2024-2025 Columbia (Vagelos)

Discover Your Odds of Getting into Medical School
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2024-2025 Columbia (Vagelos) Secondary Essay Prompts:

1. Have you previously applied to Medical School? (Yes/No)

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

3. Did you work for compensation during college (either during the school year or summers)? If so, what did you do? How many hours a week did you work? (300 words)

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

5. Please describe your most meaningful leadership positions. (300 words)

6. Columbia Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons values diversity in all its forms. How will your experiences contribute to this important focus of our institution and inform your future role as a physician? (300 words)

7. Is there anything else you would like us to know? (400 words)

Good luck to all applying!
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PassionFruit57 said:
I am struggling with this prompt: Please describe your most meaningful leadership positions. (300 words).

Am I supposed to be repeating the activities already described in my activities section? I have multiple meaningful leadership positions, and I don't know if I should focus on one and describe it, or just list like 3 of them and just briefly summarize, which is pretty much what the activities section was.
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Me too, not sure how to go about this without repeating things from my primaries.
My thoughts were maybe go more in depth, but yeah I'm in the same boat, if anyone has any advice
 
PassionFruit57 said:
I am struggling with this prompt: Please describe your most meaningful leadership positions. (300 words).

Am I supposed to be repeating the activities already described in my activities section? I have multiple meaningful leadership positions, and I don't know if I should focus on one and describe it, or just list like 3 of them and just briefly summarize, which is pretty much what the activities section was.
Click to expand...
The adcom is likely expecting your most meaningful leadership positions to be on your work and activities section (it would be weird if they weren't). There's probably no elegant way to get around reiterating your work and activities, it's just an odd question for a secondary.
This could potentially be a place for you to describe the positions in further detail, or reiterate on what you've learned from it. Additionally, you could rope it in to something specific to columbia's programs.
 
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OOS secondary received just now.

Edit b/c I'm slow and actually found the questions

1. Have you previously applied to Medical School? (Yes/No)
2. If you took time off from your undergraduate studies, please briefly summarize your reasons for doing so. (250 words)
3. Did you work for compensation during college (either during the school year or summers)? If so, what did you do? How many hours a week did you work? (300 words)
4. If you have graduated from college, please briefly summarize what you have done in the interim. (300 words)
5. Please describe your most meaningful leadership positions. (300 words)
6. Columbia Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons values diversity in all its forms. How will your experiences contribute to this important focus of our institution and inform your future role as a physician? (300 words)
7. Is there anything else you would like us to know? (400 words)
 
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+1 OOS

With the prompt about taking time off from undergrad studies, does taking time off before starting college count for that? I took two gap years for a mission for my church before beginning my undergrad.
 
How do we report AP scores to Columbia? Their website says we have to report them if we use them for pre-reqs
 
thoughts on talking about one experience more in depth? one of my leadership experiences was just being the president of a cultural club which wasnt crazy, but i feel like i could tell a great story in 300 words about another one of my experiences.
 
For the question about working for compensation throughout college (summer or academic year). Should I be taking it at its word and just literally outlining what jobs I had and how many hours I worked? Or is it more cryptic and I should be describing like what impact these jobs had on me/my journey? I feel like its a trick question lol
 
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mlg2215 said:
For the question about working for compensation throughout college (summer or academic year). Should I be taking it at its word and just literally outlining what jobs I had and how many hours I worked? Or is it more cryptic and I should be describing like what impact these jobs had on me/my journey? I feel like its a trick question lol
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It’s not a trick question it’s a normal question.
If you need to work during college to contribute towards tuition, that shows you are willing to do so ( to attend, or to add to what your parents can afford) and also may explain why most of your volunteer things are in the summer.
Some premeds have never held a job and if you have done that successfully, it’s a good point about your work ethic.
 
wysdoc said:
It’s not a trick question it’s a normal question.
If you need to work during college to contribute towards tuition, that shows you are willing to do so ( to attend, or to add to what your parents can afford) and also may explain why most of your volunteer things are in the summer.
Some premeds have never held a job and if you have done that successfully, it’s a good point about your work ethic.
Click to expand...
Would this include paid jobs that didn’t necessary go toward tuition? TAing for instance
 
wysdoc said:
It’s not a trick question it’s a normal question.
If you need to work during college to contribute towards tuition, that shows you are willing to do so ( to attend, or to add to what your parents can afford) and also may explain why most of your volunteer things are in the summer.
Some premeds have never held a job and if you have done that successfully, it’s a good point about your work ethic.
Click to expand...
To add on, it also shows need - Columbia gives a lot of aid but makes it conditional on your parental resources also. So if your parents had money but still made you work, they know you will be forced to borrow since it is very hard to work during medical school.
 
texasvandy said:
To add on, it also shows need - Columbia gives a lot of aid but makes it conditional on your parental resources also. So if your parents had money but still made you work, they know you will be forced to borrow since it is very hard to work during medical school.
Click to expand...
College work-study jobs are usually only available to students with financial need, so sometimes there's a question on the primary (or secondary) asking"is this job contingent on student status? - yes/no?" This question is a soft economic need indicator
 
"Please describe your most meaningful leadership positions." Does anyone know what they mean by "positions"? Should I broadly summarize all my leadership positions or simply focus on one? My most significant leadership position is already in my primary app, and I don't know if I can reuse that activity.
 
Frog333 said:
"Please describe your most meaningful leadership positions." Does anyone know what they mean by "positions"? Should I broadly summarize all my leadership positions or simply focus on one? My most significant leadership position is already in my primary app, and I don't know if I can reuse that activity.
Click to expand...
You could expand on that significant leadership position in more detail or include an anecdote that shows why it was meaningful to you. Depends on what you wrote about in your primary but I think you could come at it from a different angle to show more of the impact you had.
 
What "experiences" are we supposed to put in the MSTP experiences section? Is this just research/paid employment? Or are we supposed to repeat information from our primary?
 
Anyone's letters of recommendation not showing up in the portal?
 
For the question about working for compensation throughout college, are asking specifically for non-academic jobs? Would compensated/stipened research positions be described here (again) as well?
 
ankaraMessi said:
For the question about working for compensation throughout college, are asking specifically for non-academic jobs? Would compensated/stipened research positions be described here (again) as well?
Click to expand...
I included paid research/clinical jobs in mine (because I still needed to be there to support myself etc)
 
For the prompt about paid employment in college, do we need to re-describe that activity/job if we already described it in the work & activities section of the primary?
 
malpacca90 said:
For the prompt about paid employment in college, do we need to re-describe that activity/job if we already described it in the work & activities section of the primary?
Click to expand...
Yup! I added in more information that I couldn't in my primary, so I would use it as an opportunity to go a little bit more in-depth about your responsibilities and impact.
 
With the Experiences section, Paid Employment essay, and CV, not to mention the primary, I feel like I'm being very repetitive with my activity descriptions.

Does anyone know what the purpose of the Experiences section is? They don't provide any instructions, so I'm not sure whether they want something like the AAMC W/A section or just employment experiences (i.e. leaving off awards, presentations/posters/publications, etc.)
 
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Hi, is anyone able to see that their letters of recommendation have been received? I sent mine a couple of weeks ago and it still says not received on the portal.
 
hellomeowmeow said:
Hi, is anyone able to see that their letters of recommendation have been received? I sent mine a couple of weeks ago and it still says not received on the portal.
Click to expand...
hm maybe send them an email? Mine were marked received within the same week that I submitted
 
If we just graduated college in May, should we use the "what have you done in the interim" to describe our projected plans, or should we include that in the "is there anything else you want us to know"? I have not done anything but apply to medical school in the month since I graduated (lol), but I have post-grad plans starting next month!
 
cassidy_grace2325 said:
If we just graduated college in May, should we use the "what have you done in the interim" to describe our projected plans, or should we include that in the "is there anything else you want us to know"? I have not done anything but apply to medical school in the month since I graduated (lol), but I have post-grad plans starting next month!
Click to expand...
I'd say describe it in the interim question! Just feels like that is a gap year oriented question so they probably wouldn't mind you putting gap year plans in there haha
 
wysdoc said:
College work-study jobs are usually only available to students with financial need, so sometimes there's a question on the primary (or secondary) asking"is this job contingent on student status? - yes/no?" This question is a soft economic need indicator
Click to expand...
Why do they check for an economic need indicator?
 
My letters were received a week and a half ago (if I go into the document status portal) but haven't been marked as received on the main status portal, so I'm still not complete. I think I tried to message admissions through the portal but I'm honestly not sure if I hit send, is there a record anywhere in the portal of messages we've sent? Is it worth emailing outside of the portal? At this point I'm getting antsy
 
did anyone else OOS not get a secondary yet?
 
zarastars said:
My letters were received a week and a half ago (if I go into the document status portal) but haven't been marked as received on the main status portal, so I'm still not complete. I think I tried to message admissions through the portal but I'm honestly not sure if I hit send, is there a record anywhere in the portal of messages we've sent? Is it worth emailing outside of the portal? At this point I'm getting antsy
Click to expand...
Maybe send them an email! I just did and they completed my app
 
Anyone else getting "AVS ERROR - Billing Address Mismatch" when trying to pay with a credit card?
I've used the same card for all of my secondaries and Columbia is the first to throw an error.
 
Does Columbia require organic chemistry lab II? Their website says "Two years of chemistry, one of which must be Organic Chemistry, both with labs. For applicants whose undergraduate college accepted Advanced Placement (AP) credit to satisfy the requirement in introductory-level Chemistry, no additional upper-level Chemistry is required beyond Organic Chemistry."
 
LargeTortoise said:
Does Columbia require organic chemistry lab II? Their website says "Two years of chemistry, one of which must be Organic Chemistry, both with labs. For applicants whose undergraduate college accepted Advanced Placement (AP) credit to satisfy the requirement in introductory-level Chemistry, no additional upper-level Chemistry is required beyond Organic Chemistry."
Click to expand...
update they do require a year of organic chem lab if anyone was wondering
 
im almost done with my secondaries, is it too late to add columbia?
 
How is everyone attacking the CV thing? Just putting in your normal CV? I've never had to do one of these for a med school app so I'm not sure how much more my CV can say that's not in my primary app lol
 
robot_soup said:
How is everyone attacking the CV thing? Just putting in your normal CV? I've never had to do one of these for a med school app so I'm not sure how much more my CV can say that's not in my primary app lol
Click to expand...

seems I did upload my CV but I don't remember why. did it ask for it explicitly? bc now I'm worried the other schools that didn't explicitly ask but have the file upload for it like dartmouth, I should go back and upload a CV
 
pizzaluigi said:
seems I did upload my CV but I don't remember why. did it ask for it explicitly? bc now I'm worried the other schools that didn't explicitly ask but have the file upload for it like dartmouth, I should go back and upload a CV
Click to expand...
it did explicitly ask
 
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