While most of you are probably relieved to have exited Columbia's campus, free of Butler and Lerner for an entire summer, there's an entire generation of earnest young people who just can't wait for August. They were born in 1990, their SATs were probably out of 48,000, and we're calling them the Terrible 12s.

Every now and then Bwog likes to take a look at their Facebook activities, and oh what a bevy of activity there's been! A certain hyper-social member of the the Columbia - Class of 2012 group who calls himself "Stephan" has already volunteered his Carman room for a party the first night of Orientation, giving ResLife nearly three months to prepare for the task of breaking up the party.

Within another group, this one dedicated to the good folk of Carman, "Stephan", who Bwog can only hope is an English major, again advertises his fete by announcing: "we r throwin da sickest party to get the year started rite.... Carman the sexyest dorm house ever.... we're goin show these other dorms who runs shit..."

Other burning questions amongst the Terrible 12s on the "2012" group include marijuana (answer, according to one: "DO IT, DUH.") and the virtues of their own individuality ("I beat all the varsity girls [but a couple] on the crew team on my erg score [rowing machines, for those who aren't familiar with ergs] my freshman year.")

Looking forward to meeting you, 12s! See you at Stephan's party.

As our tipster notes, today is the first of two Days on Campus, and Columbia's crawling with prefrosh and their parents. Here's a choice quote from the activities fair held earlier today in Lerner:

Columbia Student to a prospective student, while convincing him to sign up for a student group: So, where are you from?

Prospective Student: New Jersey.

Columbia Student: All right, dirty Jerz!

Prospective Student: Haha... yeah.

His mom, as the prospective student cringes: Actually, we're from one of the most desirable counties in the nation.

The day that the frequenters of collegeconfidential.com live and die by has finally arrived, as Columbia's admissions letters to the class of 2012 have officially been mailed out, and online decisions were posted as of 5:05 p.m. last night. Amidst a careful navigation of the daily chaos that is the post-CC or Lit Hum reunions of friends that one might see daily in the lobby of Hamilton Hall, this bwogger witnessed yesterday Columbia's Director of Admissions Jessica Marinaccio finally at ease, with arms crossed and an unmistakeable cheshire grin on her face, as she towered over myriad hand trucks and several bins of yellow envelopes (looks like they are going with DHL this year) being hauled by burly Columbia athletes into the Admissions Office. These letters of admission it seems were to undergo a final inspection before being mailed out to nervous pre-frosh nationwide first thing this morning.

Sure pre-frosh can be a little irritating, but their idealism and eagerness can be charming... right? For 2012, Arianna Feinberg was courageous enough to jump-start the pre-frosh profiles.

Hometown: Paukakalo, Maui, Hawaii
Prospective Major: Sustainable Development, International Relations, Political Science, History
Prospective Dorm: John Jay or Carman (I am still torn, but recently I have wanted a single)

How long do you think it'll take you to lose your...

Dignity? This is a bit tricky, because I generally don't care what anyone thinks of me. So as far as my dignity is concerned, I may have already lost it or I will never lose it or possibly I have never had it.
Moral compass? I have a pretty strong hold on my moral compass, so hopefully never.
Sanity? I am already ridiculously crazy.


2010 had the myspace, 2011 dominated on facebook, but 2012 went above and beyond, ED on facebook. Does this milestone make you proud?
I would not say I am particularly proud, but with one of my friends' encouragement, I joined the facebook group 45 minutes after I found out, so I am definitely a part of the group's enormous success. To be honest, joining the group oddly made my going to Columbia next year a reality. I am completely addicted to procrastinating on the internet, so seeing the growth and activeness of the CC '12 group made me feel comforted that my future classmates have my same vice. The group has actually made me slightly pessimistic about next year because people's comments seem sort of lame. I hate it when people abbreviate excessively such as "how r u?" and "lmao" and I want to vomit whenever someone writes ";)". At first I found it humorous that a bunch of 2011 kids were sarcastically giving advice, but then it sort of made me sad that the current freshman at Columbia have nothing better to do than haze younglings.

Though applicants are not notified until the fifteenth, at least 47 of 2012's damndest have gained Early Early Admission acceptance. Congratulations?

Naturally, the sneaky 47 have already made a Facebook group, thereby getting a healthy head start on the path from (best!) Facebook friends (forever!) to avoiding eye contact during the Blaze.

UPDATE 9:51 PM: 2012 begins defending themselves on Bwog. Also, the ED notices were apparently posted online today at 5 PM.

Today, Jake Shapiro—son of J-School professor Michael Shapiro and New York Times foreign editor Susan Chira—became a man. Bwog found Jake playing air hockey on the fifth floor of Lerner. Jake, a student at School at Columbia, had arrived minutes earlier from his Torah reading, for which he explained he was "troubled by disturbing suspense."

Easily defeating his opponent from a second game of air hockey, Jake stepped away from the table and reported that he was having a lot of fun. Though he "didn't have a favorite present" and says he hasn't opened them all yet, he spoke excitedly about the Mac (with Leopard!) his parents had given him for his 13th birthday.

It was four years ago that Jake's sister, Eliza, a 17-year-old who hopes to go to Columbia (welcome to CC '12, Eliza!), also held her Bat Mitzvah reception in Lerner. Jake isn't sure whether or not he plans on applying here, but hopes to become a scientist. "Well, a scientists who teaches," he clarified.

Jake's ten-year-old cousin, Luke—son of Columbia Shakespeare professor James Shapiro—was also in attendance. Luke looked positively dapper in a red power-tie and crisp white oxford. Though Luke played basketball for the entirety of the interview, he categorized the foosball table as his "favorite game here."

Luke, ever a gentleman and a scholar, diplomatically explained that he didn't have a favorite Shakespeare play, but he's "seen a lot of plays and likes them all."

Suddenly, a man came bounding down the Lerner ramps. "Hi, Jake?" he asked, joining the conversation with a furrowed brow. "Hi, Dad!" Jake replied, cheerily.

Journalism professor Michael Shapiro introduced himself to a sheepish Bwog. He eyed Bwog's reporter's notebook and digital camera. Jake scurried to greet guests, Luke returned to his electronic indoor basketball.

- JNW

While most of Columbia is away on fall break, high school students invaded campus. Today Columbia was host to the Scholastic Press Association Conference. Bwog managed to snap a few shots of these youths in bloom.

Face-to-face with his former self, Bwog staffer and summer denizen Armin Rosen reflects on the pre-college phenomenon. More after the jump.

Of all the traumatic events that marred what would have otherwise been a happy and productive middle school career, my brush with president Dwight David Eisenhower was one of the worst. Going to an unfamiliar, far-off corner of the globe with People to People--Eisenhower's Cold War-era "student ambassador" program--sure did seem like a good idea at the time. But since that time was the summer before seventh grade and that part of the world consisted mostly of dusty, open wasteland (nothing personal, Australia--I'm just not a fan), the ten days had a certain Hell-on-earth quality to it that took me a while to shake.

So when a small army of innocent-looking high schoolers in identical People-to-People polo shirts descended on Van Am quad this afternoon, I vanquished any lingering Proustian associations and endeavored to figure out why they were here.

The almost fascist uniformity of dress--maroon polos paired with heavy, sweat-stained khaki pants--must have been a red flag for at least of few of these kids. And as a pre-college program brat myself (Summer at Brown, '04), I know that freedom is crucial in staving off insanity whilst surrounded by hundreds of overeager resume-padders like yourself. So did these kids realize what they had gotten themselves in to?