Columbia

I got a letter from Columbia this week. I think it came on Tuesday. I have been so busy this week that I haven't had a chance to post about it. You can probably guess, though, that if I've been able to sit on it for this long, the news can't be that good. Unfortunately, I didn't get in. I was put on their reserve list. Basically, what that means is that after enough people have turned down their offers to create a vacancy, they'll read each application on the reserve list again and admit someone to fill the vacancy. They won't begin this until the end of May. This letter didn't sound as optimistic as the Georgetown wait list letter. I don't know if this is because they don't want to give false hope, or what. If I decide to remain on the reserve list, the suspense could last until the week before class.

I'm not sure that I want to stay on the reserve list. One aspect of being on a wait list is that any financial aid decision can't be made until I'm accepted. By that time, funds for scholarships and grants are pretty much depleted. It most likely means that a majority of the cost will come out of my pocket (as I repay my loans.)

Columbia was probably my first choice school. I don't know what it is, but I really had this desire to move to NY. Also, Columbia is such a great school. Moving to NY with our little family would have been very difficult. This will just be compounded if I end up getting accepted close to the beginning of the school year and we decide to go. I'll keep you posted on what we decide to do about the Columiba reserve list. I have to let them know that I want to remain on the list by the middle of March.

I haven't heard from any other schools yet. I don't know if that's a bad thing or not. I don't think it's positive, but it could just mean nothing. I was a little discouraged this week, though. I was reading through the prospectus that Duke published this year and ran across a line that said that most offers of admission to Duke are made by March 1. You can see why I might construe the silence negatively. The uncertainty also makes it hard to really reach a final decision about where we'll end up. Obviously, we also need to compare financial aid packages as well, and those haven't arrived yet either. Really, it's just not very fun being patient.

As an update, here is the list of schools I applied to. Those in bold have accepted me. Those in red put me on some sort of a wait list, and I'm still waiting to hear from those in normal font. As a quick reference, I've also posted lists on the side of the blog with this same information.

Columbia
Duke
Georgetown
Virginia
Chicago
U of Washington
George Washington
Boston U
Washington U (St. Louis)
BYU
George Mason
Utah
Chicago-Kent