hi guys,
i'm a first year at columbia, and i also serve on our dean's advisory committee, so i can comment about curriculum changes for next year with accuracy.
next year will be completely pass-fail (no honors) for the first year students. years 2-4 will still be h-p-f. they're going to try this as an experiment for the next few years and see how it goes -- the initiative passed the faculty senate this year by a close margin, so there's debate within the faculty as to whether grades in the first year (and possibly the pre-clinical curriculum in general) are actually important. our dean of student affairs, dean lewis, has personally told us that grades in the first two years are not that important as far as residency applications go. 3rd year is a different story.
a couple of years ago, 2nd years were not given much time to study before boards, as the 2nd years had to take a comprehensive exam in pharmcology/pathophys that was administered by columbia about a week before the exam. this, thankfully, has been done away with, although some felt that it kicked people's asses into studying for a subject that is heavily tested anyway on the boards. now, the 2nd year students (of which my girlfriend is one) have about a month off to study for the boards, and my class will have even more time, aobut 6 weeks, due to some creative rescheduling of classes at the end of first year.
Scooby, I did get your PM a few weeks ago with your questions about columbia, and i just haven't had a chance to respond because of exams. I'm on spring break in san francisco right now, but i'll PM you my cell phone number, and you can get in touch with me that way.
take care-
