2011-2012 Columbia Application Thread

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Formal interview days are over, but the committee reserves the right to offer additional interviews until decisions are sent out (and they have in the past).

How often/how many? I sent in an update letter in early Nov and a very sincere LOI late last month. Do you think another one would be pushing it?
 
How often/how many? I sent in an update letter in early Nov and a very sincere LOI late last month. Do you think another one would be pushing it?

pushing what?

seems like you have nothing to lose at this point, although I don't know if you can expect much (I have assumed a rejection from here)
 
Formal interview days are over, but the committee reserves the right to offer additional interviews until decisions are sent out (and they have in the past).

that's surprising since their retention rate is over 50%
 
that's surprising since their retention rate is over 50%

They don't do it because they have to, it's more because people genuinely impress them late in the game and they want to build the best, most diverse class possible.


I don't know how many they do, I assume no more than a handful.
 
Presumably they've already read all our primaries/secondaries by now if interview season is over, no? Seems funny that an application that's been sitting on their desk for months is suddenly going to "genuinely impress them late in the game." (Not blaming you, mmmcdowe, I know you're just the messenger.) Whatever, at least I'm not rejected yet! And it's better than GW's tell-us-why-you-love-us-or-we'll-dump-you method for after interview season ended.
 
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How do people impress them late in the season? Do some send in update letters along the lines of "oh, btw, just won nobel prize"?
 
How do people impress them late in the season? Do some send in update letters along the lines of "oh, btw, just won nobel prize"?

One of my interviewers (not from Columbia) totally said that.
 
Last year, acceptances were received by mail on 3/3.

Better get that Nobel prize soon... lol.
 
Last year, acceptances were received by mail on 3/3.

Better get that Nobel prize soon... lol.

I got one of those prized nobles for Christmas this year. Had I known the adcoms would be interested, I wouldn't have set it out with the yard debris in January.
 
I got one of those prized nobles for Christmas this year. Had I known the adcoms would be interested, I wouldn't have set it out with the yard debris in January.

You kept the million dollars though right? Lol.
 
Tell the schools you'll pay cash up front! That will you get some acceptances!
 
Tell the schools you'll pay cash up front! That will you get some acceptances!


👍

Maybe even show up at an interview (with or without an II) with a briefcase full of $$$ so they know you mean business.
 
👍

Maybe even show up at an interview (with or without an II) with a briefcase full of $$$ so they know you mean business.

I wonder is anyone has ever just shown up to an interview they weren't invited to and tried to insist they were interviewing that day.
 
I wonder is anyone has ever just shown up to an interview they weren't invited to and tried to insist they were interviewing that day.

Well I know of one person who showed up to revisit despite not being invited (i.e. not accepted). She wanted to really demonstrate her interest in the school apparently.

I also know of one fellow many years ago who offered the school several hundred thousand dollars for a spot. He was a business tycoon and took the former dean of admissions out for lunch and a thousand dollar bottle of wine.








Rejected.
 
Well I know of one person who showed up to revisit despite not being invited (i.e. not accepted). She wanted to really demonstrate her interest in the school apparently.

I also know of one fellow many years ago who offered the school several hundred thousand dollars for a spot. He was a business tycoon and took the former dean of admissions out for lunch and a thousand dollar bottle of wine.








Rejected.
lol.

you can't be so obvious about it. You gotta be subtle, like " I really take pride in my/my child's medical education, I'd probably donate hundreds of thousands of dollars to his school if he got into a good one"
 
So, would you all imagine the soonest people could expect to hear by mail to be March 5 since 3/1 is a Thursday? One week! hang in there everyone!
 
So, would you all imagine the soonest people could expect to hear by mail to be March 5 since 3/1 is a Thursday? One week! hang in there everyone!

for folks in NY, I think you could even reasonably expect to receive mail on 3/2 or 3/3 if letters were mailed out on 3/1 morning...

aaahhh.
 
lol.

you can't be so obvious about it. You gotta be subtle, like " I really take pride in my/my child's medical education, I'd probably donate hundreds of thousands of dollars to his school if he got into a good one"

Lol, the spot was for the tychoon, he wanted to go to medical school at age 50 plus. The school seriously considered his offer, actually, this was back when columbia was poor lol. He ended up at a certain other ivy school who's university is notorious for its donations based admissions decision 😀.
 
for folks in NY, I think you could even reasonably expect to receive mail on 3/2 or 3/3 if letters were mailed out on 3/1 morning...

aaahhh.

Yeah they send acceptances priority, but I wouldn't count on it. Their sendout day has much more to do with getting all the packages ready than a specific deadline. Its the price of waiting until february to make all decisions. And they may yet surprise you all with emails, its a crazy year.
 
So, would you all imagine the soonest people could expect to hear by mail to be March 5 since 3/1 is a Thursday? One week! hang in there everyone!

Last year, the acceptance packages came by Priority Mail, so I don't think a March 3 delivery is out of the question.

https://www.prioritymail.com/about_priority_mail.asp

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=728218&page=26
(If you want to get a taste of the madness to come, start at page 23 of last year's thread and work your way forward)
 
Yeah they send acceptances priority, but I wouldn't count on it. Their sendout day has much more to do with getting all the packages ready than a specific deadline. Its the price of waiting until february to make all decisions. And they may yet surprise you all with emails, its a crazy year.

mmmcdowe, you think you'll be able to get us the insider info of when they've been sent??
 
Yeah they send acceptances priority, but I wouldn't count on it. Their sendout day has much more to do with getting all the packages ready than a specific deadline. Its the price of waiting until february to make all decisions. And they may yet surprise you all with emails, its a crazy year.

so it is possible they will send the decisions out later in March? ahhhhh. I just want to know!

sent in a letter of update on tuesday. hoping that it gets me somewhere. As an alum, I love Columbia and really want to end up there again :luck:
 
If I was going to be around I could, bu I wont be around that th or f

well you've done quite a lot for all of us, so thanks anyway! i'm sure we can figure it out if we just wait..so simple yet so difficult.
 
so it is possible they will send the decisions out later in March? ahhhhh. I just want to know!

sent in a letter of update on tuesday. hoping that it gets me somewhere. As an alum, I love Columbia and really want to end up there again :luck:

ack me too! i was such an idiot for waiting so long.
 
a little birdie told me decisions are definitely going out on the 1st. also, without giving away too much, if you got in, you'll find out pretty quickly on or around this date regardless of where you live...
 
a little birdie told me decisions are definitely going out on the 1st. also, without giving away too much, if you got in, you'll find out pretty quickly on or around this date regardless of where you live...

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Got an acceptance email earlier today! This was for MD/PhD and they let me know that the letter was in the mail. Maybe coming out sooner than you think!
 
Does anyone know if MD/PhD acceptances are usually given my e-mail? Or is this a sign that the MD only acceptances will also be e-mailed?!?! Omg!!!!!!
 
Does anyone know if MD/PhD acceptances are usually given my e-mail? Or is this a sign that the MD only acceptances will also be e-mailed?!?! Omg!!!!!!

If we can believe RogueUnicorn, it seems like MD-only acceptances will also be emailed (3/1 maybe?).

Commence freak out.
 
a little birdie told me decisions are definitely going out on the 1st. also, without giving away too much, if you got in, you'll find out pretty quickly on or around this date regardless of where you live...

AAHHHHH so soon! :xf:
 
I feel like I should just skip work on Thursday...I already know I'm going to be checking email too much to be productive haha

Good luck everyone!!
 
Congrats, that's amazing. I will be anxiously waiting for the 1st....first choice by far
Got an acceptance email earlier today! This was for MD/PhD and they let me know that the letter was in the mail. Maybe coming out sooner than you think!
 
Hahaha commence freaking out :scared:

Anyways I don't think that I will get outright accepted. My interview went alright, but it didn't "click" as well as I had hoped.
 
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If we can believe RogueUnicorn, it seems like MD-only acceptances will also be emailed (3/1 maybe?).

Commence freak out.

According to last year's thread, someone got an MD/PhD acceptance around this time via snail mail. Given that Member3094 recently heard via email, it seems very likely that MD only acceptances will be going out by email too!
 
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According to last year's thread, someone got an MD/PhD acceptance around this time via snail mail. Given that Member3094 recently heard via email, it seems very likely that MD only acceptances will be going out by email too!

I would point out that MD/PHD acceptances are dealt with via a different office, but judging by rogueunicorn's post it sounds as if the MD applications are also being dealt with (at least in part) by email. Last year rejections were by email, so perhaps they have completely transitioned now.
 
o.m.g.
not sure if it's a good thing that I checked SDN today and found out the decisions will go out soon...
ahhhh
 
Just a quick remark - I got an email informing me that my letter was in the mail and should be expecting it. Judging from the MD/PhD thread, it seems some had a similar email and others only received the snail mail, unclear what this might mean about MD-only apps!
 
a little birdie told me decisions are definitely going out on the 1st. also, without giving away too much, if you got in, you'll find out pretty quickly on or around this date regardless of where you live...

RogueUnicorn so is everything coming out altogether on March 1st? (i.e acceptances, waitlists, and rejections?)
 
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