Columbia University sent out its admissions letters on Wednesday, and clever applicants figured out a way to see if they were admitted before the mail actually arrived. Apparently, the admissions officers were photographed sending out the "yes" letters via FedEx, while the rejections went out via USPS. As soon as the photo was published in the Spec, applicants picked up on it:
FEDEX TRACKING SYSTEM BY ADDRESS! CALL AND GIVE THEM YOUR ADDRESS, ASK FOR EXPRESS PACKAGES COMING TO YOUR HOUSE---IF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IS THERE, YOU GOT IN!!! HIO!!!!! GO FOR IT! Someone got in already, sadly I didn't but oh well. Number? 1-800-GOFEDEX Call, say track your package, and then ask for a representative...and then tell them to track by your home address...good luck!
Columbia College only admitted 9% of its applicants, so there's going to be a lot of sad kids out there this week. Barnard and Engineering applicants fared slightly better, with 25% and 23% admit rates, respectively. [Related: Today's NY Times has an article on messageboards on the Internet and their role in admissions notifications this year. Semi-related: Harvard says that if your parents make less than $60k, you get to go for free. Let's see Columbia beat that!]
