2020-2021 Columbia VP&S

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For the people who just got II's, are any of you IS?
 
Can anyone else share what their post-interview thank you letter acknowledgment letter from admissions said? PM works as well 🙂
 
This may be jumping the gun but does anyone know the requisite stats/LM score one would need to qualify for merit aid here (both partial, and full)?
 
spottedcory said:
I think they award full need for everyone hence no merit
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That makes sense. Although I've always wondered what "no-debt" actually means. If my parents can't afford to contribute to my education, then wouldn't I be on the hook, through loans, to cover their portion? (the portion that Columbia deems appropriate for family contribution)
 
neuroticaf said:
That makes sense. Although I've always wondered what "no-debt" actually means. If my parents can't afford to contribute to my education, then wouldn't I be on the hook, through loans, to cover their portion? (the portion that Columbia deems appropriate for family contribution)
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I THINK they use FAFSA to determine your EFC, and then give you all of your need through scholarship. You're responsible for your EFC either through parents or government loans (up to cost of attendance) plz correct me if I'm wrong
 
neuroticaf said:
That makes sense. Although I've always wondered what "no-debt" actually means. If my parents can't afford to contribute to my education, then wouldn't I be on the hook, through loans, to cover their portion? (the portion that Columbia deems appropriate for family contribution)
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Yes, that's always the catch!! While some people are pleasantly surprised by their need-based award, most are not. In most cases, what parents feel they can afford is wildly different from what schools determine, and, yes, you and your family are responsible for that difference, through loans, draining savings, selling assets, etc.
 
KnightDoc said:
Yes, that's always the catch!! While some people are pleasantly surprised by their need-based award, most are not. In most cases, what parents feel they can afford is wildly different from what schools determine, and, yes, you and your family are responsible for that difference, through loans, draining savings, selling assets, etc.
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I would say that being pleasantly surprised by how generous the aid was seems to be the norm. Even when the whole “no loan thing” didn’t eliminate costs completely, the aid tends to be better than other schools.

Btw word of mouth is there is merit aid, though it’s pretty low key and I have no idea what the criteria might be.
 
GoingWeast said:
I would say that being pleasantly surprised by how generous the aid was seems to be the norm. Even when the whole “no loan thing” didn’t eliminate costs completely, the aid tends to be better than other schools.

Btw word of mouth is there is merit aid, though it’s pretty low key and I have no idea what the criteria might be.
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There is merit aid (I received it! ~60k and the rest received was need) No particular criteria and no application process, you are automatically considered. I will say I had several other full tuition and full COA scholarships so I negotiated my package.

But the aid in general is incredibly generous. A lot of my classmates say it was a big reason they picked columbia.
 
mass-premed66 said:
There is merit aid (I received it! ~60k and the rest received was need) No particular criteria and no application process, you are automatically considered. I will say I had several other full tuition and full COA scholarships so I negotiated my package.

But the aid in general is incredibly generous. A lot of my classmates say it was a big reason they picked columbia.
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Thanks for sharing — that’s good to know 🙂
 
Current student here - I can also vouch for the debt-free tuition. Supposedly, if you're family makes below ~$125,00, you won't be asked to contribute to your education. Either way, my next best option (a T5) was 30k more expensive than Columbia PER year. Also, it seems like the large majority of students qualify for financial aid, although the actual amount probably varies a bit. Imo the debt-free is an overwhelming positive.
 
Does anyone know how "on time" Columbia is right now with reviewing apps? The interview tracker isn't reporting a lot of IIs. Not sure whether or not to be discouraged if I haven't heard anything (complete mid Aug) 🙁
 
akg0119 said:
Does anyone know how "on time" Columbia is right now with reviewing apps? The interview tracker isn't reporting a lot of IIs. Not sure whether or not to be discouraged if I haven't heard anything (complete mid Aug) 🙁
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To piggyback off of this question, does anyone know if Columbia reviews apps chronologically, or do they do a second-pass/tiering system when going through apps?
 
During those medical student-led sessions before the interviews (which seem to just be about getting acquainted with a medical school), can the students report positive/negative things about the applicants? I have always wondered about this question.
 
Maroon2021 said:
During those medical student-led sessions before the interviews (which seem to just be about getting acquainted with a medical school), can the students report positive/negative things about the applicants? I have always wondered about this question.
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I’m pretty sure they said that the student-led sessions have no weight on your application and that they aren’t in contact with adcoms. That being said, I feel like if you did or said something super inappropriate they’d probably report it.
 
Hiphopscorpio31 said:
I’m pretty sure they said that the student-led sessions have no weight on your application and that they aren’t in contact with adcoms. That being said, I feel like if you did or said something super inappropriate they’d probably report it.
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I do them often. We don’t report ever lol. You’d have to say a racial slur or something ridiculously ridiculously bad to get us to say something. We’re happy to answer actual questions about night life or whatever that people are worried they’ll get reported for.

Forgot to answer the reverse, we also never say positive things. There’s no avenue to do so.
 
mass-premed66 said:
I do them often. We don’t report ever lol. You’d have to say a racial slur or something ridiculously ridiculously bad to get us to say something. We’re happy to answer actual questions about night life or whatever that people are worried they’ll get reported for.

Forgot to answer the reverse, we also never say positive things. There’s no avenue to do so.
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Thanks for sharing this!!! I don’t think I ended up saying anything ridiculously ridiculous during my pre-interview session lol. I was really just wondering if I was supposed be in that “interview mode” to impress the students. This clarifies things.
 
Maroon2021 said:
Thanks for sharing this!!! I don’t think I ended up saying anything ridiculously ridiculous during my pre-interview session lol. I was really just wondering if I was supposed be in that “interview mode” to impress the students. This clarifies things.
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Please no! We’re not there to evaluate people, we just want to help and meet y’all!
 
jb2000 said:
I didn't get an email...(cue sdn astrologers trying to find meaning in this snafu).
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I haven't gotten emails from Columbia either since I submitted - sometimes there is no meaning lol.

EDIT: I also just got the email pretty soon after this comment.
 
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skepticalchymist said:
same here hahah. fully felt my heart jump into my throat. alas...hope springs eternal lol
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Right? This is my absolute dream school, but I seriously doubt I'm going to hear anything from them (my stats just aren't as stellar as I'd wish), so I saw a Columbia email in my inbox and I was like !!!!!! Did I somehow manage an interview!!!???????

No... no i did not
 
premed3678 said:
literally same - what's your game plan?
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I'm going to work on my application this weekend and hope that the portal re-opens by next Monday. If it doesn't, will probably send an email to the school or call. It's really inconvenient timing that they close the portal unexpectedly so close to the deadline and without any timeline of when they're going to open it again..
 
blueberryscone said:
I decided to shoot my shot, and submitted my secondary before the outage. Do you think there's any hope for me? (I've already been R'd at 5 schools. I've only had 1 II thus far, granted it was at a T15. I still feel like my app is a train wreck lmao).
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Honestly go for it!! I'm in the same boat and there's nothing to lose 🙂!
 
blueberryscone said:
I decided to shoot my shot, and submitted my secondary before the outage. Do you think there's any hope for me? (I've already been R'd at 5 schools. I've only had 1 II thus far, granted it was at a T15. I still feel like my app is a train wreck lmao).
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that's amazing though that you got an II!!! I'm just getting around to submitting the bulk of my secondaries so I'm super late in the cycle T__T pushing back my R's till later in the cycle, so nervous to see if I'll get any II's tbh :\
 
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