Good ol’ P&S…or as some affectionately call it, the College of Surgeons & Surgeons. The oldest MD-awarding medical school in the country, Columbia boasts a strong clinical curriculum, amazing patient diversity, New York City, and a balanced student body. I was excited to head back to the East Coast and visit the Big Apple.
Located in Washington Heights, Columbia’s medical campus is very much integrated with the rest of the community. Local shops and theaters line the streets around Broadway and 185th, and Downtown NYC is a 15 minute subway ride away. After arriving at LaGuardia Airport, I tried navigating NYC’s famous public transit system and found it surprisingly efficient. Transportation there essentially works on a grid system, and one can essentially get anywhere if s/he knows the cross streets and budgets enough time. Coming from LA where the Metro is largely inefficient, NYC’s subway and bus system is a dream. Columbia P&S, fortunately, lies on one of the Express A train stops, which makes getting to and from the university quick and easy.
I was lucky to stay with a student host, who is an MS2 and stays in the upperclassmen housing called the Towers. Columbia is one of the few medical schools that offer university-owned (read: subsidized) housing for its students, and around 80% of the MS1s living in Bard Hall, which is a dormitory-styled building. Rooms on average are 10’x12′ (“So you live in a box,” as one of the students joked during my Vanderbilt interview), and cost around $800/month. Compared to NYC’s general cost of living, this is a steal. All rooms a singles, and there are same-sex community bathrooms on each floor. The major gripe about Bard Hall is the fact that there is only one kitchen for all 11 floors…so don’t expect to cook much here. In fact, the major reason why most MS1s choose to live in Bard is for the chance to living in the Towers during years M2-M4, which are also subsidized to around $1100/month. Not bad for a chance to live in an apartment! All rooms look out to downtown or the Hudson River, and the views are absolutely gorgeous.
Interview Day started with a light breakfast at 8am, and goodness, this was probably one of the few schools where I felt so utterly small and unimportant compared to my fellow applicants haha. Students are assigned to either morning and afternoon interviews, and I was a bit surprised at how unstructured the day was. I had afternoon interviews, which left me with 2 free hours in the morning to do whatever I pleased. After visiting a lecture and milling about, we gathered back in the admissions conference room for a welcome from Dean Nicholas. His conversations were very amusing, relaxing, and helped to reduce the stiff atmosphere…until he started asking each of us specific points of our application. This was when I started to feel so…average compared to my peers ahaha. Oh gosh, some of them are just so incredibly accomplished, doing amazing things outside the classroom. Columbia, perhaps more than most schools, really looks for students who are strongly involved in extracurriculars, and I definitely felt that. Students are involved in all sorts of things, and they have one of the most balanced medical school experiences.
After Dean Nicholas’s welcome, we had lunch for a few MS1s, chatted wtih MS4s, and toured the campus and hospital facilities with MS2s. All of the students raved about the school’s empahsis on extracurricular involvement and strong clinical experiences. In fact, both of the MS4s (who are going into ENT and ortho…omg) stressed that they developed much stronger clinical experiences during M3 than their peers. They attribute this to Columbia’s patient population and slightly inefficient hospital system. “MS3s here are held to a much higher standard, since we are often overbooked. As such, when we do away rotations, the attendings notice that we tend to take initiative on things. I did away rotations at Hopkins and Stanford, and while I was totally comfortable, my peers were not.” I’m so glad to hear the strength of the clinical years, and as someone who wants to work with underserved communities, I’m really excited to learn from the diverse patient population at NYC.
While on the tour, the students spoke a bit about Columbia’s curriculum. Preclinicals are 1.5 years long, and transition from heavily lecture-based to a hybrid system involving a lot of case-based learning. The class size is 165, which is a bit on the large side, especially if there aren’t any societies set up to make the class cozier. That said, the students find that they create these smaller spaces through their clubs; P&S boasts 70+ organizations, which is…a lot for the ~300 MS1/MS2s. Step 1 is taken after the year of clerkships, in the middle of MS3, leaving a bit more time during the later years to explore specialties. Columbia, students rave, is one of the few medical schools that introduce students to all major surgical specialties, and students receive a longitudinal primary care “clerkship” during their preclinical years. All in all, I’m stoked about the opportunities.
In regards to interviews, Columbia surprises me in that they only have one, which is done with a faculty member. Indeed, Dean Nicholas assured us that the interview is just a small portion of the application; during deliberations, the committee focuses much more on our essays/responses, activities, and letters of recommendation. Looking at past numbers though, I wonder how much weight the interview actually holds: Columbia has a slightly low post-interview acceptance rate, interviewing ~1000 applicants. Decisions are made mid-February, with 100 rejections, 200 outright acceptance, and 700 waitlists (omg). Eventually, about 350 acceptances are offered. That said, I found my interview to be very conversational and fun. It felt like we were just talking to getting to know each other, and I felt very comfortable. I can only hope that this means good news, haha!
Overall, I really enjoyed my experience here. New York is an exciting place, and Columbia really encourages its students to make the best of their experiences here. Given the low post-acceptance rate and the sheer “impressive-ness” of my fellow applicants’ CVs, I won’t be holding my breath for good news. Regardless, it doesn’t hurt to be hopeful? 😉
