2018-2019 Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons

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Lucca

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MD-Only:

1. If you took time off from your undergraduate studies, please briefly summarize your reasons for doing so. (250 words)

2. In what collegiate extracurriculars did you engage? (400 characters)

3. If you have graduated from college, please briefly summarize what you have done in the interim. (300 words)

4. What challenges do you expect to arise from living and working in a complex urban environment? How will you meet them? (300 words) (This is the only required question)

5. Is there anything else you would like us to know? (300 words)

6. Please describe your parents' occupations. (100 characters)

If you answer yes to the "Did you work during undergrad?" checkbox, this question appears:
"Did you work for compensation during college during the year or the summer? If so, what did you do? How many hours a week did you work? (300 words)"

MSTP:

7. What Academic Honors Have You Received? (e.g. prizes, scholarships, fellowships, honors societies). (5000 Characters)
8. What are your major research interests? (20 words)
9. PhD Goals (5000 characters)
10. Additional Information (5000 Characters)

Columbia Bassett:
7. Columbia-Bassett application adds one essay of "What aspect of Columbia-Bassett has the most appeal to you?"

Good luck to everyone applying!

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Does anyone know if Research lab counts as an extracurricular activity if you received credit for it?

Pertains to the question: "Which extracurricular activities did you participate in during college?"
 
"In what collegiate extracurriculars did you engage?"

I'm not sure what the purpose of this question is. Are they looking for something matter-of-fact, like "I did X at Y"? Or are they looking for a more insightful answer? The phrasing of the question makes me think the former.
 
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"In what collegiate extracurriculars did you engage?"

I'm not sure what the purpose of this question is. Are they looking for something matter-of-fact, like "I did X at Y"? Or are they looking for a more insightful answer? The phrasing of the question makes me think the former.


I’m doing the former. Only had 2 major activities associated with my actual undergrad. Plus only 400 char anyways
 
Secondaries sent out just now.
 
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Verified 6/28, Secondary Received 6/29, Questions are unchanged from last year. @Lucca

Regular MD:

1. If you took time off from your undergraduate studies, please briefly summarize your reasons for doing so. (250 words)

2. In what collegiate extracurriculars did you engage? (400 characters)

3. If you have graduated from college, please briefly summarize what you have done in the interim. (300 words)

4. What challenges do you expect to arise from living and working in a complex urban environment? How will you meet them? (300 words) (This is the only required question)

5. Is there anything else you would like us to know? (300 words)

6. Please describe your parents' occupations. (100 characters)
 
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No secondary on my end.
 
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Secondary received, and my primary has not been verified yet.

Also seeing the same prompts as @SpashMountain12.
 
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Same, got secondary. Primary not verified yet
 
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They removed the "scholarly translations" question it seems? :laugh:
 
For the question: "If you took time off from your undergraduate studies, please briefly summarize your reasons for doing so" are they asking whether you took time off during college (for example, between sophomore and junior year) or whether you took time off after undergraduate (for example, a gap year).

Thanks!!
 
For the question: "If you took time off from your undergraduate studies, please briefly summarize your reasons for doing so" are they asking whether you took time off during college (for example, between sophomore and junior year) or whether you took time off after undergraduate (for example, a gap year).

Thanks!!

i interpreted it as taking a break during your undergraduate studies since they have another question about gap years (if you have graduated from college...etc)
 
Secondary came through this morning! How are other MSTP applicants treating the "experiences" section? Regurgitating AMCAS work/activities?
 
i interpreted it as taking a break during your undergraduate studies since they have another question about gap years (if you have graduated from college...etc)
Thanks, that's what I thought too.
 
For the third question, do you think they want us to only talk about what we have done since graduating? Or also what we will do with our gap year? I'd love to include my gap year stuff as I feel it's much more impressive than my summer activities.
 
I see that this secondary says not to copy and paste from a word document and to copy and paste into a program like Notepad prior to entering it into the secondary. I have a Mac so I have the "Notes" app on my computer, but can I just use google docs and clear formatting? Sometimes my "Notes" app doesn't clear the formatting for some reason and wanted to know what you guys thought.
 
Columbia-Bassett application adds one essay of "What aspect of Columbia-Bassett has the most appeal to you?" @Lucca
 
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I see that this secondary says not to copy and paste from a word document and to copy and paste into a program like Notepad prior to entering it into the secondary. I have a Mac so I have the "Notes" app on my computer, but can I just use google docs and clear formatting? Sometimes my "Notes" app doesn't clear the formatting for some reason and wanted to know what you guys thought.

Use TextEdit, and there should be an option in like Edit > Convert to Plain Text
 
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Just to clarify, when they say collegiate extracurriculars do they mostly mean student organizations and clubs?


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
 
Are you guys going to upload your CV? What are the pros and cons around this?
As of now I'm not going to because my CV is almost all in my primary application already so I don't see a point. But if someone gives a compelling reason to do so then might go for it.
 
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If I just graduated, is it appropriate to answer the question regarding what I've done since graduation by discussing what I will be doing during my gap year? I haven't actually started doing the things I will be doing, e.g. taking a masters in the fall and trying to secure a volunteer position (takes about a month to do so). (Obviously can't say that I've been treating applying to med school like a full-time job for the past month or so.)
 
If I just graduated, is it appropriate to answer the question regarding what I've done since graduation by discussing what I will be doing during my gap year? I haven't actually started doing the things I will be doing, e.g. taking a masters in the fall and trying to secure a volunteer position (takes about a month to do so). (Obviously can't say that I've been treating applying to med school like a full-time job for the past month or so.)

I'm in the same boat as you. I'm going to talk about both, because it still answers the question while also giving a little more info, which shouldn't hurt
 
also if you answer yes to the working while in college question (after the EC question) there is a short answer box that pops up:

"Did you work for compensation during college during the year or the summer? If so, what did you do? How many hours a week did you work? (300 words)"
 
Secondary came through this morning! How are other MSTP applicants treating the "experiences" section? Regurgitating AMCAS work/activities?

Putting in all of my relevant research experiences. Not doing all of work/activities. I think that's what it's for right? Not clear to me.
 
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So, this is my first secondary. How quick do you guys try to send these back. A week, 10 days-ish is my timeframe for all of them (since I only kinda pre-wrote and am on vacation)
 
So, this is my first secondary. How quick do you guys try to send these back. A week, 10 days-ish is my timeframe for all of them (since I only kinda pre-wrote and am on vacation)

common wisdom on the forum is send back within two weeks of receipt, but I dont think anyone knows how much this does or does not matter. Probably matters more at schools that review as soon as an app is complete. A good secondary sent after 10 days >> a poor secondary sent in 24 hours, no doubt about that
 
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Made that mistake and wish I had looked over me primary a few more days, so if there's not even a solid reason to get it in right away, we gonna take the 10 days
 
So I did SMDEP but not in Columbia. Do I still check it or is it only for the people that attended their location?
 
For the following question, does study abroad count???

"If you took time off from your undergraduate studies, please briefly summarize your reasons for doing so. (250 words)"
 
For the collegiate extracurriculars question:
1) If I did activities during the summers but it wasn't at my college, would those count as "collegiate extracurriculars"?
2) Are we expected to write a short description or just list out the name of the activity/group? 400 characters is really short...
 
For the question "Did you work for compensation during college during the year or the summer?", does research for credit count?
 
For the question "Did you work for compensation during college during the year or the summer?", does research for credit count?

If you were paid then yes, if not then no since it's just considered the same as a regular course.
 
For the question "Did you work for compensation during college during the year or the summer?", does research for credit count?

Piggybacking off of this, do year-long research grants count? I technically got paid monthly for mine
 
For the collegiate extracurriculars question:
1) If I did activities during the summers but it wasn't at my college, would those count as "collegiate extracurriculars"?
2) Are we expected to write a short description or just list out the name of the activity/group? 400 characters is really short...

Not sure about number 1 but for number 2 you'll probably not be able to write much of a description. I just briefly mentioned how involved I was for each one and that took up most of my space. If the club/EC name isn't self explanatory then maybe give a very brief description.
 
Hey guys,

Does anyone know how flexible “tell us anything you want us to know” question is?

Thank!

I mean it says "anything" lol but not sure. Earlier in the thread some people mentioned using it as a "why Columbia" prompt. I think as long as it's something relevant to your application that they don't know yet based off other things then it should be fine.
 
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Yeah, probably. Should use all opportunities to stand out

I mean it says "anything" lol but not sure. Earlier in the thread some people mentioned using it as a "why Columbia" prompt. I think as long as it's something relevant to your application that they don't know yet based off other things then it should be fine.
 
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