bdub

The troll is mostly right about acceptance rates and the cost of an MFA not being worth it. If you have trust fund, go to Columbia learn poetry from Timothy Donnelly! If you're just a regular person, it's wiser to not go into a ton of debt and only apply to fully funded places (maybe 1 or 2 partially funded if you are desperate to get the degree and have a shot at full funding). Don't bury yourself in unmanageable debt. You have to be able to live to make your art. The job market for writers is not great, but most of us are all doing this because we care about making good art, not getting the highest paying job. This is not meant to discourage anyone. You should keep applying, keep working on your stuff, keep submitting to journals, etc. Just, you know, go to the place that is best suited for your situation. Don't be so consumed with getting the degree anywhere right away.

never said that they lie about it, and never said that they fail to produce or attract good writers

sure, that's true. but my point is just that the decision to attend this particular program is inextricably a financial one, and almost always a bad financial decision at that (unless you're super rich)
That doesn't mean it's a bad decision per se. sometimes people go into debt for this degree and get exactly what they want out of it. but, again, it's important just to be honest about the financial costs. If you accept those, then fine. But I think people frequently go into it without a full understanding of what they're getting into. It's usually a horrible financial decision 

And even then, it better be a hefty trust fund lol 
Unless you have access to what many of us would consider to be unlimited wealth, I think that Columbia is basically always an irrational financial choice, though it is one that, yes, occasionally pays off in the form of literary (i.e., not financial) success. If you're lucky enough to have, like, $100k in unearned change lying around (which wouldn't even cover 2 years of tuition, I believe) i honestly suggest you just go buy a house instead
The Columbia MFA is just always such a bad investment, even in the rare instances in which it pays off. There's really almost no way to rationalize it from a $ POV