2016-2017 Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons Application Thread

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II this morning! Complete 10/10. So excited!
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kb1900 said:
Congrats! I would edit your LizzyM to be a little less specific to protect your anonymity
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in all reality, would adcoms ever look on sdn, cross-reference lizzym scores (which they don't even calculate) with applicants they accepted to interview, and then dive into old forum postings by said individual trying to find an excuse to reject them? seems unlikely


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Can anyone comment as to how the interview day was, any tough questions, etc. This is my dream school and I'm kinda freaking out haha
 
Has anyone else received the thank you to your thank you letter from Dean Nicholas? Last year's thread said they were generic and sent to everyone but it seemed very personal and was nice!
 
Was I supposed to send a thank you note, is that traditional for this school? Probably too late to send one for my early October interview, but I hope they weren't implicitly expecting me to...my interviewer was awesome but he didn't give me an email or anything at the end
 
flyingeagle said:
Has anyone else received the thank you to your thank you letter from Dean Nicholas? Last year's thread said they were generic and sent to everyone but it seemed very personal and was nice!
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When did you interview?
 
muggle68 said:
Was I supposed to send a thank you note, is that traditional for this school? Probably too late to send one for my early October interview, but I hope they weren't implicitly expecting me to...my interviewer was awesome but he didn't give me an email or anything at the end
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I was always taught that it's a nice thing to do, and that emails are generally accepted these days. If you don't have an email address for your interviewer, perhaps a hand-written note sent care of the admissions office? That seems like it would be appropriate....
 
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flyingeagle said:
A while ago (i.e. more than 2-3 weeks)
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Yeah, the med students whom I spoke with during interview day said to not look into the thank you to the thank you note too much and that everyone receives a very nice message.
 
Do the thank you notes say that something like "the Admissions Committee will keep you very strongly in mind." Is that generic?
 
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I uploaded my thank you letter to the portal, but did not receive an email response.


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I thought that I might throw out some lessons learned for people who are yet to interview:
1) Don't count on a student host. I requested one early and called a week before my interview to see if they had lined one up yet. They said that they didn't know. I was traveling when I got the email that they couldn't accommodate me, and I had to book a room in Bard hall on the fly ($40). I also requested a student guide, but they never got back to me.
2) Be prepared for Bard Hall. Bard hall gave me flashbacks to my days of living in a military barracks... be prepared and bring shower shoes for the communal/co-ed bathroom space. I would recommend packing more than you normally would to get comfortable.
3) The Interview. This was not my first by a long shot, but it was for sure my first stressful interview. My previous interviews have all been friendly and conversational, and that lulled me in to a false sense of security. My interviewer dug hard into my background info (not my essays) and probed me about my past and family members. This was not the case for everyone, but I was uncomfortable. I'm not saying that this will happen to you, just come prepared with the knowledge that this particular interviewer is still out there. I might write a more detailed account of my experience on the interview feedback page if I have time.
 
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boobaloobie said:
I thought that I might throw out some lessons learned for people who are yet to interview:
1) Don't count on a student host. I requested one early and called a week before my interview to see if they had lined one up yet. They said that they didn't know. I was traveling when I got the email that they couldn't accommodate me, and I had to book a room in Bard hall on the fly ($40). I also requested a student guide, but they never got back to me.
2) Be prepared for Bard Hall. Bard hall gave me flashbacks to my days of living in a military barracks... be prepared and bring shower shoes for the communal/co-ed bathroom space. I would recommend packing more than you normally would to get comfortable.
3) The Interview. This was not my first by a long shot, but it was for sure my first stressful interview. My previous interviews have all been friendly and conversational, and that lulled me in to a false sense of security. My interviewer dug hard into my background info (not my essays) and probed me about my past and family members. This was not the case for everyone, but I was uncomfortable. I'm not saying that this will happen to you, just come prepared with the knowledge that this particular interviewer is still out there. I might write a more detailed account of my experience on the interview feedback page if I have time.
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I'm actually surprised to hear that you experienced that kind of interview at this school, although I suppose that can happen anywhere. I had this exact thing happen to me at another school on the trail, and it was a little unsettling considering that my other interviews were much more positive experiences. I will say that the few people I talked to about it said not to read too much into it. What can seem like a comparatively negative or stressful experience for us, does not mean it was negative in the interviewers eyes and we won't have that information until decisions are released.


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boobaloobie said:
I thought that I might throw out some lessons learned for people who are yet to interview:
1) Don't count on a student host. I requested one early and called a week before my interview to see if they had lined one up yet. They said that they didn't know. I was traveling when I got the email that they couldn't accommodate me, and I had to book a room in Bard hall on the fly ($40). I also requested a student guide, but they never got back to me.
2) Be prepared for Bard Hall. Bard hall gave me flashbacks to my days of living in a military barracks... be prepared and bring shower shoes for the communal/co-ed bathroom space. I would recommend packing more than you normally would to get comfortable.
3) The Interview. This was not my first by a long shot, but it was for sure my first stressful interview. My previous interviews have all been friendly and conversational, and that lulled me in to a false sense of security. My interviewer dug hard into my background info (not my essays) and probed me about my past and family members. This was not the case for everyone, but I was uncomfortable. I'm not saying that this will happen to you, just come prepared with the knowledge that this particular interviewer is still out there. I might write a more detailed account of my experience on the interview feedback page if I have time.
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Sorry to hear about your student host experience, maybe you were interviewing during a time when the first and second years were having their end of block exams? Its tough to pair up everyone with a host throughout the entire application cycle. It still sucks that you didn't get paired up.

Regarding the interview, that style of interviewing is very rare at Columbia. I have yet to meet a classmate who had a "pressure" interview or an inappropriate interview. Makes me kind of curious who it was that you talked to. To any potential interviewees reading this: be prepared for anything. There is more variations among interviewers than between schools. For the most part, because Columbia only has one interviewer (as opposed to MMI or minimum two interviewers) they try not to screw it up by playing mind games. They genuinely want to see where you would fit in at the school and what your story is.

As for Bard, well yeah. It is 100% the weakest part of the school. A sizable portion of the class (maybe a fifth) lives off campus near the school or even in other boroughs. Most are okay enduring Bard for a year. Especially because we make the best of it and try to have fun.
 
PS2020 said:
As for Bard, well yeah. It is 100% the weakest part of the school. A sizable portion of the class (maybe a fifth) lives off campus near the school or even in other boroughs. Most are okay enduring Bard for a year. Especially because we make the best of it and try to have fun.
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You'll miss bard by next year ;) take advantage of always having your classmates in your building for as long as you can!
 
I never got a confirmation e-mail saying that my update info was uploaded to their server. There is also no way of seeing it on there. Is there a way I could check that the material I sent them was received?
 
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Fortyfive said:
I need got a confirmation e-mail saying that my update info was uploaded to their server. There is also no way of seeing it on there. Is there a way I could check that the material I sent them was received?
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It took like 1.5 weeks for me to get a confirmation.
 
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Does anyone who has interviewed already know when the interview day ends? Or if we can request morning interviews due to flight times?
 
HopefulPilot said:
Done at 2 if you have a morning interview. I don't think you can request a morning one but if you are going to, do it asap. Someone tried the morning of at mine and was told no.
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Thanks for the info!
 
flyingeagle said:
Has anyone else received the thank you to your thank you letter from Dean Nicholas? Last year's thread said they were generic and sent to everyone but it seemed very personal and was nice!
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The one I received from him was definitely not generic (though I suppose some of them might be)
 
walloobi said:
The one I received from him was definitely not generic (though I suppose some of them might be)
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Divine Comedy said:
The letter made me feel special at first but after asking past students and applicants about it... It's all generic and not indicative of anything. Some who received that note were waitlisted and ultimately released from further consideration. Don't read into it. There are maybe two to three variants of that letter but they are all just a courtesy.
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how long after you sent your thank you notes did you receive the thank you for your thank you note?
 
Has anyone received anything for handwritten thank you note?


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walloobi said:
The one I received from him was definitely not generic (though I suppose some of them might be)
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Divine Comedy said:
The letter made me feel special at first but after asking past students and applicants about it... It's all generic and not indicative of anything. Some who received that note were waitlisted and ultimately released from further consideration. Don't read into it. There are maybe two to three variants of that letter but they are all just a courtesy.
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Has anyone heard of someone not receiving a thank you to the thank you at all? If so, is that also meaningless or does it signify a negative outcome? It's been over a month since I interviewed and sent in thank you's.
 
WinterIsHere said:
Has anyone heard of someone not receiving a thank you to the thank you at all? If so, is that also meaningless or does it signify a negative outcome? It's been over a month since I interviewed and sent in thank you's.
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Did you upload your letters to the portal?
 
same boat. interviewed in september and sent an email to my interviewer and uploaded a pdf to the secondary website and no response to either other than a generic we have received your update. Not sure what to make of this if anything...
 
cantstopwontstopvu17 said:
same boat. interviewed in september and sent an email to my interviewer and uploaded a pdf to the secondary website and no response to either other than a generic we have received your update. Not sure what to make of this if anything...
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Don't make anything of it. Whether you receive a thank you not or not, it literally means nothing. Anybody reading this should recognize that once you are done with your interview there is little you can do but wait for the decisions. Don't look into any of the details - I know I obsessed over them so much last year, and it all meant absolutely nothing. There was a poll on here a number of years ago trying to match the outcomes with the wording in the letters from admissions. There was no correlation. Its fun to think about but can drive you insane.
 
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for some reason I received II's like immediately after submitting my primary and that was way back in july and I haven't heard anything from them since... granted this is my reach school so I don't have too much hope regardless but it would be nice to just hear back already, can't play this waiting game anymore D:
 
JonathanHusky said:
for some reason I received II's like immediately after submitting my primary and that was way back in july and I haven't heard anything from them since... granted this is my reach school so I don't have too much hope regardless but it would be nice to just hear back already, can't play this waiting game anymore D:
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Are you talking about receiving a secondary in July or II (interview invite)? Columbia doesn't screen for secondaries, so everyone who submits a primary gets one. If you've received an II, and attended the interview, they don't send out acceptances until feb/march

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Karabo said:
Are you talking about receiving a secondary in July or II (interview invite)? Columbia doesn't screen for secondaries, so everyone who submits a primary gets one. If you've received an II, and attended the interview, they don't send out acceptances until feb/march

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secondary, my bad lol yea i meant secondary
 
Interviewing here in the coming month. Looking at the interview day schedule, I'm a little confused about the morning vs. afternoon interview time slots. It seems like you are told your interview time when you arrive, but are there any activities planned for the time you're not interviewing (i.e. if you get an afternoon interview, what are you up to from 9-11:30a?) Thanks!
 
knicksfan3131 said:
Interviewing here in the coming month. Looking at the interview day schedule, I'm a little confused about the morning vs. afternoon interview time slots. It seems like you are told your interview time when you arrive, but are there any activities planned for the time you're not interviewing (i.e. if you get an afternoon interview, what are you up to from 9-11:30a?) Thanks!
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if you have an afternoon interview, you have 9-11:30 to do whatever you want. You can attend a lecture or two or just roam around
 
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