2009-2010 Columbia University Application Thread

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jimgard said:
I don't think this is a Columbia issue. Frankly, they're right- if we've gotten this far, we're all very highly ranked applicants, and we're probably all capable of doing well at Columbia. And if we're not ranked, there's really no more information to give us.
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👍
 
waitlist here today in northern new england, "very highly ranked" and postmarked 3/5

so do people actually have letters that say "highly ranked" as opposed to "very highly ranked"? this is all getting a little ridiculous but it would be nice to clear that up
 
waitlisted in CA

i'm going to withdraw shortly. gunna go to a school that showed as much interest in me as I showed in them.

good luck to everyone and congrats to those who got in flat out
 
Hopefully someone here can help with this: do we know when festivities of the second look weekend actually start? Is it a fly-in-on-friday kind of thing? Or do things start earlier in the day? If possible, I'd like to get tickets relatively soon. Thanks!

Edit: just checked the facebook page, I guess the 15th is a Thursday (I had assumed Friday), and activities start that morning so we should be in town on Wednesday night.
 
Highly ranked waitlist in MN. Bummed because I would have really considered Columbia+NYC, but I suppose I can deal with 10/11 post-interview decisions 🙄
 
jerew said:
Highly ranked waitlist in MN. Bummed because I would have really considered Columbia+NYC, but I suppose I can deal with 10/11 post-interview decisions 🙄
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Damn jerew, your not getting in is a little worrying...hopefully you find a good spot wherever you end up!
 
jerew said:
Highly ranked waitlist in MN. Bummed because I would have really considered Columbia+NYC, but I suppose I can deal with 10/11 post-interview decisions 🙄
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You MDapps is absurd, great job! Did your letter say "highly ranked" or "very highly ranked" ?
 
Does anybody know what the CP - Clerkship is that goes from 1-5pm on M/W/F? Is it part of the Foundations of Clinical Medicine course?
 
BRRF said:
Does anybody know what the CP - Clerkship is that goes from 1-5pm on M/W/F? Is it part of the Foundations of Clinical Medicine course?
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Where are you seeing this at? Did you already get fall schedule information? Also, did anybody else not get hosing information in their main packet?
 
BRRF said:
1) It's from last year's Fall 2009 schedule

http://ical.mac.com/WebObjects/iCal...10&my=2009&m=2&n=New Curriculum Fall 2009.ics

http://ical.mac.com/WebObjects/iCal...0&y=2010&m=0&n=New Curriculum Spring 2010.ics

2) No. I got a sheet saying they had trouble with the printers and that it will come later.
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Ok, cool. I'm not sure if the clerkship is technically part of the foundations of medicine series, but I do remember them talking briefly about it during my interview day. I can't remember many details though.
 
Jebel said:
You MDapps is absurd, great job! Did your letter say "highly ranked" or "very highly ranked" ?
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Got the "very" but not sure what that means in practice. Surprised because I have a letter of rec from Columbia and mentioned my time there in my PS, and nailed the interview - waitlisted. Flopped the Duke interviews and bam, accepted. Would never have guessed that. Oh well, I'll definitely stay on the list though for now; it's a great place in a great city.
 
austinap said:
Ok, cool. I'm not sure if the clerkship is technically part of the foundations of medicine series, but I do remember them talking briefly about it during my interview day. I can't remember many details though.
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Foundations of Clinical Medicine (FCM) is a course that combines clinical skills and the ethics to use them. Lecture is once day a week (Wednesday) for 2 hours followed by a 1 hour small group. The clerkships are an addition to this and, while it says M/W/F 1-5, it is actually only once a week on either M,W, or F and quite often the time of it varies with your preference. You spend 2-4 hours there, but no more than 4 unless you so desire. Clerkships are shadowing+ essentially. You follow around a health care professional and actually get to apply the things that you are learning in class about interviewing, and in the second semester about physical examination. FCM lectures and small groups are a mixture of ethics and clinical skills. There are standardized patients, but the ones you work with during your clerkship are much more satisfying and entertaining.
 
Got the letter today. I was rejected. O well. State school here I come 🙁
 
I got waitlisted. Does anyone know how many people are waitlisted out of the ~1000 that are interviewed?
 
Question for mmmc or another current student:
One of my 1st year columbia dental* friends said that P&S profs only discuss their own research during lecture; all relevant material (i.e. content to be tested on Step1 + block exams) had to be learned on one's own through the text/review books, etc. Have you found this to be the case?

*dental students take the same P&S classes alongside med students and my friend was referring to these
 
dst said:
Question for mmmc or another current student:
One of my 1st year columbia dental* friends said that P&S profs only discuss their own research during lecture; all relevant material (i.e. content to be tested on Step1 + block exams) had to be learned on one's own through the text/review books, etc. Have you found this to be the case?

*dental students take the same P&S classes alongside med students and my friend was referring to these
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After my first exam I opened up a Step 1 quiz book and got every question right on the page I did. A lot of people use First Aid Step 1 review as an outline guide for our exams because they do line up so well. Columbia professors do talk about their research when appropriate, simply because their research or those they worked under tends to be the basis of the dogma of the field 😀. What is true is that there is usually some research data (graphs and charts) in pretty much every lecture, becauase quite honestly it's a lot easier to understand concepts with visual aid rather than page after page of text (same as undergrad in my case at least). I'd just like to add that I don't know why a dental student would know what was tested on the step one, other than the occasional perusal I don't even know what exactly is on the step one in great detail.... Also, one of the
advantages of Columbia's curriculum is we do our 3rd year before step 1. It allows our professors to prepare us for 3rd year because we aren't constantly focusing on prepping for the step 1 during our pre-clinicals like a lot of my second year friends (old curriculum) are doing, while allowing third year to give us even more preparation for the step 1 (this has been shown to be the case at other schools). Since I'm not studying for the step 1 right now I have a lot more time to learn how to read EKGs and differentiate heart sounds during Cardiology rather than putting that stuff off until my internal medicine rotation to focus exclusively on things that are high yield on the step 1. At the same time, though, nothing stops me from doing that if I so wish and I'm still learning the material that I will need for that exam when the time comes.

Esdrr said:
I got waitlisted. Does anyone know how many people are waitlisted out of the ~1000 that are interviewed?
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~1/2-3/4
 
mmmcdowe said:
After my first exam I opened up a Step 1 quiz book and got every question right on the page I did. A lot of people use First Aid Step 1 review as an outline guide for our exams because they do line up so well. Columbia professors do talk about their research when appropriate, simply because their research or those they worked under tends to be the basis of the dogma of the field 😀. What is true is that there is usually some research data (graphs and charts) in pretty much every lecture, becauase quite honestly it's a lot easier to understand concepts with visual aid rather than page after page of text (same as undergrad in my case at least). I'd just like to add that I don't know why a dental student would know what was tested on the step one, other than the occasional perusal I don't even know what exactly is on the step one in great detail.... Also, one of the
advantages of Columbia's curriculum is we do our 3rd year before step 1. It allows our professors to prepare us for 3rd year because we aren't constantly focusing on prepping for the step 1 during our pre-clinicals like a lot of my second year friends (old curriculum) are doing, while allowing third year to give us even more preparation for the step 1 (this has been shown to be the case at other schools). Since I'm not studying for the step 1 right now I have a lot more time to learn how to read EKGs and differentiate heart sounds during Cardiology rather than putting that stuff off until my internal medicine rotation to focus exclusively on things that are high yield on the step 1. At the same time, though, nothing stops me from doing that if I so wish and I'm still learning the material that I will need for that exam when the time comes.



~1/2-3/4
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wow thats alot of people...they cant all be very highly ranked...sigh 🙄
 
pelliper said:
wow thats alot of people...they cant all be very highly ranked...sigh 🙄
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Very highly ranked versus highly ranked, both groups get accepted and rejected. Neither is a guarantee or a death sentence. Be proactive if you want to come!
 
mmmcdowe said:
Very highly ranked versus highly ranked, both groups get accepted and rejected. Neither is a guarantee or a death sentence. Be proactive if you want to come!
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what i meant to say was that there must be some unseen internal ranking, however broad that is...for example, if im in the "bottom third" of the WL pool there's no way im going to get accepted, and i wish columbia would just reject me instead of giving false hope

and im led to believe that everyone's letter says "very highly ranked" but some people just dont tack the very into their sdn posts 🙄
 
pelliper said:
and im led to believe that everyone's letter says "very highly ranked" but some people just dont tack the very into their sdn posts 🙄
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This is actually what I suspect, but I'm not sure. I'd be curious to know if there are in fact letters that simply say "highly ranked."

As for the breakdown: Columbia interviews 1100 (according to their website). Per a post by mdeast earlier on, his interviewer told him that 300 are rejected and that 800 are either accepted or waitlisted. I don't know anything more than that for certain.
 
SpaceDementia said:
This is actually what I suspect, but I'm not sure. I'd be curious to know if there are in fact letters that simply say "highly ranked."

As for the breakdown: Columbia interviews 1100 (according to their website). Per a post by mdeast earlier on, his interviewer told him that 300 are rejected and that 800 are either accepted or waitlisted. I don't know anything more than that for certain.
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they accepted 291 last year to fill the class, so my guess is 250 acceptances outright and 41 from the waitlist...again, i wish they would just reject the bottom waitlists instead of giving people false hope
 
Hey everyone,

accepted and thrilled about it, Columbia is my first choice. Any idea if we could set up an alternative to the revisit weekend like a skype night or something? I would love to meet some of the current and incoming students, but I'm living overseas right now and won't make it to the revisit. Also, is there actually a facebook group? Perhaps someone could link me to it as my internet is hesitant to work at best and I'm unable to search for it.

Good luck to anyone waitlisted!
 
SpaceDementia said:
This is actually what I suspect, but I'm not sure. I'd be curious to know if there are in fact letters that simply say "highly ranked."

As for the breakdown: Columbia interviews 1100 (according to their website). Per a post by mdeast earlier on, his interviewer told him that 300 are rejected and that 800 are either accepted or waitlisted. I don't know anything more than that for certain.
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okay, not to feed the wording frenzy, esp. after mmmcdowe has clarified it doesn't matter....but my letter definitely says "highly ranked." sans "very". boooo 😛
 
Is it weird that I live 100 miles away from Columbia and still haven't received ANY letter. Should I give them a call sometime next week if I still haven't gotten anything?

Edit: scratch that. People apparently hide mail from me. I'll find out when I get home tomorrow.
 
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panda25 said:
okay, not to feed the wording frenzy, esp. after mmmcdowe has clarified it doesn't matter....but my letter definitely says "highly ranked." sans "very". boooo 😛
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are you sure there isnt a "very" anywhere where it says "highly ranked"? mine says "very highly ranked" initially but later in the text its referred to as "highly ranked" 😛

and think about it this way...as opposed to dean frantz's personal handwritten notes, the letters are all standardized and printed out. why would anyone change the wording slightly on the computer for every couple hundred sheets if it didnt mean something? :meanie:
 
pelliper said:
are you sure there isnt a "very" anywhere where it says "highly ranked"? mine says "very highly ranked" initially but later in the text its referred to as "highly ranked" 😛

and think about it this way...as opposed to dean frantz's personal handwritten notes, the letters are all standardized and printed out. why would anyone change the wording slightly on the computer for every couple hundred sheets if it didnt mean something? :meanie:
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hey you're right!! it does say very highly ranked earlier in the letter. sorry. clearly I was waitlisted b/c of my inability to read simple letters thoroughly 🙄
 
sequence said:
Hey everyone,

accepted and thrilled about it, Columbia is my first choice. Any idea if we could set up an alternative to the revisit weekend like a skype night or something? I would love to meet some of the current and incoming students, but I'm living overseas right now and won't make it to the revisit. Also, is there actually a facebook group? Perhaps someone could link me to it as my internet is hesitant to work at best and I'm unable to search for it.

Good luck to anyone waitlisted!
Click to expand...

http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=329639155193&ref=mf

If you contact the group creator (she's the admissions representative for the class of 2013), she could try and work something out for you. We could always hold an impromptu chat for accepted students I suppose if there is interest in that here on SDN. I am more than happy to chat with you as well on skype.
 
pelliper said:
are you sure there isnt a "very" anywhere where it says "highly ranked"? mine says "very highly ranked" initially but later in the text its referred to as "highly ranked" 😛

and think about it this way...as opposed to dean frantz's personal handwritten notes, the letters are all standardized and printed out. why would anyone change the wording slightly on the computer for every couple hundred sheets if it didnt mean something? :meanie:
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I feel like this happened last year too.... Regardless, just to emphasize any minor variation should not be made into a big deal. The admissions office doesn't want to cause stirs like what has been going on over this very versus no very thing. If you are waitlisted, it is because it is possible for you to get off waitlist. Is it easier for some than others? Probably, but it can be done.
 
To people sending waitlist update letters, where are you sending them and how? Snail or email? To Dean Frantz directly (if so, what's his email?) or to the general psadmissions address? Thanks!
 
Finally got my highly ranked waitlist letter this morning (well...last Friday, but I was out of town). Decided to withdraw.

I liked the curriculum at Columbia and the "fun factor" of the students who went there, but given that it always kind of irked me that my interviewer didn't seem very interested in me (he asked me two questions) and that I still might choose Sinai over Columbia, I decided it wasn't worth the effort to pursue it further. Gonna focus my wait-list efforts on schools I'm really passionate about going to...and I think, are actually genuinely interested in me. Good luck all, one less waitlistee to worry about.
 
Question123 said:
To people sending waitlist update letters, where are you sending them and how? Snail or email? To Dean Frantz directly (if so, what's his email?) or to the general psadmissions address? Thanks!
Click to expand...

I recommend snail mail for the ability to personalize and put your signature on it at the very least. If you send email just send to admissions and they will direct it to whichever Dean happens to be reading the letters at the moment.

Also as a general encouragement, feel free to send things other than just letters in your updates (no cash please, checks can be made out to me though). I sent Dean Frantz a copy of one of my research posters on a CD and also a notebook page size print out as well in December. I know one person that sent him a autographed copy of their thesis 😀
 
mmmcdowe said:
I recommend snail mail for the ability to personalize and put your signature on it at the very least. If you send email just send to admissions and they will direct it to whichever Dean happens to be reading the letters at the moment.

Also as a general encouragement, feel free to send things other than just letters in your updates (no cash please, checks can be made out to me though). I sent Dean Frantz a copy of one of my research posters on a CD and also a notebook page size print out as well in December. I know one person that sent him a autographed copy of their thesis 😀
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But even if we snail mail, its still to the general address:

Office of Admissions
630 West 168th Street, Box 41
New York, NY 10032

Right?
 
mdeast said:
Finally got my highly ranked waitlist letter this morning (well...last Friday, but I was out of town). Decided to withdraw.

I liked the curriculum at Columbia and the "fun factor" of the students who went there, but given that it always kind of irked me that my interviewer didn't seem very interested in me (he asked me two questions) and that I still might choose Sinai over Columbia, I decided it wasn't worth the effort to pursue it further. Gonna focus my wait-list efforts on schools I'm really passionate about going to...and I think, are actually genuinely interested in me. Good luck all, one less waitlistee to worry about.
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You liked Sinai more? That makes two of us actually.
 
Hi, I am an accepted candidate for Columbia '14. I am currently trying to decide where to go and I've heard a lot of input and read many of your previous posts. It sounds like Columbia has a ton of opportunities and freedom...but I was wondering what you can tell me about the social life? My major concern is that Columbia will be full of socially awkward pre-meds like the ones at my undergrad.

Do people go out in the city? Also, do people mostly go out with other Columbia med students or do they mix with the other grad students and students from other medical schools?

I'm planning to attend the revisit so many of these questions will probably be answered then, but I figured I'd ask since you seem to offer pretty good advice.

Also, where else were you considering and what ultimately convinced you to pick Columbia? (No need to sugar-coat it)


I definitely agree, you will find out for sure during second look (because honestly the personality of your classmates is more important than the personality of mine for you. Every class has its own flavor). We are definitely an outgoing class. Lots of taking advantage of NYC. Tuesdays we all go out (20-50 people depending on the week) and do karaoke at the local sports pub. We actually went(well, about 90) on a ski trip this weekend to Vermont. We do mixers with the other medical schools about once a month on average (2 this month, none last month, if varies). We do mixers with other graduate and medical programs at least monthly (sometimes open to all, sometimes a specific program and ours), and there is a lot of smaller level mixing because we see a lot of the other schools through activities like Bard Hall Players, Rugby, Intramural basketball, health advocacy groups, free meals, dining hall meals, the gym, dance programs, and just the fact that we live with them. People go to plays (in fact, we all just went as part of our Psych class to Next to Normal), go to museums, run to Central park or otherwise go there, go down town to eat/drink/shop, etc etc etc. I can't say that Columbia is unique in the extroversion and involvement of our class, but I can say that I sincerely doubt that any school could be more so than us. Our curriculum (pass/fail UNRANKED pre-clinicals) and a tradition of being more than just doctors 100 years old (the oldest activities organization in a medical school, oldest theater group, oldest Alumni Association) really makes that impossible in my mind.
 
guyski79 said:
I know that people said the same thing on my interview day, but why does the AAMC curriculum directory say that it's H/P/F?

http://services.aamc.org/currdir/section1/grading1.cfm

Was the strict P/F unranked system recently implemented and the change just not reflected on the AAMC website?
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It's been about three years (before 2nd year was H/P/F), but yeah it is definitely P/F. I have the transcript to prove it 😀. Clinicals are H/HP/P/F I believe (there might be a LP in there but I don't think so). I was told that ~25-30% of people get honors.
 
mmmcdowe said:
It's been about three years (before 2nd year was H/P/F, but yeah it is definitely P/F. I have the transcript to prove it 😀. Clinicals are H/HP/P/F I believe (there might be a LP in there but I don't think so).
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Awesome. Looking more closely at the AAMC site, I think that data is only current through the class of 2012.

Thanks for the clarification though! 🙂
http://registrar.columbia.edu/content/grading-system
 
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thamsenman said:
You liked Sinai more? That makes two of us actually.
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Did you interview there? And who is your avatar photo of?

I think I liked certain things about Sinai more, but in general it was the overall feel rather than anything really specific. There's a certain level of really genuine altruism at Sinai that I haven't really found matched at many other top institutions. I think in the end Columbia has a better hospital and a better curriculum than Sinai, but I felt like I'd be happier as a "non-medical person" at Sinai than I would at Columbia. All personal I guess.
 
guyski79 said:
But... why does the university registrar also say H/P/F? Now I'm confused again...

http://registrar.columbia.edu/content/grading-system
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Because Columbia University's Bureaucracy is big enough to run NYC by itself. All of our courses are under the course title of 'pathology' because the recording system goes back to a point where there really wasn't much else. Our grade submissions are recorded in audit for, meaning we (technically) don't even get credit for it on our online transcript. It just says Points (credits) completed: 0 Grade: P.

Because I love you guys so much, here is a blurb from our syllabus.
All tests are Pass-Fail. All testing utilizes multiple choice or short answer questions. The aim of a test is to establish a students' competency in a given area. In this regard, for the first examination in Molecular Mechanisms, questions will be drawn from problem sets that accompany each lecture and part of the testing will focus around these pre-assigned problems. Other questions on this test will evoke synthetic thinking as well as an organizational capacity to assemble data in a vertical manner. As a general approximation, passing on each exam is achieved by grade of 70%.
Students will receive a grade of Pass or Fail at the end of each semester. Grading is on an absolute, not relative, scale; there is no pre-determined number of Passes or Failures. For Dental Students only, [FONT=Arial, Helvetica][SIZE=-1]Honors is 85% and above.[/SIZE]. Remediation for failing a single exam will be determined by the Course Directors. Remediation for a failing grade at the end of each semester will be determined by the First Year Committee (comprised of all of the Course Directors).
 
mdeast said:
Did you interview there? And who is your avatar photo of?

I think I liked certain things about Sinai more, but in general it was the overall feel rather than anything really specific. There's a certain level of really genuine altruism at Sinai that I haven't really found matched at many other top institutions. I think in the end Columbia has a better hospital and a better curriculum than Sinai, but I felt like I'd be happier as a "non-medical person" at Sinai than I would at Columbia. All personal I guess.
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Above all, go where you are happiest among your choices. Medical schools is too long and hard not to. Everyone has different things that will make them happy, but ultimately that's what matters.
 
mmmcdowe said:
Because Columbia University's Bureaucracy is big enough to run NYC by itself. All of our courses are under the course title of 'pathology' because the recording system goes back to a point where there really wasn't much else. Our grade submissions are recorded in audit for, meaning we (technically) don't even get credit for it on our online transcript. It just says Points (credits) completed: 0 Grade: P.

Because I love you guys so much, here is a blurb from our syllabus.
All tests are Pass-Fail. All testing utilizes multiple choice or short answer questions. The aim of a test is to establish a students’ competency in a given area. In this regard, for the first examination in Molecular Mechanisms, questions will be drawn from problem sets that accompany each lecture and part of the testing will focus around these pre-assigned problems. Other questions on this test will evoke synthetic thinking as well as an organizational capacity to assemble data in a vertical manner. As a general approximation, passing on each exam is achieved by grade of 70%.
Students will receive a grade of Pass or Fail at the end of each semester. Grading is on an absolute, not relative, scale; there is no pre-determined number of Passes or Failures. For Dental Students only, [FONT=Arial, Helvetica][SIZE=-1]Honors is 85% and above.[/SIZE]. Remediation for failing a single exam will be determined by the Course Directors. Remediation for a failing grade at the end of each semester will be determined by the First Year Committee (comprised of all of the Course Directors).
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Mmmcdowe, your excellence knows no bottom.
 
This may be a really dumb Q, but where is there to eat around the medical campus when living in Bard? I didnt notice a meal plan option and I didnt notice many restaurants or supermarkets in the area.
 
anyone else laughing at these interschool fellowships? i don't speak estonian, and i'm not from nebraska! does P&S give any regular merit aid?
 
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