My guess is that it's either the date on which you sent your application that matters, or the first letter of your last name..

I have a friend who got his decision at the beginning of March, surname starting with a C. Without my e-mail, I would still be waiting, surname strting with an R. Dunno if it's this, only a wild guess..

I suppose they have quotas by country, so it could also be alphabetical order by country of origin, or incoming date by country of origin..

Same here on Columbia,I understand all of you since I am in expactly the same situation.However(perhaps I was lucky), someone extremely kind spoke to me on the phone,and I asked expanations on the admissions issues.It does not seem to be that clear in the end(she actually covered all possibilities and gave absolutely no answer).There are three categories according to the phone person(credited on her,not me,I cannot guarantee this information):
A.Those admitted or rejected immediately
B.Those on waiting list already notified
C.A few others not notified and without any form of decision yet.
According to the phone lady,the third category is mostly people who asked for financial assistance,therefore they will be notified on both admission and financial aid.However,that is only probable.When I insisted on that issue,she said that it is possible for someone to receive admission first and after a while a decision on financing.
Also,when asked on how many people get finacial aid and what sort,she answered"very few" and "full or partial tuition waiver".
Since it was a quite long(almost 15 minutes) phonecall,I cannot recall all information she told me,so here I tried to give a summary of what I understood.If you have specific questions,please ask me,and I ll tell you if she said something on that(I usually remember many details,when asked).

i personally think that they follow a certain method of sending out letters etc. I dont know if they follow a particular system. Maybe its just random mailing.

Jekill- Thank you so much for the information! I feel much better now:) So I assume there is still a chance I am accepted... Are you going to Columbia??

i personally think that they follow a certain method of sending out letters etc. I dont know if they follow a particular system. Maybe its just random mailing.

From what everybody has posted, I am not feeling very optimistic of the fact of having been put on the waitlist. It seems that some files have not even been reviewed and hopefully for many of you more acceptances might be coming soon. Please keep us updated!
Am I the only one who is officialy waitlisted?

Emme,
If the person you've talked to was telling the truth, I mean, if there is still a group of applications to be reviewed (of those who applied for financial aid), then we should expect news from Columbia only after April 15th, assuming that the older posts about this subject are also correct. So, my friends, we'd better take some "tai chi" classes and relax :-)

@Dr_Jekill:
Thanks, sounds reassuring.
As a point of information: I received an e-mail from CLS on November 18 that my file was complete and my surname starts on the same letter as Jekill's :))))

I like somebody's idea that they should be using some system, be that random mailing ;) I.e., no system is also a system of its own kind :)))

no decision for me either.
they acknowledged reception of my latest transcript (sent last week) by email and told me that my application hadn't been considered yet. I'm begining of the alphabet so seems to be random (although it's true I sent my application close to deadline).

Reading all the posts, somethings make sense...i.e: both my friend and i applied together and sent in our application on the last day! She got a letter straight away in january saying she was unsuccessful but, I am still waiting to hear what's going on. When I called the lady said, they make decisions until the end of April. I also applied for financial aid so maybe its true. But, how many people does Columbia take-in each year? Because it seems like alot of people have had offers so far? I don't know what to make of the 'limbo' status...I just hope its good news at the end of all this!!!

Emme,
If the person you've talked to was telling the truth, I mean, if there is still a group of applications to be reviewed (of those who applied for financial aid), then we should expect news from Columbia only after April 15th, assuming that the older posts about this subject are also correct. So, my friends, we'd better take some "tai chi" classes and relax :-)

They just e-mailed me, answering my question when a decision will be made saying the following:

I am not sure, the decisions are ongoing through the end of April.

I got into the Graduate Legal Studies Program at Columbia and in the International Legal Studies at NYU.
Does anyone if they're both the same more or which is better as far as job oppurtunities are concerned? I'd appreciate some input asap because i have just 2-3 days to make up my mind.

Got accepted to Columbia this morning. So far I'm choosing between Oxford, Columbia and NYU.

With no funding, I think I'm leaning towards Oxford because it's only about 3/4 of the cost.

Congratulations!!!
Still waiting for an answer...

I submitted my application dec 6th and still no answer!!!
Not answer from NYU either....
Those admitted to CLS, did you received admission by e-mail??

Yes, by email. But the date of application obviously isn't a good criteria for knowing when you'll get an answer...

Has smb been able to log in on the admitted students website? - I have tried various times without any result (my basic concern is - is there any useful information and/or a forum / ...)

also, any further information on housing would be useful ! thanks!

I can't log into the admitted students website.

I assumed they would send me a new username and password with the official letter.

At the moment I've only been contacted by email but if you haven't heard I don't think it reflects anything either way. They are just taking a while to get through everything.

I have not received any other data: neither in the admission letter, nor in the admission package