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Columbia CDM D1, ask me anything!
Started by Trave_
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How many students in your class express their desire to specialize?
In all honesty, is your class team-oriented or do most students just worry about themselves passing and nobody else?
In all honesty, is your class team-oriented or do most students just worry about themselves passing and nobody else?
I'd say 95% are "keeping their options open" at this time. I've only heard of 1 person shut the idea down entirely. There is a good amount of people who came in not wanting to specialize but now have the mentality of "I'm already in Columbia so I might as well give specializing a try" given that Columbia is huge for that. That being said, there are very few people (<15) who are truly gunning for a specific specialty at this point, but that will increase as time goes on.
CDM is all about cooperation, it is literally part of the philosophy (and the med school's). The idea is that as professionals, we will never know all the answers, so we must collaborate with others in order to provide the best care to our patients as possible. That translates to having a Google Drive full of past tests, people's notes, Anki cards, etc to the point that is a little overwhelming haha. Also, my class has students who share their notes, diagrams, etc on the GroupMe whenever we're nearing a quiz or exam. Obviously being a Pass/Fail school facilitates this idea, but I couldn't imagine it any other way at this point. We're very supportive of each other's success.
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What are your favorite and least favorite aspects about Columbia?
What is living in NYC really like?
What is living in NYC really like?
Probably the misconception that paying back student loans is fun. It is not. Trust me.
Big Hoss
That's a tough one. I love Columbia for so many reasons. Dental school is undeniably tough, but CDM does its best to accommodate us however possibly to ease off some of that stress. They are also very willing to listen to our feedback, and most year they modify their curriculum based on student evaluations. Also, New York City! I've always wanted to live in NYC so this is a win-win for me. On that end, I'd say living in Washington Heights is great for many reasons (cost of living, everything you need is a block away), but it would have been great to live farther downtown (which is 20-45 minutes in train depending on where you're going). At this time I can't think of something I don't like about CDM specifically.
Living in NYC is great. Dental school grills us, but we have exam blocks during our first semester, so the weekends after those blocks are always a blast. I've seen Broadway shows, explored bars and clubs, gone hiking, etc. It's NYC, it's what you make of it honestly. Plus not having to drive anywhere is huge too. I feel more active despite spending hours studying.
My state school is very good, but Columbia gave me a solid offer and I've always dreamed of living in NYC. I am the type of person who values experiences, and I fully understand the sacrifices that come along with it. I also worked a solid amount prior to dental school so I saved up a good chunk of money to make sure my first year wasn't too rough financially.
From my understanding it is pure P/F. I think what you mean is that current D3s and D4s do not have strictly P/F (they have Honors), but that changed after the class of 2021. Obviously once you get into clinic you want to stand out in as many ways as possible, but the class grades are still P/F.
Neither is endlessly wondering what could've been if you had gone to your dream school. I have yet to regret my decision, Columbia has lived up to the hype.
Yup, she gave me her person e-mail so it would have been strange if I didn't.
