2012-2013 Columbia University Application Thread

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red7 said:
Also, when I submitted, the "Describe your parents' occupations" question was limited to 250 CHARACTERS. Is that still the case now or is that one changed to 250/300 words?
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It was still painfully small when I submitted this week.
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Anyone know if there are programs to work with the people of Washington Heights? Or should I contact the diversity office?

I'm not Dominican, but I'd like to help out fellow hispanics
 
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Thanks. I am an international and have only spent several years in this country, hard to imagine what the life is like in Manhattan.
 
red7 said:
I re-submitted my application on Sunday (15 July) when some of the questions were 250 words and some were 300. Did anyone else do this? Also, when I submitted, the "Describe your parents' occupations" question was limited to 250 CHARACTERS. Is that still the case now or is that one changed to 250/300 words?

I can still see the secondary application, but none of the word limits have changed on mine. I'm a little concerned that they'll think I'm lazy since some of my responses will be pretty short if they're all 300 words now. Called the admissions office on Monday but they didn't really seem to know what was happening with all the glitches so far, and I still haven't heard back from them.
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How much space do you need to describe parent's occupations? I did it all in one sentence...

Also, anything wrong with copying and pasting the ECs from my AMCAS to my secondary? or should I rewrite everything?
 
Columbia taking their sweet time with anyone else on the secondaries?
 
Is the last question "Is there anything else you would like us to know" optional?
 
Is anybody else having problems with the application saying "too many characters" even though you' have characters/words remaining on all of the prompts?
 
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I did the copy-paste into Notepad thing first, too. This is driving me nuts!!
 
AHHH cant think of what to write for the "5. What challenges do you expect to arise from living and working in a complex urban environment? How will you meet them? " question... any suggestions?
:confused:

im writing distractions as one of them, but i cant think of any other...
 
swishballer said:
AHHH cant think of what to write for the "5. What challenges do you expect to arise from living and working in a complex urban environment? How will you meet them? " question... any suggestions?
:confused:

im writing distractions as one of them, but i cant think of any other...
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Think about what it will be like to live in a city with over 8 million people that speak nearly 800 languages. Communication can be a challenge when working in a free clinic or ED. Not to mention how much traffic is in NYC...

Hope that yields some inspiration :)
 
my application was submitted over two weeks ago, but I have yet to receive a secondary. Is anyone else in the same boat?
 
ranger2013 said:
my application was submitted over two weeks ago, but I have yet to receive a secondary. Is anyone else in the same boat?
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Same here. Verified last Monday, but still no secondary. I emailed them and they told me on Thursday that I would be "getting it shortly"
 
When I get onto the secondary website, my status says that my application is complete and ready. Next to interview it says not scheduled yet. Does anyone know if this means anything about whether I will get one or not?
 
jabailey said:
When I get onto the secondary website, my status says that my application is complete and ready. Next to interview it says not scheduled yet. Does anyone know if this means anything about whether I will get one or not?
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I have that too but not sure what it means.But then again I only submitted/was complete on this Monday. So either im a super amazing applicant (which I'm not) or im guessing they changed that to everyone?

I hope it means something but it probably doesnt :/
 
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jabailey said:
When I get onto the secondary website, my status says that my application is complete and ready. Next to interview it says not scheduled yet. Does anyone know if this means anything about whether I will get one or not?
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It definitely does not mean anything. They'll email you if you get an interview.
 
I'll be coming to NY for another interview in September. Do you think it would be worth shooting Columbia an 'in the area' call? It's a super long-shot school for me so I feel like I have nothing to lose ..
 
red7 said:
I'll be coming to NY for another interview in September. Do you think it would be worth shooting Columbia an 'in the area' call? It's a super long-shot school for me so I feel like I have nothing to lose ..
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Interview where? Just curious.

And yes it would be worth it and it is appropriate in my opinion. You save lots of money in just making one trip.
 
giants25 said:
I have that too but not sure what it means.But then again I only submitted/was complete on this Monday. So either im a super amazing applicant (which I'm not) or im guessing they changed that to everyone?

I hope it means something but it probably doesnt :/
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I was hoping the same thing but I never received an email from Columbia after ~2 weeks, so it must just be how they have the portal set up. Plus I believe they do not begin to hand out II until September.
 
NewYorker9 said:
I was hoping the same thing but I never received an email from Columbia after ~2 weeks, so it must just be how they have the portal set up. Plus I believe they do not begin to hand out II until September.
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Same. I've been complete at Columbia for a while and it's said "not scheduled yet" since the first day I was complete.
 
Applied: July 25th

Secondary Received: July 27th

Feeling: Jimmies unrustled
 
Mine was sent 6/29 (first day), still nothing for me either.
 
cdnmedhopeful said:
My verified primary was sent on July 16th, but I still dont have the secondary...

Should I call them?
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I was also verified on july 16th. Still have not gotten my secondary either. that's weird. Did you get a chance to call them?
 
FWIW:

Verified 7/17, received the secondary this morning.
 
Since people are curious:

Verified 7/12, got my secondary on Tuesday, 7/24.
 
Quick question:

Are we supposed to list our extracurriculars or describe them? It doesn't specify, and 300 words is moderate length for one of these types of essays... grrr.
 
PreMedOrDead said:
Quick question:

Are we supposed to list our extracurriculars or describe them? It doesn't specify, and 300 words is moderate length for one of these types of essays... grrr.
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I did list and briefly described the ones that needed some explanation.
 
Desp said:
I did list and briefly described the ones that needed some explanation.
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Alright, that's what I was doing, but I felt like AMCAS already covers everything. *shrug*

I have a feeling you and I will be meeting on the road at some point. I don't think you'll know it, but I have a feeling we'll meet.
 
PreMedOrDead said:
Alright, that's what I was doing, but I felt like AMCAS already covers everything. *shrug*

I have a feeling you and I will be meeting on the road at some point. I don't think you'll know it, but I have a feeling we'll meet.
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There's a fine line between prophetic and creepy and you are playing with it my friend haha. That being said, do you guys think we will meet many other SDNers during our interview escapades? It could give us an advantage in terms of sharing what we learn about other schools/meeting our classmates before even matriculating.
 
NewYorker9 said:
1. There's a fine line between prophetic and creepy and you are playing with it my friend haha. 2. That being said, do you guys think we will meet many other SDNers during our interview escapades? It could give us an advantage in terms of sharing what we learn about other schools/meeting our classmates before even matriculating.
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1. I like to live dangerously, my friend. And how many North Dakota kids do you think you'll see during your interviews? The only people as rare as a North Dakotan are like Vermont and Wyoming. And I'm pretty sure no one in Wyoming is alive.

2. I doubt it...
rJoU2.png
 
lol. I have a feeling that I will be like this when I mention SDN

2iiest1.gif
 
PreMedOrDead said:
Quick question:

Are we supposed to list our extracurriculars or describe them? It doesn't specify, and 300 words is moderate length for one of these types of essays... grrr.
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Dealers choice. I recommend listing the major ones and then explain why those are the most important. This secondary question is something of an artifact from the days before aamcas gave you a place to discuss the purpose of each ec.
 
NewYorker9 said:
There's a fine line between prophetic and creepy and you are playing with it my friend haha. That being said, do you guys think we will meet many other SDNers during our interview escapades? It could give us an advantage in terms of sharing what we learn about other schools/meeting our classmates before even matriculating.
Click to expand...

People tend to be very shy about SDN. On interview days at lease one person will recognize me and, when I'm away from the group, come up and whisper how much they appreciate SDN. :laugh:
 
mmmcdowe said:
Dealers choice. I recommend listing the major ones and then explain why those are the most important. This secondary question is something of an artifact from the days before aamcas gave you a place to discuss the purpose of each ec.
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But shouldn't the most important ones already be described on our primary? Like several of mine are marked most important.

So should I go the alternative route and talk about ones that were important but didn't make the top three cut?

This is kind of a horrible question to ask. I'd much rather have a "Why Columbia" essay. :oops:
 
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