Where do Columbia Postbac grads get in?

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mdforlife

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Hi,
Which medical schools do Columbia postbac program grads get in?
The postbac administration seems to not wanna give that information out, which kind of scares me.
Does Columbia's postbac have a good reputation with med schools
 
Hi,
Did you apply to the program? If so when? Did you get accepted? I just submitted my application this past month.
 
it's my second semester there. started in spring. it won't be as expensive for me b/c i don't have to take any calc, stat or prechem. But it's still expensive especially since we don't get any grants or scholarships.
Also be prepared for competition.
the only thing that bothered me was how they avoided the subject of where our students get in.
does anyone know?
what do u guys think? do top med schools view this postbac favorably?
 
mdforlife,
When you got accepted did you get a fed ex package sent to you? I missed the fed ex man today and I'm anxious to know if I got rejected.
 
i got a fed ex and i also got a phone call a couple of days before. Don't worry you shouldn't get rejected if your gpa is ok. They are known for taking in a lot of people, but the catch is, is that ~70% of students can't handle columbia and leave to hunter and other easier schools. They have a very high attrition rate from this program. My friend (who's graduating now) told me that she started in a class of 350 and now there are only 60 of them left. So don't worry about getting in, but do know that its a competitive environment and you do have to work hard to get those As.
 
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Damn man...that really sucks. I guess I'm about to cross Columbia post bacc off my list, hopefully I get in at CUNY. Thanks for the insight. Anyone else a Columbia Post Bac with any negatives or positives???
 
jbing: i'm so sorry to hear you had such a horrible experience with the CU program. Would you mind telling me what year you finished the program? I am planning to start in the fall and heard that it has an entirely new adminstration so the problems with the letters etc aren't how they were a few years ago?

thanx
 
If you wouldn't mind sharing who your advisor was, I would greatly appreciate it....
 
jbing said:
i'm sure you'll get plenty of reassurance from them that they are devoted to all their students (what else could they say?), but i am living proof of the reality of the situation.

This sounds like a bad experience.

I applied for NYU, CUNY, and Columbia last February.

NYU got back to me almost straight away with an acceptance.

CUNY were slower, but still got back to me several weeks ago with an acceptance.

Columbia finally sent me a rejection letter last Friday. One problem: although the envelope was addressed to me, the letter inside was addressed to someone else. So now I know for a fact someone didn't get in to Columbia, and I am left wondering what this person knows about me.

This little incident hasn't inspired much confidence in me regarding Columbia's efficiency and dedication. Coupled with their extremely slow response time, I am inclined to write them off.
 
I entered the CU postbacc program in 2000 and finished in 2003. I know fellow postbaccs who got into Columbia P&S (many), Cornell, Penn, Einstein, Downstate, Mt. Sinai, UC Davis, McGill, George Washington, Drexel, UMDNJ New Jersey Med, Johns Hopkins (and maybe a couple others that I'm forgetting). Overall, Columbia's program has an excellent reputation with med schools. Two notable exceptions that my advisor told me about are Tufts and NYU, who for some reason don't like Columbia postbaccs.

As far as my experience in the program .... ugh. It was truly horrible. BUT, I was there under the old administration. My advisor was excellent, but she was the only one. Overall, I found the administration to be very unsupportive of students, especially those who needed the most help. The new program seems to be much better organized. I guess I shouldn't complain too much since I got tons of interviews and several acceptances. But I found the whole experience to be expensive and miserable. Hopefully, current and future students won't have the same experience.
 
I just finished Columbia's postbacc program and am so sad by what I've been reading! Yes, the previous administration sucked. But, the new administration is great. They're kind, patient and supportive. Of course, I'm about to actually begin the whole application process, so i reserve the right to change my opinion. The coursework at Columbia is definitely difficult, but you learn a lot -- and it preps you well for the MCAT. Although, if you have a very strong undergraduate record (high GPA, Ivy, etc.) you might want to consider hunter's program; it's a hell of a lot cheaper...
 
All of the advisors are great. There are three: Andew Sunshine, Ellen Watts and Richard Sluc...something...too hard to spell. But, they're really wonderful. I have Ellen. She's so down to Earth; it's really refreshing!
 
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Hello! I just stumbled across these forums and wanted to wave hello to all the CU people, I'm also starting the program in the fall. 🙂 I'm also so relieved to hear about the administration changes...the idea of structured advising and whatnot was one of the things that drew me to the program, so it's a relief to hear that it seems they've cleaned up the advising...ah!
 
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After reading people's replies about Columbia I'm really confused as to whether or not its a good program.
I got accepted into the program for the fall semester and am trying to figure out whether to go there or to UVM.
I thought Columbia was one of the more competitive and well-known of the post-bac programs, was I wrong?


I would appreciate any comments people have on Columbia's program.
 
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