Built for Speed COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY - SIPA Admissions Blog

Built for Speed COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY - SIPA Admissions Blog You could say that our first run through of completing applications is built for speed.   I can use myself as an example of how it works.   I will get a fairly sizable stack of applications that have been printed and place them on my desk.     I will take the first application off the top of the stack and open our application interface to see what has been tracked into the system to date. For applicants that submitted 100% of the documents online the process goes a bit faster.   If I look through the application and see that test scores were uploaded without a problem, all documents are clear, complete, and legible and all of the letters of recommendation have been submitted on line, completing the file takes just a few minutes.   The goal is for me to stay in one place and not move around a lot since the office is a flurry of activity. If I am going through the application and something is missing or is not legible, I will place the application in a follow up bin and move on to the next application.   This allows us to move quickly and when we have a large number of incomplete files, someone will be given the task of tracking down the missing documents.   Most likely they were mailed and are filed in what we call our loose documents file cabinet, or there was some circumstance out of the control of the applicant like inclement weather that lead to the cancellation of a test session or something of that nature that has caused a delay in the submission of a document or piece of information. At present we are over 85% of the way through our first sweep.   Of the files we review for completion, approximately 20% are missing a document or require some sort of follow up.   I am pleased with where we are and files have not yet started to go out for review. If you have already received an email message stating that your file is complete, please stay tuned to the blog for more information about the process. If you have yet to receive a message, do not panic or feel the need to contact us.   You are in the 15% of those we have not gotten to yet or might be in the 20% where we need to do a bit more work to complete the file. The more time we can spend on completing files the faster the process goes.   More than likely all of your documents are in, it is just a matter of waiting until we get through our speed sweep and then we will do our follow up sweep and match the missing documents to the file.   As a reminder, when a file is completed has no bearing upon the admission decision. Thank you again for your patience and I look forward to spending more time reading than sweeping in the near future.