2018-2019 Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons

[freedoctor17]

Google FAFSA4caster (i think that's what it's called) and you can input different personal and family incomes and assets and see what the EFC would be. Assuming Columbia's algorithms are relatively similar to the feds, that's about what you would be paying per year

I just tested it and if they use something similar to this then i really want to get accepted now haha

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[theKingLT]

I just tested it and if they use something similar to this then i really want to get accepted now haha

I'm with you

 

[diazonium]

Are II still going out here?

 

[deleted962973]

I think it's very different from undergrad though, at least at columbia. Their system is "debt-free" meaning they will evaluate your EFC and essentially that is what you pay (up to the full COA). How they evaluate EFC though I don't know. I doubt they only consider the FAFSA EFC evaluation.

Well the 120K number is from when I filled out my FAFSA. Granted that was 4 years ago but if they’re going off of that, then I assume it’ll be the same.

 

[theKingLT]

Well the 120K number is from when I filled out my FAFSA. Granted that was 4 years ago but if they’re going off of that, then I assume it’ll be the same.

Well the thing is need based scholarships are entirely institutional, so FAFSA just gives Columbia financial info and an EFC, and Columbia uses that info (along with CSS info which is a little more complete) to come up with their own EFC. That part can vary a lot but it just depends on Columbia's algorithms which are not made public. For instance the government might say parents should contribute 20% of income and 5% of assets if they have 1 child in college (just making up numbers). But Columbia could say that parents should contribute 30% of income and 10% of assets. You can know right now what the government says your EFC is (just look at this year's FAFSA or use the forecaster if you haven't submitted it yet), but you won't know if Columbia's EFC is much different until you're accepted and submit all your financial info. Once they evaluate your EFC they subtract it from the COA to determine your "need". Traditionally (according to their financial aid manual on their website) they have a set "loan" amount every year, usually about $30,000, and will grant need-based scholarships to cover the difference between this loan amount and your "need". The deal with their new "debt-free" model is that this $30,000 loan amount is theoretically reduced to zero, meaning the only part that your left to pay (either through loans or personal/family contributions) is the EFC that they assign you, up to the full COA. Even if your parents make 200k, I would be very surprised if your EFC was over 100k (Columbia's COA), meaning even at that income you would get some need-based grant.

 

[nostra_damus]

Well the thing is need based scholarships are entirely institutional, so FAFSA just gives Columbia financial info and an EFC, and Columbia uses that info (along with CSS info which is a little more complete) to come up with their own EFC. That part can vary a lot but it just depends on Columbia's algorithms which are not made public. For instance the government might say parents should contribute 20% of income and 5% of assets if they have 1 child in college (just making up numbers). But Columbia could say that parents should contribute 30% of income and 10% of assets. You can know right now what the government says your EFC is (just look at this year's FAFSA or use the forecaster if you haven't submitted it yet), but you won't know if Columbia's EFC is much different until you're accepted and submit all your financial info. Once they evaluate your EFC they subtract it from the COA to determine your "need". Traditionally (according to their financial aid manual on their website) they have a set "loan" amount every year, usually about $30,000, and will grant need-based scholarships to cover the difference between this loan amount and your "need". The deal with their new "debt-free" model is that this $30,000 loan amount is theoretically reduced to zero, meaning the only part that your left to pay (either through loans or personal/family contributions) is the EFC that they assign you, up to the full COA. Even if your parents make 200k, I would be very surprised if your EFC was over 100k (Columbia's COA), meaning even at that income you would get some need-based grant.

A little confused about the last sentence. You’re saying that if your parents’ income is over 200K, you might still qualify for need based grants at Columbia?


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[theKingLT]

A little confused about the last sentence. You’re saying that if your parents’ income is over 200K, you might still qualify for need based grants at Columbia?


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Yes. By government standards for EFC you would. It's possible Columbia has much stricter standards (in other words if they expect your family to contribute much more than the government expects), but they don't release their algorithms or have an estimator or anything of the sorts, so it's hard to say exactly. I would be surprised if they expected parents to contribute 50% of their income .

 

[deleted962973]

Yes. By government standards for EFC you would. It's possible Columbia has much stricter standards (in other words if they expect your family to contribute much more than the government expects), but they don't release their algorithms or have an estimator or anything of the sorts, so it's hard to say exactly. I would be surprised if they expected parents to contribute 50% of their income .

Thats fair. I wonder if there are any current students on this thread who might be able to speak on this? @WedgeDawg maybe?

I'd be really interested to know what Columbia's cutoff is. In my experience, the FAFSA estimate for EFC was much much higher than my family was able to pay. The income my parents have right now is much higher than the income they had 5 years ago (my mom didn't have a job back then), so they don't have the accumulated savings that other people in that income bracket might. There are also people with significant expenses like dependents or medical bills. That's why EFC is a super broken mechanism, so it would be interesting to know what other calculus Columbia does on top of that.

 

[meronebib]

.

 

[AbsolutelyAlpha]

When does Columbia interview till? Also, anybody have experience with ITA requests specifically to Columbia? I'm flying to NYC from the west coast and was thinking about sending an ITA.

 

[theKingLT]

I would be more worried about the EFC that comes up from your CSS Profile, not FAFSA.

I never had to use CSS in undergrad, so I may be wrong, but I didn't think it included an EFC. My understanding is it's just a more extensive version of fafsa in terms of what info it provides the school but doesn't do its own EFC calculations. Regardless you're right, the CSS info is important and one of the reasons why Columbia's EFC could end up significantly different from FAFSA. Also, I am just now realizing that since FAFSA itself does not require parental info for graduate students, they may not incorporate it in their EFC! This obviously could have a huge impact on those coming from high income households without a lot of personal assets. If that's the case you may be better off looking at your fafsa EFC from your undergrad years when parental income and assets were required, since Columbia will use those.

Thats fair. I wonder if there are any current students on this thread who might be able to speak on this? @WedgeDawg maybe?

I'd be really interested to know what Columbia's cutoff is. In my experience, the FAFSA estimate for EFC was much much higher than my family was able to pay. The income my parents have right now is much higher than the income they had 5 years ago (my mom didn't have a job back then), so they don't have the accumulated savings that other people in that income bracket might. There are also people with significant expenses like dependents or medical bills. That's why EFC is a super broken mechanism, so it would be interesting to know what other calculus Columbia does on top of that.

I agree FAFSA EFC by itself does not work. Even if my parents had contributed to my education, they never would've been able to meet the EFC for more than one of over 5 children. Large families especially get screwed by those estimates as well as anyone who's parents are the type that say you're an independent adult at 18 who doesn't deserve a cent. Word of advice if you want more than 1 kid. Have them as close together as possible. It will make college much cheaper if they're enrolled at the same time.

 

[Dr_Yankee]

Sorry to change the topic, just quick question. I think this was talked about before on this forum but couldn't find the conversation. Did everyone receive the "It would be helpful to us if you provided us with an update prior to mid-February" as a response to you thank you note? If not, do you all think they're basically requiring an update from specific people they're probably on the fence about?

 

[nostra_damus]

Sorry to change the topic, just quick question. I think this was talked about before on this forum but couldn't find the conversation. Did everyone receive the "It would be helpful to us if you provided us with an update prior to mid-February" as a response to you thank you note? If not, do you all think they're basically requiring an update from specific people they're probably on the fence about?

Pretty sure everybody gets that response if you sent in a note to the admissions team


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[freedoctor17]

Sorry to change the topic, just quick question. I think this was talked about before on this forum but couldn't find the conversation. Did everyone receive the "It would be helpful to us if you provided us with an update prior to mid-February" as a response to you thank you note? If not, do you all think they're basically requiring an update from specific people they're probably on the fence about?

That wouldn't make sense since they've just been sending it to people who send thank you notes. I didn't send a thank you note and haven't gotten an email like that. I did submit an update mid December though.

 

[doofenshmirtz it]

When does Columbia interview till? Also, anybody have experience with ITA requests specifically to Columbia? I'm flying to NYC from the west coast and was thinking about sending an ITA.

Looking at least years tracker, last interview invited recorded on SDN was Jan 10

 

[CysteineChapel98]

I feel like this has probably been discussed before, but did anyone else get an email from Columbia saying that the "Admissions Committee would keep you very strongly in mind" after sending thank you notes. Any idea how significant this is?

 

[getthegat]

I feel like this has probably been discussed before, but did anyone else get an email from Columbia saying that the "Admissions Committee would keep you very strongly in mind" after sending thank you notes. Any idea how significant this is?

It’s a boilerplate reply to all who have sent thank yous.

 

[person889]

I feel like this has probably been discussed before, but did anyone else get an email from Columbia saying that the "Admissions Committee would keep you very strongly in mind" after sending thank you notes. Any idea how significant this is?

I think I remember seeing discussion about this somewhere, when some people were getting this message and some weren’t. Someone brought up the good point that it’s unlikely that it means anything, because they probably do all their applicant comparisons during the month at the end of the cycle. If they already had preliminary applicant ratings, it wouldn’t take them so long to deliberate before giving the results.

 

[nostra_damus]

Are there any current students on this thread rn?


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[stickflip723]

Are there any current students on this thread rn?


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@WedgeDawg

 

[WedgeDawg]

@WedgeDawg

Hi

 

[Walter Raleigh]

I am a current student who is happy to talk to you (or anyone else) myself. I can also connect you with anyone who has more expertise in whatever you would like to talk about.

Do you know when acceptances/decisions for the Bassett program are sent out?

 

[WedgeDawg]

Do you know when acceptances/decisions for the Bassett program are sent out?

Honestly I don’t

 

[Arrp213]

Do you know when acceptances/decisions for the Bassett program are sent out?

5 in dec, 5 in jan. Silence means waitlist or R

 

[deleted957941]

5 in dec, 5 in jan. Silence means waitlist or R

Oof


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[Walter Raleigh]

Yeah, silence here from the Bassett program.

 

[surfandturf1]

Could anyone comment on what makes the Columbia curriculum unique?

 

[stephthelorax]

Could anyone comment on what makes the Columbia curriculum unique?

When I interviewed there, my tour guides really spoke highly of their anatomy course. It's group-based (4 people per cadaver I believe), the students do all dissections themselves, and even all of their anatomy exams are in groups (they said the average is usually in the high 90s because of this). They do have typical lectures first year but the overall learning environment seems to be very collaborative and supportive.

 

[A2jordan]

Are they finished interviewing?

 

[DrFortiusNatando]

One of my advisees has an interview this week. Got the II back in November, but since non-rolling, person wanted to get some other less desirable school interviews done first, and purposely chose what was then one of the last interview days offered.

 

[aspiringMD47]

Do we think Columbia's going to release decisions February 11th (like it says on MSAR) or early March (like it says on the admissions website)? Don't want the anxiety to destroy my life all of February lol

 

[nostra_damus]

Do we think Columbia's going to release decisions February 11th (like it says on MSAR) or early March (like it says on the admissions website)? Don't want the anxiety to destroy my life all of February lol

Last year decisions came out on February 21


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[Hawkenthesky]

On columbia’s website it says admissions offers go out in early March.

 

[br2pi5]

.

 

[Wasntmi]

Historically, does anyone know how late they extend IIs? Any chance there may be a handful still to go out?

 

[deleted962973]

Historically, does anyone know how late they extend IIs? Any chance there may be a handful still to go out?

I feel like they were scheduling Feb interviews back in November, so probably no.

 

[soccerkid96]

Regarding the email from the dean about the admissions committee keeping "you very strongly in mind" , did the email also reference your specific interviewers and say they were impressed? This got me so excited, but I am now realizing is was sent out in mass

 

[Walter Raleigh]

Yeah - I think it was sent out en masse; I got that response as well.

 

[meronebib]

.

 

[soccerkid96]

My interviewer was referenced, but I did not get anything about them being impressed. To be fair, I'm not a very impressive person anyway.

It actually said "they enjoyed" their interviews with me. Accidentally hyped myself up here, sorry!

 

[sarahishappy123]

.

 

[Walter Raleigh]

Do any of y'all know if the January decisions for the Columbia-Bassett program have been sent out yet?

 

[nostra_damus]

This goes to everyone who sent a thank you note right?

Yes


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[surfandturf1]

Could someone comment on the style of interviews at Columbia? How many, who is interviewing you and open or closed?

 

[labscience]

Could someone comment on the style of interviews at Columbia? How many, who is interviewing you and open or closed?

I had one, 30-45 minute, open-file interview with an MD. It was very conversational and nice! This was on a Monday, but I know interviewees who chose other days of the week (Fridays?) also had a student interviewer because they are trying to phase in student perspectives to the committee.

 

[freedoctor17]

I had one, 30-45 minute, open-file interview with an MD. It was very conversational and nice! This was on a Monday, but I know interviewees who chose other days of the week (Fridays?) also had a student interviewer because they are trying to phase in student perspectives to the committee.

I had a student interviewer on a Tuesday.

 

[swissnational]

Could someone comment on the style of interviews at Columbia? How many, who is interviewing you and open or closed?

Tuesdays and Thursdays have two interviews (one faculty, one student); both are open file and hella conversational. Didn't get asked why medicine or why Columbia.

 

[A2jordan]

It says that they extend interviews through January Happy February 1st

Historically, does anyone know how late they extend IIs? Any chance there may be a handful still to go out?

 

[taylor316]

Did anybody with a recent interview ask or hear more specific info about when decisions will be released? During my interview they kind of vaguely said late feb/early March

In the what's next paper that they gave out in my interview folder it says, "All decisions will be sent out in mid-winter, usually around Late-February."

 

[aspiringMD47]

Can late February come sooner