That Columbia Acceptance Letter Is Suddenly Not So Aspirational a Goal

‘Hail, Columbia’ is rumored to be quickly turning into ‘Hail, NO.’

That realization must be adding to the sense of panic at the school, I’d imagine.

It’s not bad enough that the school has to deal with the fallout from the camping excursions their coddled Jew-hating students went on during last year’s unbridled anti-Israel unpleasantness.

Nor that one of the ‘student’ leaders of that whole messy Palestinian Intifada chanting intimidation gang isn’t American at all, but an imported Hamas sympathizing thug whom the university has been enabling and protecting at the expense of Jewish and the rest of the student body’s safety. 

“Context”

Mahmoud Khalil told The Hill on August 4, 2024, that his organization – @ColumbiaBDS – was planning encampments, protests, “and all of that.”

The “all of that” turned out to be repeated violent takeovers of classes and buildings.

This isn’t about free speech. pic.twitter.com/DhKWdh4OND

— Shai Davidai (@ShaiDavidai) March 21, 2025

Among other foreign-born thugs – some who overstayed their welcome.

Palestinian extremist Leqaa Kordia was arrested by immigration officials Friday for deportation. Her student visa expired over three years ago.

The DOJ is now working with DHS as part of an investigation into Columbia’s “harboring and concealing illegal aliens on its campus.” pic.twitter.com/Ra6XwBHsYP

— Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) March 15, 2025

Then the Trump administration put the hammer down by yanking $400M in funding only to watch Columbia squirm as they cravenly try to claw back the funds by meeting the president’s terms. They need to agree to stipulated changes by *checks notes* today.

The violent anti-Semitics in the student body don’t seem phased by the possible loss of federal dollars. They were all hateful business as usual on Tuesday.

Chilling step-by-step ‘manual’ for anti-Israel radicals to sow violent chaos is circulated among Columbia students https://t.co/ZR2wuDRoT9 pic.twitter.com/cYUIRtP6vR

— New York Post (@nypost) March 18, 2025

Students who had once dreamed of an acceptance letter to the once- prestigious Ivy League university are now rethinking that, if not discarding the idea entirely.

It’s not only the continued and dangerous chaos on campus putting them off – it’s the fallout that’s beginning to manifest if they were to leave with a very expensive Columbia sheepskin. Where once upon a time, it was the entree to career worlds not normally open to your average community college graduate, now they are faced with balancing their dream against a hard reality. 

Some formerly discriminating employers who selected from the cream of only the Ivy Leagues, like Columbia, are candid about backing away.

 Some business owners are expressing opposition to hiring alumni from Columbia University amid ongoing pro-Palestinian protests at the Ivy League school in New York City.

In a post to X, formerly Twitter, Tom McClellan, the editor of The McClellan Market Report said that he will no longer be hiring “any recent graduate of Columbia, because that school is so tainted.

“And I furthermore will not hire any older graduates either, because it has become evident that the academic rot is so deeply ingrained as to taint others who have come through that institution in the past several years,” McClellan wrote.

THE ACADEMIC ROT IS SO DEEPLY INGRAINED

There is greater scrutiny from employers on job applicants who carry that diploma from Columbia or Barnard.

Nearly 30 percent of students who participated in pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses say they have had a job offer rescinded in the last six months, and two-thirds believe that it likely had to do with their activism, according to a new report by Intelligent.com. Even so, more student protesters say their activism has had a net positive impact on their job hunt (55 percent) than say it’s had a negative (15 percent) or neutral (33 percent) effect.

All this is leading high schoolers and their families to reconsider that pricey Ivy League education, or, at the very least, the school.

The consulting firms who help and coach really well-to-do parents get their children into the hoity-toity school of their dreams say they are seeing a real aversion to attending Columbia developing.

Columbia students scramble to rescind applications after Trump’s $400m funding threat

University’s brand ‘beyond tarnished and ruined’ after protests, says consulting firm

Students are considering rescinding their applications to Columbia University after the Trump administration pulled $400 million of the university’s federal funding.

…One student, who already accepted a binding offer to attend the university, said he may take a gap year and apply to other institutions because he fears the name no longer “holds the value it once did”.

…“The brand name has been beyond tarnished and ruined,” Christopher Rim, chief executive of Command Education, told The Telegraph.

“Two years ago if you got into Columbia you were so happy. Now it’s like, okay, well, what are the other options out there,” he said.

Families pay this firm as much as $120K over the years to get their kids into the best schools. 

…One student, 17, who has been using Mr Rim’s services for four years said he was “excited” to attend Columbia after he received an early decision in December. Students who are accepted early must rescind all other applications as part of their agreement to attend the college.

His elder brother did not apply to Columbia last year because of the protests and was accepted into Yale and Princeton.

As Columbia only has a 3.9% acceptance rate, competition is – or was – fierce, and I suppose families felt they had to do what they could do to guarantee the best for their children.

Right now, an undergrad year at Columbia with tuition, fees, books, room, and board sets you back a shade over $93K.

That Columbia no longer meets that ‘the best’ metric for this demographic should be concerning to the university.

There’s another metric which may be playing in parents’ decisions in light of the deportations of student agitators. There are 35K students in the entire Columbia student body and 40% of them are foreigners.

Forty percent.

First, it’s no wonder you hardly ever hear of an American kid getting accepted – that explains that.

Secondly, knowing that ratio, do you want your child to attend that university? They’d certainly get a cosmopolitan view of the world – I’ll give the school that.

Parents have to decide if their child is emotionally prepared to be dumped into a totally different environment. Not only collegiate but literally global in nature. Is that kid mature enough to handle themselves in a place with Columbia’s reputation, especially in the roiled state it remains right now?

Those are hard decisions when a kid has tremendous promise and big dreams.

Then again…

The WSJ reports that Columbia faculty and administrators are circulating this Simpsons clip as they prepare to meet the Trump admin’s demands.

“The challenge for the school’s leadership is to move everyone—faculty, students, trustees—to acceptance before Friday’s deadline.” pic.twitter.com/KwT14lUqsA

— Steve McGuire (@sfmcguire79) March 19, 2025

The school has to be worthy of your child.

Columbia doesn’t seem to be trying very hard.