01 Aug 2020

Columbia University

Computer Science, Masters (F20)

Accepted via POST on 10 Apr 2020

Note

TTPB asking about the acceptance rate. This year they had an acceptance rate of ~14% (I was on the admitted student webinar and they informed this thing to us on the webinar; there were many questions asked on this) probably because of Covid I presume (they might have had even lower acceptance rate before I guess). They are very selective and being an IVY league they tend to reject many deserving applications (many people on gradcafe have highlighted this thing over and over again; I agree with this), I have friends who deserved admission but were rejected. Moreover, it is difficult to predict chances of admission to top 20 unis even if you have a solid profile. For instance, I have a Granted Patent as the first inventor, Publication in Q1 IEEE journal (IEEE Access; First and only author), Published over 8 papers in springer (all as first author), produced my own security protocols which received the status of Granted Software Copyrights, Did research internship in DRDO (Indian Defence) and was an external reviewer for IEEE Access. I had a GPA of 8.97 from top Indian Private Institute, had strong recommendation letters (all highlighting my research capabilities), and solid background in security. I applied to 7 unis and was accepted to CMU, UCLA, NYU, USC, Columbia for computer science and got rejected from JHU, UofC. Although, the programs I was accepted to are better than JHU and UofC, my point is that no one can predict there chances of admission to top unis. It is very likely that you get rejected from your safe choice and accepted to your dream school. I will be attending Columbia over all the other offers as Columbia is my dream school. For others waiting, I know few people who are on the same boat, I guess they will announce something very soon. I am very pissed as of why they have not yet released the results. I am waiting for my best friend to get accepted so that we can go together, that's the reason I kind of check the gradcafe website everyday. I feel they are waiting for students to update the university if they cannot make it to Columbia in fall or spring so that they can release the results. In there recent email to the admitted students they had this in the email: "If you are no longer planning to enroll at Columbia in either Fall or Spring, please let me know right away." I hope this gives you some clarity! Because I feel there is still some hope! All the best to others who are waiting!

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