2014-2015 Columbia University College of P&S Application Thread

BU Medical Sciences
This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
That awkward moment when you realize you forgot to copy in your answer to "What college extracurriculars did you participate in?" and it let you submit with the question blank.

Called the admissions office (they're extremely helpful on the phone!) and was directed to submit it as an application update.

But now fully submitted phew!
 
Soo, they specified passport style. I'm hoping they mean size/headshot/etc. Does it have to be a plain background? I have a nice picture that I've been using that has a non-distracting glass background?
 
All acceptance decisions are released on the same date, as opposed to continuously throughout the cycle.
 
gastronome said:
Soo, they specified passport style. I'm hoping they mean size/headshot/etc. Does it have to be a plain background? I have a nice picture that I've been using that has a non-distracting glass background?
Click to expand...

I think it's fine. I interpreted "passport-style" as a headshot with a non-distracting background
 
Complete via email today. Not all my LORs are in, but I think once they receive their required minimum of 3, you are considered complete.

Now all Columbia has to do is love me back...
 
MSTPhopeful2015 said:
I had this problem but what I did was select "yes" for the do you have an parent or sibling question and then you'll notice it brings up like 6 other sub-questions. Mark them all no then switch the top back to "no" and it will work fine after that.
Click to expand...

Did anyone else have a problem post-submission with the parent/sibling question? Mine says "Yes" for the initial question now and "No" for the following questions, even though I went back and changed the initial question to "No."

EDIT: I emailed admissions and they were very friendly and helped me by changing question 14 to "No."
 
Last edited:
Emeryx09 said:
I would like to know a little more about this, too. It sounds like something I'm interested in, but I'm afraid I'm not competitive enough (3.67 sGPA, MCAT 36, average EC and everything else)
Click to expand...

Recent Bassett graduate here. (In fact, I'm pretty sure you can find posts of mine back when I was still considering the Bassett program...)

Your stats are totally competitive for Bassett. We do tend to have higher numbers overall than the regular MD program, but that's spread out among 10 people - so there are outliers in both directions. You lose nothing by applying for Bassett - you'll still be considered for regular MD, as mmmcdowe said. (To be fair, if you apply later in the cycle you might lose some time as the Bassett program considers applications - but early in the app cycle, I can't imagine it makes a difference. Had at least a couple classmates who applied Bassett but were accepted as regular MD.)

Lots of strengths of the Bassett program: longitudinal care of patients (they are YOUR patients - if admitted to the ED at 10pm, your pager will go off. You will have complete autonomy on whether you want to head over to the ED - you might rather sleep, which is fine - but if you do go, the physicians there are really appreciative of having a student who knows the patient's medical issues well. You learn tons and contribute a lot), amazing program directors who will know you personally and be able to advocate for you (strength of a small group of students admitted per year), Cooperstown is a pretty awesome location IMO (we semi-jokingly call it "Narnia"), and amazing curriculum in healthcare systems and policy that involves Columbia MPH and MBA professors.

Personally, I was originally on the fence about the Bassett program because it was new and I wasn't sure if it would be hyper-focused on "rural health" (it isn't, by the way. It's a longitudinal patient experience / healthcare systems program that happens to take place in a rural setting, because the Bassett Network is an interesting and innovative hospital system. You do learn a lot about rural health by being there, but it's still ultimately a subspecialty hospital.)

The main disadvantage is that if you're interested in bench / lab research, that will be difficult (if not impossible?) to do during 3rd year (in the other years, you're integrated thoroughly into the rest of your Columbia class so it really isn't an issue). Clinical research and policy research is easy to come by in Cooperstown, however, as the research-oriented attendings definitely outnumber the medical students.

Our Bassett class matched very well (right on par with P&S as a whole), and in a wide variety of specialties: Urology, gen surg, pediatrics, child neurology, FM, several in IM, with one taking a year to do an MPH as well.

Any questions, definitely check the website (redesigned last year, I think - www.columbia-bassett.org, it's good) - or contact Dr. Weil (contact info on the website), he's easy to talk to and a great resource. Or just reply on this thread - I'm on an easy rotation this month and I'm guessing I'll remember to check!

P&S is amazing, by the way. Awesome, awesome extracurriculars and just a great, supportive environment for med school in general. Best of luck!
 
Does Columbia have a field where you can indicate family members who have attended other grad programs (MBA, etc) and not specifically med? Just curious!
 
For the "work for compensation" question, would a paid research fellowship with hour requirements for school year/summer count?
 
For those of you who received the complete email, how long did it take after all your materials were in to get the email? My LOR's, which were all submitted early June, finally showed as received on Tuesday, but I still haven't gotten the complete email. Wondering if I should contact them or if it's just aprocessing delay...
 
just to confirm, if you apply to Bassett are you considered for the regular MD program simultaneously? Or do you have to be rejected from the Bassett program first and then are considered for MD?
 
BioEngMD said:
For those of you who received the complete email, how long did it take after all your materials were in to get the email? My LOR's, which were all submitted early June, finally showed as received on Tuesday, but I still haven't gotten the complete email. Wondering if I should contact them or if it's just aprocessing delay...
Click to expand...

My letters were shown as received 1 day after I attached them to my AMCAS application, and I got the complete email one day after the letters appeared on the Columbia application.
 
For the question, "if you took time off from undergraduate studies..." do they mean if you already graduated and are doing things during your gap years or do they just mean if you took time off specifically during college?
 
Brotter said:
For the question, "if you took time off from undergraduate studies..." do they mean if you already graduated and are doing things during your gap years or do they just mean if you took time off specifically during college?
Click to expand...
Time off from undergraduate studies implies that your undergraduate education was interrupted in some way (took a year off to help family, was sick for a semester, etc). I don't think it implies gap years.
 
Regarding non-rolling:

It means when you interview doesn't matter. But that doesn't mean that your chances for getting a interview aren't better if you apply early rather than when the spots are half gone
 
Hey all, I'm applying to the MD/PhD program at Columbia, and one of the essay questions is simply "PhD goals" I'm probably over thinking this, but are they asking us why we want to do an MD/PhD....or what we hope to get out of our PhD....or...? Help?
 
crzymonkey said:
Hey all, I'm applying to the MD/PhD program at Columbia, and one of the essay questions is simply "PhD goals" I'm probably over thinking this, but are they asking us why we want to do an MD/PhD....or what we hope to get out of our PhD....or...? Help?
Click to expand...

I would think both, but leaning towards the latter. As in more of the latter.
 
On the Columbia MD/PhD application, there is a section for "Additional Information". Does anyone have any insight as to what this is for, how important it is, and why is it required?
 
For the college extracurriculars, did you guys just list your activities with commas? Did you include positions (ie. Vice-President of X club)
 
dudewheresmymd said:
For the college extracurriculars, did you guys just list your activities with commas? Did you include positions (ie. Vice-President of X club)
Click to expand...

I put them in sentences, but I literally didn't have room for that. I tried to make it a mini-narrative as if I was listing off my college career in a nutshell. Include them if you think they are important, and definitely if you have space imo.
 
dudewheresmymd said:
For the college extracurriculars, did you guys just list your activities with commas? Did you include positions (ie. Vice-President of X club)
Click to expand...

Literally just did 'President of Blah'. Didn't have space for descriptions, figured they just wanted a quick list versus having to go through AMCAS. If they want detail, they'll probably refer to AMCAS anyway.
 
gastronome said:
Literally just did 'President of Blah'. Didn't have space for descriptions, figured they just wanted a quick list versus having to go through AMCAS. If they want detail, they'll probably refer to AMCAS anyway.
Click to expand...

Thanks!
 
I submitted my primary July 5 (so obviously not verified) and I'm worried that I haven't gotten the secondary back from Columbia yet. How long did it take regular MD applicants to get secondaries back from Columbia?
 
pandakix said:
I submitted my primary July 5 (so obviously not verified) and I'm worried that I haven't gotten the secondary back from Columbia yet. How long did it take regular MD applicants to get secondaries back from Columbia?
Click to expand...

I got verified 6/16, got secondary 7/1
 
pandakix said:
I submitted my primary July 5 (so obviously not verified) and I'm worried that I haven't gotten the secondary back from Columbia yet. How long did it take regular MD applicants to get secondaries back from Columbia?
Click to expand...

I think they send secondaries to verified applications, so just hang tight.
 
pandakix said:
I submitted my primary July 5 (so obviously not verified) and I'm worried that I haven't gotten the secondary back from Columbia yet. How long did it take regular MD applicants to get secondaries back from Columbia?
Click to expand...

I submitted my primary on June 7th and got an invitation for the secondary on July 1st, so it took 24 days. They did not receive my transcripts until June 24th and I was verified today.

Don't worry about it for now. I think they send out an invitation every few weeks to everyone that applied within those weeks. You don't need to be verified to get the secondary.
 
MegNeedsAdvice said:
I submitted my primary on June 7th and got an invitation for the secondary on July 1st, so it took 24 days. They did not receive my transcripts until June 24th and I was verified today.

Don't worry about it for now. I think they send out an invitation every few weeks to everyone that applied within those weeks. You don't need to be verified to get the secondary.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info! I was comparing myself to a friend who is applying MSTP and got his within a week of submitting AMCAS.
 
Just discovered a big typo in my submitted secondary. :bang:
I guess I should be happy that it's not of the "copy/paste a different school's name" variety.
 
blueharbor said:
Just discovered a big typo in my submitted secondary. :bang:
I guess I should be happy that it's not of the "copy/paste a different school's name" variety.
Click to expand...
I used to think typos were a big mistake, but after reading posts from several adcoms, it seems as though they're really forgiving of those mistakes. They've said things like "doctors aren't known for their spelling prowess," and "sloppy handwriting translates into sloppy typing, it's inevitable." While I somehow doubt the accuracy of the second statement, it does seem as though they look past minor spelling errors on an application. So don't beat yourself up too much! It's not the end of the world!
 
blueharbor said:
Just discovered a big typo in my submitted secondary. :bang:
I guess I should be happy that it's not of the "copy/paste a different school's name" variety.
Click to expand...

wolverine2015grad said:
I used to think typos were a big mistake, but after reading posts from several adcoms, it seems as though they're really forgiving of those mistakes. They've said things like "doctors aren't known for their spelling prowess," and "sloppy handwriting translates into sloppy typing, it's inevitable." While I somehow doubt the accuracy of the second statement, it does seem as though they look past minor spelling errors on an application. So don't beat yourself up too much! It's not the end of the world!
Click to expand...

This isn't exactly the same, but I'm a scribe in an ED and the other day I reread one of the patient historys that I typed up and it read something like: "..patient presents to the ED with complaints of x y z and feeling old" (supposed to say cold)

Lol definitely glad I caught it before I sent it to the doc.. :laugh:
 
wolverine2015grad said:
I used to think typos were a big mistake, but after reading posts from several adcoms, it seems as though they're really forgiving of those mistakes. They've said things like "doctors aren't known for their spelling prowess," and "sloppy handwriting translates into sloppy typing, it's inevitable." While I somehow doubt the accuracy of the second statement, it does seem as though they look past minor spelling errors on an application. So don't beat yourself up too much! It's not the end of the world!
Click to expand...

I hope this is true!!

I found two errors in mine: I repeated a word in one essay and completely misspelled a word in another.... I feel like I only find errors once I submit, not the millions of times I read through it prior to submitting.
 
dragonboss said:
On the Columbia MD/PhD application, there is a section for "Additional Information". Does anyone have any insight as to what this is for, how important it is, and why is it required?
Click to expand...
I'm struggling to write something for this as well... Anybody have any thoughts/insights?
 
Did anyone submit their CV? I think everything on my CV was already covered in my AMCAS app, so it feels redundant to me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

wysdoc
2024-2025 Medical College of Georgia
11 12 13 14 15
Replies
737
Views
164K
mintyrelish
mintyrelish
wysdoc
2024-2025 Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW)
11 12 13 14 15
Replies
722
Views
193K
FightingHawk123
F
wysdoc
2024-2025 University of Washington
10 11 12 13 14
Replies
680
Views
145K
stew_md
S
wysdoc
2024-2025 University of Chicago (Pritzker)
12 13 14 15 16
Replies
778
Views
205K
X0001234
X0001234
wysdoc
2024-2025 Medical University of South Carolina
3 4 5 6 7
Replies
302
Views
58K
hbic2025
H
Top