"As an undecided major.." - Why Columbia?

Please tell us what you find most appealing about Columbia and why: (1500 words)

EDITING, look below, in a few minutes.

I know this can be improved somehow, but I'm not sure anymore.

Impressive - you're able to touch on a lot in just a paragraph, and your reasons for wanting to go to Columbia are very good. I have some suggestions though:

*With requirements in a myriad of areas (good word btw)
*may not have appealed to me
*Required classes in music, art...
*...and science mean that I could pursue former interests that had fallen by the wayside
*kay, the bit about scenic is nice and complimentary but the scenic campus can't reassure you that you're close to him... do you get what I mean? If you want to talk about how beautiful the campus is you might want to do it in another sentence

*Since I visited New York City often when I was younger

Hope this helps and good luck!!! If you could look at my short answer too it would be much appreciated!!

I would change "impossible to possible again" by dropping the "again"
"To making my decision" should be change to "in making" or "to make"
Vary the sentence structure more.
Change "Requirements in a myriad.." to "With requirements in a myriad..."
"pressure of my family and friends having expectations of me" sounds redundant
Small thing: "express myself the way I wanted" . Drop the "to" Prepositions at the end of a sentence and what not.

Read over the paper and look at the flow of thought. To me, at places it doesn't seem logical.
You know, call me crazy, but as cheesy as it sounds, I like the ending.
You talk about visiting the city. Don't make it about not getting lost, because even New Yorkers get lost in New York and it sounds trivial. Make it about being a familiar place you are comfortable with.

In the first sentence, change "a" to "the"
The basic ideas of this essay are strong, but I would rewrite it more clearly. At times, I had trouble understanding what you meant due to vague phrasing.

For this to be powerful, it cannot just contain generalities. Get more in depth and stop repeating yourself.