2010-2011 Columbia Application Thread

BU Medical Sciences
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UCStudent said:
Sorry I think I was being unclear: I meant do they send to either the Permanent address or the Preferred? Both such addresses are listed on the AMCAS
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I'm pretty sure this was answered at some point in the past few pages. Maybe by someone who lives in Boston? Keep reading. (You could search really quickly by doing ctrl + F and searching for "permanent" and/or "preferred")
 
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What is Columbia's stance on deferring enrollment? I noticed they don't explicitly mention it on their website, so is it rare for them to grant deferments? I'm thinking of deferring to work for 1 year, so it's nothing extremely extenuating but I would really like to do it.
 
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medread said:
What is Columbia's stance on deferring enrollment? I noticed they don't explicitly mention it on their website, so is it rare for them to grant deferments? I'm thinking of deferring to work for 1 year, so it's nothing extremely extenuating but I would really like to do it.
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They do grant them, but I do not know what the particulars of their policy are. It isn't astoundingly rare. Best bet is just to call the office.
 
hey usps.

whats up with that whole no mail on sundays thing anyways. get it together man.


k bye.
 
As promised, here's the rather odd waitlist letter. The blue edits definitely seem handwritten. Hopefully someone finds this as humorous as I did.

Best of luck!

6ydzsz.jpg
 
( beat to the post by 10 minutes!) In case anyone here would like to pursue a close reading/ literary analysis of the alternate list letter, here it is:


Now that the evaluation of applicants for our next entering class has been
essentially completed, we find that your application falls in the category of being very highly ranked but that we are unable at this time to offer you a place in the next class.

From experience, we anticipate that in the coming weeks and months some places in that class will become available for anyone of a number of reasons. To fill these places as they become vacant, we consult a "list of alternates", made up of highly ranked applicants who have accepted the status of an alternate in regard to our next class.

The rank assigned your application by our Committee clearly entitles you to this status and so we are offering it to you now. By the date indicated below, will you please let us know whether you accept this offer? A form for your reply has have been
enclosed.

March 25, 2011

As we are both interested in seeing that any vacancies in the class that may
develop are filled as promptly as possible, please be assured that we will let you know as
quickly as we can if we have a place in the class for you.

Sincerely,

~~

Dean Nicholas, M.D.
Associate Dean for Admissions
 
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ColeOnTheRoll said:
As promised, here's the rather odd waitlist letter. The blue edits definitely seem handwritten. Hopefully someone finds this as humorous as I did.

Best of luck!
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Heh. What bothered you, the "don't give up hope", or that you prefer to be referred to as "Mr. Cole" :laugh:? FWIW, it sounds like you would have almost certainly been admitted off the waitlist if you were willing to do the parade of "i luv you" notes. I can see how that might be tough, though, considering what's already been offered to you.

Thanks for upping the letter...curiosity, satisfied.
 
ColeOnTheRoll said:
As promised, here's the rather odd waitlist letter. The blue edits definitely seem handwritten. Hopefully someone finds this as humorous as I did.

Best of luck!

6ydzsz.jpg
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Hahaha this is priceless. I still haven't gotten anything yet, but I will be looking forward to a waitlist if it is as hilarious as this one.
 
ColeOnTheRoll said:
As promised, here's the rather odd waitlist letter. The blue edits definitely seem handwritten. Hopefully someone finds this as humorous as I did.

Best of luck!

6ydzsz.jpg
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Yea this def seems like you are truly highly ranked in their "waitlist." Thanks for sharing man.
 
ColeOnTheRoll said:
As promised, here's the rather odd waitlist letter. The blue edits definitely seem handwritten. Hopefully someone finds this as humorous as I did.

Best of luck!

6ydzsz.jpg
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FWIW, my waitlist letter was also personalized in the same manner.
 
I definitely agree that the wording is "odd" to say the least. I really don't know why the schools are doing such a lousy job with these letters. Damn.
 
Anonnn1 said:
FWIW, my waitlist letter was also personalized in the same manner.
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That's probably a good thing, I'd act on it if you want to come to Columbia.

For everyone who was waitlisted, don't hesitate to send updates or a letter of interest/intent to let them know you still are interested. I've spoken to Dr. Nicholas in the past about letters of intent. While they don't particularly like it, they do take LOIs with the assumption that financial aid could still be a deal breaker. Most waitlist movement occurs in May and beyond, so it is best to get anything you want to get in before then. You can request a second interview with Dr. Nicholas (by phone if you aren't near by) if you did not interview with him before. You can still correspond with him if you did, just not a formal interview.
 
mmmcdowe said:
That's probably a good thing, I'd act on it if you want to come to Columbia.

For everyone who was waitlisted, don't hesitate to send updates or a letter of interest/intent to let them know you still are interested. I've spoken to Dr. Nicholas in the past about letters of intent. While they don't particularly like it, they do take LOIs with the assumption that financial aid could still be a deal breaker. Most waitlist movement occurs in May and beyond, so it is best to get anything you want to get in before then. You can request a second interview with Dr. Nicholas (by phone if you aren't near by) if you did not interview with him before. You can still correspond with him if you did, just not a formal interview.
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Are students accepted off of the waitlist expected to pay full tuition?
 
Come on people! Stop quoting the image of Cole's letter!
 
i got the same comments cole did. hopefully it does mean what the others have said it means =]
 
KUNRD07 said:
Are students accepted off of the waitlist expected to pay full tuition?
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rhcarolina said:
I would think so.
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Of course you'll have to "pay" full tuition, but that's not to say you're not going to get financial aid if you get off the waitlist. mmcdowe just means they take LOIs with a grain of salt because they expect that a lot of people might say they want to go to P&S (because that's what you're supposed to do when you get a waitlist spot), but if they get some awesome financial aid at another school they'll just turn their backs on Columbia.
 
NeuroE said:
Of course you'll have to "pay" full tuition, but that's not to say you're not going to get financial aid if you get off the waitlist. mmcdowe just means they take LOIs with a grain of salt because they expect that a lot of people might say they want to go to P&S (because that's what you're supposed to do when you get a waitlist spot), but if they get some awesome financial aid at another school they'll just turn their backs on Columbia.
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Yeah, I suppose that's obvious. Does Columbia even give out any scholarships?
 
KUNRD07 said:
Yeah, I suppose that's obvious. Does Columbia even give out any scholarships?
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No idea on that one 🙂 I would bet they have a few merit scholarships every year. They seem like the sort of school with alumni that would donate for that kind of thing.
 
For those who received a letter with personalized written notes a la Cole's, yes, that is a very good thing. I had one like that last year and it means that you are likely a top priority waitlist candidate. If you are really dead-set on coming to Columbia, now is the time to write that LOI and follow it up with tons of love letters.

And for the record, Dean Nicholas did the same thing last year with crossing out your last name and writing your first name. :laugh:
 
FrazzleSnazzle said:
And for the record, Dean Nicholas did the same thing last year with crossing out your last name and writing your first name. :laugh:
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I thought the crossing out of the last name and the writing of the first name was a very nice touch. 👍
 
NeuroE said:
No idea on that one 🙂 I would bet they have a few merit scholarships every year. They seem like the sort of school with alumni that would donate for that kind of thing.
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Very few merit scholarships are given out and are pretty much inaccessible to most students unless you fulfill very rare criteria (i.e. are from a particularly state or country). That being said, financial aid packages can be quite generous due to higher alumni donations compared to other schools. I've heard from several of my classmates that Columbia tends to be give out decent deals. They did for me at least. Perhaps mmmcdowe or PandSlove can confirm this.
 
NeuroE said:
No idea on that one 🙂 I would bet they have a few merit scholarships every year. They seem like the sort of school with alumni that would donate for that kind of thing.
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Columbia does have a few fulls and some smaller merit scholarships that tend to be oddly specific (Iranian 1st generation interested in surgery, etc). Lots of need based aid.
 
Looks like I'm a little late to the party, but I got the same "personalized" attention from the dean in my letter. Did everyone who otervirwed with him get it?

Did anyone who Interviewed with him NOT get it? Or did anyone at all not get it? It seems like quite a few people did...
 
Long time SDN reader but I felt compelled to ask a question after I received the personalized waitlist letter as well....

On writing letters of intent/interest, is there any consensus about using language like "Columbia is my clear first choice?" For me it's a true statement, but I recognize that it may not sound sincere. Any advice?
 
purpleweasel said:
Long time SDN reader but I felt compelled to ask a question after I received the personalized waitlist letter as well....

On writing letters of intent/interest, is there any consensus about using language like "Columbia is my clear first choice?" For me it's a true statement, but I recognize that it may not sound sincere. Any advice?
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Meh, that sounds fine to me. I think my wording was something along the lines of "Columbia is my top choice. If accepted I will attend over all other options."

Then again, I already knew my options at some other schools financially so that was easier for me to say so directly since I knew that I wasn't going to get anything as lucrative from any of the other March 1st schools that I was waiting on.
 
Dr Gerrard said:
Anyone still not hear back yet?
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Yup nothing out here in Colorado. Considering someone else got rejected from Columbia who also stated they were in Colorado, I am kind of starting to wonder what is going on...😕
 
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