2023

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September 20, 2019

Columbia University Essay 1

In 150 words or fewer, please list a few words or phrases that describe your ideal college community.

What’s the point of college (for you)? In other words, why bother at all? What are you hoping to develop in the next four years, and what are you hoping to DO with all that?

Once you’ve wrapped your head about where you are generally headed, now you’re in a position to say whether College Experience A is better or worse than College Experience B in preparing you for that future. This isn’t to say that you need to know exactly where you’ll be in five or ten years, but it helps to have at least a vague sense of even the KIND OF success you’d like to experience in life. What would be the ideal college community, to support all that? What stuff will make you flourish the most? What stuff will bring out your best? What stuff will propel you forward in the coolest, most exciting way?

It may be useful to think about some of the things you know to have the OPPOSITE effect. Where do you find your energy and intellectual curiosity and general drive… suffocated? What are the conditions you HATE? What are the conditions you know yourself NOT to succeed in? You can work backwards to find out what’s common to the environments where the OPPOSITE happens. The components of the environment that provide constant sparks that STIR something in you.

If it seems like you’re trying to write a love letter to Columbia here, it’ll be too obvious and get lost in the herd. If, however, it seems like you’re describing things you know to be true contributors to your INEVITABLE success, you will effectively FLIP THE SCRIPT and make it so that Columbia wants to NOT LOSE you to a competitor. This answer should be all about explaining in a very straightforward way what your ideal surroundings are, because as soon as SOMEONE ELSE can prove that they have those for you, that’s whom YOU will choose as your partner in crime over the next four years.

Structure-wise, this is one large paragraph or two crisp ones. You’ll wanna stay focused on two things: [1] Clearly establishing what environmental factors bring out the best in you, and [2] Revealing how exactly you’ll respond to those factors on Columbia’s campus. Do this a few times (a few separate examples), and you’ll end up with a taut 150 words piece.


You can also read through our team’s analysis of the rest of Columbia’s application essays.

Learn more and explore each step of Brown’s undergraduate application process here.

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September 20, 2019

For the four list questions that follow, we ask that you list each individual response using commas or semicolons; the items do not have to be numbered or in any specific order. No narrative or explanatory text is needed. It is not necessary to italicize or underline titles of books or other publications. Author names may be included, but are not required. You do not need to fill the entire space or use the maximum number of words; there is no minimum word count in this section, so please respond to the extent that you feel is appropriate.

Please list the following (150 words or fewer for each question):

  • the titles of the required readings from courses during the school year or summer that you enjoyed most in the past year;
  • the titles of books read for pleasure that you enjoyed most in the past year;
  • the titles of print or electronic publications you read regularly;
  • and the titles of the films, concerts, shows, exhibits, lectures and other entertainments you enjoyed most in the past year.

This is just a list, friends. Don’t overthink it. Depending on what your list actually looks like, you may want to make some intelligent trims to make sure the balance doesn’t work against you in any direction. Say you’ve read 100 graphic novels and three incredibly unusual biographies. You may wanna trim that list of graphic novels down so that the biographies shine a bit more. Find the balance that is most reflective of your unique preferences.


You can also read through our team’s analysis of the rest of Columbia’s application essays.

Learn more and explore each step of Brown’s undergraduate application process here.

September 20, 2019

Please answer the following short answer questions (300 words or fewer for each question):

1. PLEASE TELL US WHAT YOU VALUE MOST ABOUT COLUMBIA AND WHY.

The stuff you value about Columbia will be meaningless unless you show those things will somehow benefit you, and inspire you to do great things. You simply MUST make this connection for us:

Part I: I find XYZ aspects of Columbia University (in particular) appealing.

Part II: [This is key.] And this is why those things, when they mix with ME, will lead to greatness…

Think of it like a chemical reaction. Imagine you’re some kind of reactive substance about to be introduced to a bunch of different environments. Columbia is one of them. Why is THIS one the most explosive? Maybe the others foam and sizzle a bit, but when introduced to Columbia, you positively will explode (in a good way). Why? How? What is it about Columbia and NYC that will enable this?

Also, if your reasoning can apply equally well to NYU or another New York City school, it won’t fly. Or if your argument can apply equally well to another student, it won’t fly. It has to be specific on both counts.

As you’re structuring this, one very cool way to establish credibility is first to explain what it is (IN GENERAL) that helps you flourish. Give us evidence while you’re at it. Now, we must assume that many schools OTHER THAN COLUMBIA have some VERSION of these necessary ingredients, right? It can’t be that your future depends on Columbia, or else you’ll shrivel up and wither. Naw, you’re gonna be fine wherever you end up. You just have an opportunity to explain why Columbia’s VERSION of those ingredients is particularly exciting to you. Connect those Columbia traits to the stuff you established already. Do that a few times, and your 300 words will write themselves. So here’s an outline:

  1. Establish the circumstances under which you THRIVE… best, the most, etc. And prove it with an example or two. [125 words or so]
  2. Using two (maybe three) examples, identify SPECIFIC things UNIQUE to Columbia that map to traits you established in Part 1. Be ridiculously specific. [175 words or so]

2. IF YOU ARE APPLYING TO COLUMBIA COLLEGE, TELL US WHAT FROM YOUR CURRENT AND PAST EXPERIENCES (EITHER ACADEMIC OR PERSONAL) ATTRACTS YOU SPECIFICALLY TO THE FIELD OR FIELDS OF STUDY THAT YOU NOTED IN THE MEMBER QUESTIONS SECTION. IF YOU ARE CURRENTLY UNDECIDED, PLEASE WRITE ABOUT ANY FIELD OR FIELDS IN WHICH YOU MAY HAVE AN INTEREST AT THIS TIME.

A somewhat disappointing question from Columbia… we believe that it’s always a bit weird to ask someone entering college about their chosen major. It’s the equivalent of asking four-year-olds what they want to be when they grow up – there probably won’t be a meaningful correlation to what actually ends up happening. But consider it. The folks who wrote this question aren’t exactly dummies. They know what they’re doing. So why are they asking you to talk about your target field when they know it will probably change?

It’s all about the reasoning behind the reason here. “Ah, I like your approach. I like the way you think about your future. Wonderful, now go on and do whatever it is you end up doing, I trust you’re going to make cool choices and succeed.” That’s what it boils down to.

So, with that in mind, worry less about the “what” and pay more attention to the “why.” Justify your reasoning for pursuing a field (or fields). Make a nice clear argument. Explain where the passion comes from. Explain your attachment to the pursuit itself (less the specific outcome). Convince us that your plan is to succeed no matter what, even if your path ends up looking different, or even if your goal shifts a bit. Talk about your approach. Talk about process. Talk about the ASPECT of the field that energizes you. These are all “scalable” things. This is where the gold’s at.


3. IF YOU ARE APPLYING TO THE FU FOUNDATION SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND APPLIED SCIENCE, PLEASE TELL US WHAT FROM YOUR CURRENT AND PAST EXPERIENCES (EITHER ACADEMIC OR PERSONAL) ATTRACTS YOU SPECIFICALLY TO THE FIELD OR FIELDS OF STUDY THAT YOU NOTED IN THE MEMBER QUESTIONS SECTION.

Challenge yourself and try this out. In your “rough draft/ideation” stage, pen some thoughts about what you expect OTHERS will write. Do this two or three times. Almost smugly, quickly summarize the most predictable answer you can imagine here, that everyone under the sun will use. If it helps, label your scratch paper thusly:

Predictable Answer 1 – My interest in BLAH attracts me to Field X. (Boring.)

Predictable Answer 2 – My interest in BLAH attracts me to Field Y. (Boring.)

Predictable Answer 3 – My interest in BLAH attracts me to Field Z. (Boring.)

(Fill those “BLAHs” in, obviously.)

Now sit back, having gone through the motions of mindlessly capturing the most obvious responses here, and start YOUR version with the following phrase: “My attraction to Field X is actually an unusual story…” Or, “Most people don’t believe me when I tell them that my interest in this field comes from THIS.” Or, “The steps leading to my interest may make sense, but wait until you hear about my FUTURE PLANS…”

Where does it go from there? The more unusual, the more likely we are to BUY it.

This is important folks: Don’t make up an unusual origin story for your interests if you truly don’t have one. If your journey to Field X falls in line with what others are likely to write about, then you still have some strategies you can use. You may even call yourself out on it. “By all appearances, I must look like the quintessential {insert Nationality} kid with parents who are {insert parents’ engineering backgrounds}, who was encouraged to pursue the same field. Here’s the thing, I actually love it. Here’s the proof.” You can still make a convincing argument that way. But whatever you do, we need to buy it. In fact, imagine someone asking you this question out loud, you answer, and then they say in response: “I don’t believe you.”

What would your response be? It would go something like: “You don’t believe me? Well let me prove it to you. After I walk you through these three examples, you will be convinced.” (Go from there, see where it leads.)


You can also read through our team’s analysis of the rest of Columbia’s application essays.

Learn more and explore each step of Brown’s undergraduate application process here.

View more essay analyses.

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