2010-2011 Columbia Application Thread

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Kip said:
How is the area around Columbia in comparison to the other NYC schools i.e. NYU, Cornell, AECOM?
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One of these days I will compile all of my posts from last year into a file and upload it. Here's part of what I wrote last year with additional stuff that I couldn't find.

If I had to pick the one that we are most similar to I would say that we are like AECOM's area, but with better transportation access. Columbia University Medical Center is located at 168th and Broadway. It is in the Washington Heights. The surrounding neighborhood is a primarily Dominican area. The area close to the Medical Center is primarily owned by Columbia or is residential housing (mainly Columbia staff, students and faculty). I'm a big lover of latin america, so I absolutely love being in this area and being a part of this culture. It's also a great way to brush up (or learn, there are classes and summer programs) spanish. Food is amazing and very inexpensive. I think the absolute best thing about living here in this part of Manhattan is that you receive an enormously important lesson every day on what it means to be a doctor to patients. What do you owe them? Should you speak there language, or they yours? Should you understand their culture well enough so that you can talk about the latest Bachata group as well as the Mets game last night? Not everyone agrees here on the answer to that, but you can't help but think about it.

As far as the area itself in terms of things to do, there are a few bars and quite a number of different restaurants. A few things are open 24 hours a day other than fast food and halal carts. There's a movie theater 15ish blocks north as well as some local shopping, but I would guess that the majority of the class shops and spends a lot of free time outside of Washington Heights. I will admit that I'm a bit of a pro-WH radical and so I personally spend most of my free time here, but as I mentioned before I find the area much to my liking and would prefer to drink 2 dollar Presidente at Malecon than 7 dollar corona in the east village. The undergrad is about 50 blocks south and is easily accesible by the bus or the 1 subway. That area has what you would expect to be around a college campus including some grad student frequented bars (interestingly, apparently the medical school has been pegged for one of the bars as well, or at least thats what my undergrad friends tell me where they go if they want to date med students). People who don't live near campus often live in Morningside Heights by the undergrad or further south. The nice thing is that, despite our distance from the center of Manhattan, we are on an express A train and so you can be on 59th in 20 minutes or so if you catch it right. The one problem is that the A isn't express late late at night (bars are open til 4 in NYC), but for school commuting and general carousing it works great. Becuase of the A, it is actually faster for us to get to much of the south part of Manhattan than the east side medical schools (I exempt Mt Sinai because I don't know their location's logistics), as they are either not on a subway or on a local stop.

Oh, there's a park next to campus that is good for a run, as is the George Washington Bridge directly north of us.
 
Great info mcdowe! Thanks!
 
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mmmcdowe said:
One of these days I will compile all of my posts from last year into a file and upload it. Here's part of what I wrote last year with additional stuff that I couldn't find.

If I had to pick the one that we are most similar to I would say that we are like AECOM's area, but with better transportation access. Columbia University Medical Center is located at 168th and Broadway. It is in the Washington Heights. The surrounding neighborhood is a primarily Dominican area. The area close to the Medical Center is primarily owned by Columbia or is residential housing (mainly Columbia staff, students and faculty). I'm a big lover of latin america, so I absolutely love being in this area and being a part of this culture. It's also a great way to brush up (or learn, there are classes and summer programs) spanish. Food is amazing and very inexpensive. I think the absolute best thing about living here in this part of Manhattan is that you receive an enormously important lesson every day on what it means to be a doctor to patients. What do you owe them? Should you speak there language, or they yours? Should you understand their culture well enough so that you can talk about the latest Bachata group as well as the Mets game last night? Not everyone agrees here on the answer to that, but you can't help but think about it.

As far as the area itself in terms of things to do, there are a few bars and quite a number of different restaurants. A few things are open 24 hours a day other than fast food and halal carts. There's a movie theater 15ish blocks north as well as some local shopping, but I would guess that the majority of the class shops and spends a lot of free time outside of Washington Heights. I will admit that I'm a bit of a pro-WH radical and so I personally spend most of my free time here, but as I mentioned before I find the area much to my liking and would prefer to drink 2 dollar Presidente at Malecon than 7 dollar corona in the east village. The undergrad is about 50 blocks south and is easily accesible by the bus or the 1 subway. That area has what you would expect to be around a college campus including some grad student frequented bars (interestingly, apparently the medical school has been pegged for one of the bars as well, or at least thats what my undergrad friends tell me where they go if they want to date med students). People who don't live near campus often live in Morningside Heights by the undergrad or further south. The nice thing is that, despite our distance from the center of Manhattan, we are on an express A train and so you can be on 59th in 20 minutes or so if you catch it right. The one problem is that the A isn't express late late at night (bars are open til 4 in NYC), but for school commuting and general carousing it works great. Becuase of the A, it is actually faster for us to get to much of the south part of Manhattan than the east side medical schools (I exempt Mt Sinai because I don't know their location's logistics), as they are either not on a subway or on a local stop.

Oh, there's a park next to campus that is good for a run, as is the George Washington Bridge directly north of us.
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So there ARE still Mets fans in Washington Heights? Whew, that's a relief then. I was afraid that due to the proximity to the Bronx, I would basically get forced into becoming a YANKEES fan once I moved there. :scared:
 
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FrazzleSnazzle said:
So there ARE still Mets fans in Washington Heights? Whew, that's a relief then. I was afraid that due to the proximity to the Bronx, I would basically get forced into becoming a YANKEES fan once I moved there. :scared:
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Not at all, in fact you will find the Mets to be much more affordable. Make friends with the Rugby players because some of them have connections for box seats. Otherwise, Columbia student discounts are sometimes available for the Mets.
 
mmmcdowe said:
I mean, they want you to answer the question 🙂. There are no buzz words per se that you should include. A well thought out, passionate, and truthful answer will take you much further than some generic answer tailored to the perceived interests of P&S. Keep in mind that Columbia does not filter, everyapplication is reviewed and every essay is read (even when that application is attached to a 17J MCAT score). Because of this, they have even more experience with essay content than most adcoms (which is very large at even the most interview stingy school). When I wrote this essay (wow, two years???) I got specific. I can't claim to know that this is better, but like you I felt like I had hit the general stuff in my PS. Honestly, much of what I wrote was what I couldn't fit in my PS and so saved for secondaries.
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I am having trouble getting out of general predictions on this one too, what do you mean about getting specific? I have started to try and tie the satisfactions I expect to receive back to my own experiences- is this the right approach?
 
Thom1986 said:
I am having trouble getting out of general predictions on this one too, what do you mean about getting specific? I have started to try and tie the satisfactions I expect to receive back to my own experiences- is this the right approach?
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There is no right approach. I see nothing wrong with what you are doing. My rule of thumb for all essays that I read (I don't read for the adcom I just mean in general for people) is that you must justify justify justify and analyze analyze analyze.

By specific I meant describe exactly how I will get satisfaction (lol) and why I thought that.
 
quick questions: 1) if i did funded research, should I put it under extracurricular activities or under recompensed collegiate work?
2) if I'm applying to md/phd and sending my rec letters thru pre-health committee, do I put yes or no for "Have you requested your College Premedical Committee, Advisor or Letter Service to send us a recommendation?" and should I list the recommenders?
 
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evo said:
quick questions: 1) if i did funded research, should I put it under extracurricular activities or under recompensed collegiate work?
2) if I'm applying to md/phd and sending my rec letters thru pre-health committee, do I put yes or no for "Have you requested your College Premedical Committee, Advisor or Letter Service to send us a recommendation?" and should I list the recommenders?
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Did you get paid or was it funded research without pay?
 
mmmcdowe said:
Did you get paid or was it funded research without pay?
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it was just funded, i was going to put it under activities but since i received money from it, not sure if I should classify it as "paid work"?
 
mmmcdowe said:
Well, you didn't get payed so I think that is just fine.
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ok i'll just do that, thanks!

any opinion on the recommendation letter part? I listed my recommenders, and I was going to put their title/department but there is not enough space for both title and the department..wth?
 
for the extracurricular activities--i'm a paid tutor/TA, and so i listed it under the employment question. But really, i consider this to be an extracurricular activity. Would it be weird for it to be listed under both?
 
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Quick question, I'm a post-bac, but under "In 2010/2011 you will be a*" the only options are

Junior
Senior
Graduate Student
Non-student

Any consensus where post-bac falls under these four options? I was thinking senior.
 
thebillsfan said:
for the extracurricular activities--i'm a paid tutor/TA, and so i listed it under the employment question. But really, i consider this to be an extracurricular activity. Would it be weird for it to be listed under both?
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If you are paid, it's employment more so than an EC. I don't get directly paid to be a TA (tuition waiver) but I still put in in the employment question.

It would be silly to mention you are a TA twice even if you do see it as an EC.

TravisG said:
Quick question, I'm a post-bac, but under "In 2010/2011 you will be a*" the only options are

Junior
Senior
Graduate Student
Non-student

Any consensus where post-bac falls under these four options? I was thinking senior.
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I would give them a call because you technically aren't a senior nor a graduate student. I'm surprised they don't have post-bac as an option. You could just leave that section blank (if possible) and add in the "additional information" section that you will be completing your post-bac in 2010-2011.
 
ksmi117 said:
Prompts:

1. What satisfactions do you expect to receive from your activities as a physician?*
Enter your response in essay format. LIMIT WRITING TO 2475 CHARACTERS.

5. What sort of work did you do (include summer employment)?*
Enter your response in list format using commas. LIMIT WRITING TO 1000 CHARACTERS. Do not use return or enter.

If you have additional information that you would like to include with your application, compose a document offline in a word processor and upload it here.
Use this uploaded document to record any information that does not fit into the application form, including additional majors or colleges.
You may upload only one document here. Merge your information into a single file before uploading it.

:luck: with your application!
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I have a couple questions about how to write the essays. I don't think anyone has asked this yet. I understand that the short essays need to be straight forward, but what about essay 1 and 5 - how important is it to have a introduction, conclusion, etc?

also, anyone know what kind of things people upload on that optional document? Would an abstract to a paper I'm submitting to be published be okay?

Thanks!
 
Lt Surj said:
I have a couple questions about how to write the essays. I don't think anyone has asked this yet. I understand that the short essays need to be straight forward, but what about essay 1 and 5 - how important is it to have a introduction, conclusion, etc?
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Essay 1 should probably be in essay format, I'll have a short intro/conclusion
Essay 5: it says enter it in list format so enter it in list format


Anyone else having trouble making essay 1 not sound too cliche or unoriginal?
 
linkorn12 said:
Essay 1 should probably be in essay format, I'll have a short intro/conclusion
Essay 5: it says enter it in list format so enter it in list format


Anyone else having trouble making essay 1 not sound too cliche or unoriginal?
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big time. oh well.
 
Has anyone got a complete email from Columbia yet? Or your picture was received?? I'm just wondering if I should call them soon and make sure I don't need to resend my picture.
 
Avoidthetiger said:
Has anyone got a complete email from Columbia yet? Or your picture was received?? I'm just wondering if I should call them soon and make sure I don't need to resend my picture.
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I havent gotten anything like that yet. I sent my picture out around a week and a half ago.. if we're all in the same boat maybe its not too big of a deal?

and just to make sure-- if we are verified and our letters are in, all we have to do is assign it to X School and X school should be able to see them right?
 
I just received a 'You're Complete' email. Sent my pic on 6/23.
 
wow. I totally feel like I knew that today would be the day that we would get completion emails from Columbia.

of course, I haven't gotten one yet. but still. 😀
 
I received the complete e-mail as well. Columbia has speeded things up this year. Last cycle, complete e-mails did not start going out until 08/28, and interview invites started 09/08. Maybe we can expect to hear regarding interviews in the next week or two?
 
Congrats on all the completion emails guys! Hopefully, interviews will be coming for a lot of you soon. :luck:
 
Is anyone writing a "why columbia?" essay for the optional section? I LOOOOVE Columbia and I want to explain to them why I want to go to their school specifically, but is it annoying to do that if they don't ask for it?
 
dancerdoc115 said:
Is anyone writing a "why columbia?" essay for the optional section? I LOOOOVE Columbia and I want to explain to them why I want to go to their school specifically, but is it annoying to do that if they don't ask for it?
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What are the instructions listed on the optional section? I think the implication is that is mostly for exceptional circumstances. You will have plenty of time to tell and write about how much you love Columbia post interview or later in the cycle. That's when it can really matter.
 
dancerdoc115 said:
Is anyone writing a "why columbia?" essay for the optional section? I LOOOOVE Columbia and I want to explain to them why I want to go to their school specifically, but is it annoying to do that if they don't ask for it?
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I would go for it, but I'm sure there are others who think it would be annoying.
 
Has anyone who has sent the secondary and picture not received a completion email? I submitted both over a week ago.
 
I submitted two weeks ago and haven't heard anything.

edit: Just spoke to a very nice admissions lady. She said they are just now starting to work on and organize apps. As soon as they work on your application, they send you either a complete email OR a you are missing something email. It's suppose to be alphabetical it sounds... but I am at the top then... and still haven't heard anything.
 
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mmmcdowe said:
What are the instructions listed on the optional section? I think the implication is that is mostly for exceptional circumstances. You will have plenty of time to tell and write about how much you love Columbia post interview or later in the cycle. That's when it can really matter.
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What do you mean? In update letters, do we tell them why we want to go to Columbia? I ask because I am a little unfamiliar with update letters and post interview protocol, such as thank you notes and what not.
 
xPersephone said:
What do you mean? In update letters, do we tell them why we want to go to Columbia? I ask because I am a little unfamiliar with update letters and post interview protocol, such as thank you notes and what not.
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Well, I mean at the interview you are going to be talking about why you and why school X pretty regularly. People who are both pre and post interview will often send schools updates (December was when I did mine), though it certainly isn't required and I got into a number of schools without doing so. Students who feel especially strongly about a single school often write letters of intents.

I personally recommend thank you notes/letters (and you can obviously say a thing or two pro columbia in there if you choose to), but not because I think that they will help you. Columbia interviewers tend to write their evaluation immediately after talking with you, so it isn't likely to matter. However, if you come to Columbia you are very likely going to see that professor at some point, and I personally would have felt really bad not thanking them for their time. It's the professional thing to do.
 
Do you think it's too late if I haven't send my Columbia secondary in yet? I was going to finish it up this weekend, but I realized that it looks like most people have already sent theirs...
 
mmmcdowe said:
Well, I mean at the interview you are going to be talking about why you and why school X pretty regularly. People who are both pre and post interview will often send schools updates (December was when I did mine), though it certainly isn't required and I got into a number of schools without doing so. Students who feel especially strongly about a single school often write letters of intents.

I personally recommend thank you notes/letters (and you can obviously say a thing or two pro columbia in there if you choose to), but not because I think that they will help you. Columbia interviewers tend to write their evaluation immediately after talking with you, so it isn't likely to matter. However, if you come to Columbia you are very likely going to see that professor at some point, and I personally would have felt really bad not thanking them for their time. It's the professional thing to do.
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thank you, that was helpful info.
 
shoebusiness85 said:
Do you think it's too late if I haven't send my Columbia secondary in yet? I was going to finish it up this weekend, but I realized that it looks like most people have already sent theirs...
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Trust me you are no where near last.... Not even close. 500 people tend to submit on the last day at the very least!
 
Avoidthetiger said:
I submitted two weeks ago and haven't heard anything.

edit: Just spoke to a very nice admissions lady. She said they are just now starting to work on and organize apps. As soon as they work on your application, they send you either a complete email OR a you are missing something email. It's suppose to be alphabetical it sounds... but I am at the top then... and still haven't heard anything.
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Make sure you are on top of them. I applied last year, and I was not complete after a while. At first I sent them an email, to which I got no response. A bit later (maybe two weeks) I called them up and they told me that I wasn't complete because the picture I sent got messed up or something, so I needed to send them a new one. They never emailed me, I just got initial "you submitted your application" email. I was complete a week or so after sending in another photo.
 
mmmcdowe said:
What are the instructions listed on the optional section? I think the implication is that is mostly for exceptional circumstances. You will have plenty of time to tell and write about how much you love Columbia post interview or later in the cycle. That's when it can really matter.
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So you think it might hurt us if in the optional section we talk about "Why Columbia?" because then we would have to repeat ourselves in the interview when they inevitably ask us the same question?

I feel that they might appreciate a statement on why you are particularly interested in P&S

I'm just trying to think what else I might write, if anything, in the optional section -- is there any consensus?
 
shoebusiness85 said:
So you think it might hurt us if in the optional section we talk about "Why Columbia?" because then we would have to repeat ourselves in the interview when they inevitably ask us the same question?

I feel that they might appreciate a statement on why you are particularly interested in P&S

I'm just trying to think what else I might write, if anything, in the optional section -- is there any consensus?
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Well, in general, you don't want to make the adcom's job any harder. I wouldn't suggest giving them more essays than they ask for without good reason.

Check out last year's thread, I think people talked about this a bit more there.
 
I received my secondary invite on 7/12. I only have my interview to have my committee letter written next week, my AMCAS is not yet verified, and I haven't got my MCAT scores yet. I expect all these pieces will come together sometime mid-August (committee letter sent, AMCAS verified, MCAT scores released). So logically, if my application can't be complete until mid-August, it would seem that it doesn't matter if I don't submit my secondary until early August. Is there any problem with this?
 
david06 said:
I received my secondary invite on 7/12. I only have my interview to have my committee letter written next week, my AMCAS is not yet verified, and I haven't got my MCAT scores yet. I expect all these pieces will come together sometime mid-August (committee letter sent, AMCAS verified, MCAT scores released). So logically, if my application can't be complete until mid-August, it would seem that it doesn't matter if I don't submit my secondary until early August. Is there any problem with this?
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Yeah, I'm in the same boat (waiting for committee letter which might take till mid August). So I haven't had a great sense of urgency to finish all my secondaries yet, which is probably why I'm procrastinating and posting this reply. I think theres some debate on whether your app gets reviewed in terms of date of submission or date of completion, so if anyone has more info to share on that it would be great. But I'm pretty sure you get reviewed by date of completion.
 
wanderer100 said:
Make sure you are on top of them. I applied last year, and I was not complete after a while. At first I sent them an email, to which I got no response. A bit later (maybe two weeks) I called them up and they told me that I wasn't complete because the picture I sent got messed up or something, so I needed to send them a new one. They never emailed me, I just got initial "you submitted your application" email. I was complete a week or so after sending in another photo.
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Thanks for the heads up! I'm debating about whether or not I should just resend the picture now...
 
linkorn12 said:
Yeah, I'm in the same boat (waiting for committee letter which might take till mid August). So I haven't had a great sense of urgency to finish all my secondaries yet, which is probably why I'm procrastinating and posting this reply. I think theres some debate on whether your app gets reviewed in terms of date of submission or date of completion, so if anyone has more info to share on that it would be great. But I'm pretty sure you get reviewed by date of completion.
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Yes you are reviewed in terms of when your completed application is submitted. If you submit the 2ndary but other stuff is missing, you are not in the pile. The assumption is generally that most people who submit will be completed in the order that the submit because most people don't submit until they have their letters uploaded, etc.
 
Avoidthetiger said:
Thanks for the heads up! I'm debating about whether or not I should just resend the picture now...
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Call on Friday if you don't hear back this week. Your file might have just been at the bottom of a new stack or something.
 
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