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I know it is still really early, but has anyone gotten off the waitlist?
I'm betting April - May.
But, given that there are, from what I understand, something like 600-700 people on the wait list, the chances of getting in are pretty low at this point.
I remember hearing somewhere that to get off the waitlist at Columbia you need to be interviewed again. Is that true? If so, those interviews have probably not yet taken place which is why no one has been pulled off the WL yet.
I think I remember reading on here that Dean Frantz meets with you and offers you a spot in-person.
i actually read that in previous years they accepted 210 and waitlisted 250, and about 90 kids end up getting in off of the waitlist, cause all in all they accept ~300. that makes me optimistic, but i wonder if that changes from year to year, and i don't know if the person who put that in previous years was actually sure of those numbers. anyway... i really want to go to columbia, so still waiting. does anyone have any advice for these updates we should send?
90 off the wait list? i don't think so. that would be over half the class. i know that last year almost no one got off the wait list (maybe 5 or so?) because columbia over-committed with their initial acceptances, and ended up with a very full class. i know that last year was atypical, and i have no idea what the usual range is, but i doubt it's as high as 90. let's hope it's much better than last year, though!
I think this is pretty bizarre, the columbia waitlist thread from previous years seems to have been ridiculously active, but i almost feel like i am the only one monitoring this thread. I hope this means that everyone is withdrawing from P&S's alternate list! yay yay yay yay
anyone got a 2nd interview with Dean Frantz? I wonder if he gives them out when he has spots open, or if he just does them if he likes someone?
I have been getting some private messages asking what one can do to improve his or her chances of acceptance from the wait list. My honest, if vague, advice is to write to Dean Frantz detailing your activities since you applied, and to be candid and honest about your aims in medicine and why Columbia is the best school for you. In the past, it has been said that a letter of intent is almost requisite for admission from the wait list. Good luck! Your efforts are very, very well spent.
i actually spoke with frantz on the telephone today. he said that it's too early to tell whether we're high/mid/low on the waitlist because most people haven't even started declining initial acceptances yet, and that come mid-may he'll have a better idea of where we're placed. I asked what the highest/lowest # of people to come off the waitlist is, and he said it's been "as low as three dozen and sometimes can reach five dozen" so 36-60 as my trusty brain tells me, which is a pretty big range. they said they don't extend so many initial acceptances that the waitlist is impossible to get off, so we should still be hopeful.
i actually spoke with frantz on the telephone today. he said that it's too early to tell whether we're high/mid/low on the waitlist because most people haven't even started declining initial acceptances yet, and that come mid-may he'll have a better idea of where we're placed. I asked what the highest/lowest # of people to come off the waitlist is, and he said it's been "as low as three dozen and sometimes can reach five dozen" so 36-60 as my trusty brain tells me, which is a pretty big range. they said they don't extend so many initial acceptances that the waitlist is impossible to get off, so we should still be hopeful.
i actually spoke with frantz on the telephone today. he said that it's too early to tell whether we're high/mid/low on the waitlist because most people haven't even started declining initial acceptances yet, and that come mid-may he'll have a better idea of where we're placed. I asked what the highest/lowest # of people to come off the waitlist is, and he said it's been "as low as three dozen and sometimes can reach five dozen" so 36-60 as my trusty brain tells me, which is a pretty big range. they said they don't extend so many initial acceptances that the waitlist is impossible to get off, so we should still be hopeful.
Who else votes Dr. Frantz as the biggest tease ever? I write to him to ask for a second interview and instead he sends me a letter saying that my application is in active consideration (plus the usual its too early, we'll keep you in mind lalala)...but if it really was wouldn't he grant me one? On the one hand its totally gratuitous and amazing of him to keep writing me these notes everytime I write him, but on the other hand I'm totally getting set up again to be crushed...
ackackack
OK Guys--
I was accepted to Columbia MD today!!!!!!!!! I'm not sure if this technically counts as a waitlist acceptance, because my situation is decidedly unique. I was a MSTP applicant and waitlisted for the MD/PhD program. However, Columbia is my absolute first choice for many reasons, and I would consider a MD offer there. I wrote a lengthy (two page single spaced) letter along with a copy of a neuroscience magazine I co-founded to Frantz specifying this after I received the MSTP waitlist letter at the beginning of March (signed by both the MSTP director and Frantz), and mentioned I would be in New York in early April. He invited me to a second interview (phone call) and I zoomed across town during my MSSM revisit to meet with the guy. About two hours were spent chatting about the merits of Columbia's program (neuro research, student diversity, P&S club), but the topics ranged from religion and philosophy to american literature and Shakespeare. At one point, he performed the entire soliloquy from act 1, scene 3 of Hamlet during the interview. Crazy, beautiful man. At the end he said my chances of admission to the MD program were "excellent" and that he wanted to contact the MSTP directors to ascertain my status there, and that I should call in a week. I sent a handwritten thank you note (the man took two hours out of his life to chat with me, a worthless peon!) and after some phone tag this week, I got in touch with him. Here's how it went down:
Me: ::unintelligible babbling to the effect of "hello"::
Dr. Frantz: Yes, I tried to get in touch with you yesterday in fact, I called four times but every time I got a weird "clicking" noise.
Me: ::stuttering:: I'm sorry, my phone died, but usually it goes straight to voice mail
Dr. Frantz: Well, it's a shame, because I was calling to offer you an acceptance.
Me: ::goes ape****::
And that is my story. Letter's in the mail, I'm attending, and I think I'm the first one to be accepted after the initial round of acceptances. I remain on the MD/PhD waitlist for Columbia and I should hear more in May, but it looks like movement will be tight. Will strongly consider reapplying internally, although frankly right now I'm just ecstatic to have made it into my dream school.
If P&S is where you want to be, for the love of god, TELL THEM!
roll the motherf*cking credits,
hater
Who else votes Dr. Frantz as the biggest tease ever? I write to him to ask for a second interview and instead he sends me a letter saying that my application is in active consideration (plus the usual its too early, we'll keep you in mind lalala)...but if it really was wouldn't he grant me one? On the one hand its totally gratuitous and amazing of him to keep writing me these notes everytime I write him, but on the other hand I'm totally getting set up again to be crushed...
ackackack
On the one hand its totally gratuitous and amazing of him to keep writing me these notes everytime I write him, but on the other hand I'm totally getting set up again to be crushed...
yes, those letters of his are just set ups for a very big let down. i received one after my interview in november, and i though, naive as i was, that his little "i assure you we will keep you very much in mind" was innuendo that i would be accepted. i thought columbia was in the bag. ha! silly me, thinking that a personal letter from the dean was a strong sign. but if you look at the SDN poll, it means nothing.
and now, his response letters to LOIs are the same, saying that it's too early to have open spots, and we must wait, and that we will keep being considered. and it was the same last year, if you look at the thread. but the reality is very different from the letter. if dr. frantz really wants you, he will re-interview you or accept you no matter what the matriculation status, even in mid-april, even if there aren't open spots yet. and i don't think that "hater" is an exception right now just because he was MD/PhD. Dr. frantz gave him one of the MD spots, the same spots we're waiting for. so if frantz doesn't give you that second interview, it's because he doesn't want to see you.
as of right now, i don't know if im one of the ones he wants or not, so i'm not necessarily getting bad news. when i get his response to my recent LOI, i should know one way or the other (re-interview and acceptance, or a string-me-along letter). but either way, i'm just a bit unhappy with his optimistic letters throughout the process, seemingly hinting that he is giving us special consideration, and telling us there are not yet spots, while others get admitted. it just makes for a big disappointment...
and oh wait...i've just started mimicking last year's thread without realizing it. oy!! we are doomed to repeat the cycle.
ah crap i asked for a second interview and he said hes not doing them yet. i guess thats a secret way of telling me to piss off.
This has been really great therapy guys, thanks