Columbia Early Decision

Columbia’s applicant pool for Early Decision this year was its largest ever (photo credit: Andrew Chen).

The Columbia Early Decision application figures are in for the year. And the numbers dictate that this marks the largest Early Decision applicant pool in Columbia University’s history. With 3,296 student submitting applications to Columbia, the applicant pool grew by 5.4% over last year. But does a larger applicant pool necessarily mean that this year’s pool is more competitive than last year’s? Absolutely not. As you may know from reading our blog, colleges — including highly selective colleges like Columbia — encourage lots of students to apply, even students who don’t have a shot of getting in. They do this to boost their selectivity and, ultimately, their ranking in “US News & World Report.” A “C” student applying to Columbia doesn’t make the field more competitive for a strong candidate.

According to Columbia’s Dean of Undergraduate Admissions and Financial Aid, Jessica Marinaccio, as quoted in an article on the Columbia Early figures in “The Columbia Spectator,” “This is the largest Early Decision applicant pool in our history, reflecting a tremendous response to our outreach efforts, which included visits by admissions officers to over 40 states (plus Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico) and more than 30 countries on 6 continents; almost a dozen on-campus events; outreach by our alumni, faculty and other members of the Columbia community, and the dedicated involvement of hundreds of Columbia student volunteers who are members of the Global Recruitment Committee, the Multicultural Recruitment Committee and the Undergraduate Recruitment Committee. We look forward to the admissions committee conversations in the weeks ahead as we select the first members of the Class of 2018.”

Have a question on the Columbia Early Decision numbers? Let us know your questions by posting below. We’ll be sure to get back to you.