2010-2011 Columbia Application Thread

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jusgeo89 said:
You mean the first interview invite will go out the 27th? or that the first interview will be held the 27th?
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The first interview will be held on the 27th. Don't know about invites, but you can probably figure they'd have to go out at least a week before that, probably more like two.
 
ColeOnTheRoll said:
I just received the complete email this week, and I had everything in about a month ago...
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I received the complete email today, and I have had everything in for just two weeks. Maybe they are starting to process faster now.
 
i want an interview! gimme some love columbia!!!

Does anyone know if they typically like non-trads?
 
Yes Columbia likes nontrads and nonscience majors too. Also, I spoke to the admissions office and they have begun processing interview invites. It will begin picking up in the next couple weeks.
 
So I had everything submitted by July 25th, and have yet to receive a complete email. I called on August 20th, and they said yes all my materials are in and I should receive a complete email within the week. I still haven't received the email, but I feel like calling them is unnecessary after being assured I was complete. However, I'm worried since I never received the complete email. Do you think calling them again is a good idea? Or is this just pre-med paranoia?
 
hey guys - did anyone here get an invite with a 33 mcat?
 
BrainBuff said:
I received the complete email today, and I have had everything in for just two weeks. Maybe they are starting to process faster now.
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+1 Secondary in at beginning of July but LORs not received until late August
 
Here are a couple of applicants from the past couple cycles with MCATs below 33 to get accepted: link, link, link, link

Keep in mind though that each applicant is unique and may have certain special case factors that gave them an edge aside from their MCAT score. Also, the sample size of people who are interviewed/accepted at Columbia is so small that it is probably unreliable to judge these things as statistics in any case.
 
Hemichordate said:
That guy had a 39, not a 33.
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Shzzz, gimme credit for knowing how to add, lol 😡. I just wanted to show that some people are already getting interviews....

mmmcdowe said:
I think they were mostly trying to point out that interview offers have begun 😀
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Thanks mmmcdowe, for pointing that out....In any event, I think we'll see a flood of invites in the coming days... 👍
 
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Jamiu22 said:
Shzzz, gimme credit for knowing how to add, lol 😡. I just wanted to show that some people are already getting interviews....



Thanks mmmcdowe, for pointing that out....In any event, I think we'll see a flood of invites in the coming days... 👍
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So, I just talked to the admissions office today and apparently, the first batch of invites are all set up and ready to go. They said to expect them to be mailed out sometime before the end of this week so hopefully you guys will be hearing good news soon. :luck:

On a related note, the MDapps profile you posted above said that his invite was for the Bassett program so the timing is probably a little different than for the rest of the applicants.
 
FrazzleSnazzle said:
So, I just talked to the admissions office today and apparently, the first batch of invites are all set up and ready to go. They said to expect them to be mailed out sometime before the end of this week so hopefully you guys will be hearing good news soon. :luck:

On a related note, the MDapps profile you posted above said that his invite was for the Bassett program so the timing is probably a little different than for the rest of the applicants.
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If one gets passed over for the Bassett program, then consideration is still given for the traditional program right?? I'm OOS and applied for the Bassett program because of it's unique program, but I've heard that it is quite competitive (as is Columbia in general) but I'd at least like a review for the traditional program if I get passed over at Bassett 😕

Hey thanks a bunch for checking with the admissions office, that was very kind of you to post that information. :nod:
 
all right, anyone have any idea when columbia will start sending out invites?

i have a mt. sinai interview on october 15th.
i have to schedule a upenn interview now, and was thinking about doing it on the 13th if i could get an interview here on the 14th. that would be perfect for me.

should i try to call columbia?
 
Dr Gerrard said:
all right, anyone have any idea when columbia will start sending out invites?


i have a mt. sinai interview on october 15th.
i have to schedule a upenn interview now, and was thinking about doing it on the 13th if i could get an interview here on the 14th. that would be perfect for me.

should i try to call columbia?
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If I were you, I wont mention all that to Columbia, lol... just be patient; and if you really want to go to Columbia, you'd fit it into your already busy schedule.
 
Jamiu22 said:
If I were you, I wont mention all that to Columbia, lol... just be patient; and if you really want to go to Columbia, you'd fit it into your already busy schedule.
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Yeah, I agree with this. You don't want to seem presumptuous or entitled to getting an interview to any schools that haven't invited you yet.


Nessy said:
If one gets passed over for the Bassett program, then consideration is still given for the traditional program right?? I'm OOS and applied for the Bassett program because of it's unique program, but I've heard that it is quite competitive (as is Columbia in general) but I'd at least like a review for the traditional program if I get passed over at Bassett 😕

Hey thanks a bunch for checking with the admissions office, that was very kind of you to post that information. :nod:
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According to this faq, you are allowed to apply to both simultaneously but you need to send them an extra note stating the fact that you wish to do so. I should point out that the Bassett acceptance decisions are made around December while the regular decisions are made around March.
 
Dr Gerrard said:
all right, anyone have any idea when columbia will start sending out invites?

i have a mt. sinai interview on october 15th.
i have to schedule a upenn interview now, and was thinking about doing it on the 13th if i could get an interview here on the 14th. that would be perfect for me.

should i try to call columbia?
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I have to respectfully disagree with the other answers and say by all means let them know that you will be in the area. The admissions office and Dr. Nicholas both know the expense of the interview processes. The admissions office will do their best to speed your processing.
 
Nessy said:
If one gets passed over for the Bassett program, then consideration is still given for the traditional program right?? I'm OOS and applied for the Bassett program because of it's unique program, but I've heard that it is quite competitive (as is Columbia in general) but I'd at least like a review for the traditional program if I get passed over at Bassett 😕
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Yes, you'll get reviewed by the regular program if Bassett decides not to take your app further. I know of at least 1 person here who interviewed at Bassett but was offered an acceptance to the regular MD program.

Acceptances for the Bassett program may begin in December (they did last year, not sure if that's changing), but they're still made on a rolling basis. I personally didn't even submit the secondary until late October and still made it in (several of us interviewed in December and January, actually), so while time is a factor, it's not everything.

The invitation is still open to contact me with any questions about the Bassett program. We had a week of orientation in Cooperstown, which was completely awesome, then arrived in NYC with everyone else. There's no other distinctions between the programs in the pre-clinical years, although we'll likely be having some lecture lunches with some professors in the MPH and MBA programs (we had some absolutely fantastic lectures with them in our orientation week). Couldn't be happier with Columbia, it's a fantastic place.
 
marele86 said:
Yes, you'll get reviewed by the regular program if Bassett decides not to take your app further. I know of at least 1 person here who interviewed at Bassett but was offered an acceptance to the regular MD program.

Acceptances for the Bassett program may begin in December (they did last year, not sure if that's changing), but they're still made on a rolling basis. I personally didn't even submit the secondary until late October and still made it in (several of us interviewed in December and January, actually), so while time is a factor, it's not everything.

The invitation is still open to contact me with any questions about the Bassett program. We had a week of orientation in Cooperstown, which was completely awesome, then arrived in NYC with everyone else. There's no other distinctions between the programs in the pre-clinical years, although we'll likely be having some lecture lunches with some professors in the MPH and MBA programs (we had some absolutely fantastic lectures with them in our orientation week). Couldn't be happier with Columbia, it's a fantastic place.
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I just love the philosophy of this program 😍 Do interview invites go out at the same time as the regular Columbia MD programs does??
 
Nessy said:
I just love the philosophy of this program 😍 Do interview invites go out at the same time as the regular Columbia MD programs does??
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Approximately but there is generally a bit of delay between "bursts" of Bassett interviews because of the fact that it requires the okay of two layers of admissions review (CU and then Bassett itself). That's how it worked last year though, and I believe it did take a few more weeks for them to start.
 
so i called to ask about getting my interview on my same nyc trip.. they said i need to email

but i couldn't find just one email to send it to, there are so many different people i can contact on the site.

should i just email dr. nicholas?
 
MD invite as well! i guess i'll be seeing you on the 27th!
 
interview invite today as well! complete on 7/21. I'll have to reschedule though 🙁 cause it conflicts with another interview date. love love columbia!
 
interview invite yesterday as well, but the email i got said to email a few dates that are convenient for me and didn't mention any pre-existing interview dates. did everyone else get assigned a date already?
 
same as you, abeta
got the email to email them convenient dates
 
i was complete end of july, and my date was set as Sept 27th. i'm not sure why some of us have assigned dates and others do not?
 
It seems whoever got assigned got assigned to September 27th (Come forward if this is not true). September 27th is also the first day of interviews...

They fill up the first day themselves, then let the rest of the students pick their day?
 
Umm... what if i don't have an answer for Question 3. ? 😳
 
just got a columbia-basset interview invite (oos)!!! i'm in china for the year, so i think i'm going with the late november date (nov 18th). this is my first invite since I just got all my secondaries in late august and early sept. hopefully some more come soon so I can plan a trip to the states all at once!

so apparently for the basset program, you interview at the the basset medical center and then at columbia (meaning you make the 4 hour commute one day, the interview is two days long). Does anyone have any advice/thoughts on this?

sorry this is kind of a jumbled post. i'm just super excited. i've been waiting for invites for so long! this is one of my top schools so i'm also a little nervous....
 
I sent an email to Renee at the admissions office on Sunday about scheduling a different interview date since I have an interview on the date they gave me, 9/27. But I haven't anything back yet. Should I call the office, or just wait for her to email me back?
 
Hey guys,

I was wondering if you could clarify the instructions about letters for me. My school is sending a committee letter packet, so I click "Yes" where it asks for that. Now, do I also put my advisor's name, or would that imply she is sending a separate individual letter on my behalf? I thought I wasn't supposed to put her name down, but the application says the advisor's name is a required field. What did you guys do?

Thanks!
 
opolis said:
so apparently for the basset program, you interview at the the basset medical center and then at columbia (meaning you make the 4 hour commute one day, the interview is two days long). Does anyone have any advice/thoughts on this?
.
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The commute's pretty nice, actually. If you're on your own for transportation, you can either rent a car or take the Trailways bus there (it's easy to do it from NYC - I think it's more complicated to arrange it from Albany or Syracuse, but it can still be done) and contribute towards someone else's rental car for the ride back.

The bus trip is really nice - sure, it's still a bus, but they take a really scenic route through the Catskills and then drop you off within just a block of the Cooperstown B&B (which is also within walking distance of the hospital where you'll interview). I've ridden up there twice so far and actually liked it both times, and I'm not normally a huge fan of public transit. Maybe I'm just a sucker for scenery.
 
mmmcdowe said:
Then I guess the answer is none 😀 (it's not a big deal, I didn't have much to say in honors and awards either)
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thanks mmmcdowe.

Another thing... In my AMCAS primary app. I linked all of my 5 references to the schools that I applied to. Now with the secondary, I'm seeing that they only accept 3 max. By entering the names of those references in my secondary, would that indicate to them which ones they should request from AMCAS, or since I put 5 to each school, they will receive all of them?

thanks
 
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capostat said:
thanks mmmcdowe.

Another thing... In my AMCAS primary app. I linked all of my 5 references to the schools that I applied to. Now with the secondary, I'm seeing that they only accept 3 max. By entering the names of those references in my secondary, would that indicate to them which ones they should request from AMCAS, or since I put 5 to each school, they will receive all of them?

thanks
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They will get them all and read the three you select.



Also to everyone, get your applications in! Over 3000 applications have been submitted, Columbia may be non-rolling admissions but they read the applications in order and offer interviews along the way. The longer it takes them to read your application, the less interviews that are available.
 
mmmcdowe said:
They will get them all and read the three you select.



Also to everyone, get your applications in! Over 3000 applications have been submitted, Columbia may be non-rolling admissions but they read the applications in order and offer interviews along the way. The longer it takes them to read your application, the less interviews that are available.
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much appreciated infomation...
 
for those of you with interview invites...did you get any information about student hosts or do you know if there's even a program? my email didn't say anything about it but maybe i'm missing something...
 
mmmcdowe, I was hoping you'd have some input on my recommendation situation. From what I read in the previous post, Columbia only accepts 3 LORs? I had a letter packet consisting of 8 letters (a lot I know but I'm a reapp and had to whittle it down from 12!) sent to AMCAS by my undergrad pre-health committee. Since I sent it in this way, I had no way to indicate which 3 were priority.

From the secondary:

"If your letters are being sent by any of these services [i.e. premedical committee/advisor] DO NOT LIST THE NAMES BELOW. Only if you are having individual letters sent, or are an MD/PhD applicant, should you list the names below."

How do you think they'll handle it? I hope it won't put me at a disadvantage :xf:
 
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