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

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quickquestion1125 said:
Haha, I guess you're right!
I just haven't been getting much love this cycle. I'm from a small liberal arts school in the middle of nowhere. Stats are very slightly above the average that columbia has put up online and I am not as super talented as most of the people there.. i really loved it, but everyone was from an ivy league school, the interviewees and the students , and even my interviewer! Premed neuroticism!
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You have every reason to be neurotic! I can't tell you that you have a good chance because I don't know your application, thus it would be insincere for me to comment such, but bear in mind that Columbia wants a lot of diversity and that they place great emphasize on the interesting background brought in by the students with all kinds of experiences. Remember Dr. Nicolas himself came from the middle of nowhere and cowboy booted all through his training.
 
I actually noticed more Ivy/Stanford grads at my Columbia interview than at any other school (see my MDApps if you're curious). But more so than the schools they came from, I felt my fellow interviewees at Columbia were the most impressive.
 
FriendlyFH said:
You have every reason to be neurotic! I can't tell you that you have a good chance because I don't know your application, thus it would be insincere for me to comment such, but bear in mind that Columbia wants a lot of diversity and that they place great emphasize on the interesting background brought in by the students with all kinds of experiences. Remember Dr. Nicolas himself came from the middle of nowhere and cowboy booted all through his training.
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I think I can definitely bring diversity (not a URM), and I am from Canada, so maybe that could help. Definitely have somewhat of an interesting story. But as far as talent goes, these kids were amazing!! I hope Dean Nicholas identifies with me since I am from a small town no name school!


[QUOTE}I actually noticed more Ivy/Stanford grads at my Columbia interview than at any other school (see my MDApps if you're curious). But more so than the schools they came from, I felt my fellow interviewees at Columbia were the most impressive.[/QUOTE]
Absolutely! Very impressive! All the ivy leagues were represented at mine!
 
Do they give you any advance information about whom you're interviewing with? If so, when do you find out?
 
blueharbor said:
Complete in July and just got an II!!! SO EXCITED for so many reasons!!! There were plenty of of January interview dates available from the 12th through the 27th or so.
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+1 Very excited!! (and slightly annoyed that they don't tell you in advance when your interview will be)
 
blueharbor said:
Complete in July and just got an II!!! SO EXCITED for so many reasons!!! There were plenty of of January interview dates available from the 12th through the 27th or so.
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Did you send them an update recently?
 
If you haven't heard anything yet is it safe to assume a rejection? Or is there hope still?
 
Jrcomsto said:
Holy cats, just received an II here. Speechless and thrilled!!!!! Complete in early July, LizzyM ~ 73. Seriously in shock and so, so excited!!
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Congrats! Nice to know that they're shuffling through the early submitters again. Did you by any chance send an update?
 
Do you guys think that a two-credit biochem lab report writing class counts for the second semester English requirement? It fulfills a writing requirement for my school.
 
Is there any way to know what time our interview will be prior to interview day? Flight options are slim and a 6:15pm Newark departure is calling my name, but that seems super sketchy.
 
Temerit said:
Is there any way to know what time our interview will be prior to interview day? Flight options are slim and a 6:15pm Newark departure is calling my name, but that seems super sketchy.
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So, unfortunately, you find out your interview time when you get there. However, on my interview day, 3:30 was the last scheduled interview slot (interviews went from 20 minutes to 1 hour on my day, from the people I talked to). If you have a morning interview, then you can leave by about 2:15 (plenty of time to get to Newark), but to get to the airport with say, 1 hour for check-in/security/etc, I would say you need to leave Columbia by about 3:30 (build in 30 mins for the A train, an hour for NJ transit (this could be shorter, or even longer, although I tried to be conservative, depending on how well train schedules work out for you), and about 20 mins on the airtran. But if there's lost time from rush hour/getting lost/random natural crises, then that may be a problem.

All in all, I would probably book a later flight, now that I think about it while typing this out, but if flight schedules are REALLY inflexible, maybe you can call the admissions office and see if they can give you a morning interview or something, idk.
 
What are the post-interview acceptance percentages? I'm trying to manage my hopes here and I know that Columbia interviews a very large amount of people. Does anyone have recent USNEWS data on that?
 
So does "non rolling admissions" mean that there is no disadvantage to interviewing late? I feel like by the time I'm there next week a lot of spots will be "taken" even though nothing is official
 
I was completed here in August but I haven't heard anything regarding an II. I didn't know that Columbia is "non-rolling admissions". Does that mean they send out acceptances after all the interviews and a late interview will not negatively affect your chances?
 
bimatoprost said:
I was completed here in August but I haven't heard anything regarding an II. I didn't know that Columbia is "non-rolling admissions". Does that mean they send out acceptances after all the interviews and a late interview will not negatively affect your chances?
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Yes
 
To those who have interviewed already: I am assuming that there is a location to place luggage/coats, etc?
 
g gnome said:
To those who have interviewed already: I am assuming that there is a location to place luggage/coats, etc?
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Yes, your assumption is correct.
g gnome said:
They are nice enough to give the numbers on their website.

http://newsroom.cumc.columbia.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/PS_Facts_and_Statistics_2013-2014.pdf
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Thanks for linking this--good find! I am going to link to it in the Medical Schools: In Summary project (which everyone should contribute to!).
 
anyone know if they are done extending IIs here by now?
 
Does the # of acceptance letters issued exclude people pulled from the waitlist later on? Two current students during my interview day said that Columbia pulls heavily from its waitlist (one of them said 40-50% get off the waitlist??? Dunno how true that is, though), so maybe it's a little more generous than 30% with waitlists considered.
 
alison92 said:
Does the # of acceptance letters issued exclude people pulled from the waitlist later on? Two current students during my interview day said that Columbia pulls heavily from its waitlist (one of them said 40-50% get off the waitlist??? Dunno how true that is, though), so maybe it's a little more generous than 30% with waitlists considered.
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The numbers do include the waitlist, unfortunately.
 
blueharbor said:
The numbers do include the waitlist, unfortunately.
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During my interview day, several students mentioned that they were pulled off the waitlist. I wonder how many are taken? That would be an interesting data to have.
 
pretty sure they interview til end of January
 
People who submitted Thank you notes and/or updates via the "Application Update" feature on the online application: does your document appear as uploaded on this page? I received a response from the Dean after, although this doesn't appear in "Communications" and the document I originally uploaded doesn't appear on the Application Update page. I just want to make sure this is normal and the document I uploaded is in my file... Thanks!
 
ConsultantMD said:
During my interview day, several students mentioned that they were pulled off the waitlist. I wonder how many are taken? That would be an interesting data to have.
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Considering schools are unlikely to over-accept (based on experiences I have had and logic), I would think that accepted students - class size would basically give you that number, right? Might be that I am over simplifying it. This makes the 40-50% of students taken off of waitlist referenced above very reasonable.
 
g gnome said:
Considering schools are unlikely to over-accept (based on experiences I have had and logic), I would think that accepted students - class size would basically give you that number, right? Might be that I am over simplifying it. This makes the 40-50% of students taken off of waitlist referenced above very reasonable.
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Schools do over-accept. See this thread to see what all of our favorite adcoms have to say about the process. (The Columbia-Bassett program is an exception, they do not over-accept because they can't be overenrolled and they have a high yield.)

I don't know how much waitlist movement Columbia sees, though I very much doubt it approaches 50% of the total number they accept.
 
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Does anyone who has stayed at Bard Hall know the earliest time we can check in?
 
youmeandthesea said:
Does anyone who has stayed at Bard Hall know the earliest time we can check in?
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blueharbor said:
I have a similar q - what's the latest time we can check in?
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No earliest or latest times! The Tower 1 desk (which attaches to Bard Hall) is open and staffed 24 hours per day. Just try to coordinate with your host so they know when to expect you. Have a great time interviewing!
 
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