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| Preparing The Application |
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Letters of Recommendation
Letters of recommendation are
often the single most important aspect of a graduate school application. Your
letters should come from faculty within your discipline who know you well and
can comment on your scholarship potential and your ability to do rigorous
research. Give each faculty member plenty of time to prepare your letter of
support and provide him/her with a concise summary of your application and
qualifications as well as a copy of your personal statement.
Research/Work Experience
Successful applicants to Ph.D
programs at Columbia
generally have extensive research and/or work experience in the specific field
in which they are proposing study. Involving yourself in undergraduate or post-baccalaureate
research in your field will improve the
competitiveness of your application and your prospects for success in graduate
school.
GPA
Your grades will be evaluated individually in terms of
their relevance to your proposed area of study. Therefore, GPA in the major is
usually a better indicator than overall GPA. An upward trend in grades toward
graduation will reflect much more positively than the opposite. Though most
departments have no set requirement for GPA, most students admitted to Ph.D.
programs have strong GPA’s, generally 3.3 and above.
GREEmphasis on GRE depends on the department to which you are
applying. Regardless of your discipline, ideally you want to score between
600-800 on the verbal and quantitative sections. In analytical writing, 5.0+.
Slightly lower scores may not be prohibitive in some disciplines, but these
will need to be offset by other areas of your application.
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