Missed Columbia's deadline...

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Argh! I missed Columbia's deadline, and now I'm kicking myself. Anyone have any reassuringly negative things to say about Columbia so I don't hate myself?

:(
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uh...Bard Hall sucks (1st and 2nd year housing) and Washington Heights is a very boring place despite being in NYC. Oh yeah, you also can't get decent bread around here.
 
oh, and orientation for new medical students is rather disorganized from what I've heard.
 
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I missed Columbia's deadline too. I thought it'd be due at the end of today (11/15) but it was actually due at 9AM eastern time, hours before I even woke up. The worst part is, I spent the time to fill in the required classes which took a little while.

I'm not too bummed about it though. I heard that the neighborhood the school is in is pretty bad and the living arrangements at the school aren't very good (you share a bathroom with others.) I'm sure it's a fine school but the more I think about the school I want to end up in, the more the environment is becoming a factor.
 
Wow, you guys reply fast! :)

Thanks for your posts. They're helping, a little.

Alexander, that's exactly what happened to me. I was working on my Yale app last night, and I figured I'd finish Columbia's today. The only part I had left was to edit my AMCAS personal statement into something suitable for the essay. Argh! :mad:

I'll just have to go out now and drink till I forget what I was so upset about.
 
it's one school, and if you're applying to places like yale, it's not that serious.
 
I LOVE Columbia, it's such a great school!

(Ok, you guys are gonna beat me up :D )

If you guys applied to Cornell, it's still another great NY Med School in a great location :)
 
If I were you, I'd try to email the admissions office about the confusion. I had to do that last year, although the circumstances were a bit different (the deadline said 12am on a Sunday, and I thought that meant when Sunday was over not when Sunday first began). Anyway, I got an extension. Many others were in that same situation.

It can't hurt to try! I now go to Columbia, so extensions obviously don't hurt your app.

The neighborhood...it's only bad if you're talking about things to do. But come on, you're in NYC! There are plenty of places to go. It's certainly not dangerous, though. Living arrangements...aren't the best, but you don't want to live in Bard, you don't have to. And honestly, the rooms are a lot bigger than some of the other dorm housing I've seen for medical students.

I understand the environment comment. It just depends on how much it bothers you, I suppose.
 
yea--you can get an extension and get in. A friend of mine applied late and got in last year--if you want to go there, do what you can.
 
Originally posted by calebho501

If you guys applied to Cornell, it's still another great NY Med School in a great location :)
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Columbia and Cornell got the short end of the stick when it comes to location of the Manhattan medical schools. They are far uptown. Mt. Sinai (upper east) and NYU (midtown/washington square) are in much better student-oriented areas of NYC, both in terms of nightlife and day time activities. Cornell's location is great, however, for things like walking your dog.

To the OP: Email or call Dean Frantz and explain your situation. He's pretty empathetic towards applicants, so there's no harm in trying. Good luck! :)

TF
 
Originally posted by TheFlash
Columbia and Cornell got the short end of the stick when it comes to location of the Manhattan medical schools. They are far uptown. Mt. Sinai (upper east) and NYU (midtown/washington square) are in much better student-oriented areas of NYC, both in terms of nightlife and day time activities. Cornell's location is great, however, for things like walking your dog.

To the OP: Email or call Dean Frantz and explain your situation. He's pretty empathetic towards applicants, so there's no harm in trying. Good luck! :)

TF
Click to expand...

As it turns out, you don't know what you're talking about. First off, Mt. Sinai is located farther uptown than Cornell. Next, NYU is not located near Washington Square, unless you are an undergraduate. Finally, if you are in Manhattan, everything is accessible by subway, so there's little reason to nitpick about neighborhoods anyway.
 
Originally posted by TheFlash
Columbia and Cornell got the short end of the stick when it comes to location of the Manhattan medical schools. They are far uptown. Mt. Sinai (upper east) and NYU (midtown/washington square) are in much better student-oriented areas of NYC, both in terms of nightlife and day time activities.
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??? Columbia is at 168th street so yeah they are "far uptown" but Cornell is at 69th.

Mount Sinai is at 100th Street. Thus Mt Sinai is far more "uptown" than we (Cornell) are! Although in reality I would say we are not *that* far apart (as evidenced by the fact I went to Starbucks to study today and the one I went to - which was much closer to Cornell than Mt Sinai - was full of Mt Sinai med students.....)
 
Originally posted by doc05
As it turns out, you don't know what you're talking about. First off, Mt. Sinai is located farther uptown than Cornell. Next, NYU is not located near Washington Square, unless you are an undergraduate. Finally, if you are in Manhattan, everything is accessible by subway, so there's little reason to nitpick about neighborhoods anyway.
Click to expand...

;) you beat me to it....
 
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Originally posted by doc05
As it turns out, you don't know what you're talking about. First off, Mt. Sinai is located farther uptown than Cornell. Next, NYU is not located near Washington Square, unless you are an undergraduate. Finally, if you are in Manhattan, everything is accessible by subway, so there's little reason to nitpick about neighborhoods anyway.
Click to expand...

Eek, by "they" I meant only Columbia. My bad :oops: . Cornell's neighborhood is quite safe but blah right in the middle of the upper west side. You're right, Washington square is in the NYU undergraduate area, but there's a free shuttle ride from the First Avenue/Bellvue/Tisch medical campus and you have full access to all the undergrad facilities... that's what I meant by that. Even in it's current place, you'd be hard pressed to argue that ANY of the new york schools have a better location than NYU med. Subways are great, but not if you happen to be drunk and trying to stumble back into your dorm room after a long night.

TF
 
Hehe typing too hastily has its consequences.
 
Originally posted by TheFlash
Cornell's neighborhood is quite safe but blah right in the middle of the upper west side.
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:laugh:

we're on the upper EAST side... ;)
 
yeahh.... i really should stop drinking, eh, tbw? maybe i'll be able to have a functional brain that way.

:laugh:

TF
 
p.s. since it's obvious that you go to cornell, how do you like your experiences at NY Presbyterian? are you having much experience there in your first few years? what's the patient population like there?
 
Originally posted by TheFlash
p.s. since it's obvious that you go to cornell, how do you like your experiences at NY Presbyterian? are you having much experience there in your first few years? what's the patient population like there?
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I love Cornell.

I've commented at length in previous posts about our clinical experiences and my overall impressions so I will just link those below rather than type it all out again and hi-jack what is ostensibly a thread about Columbia.

Hope thats ok :)

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?s=&postid=964817&highlight=Cornell#post964817

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?s=&postid=710440&highlight=Cornell#post710440
 
Thanks to everybody for the helpful posts. Drinking did help me forget, until one of my friends would say, "Don't worry about the Columbia thing", and I'd have to start all over again.

Anyway, I sent an email to the admissions office. It can't hurt, and if they say no, then I just wasn't meant to go there.
 
Hey,
God was watching out for you. Everyday there is assaults, burglaries, pipes flooding the streets, drug busts, etc...in that area. The Washington Hgts area smells like urine and there are lots of psych out-patients roaming around from the mental clinic at Columbia. The school has 1 library with few rooms. People fight for space. The teachers are cocky and too busy with research to really devote time to teaching well. Students are mostly prissy rich kids or Asian from far away countries. If you are in that category, then you may like that. Its hard if your not, because the school is clicky. Bard Hall sucks. Water comes dirty out of faucets. Its co-ed...even the bathrooms. Some people do get along OK there. But all the students I know say that at the end of the day they wish they chose a different school.
Good Luck.
 
I don't think that everything you said about Columbia is true, gracey. Some of it depends on personal perception, of course, but I think that some of it is patently false.

1. Washington Heights, according to a report that I admittedly haven't seen, has the second lowest crime rate in Manhattan. I don't know how true that is, but this area has a lot of families around. I haven't seen anything dangerous, and I feel safe walking alone at night. Which is more than I can say for more than a few areas of Manhattan. I haven't smelled a urine stench, but hell it could be because of olfactory adaptation. Maybe DW or tBW should come up and sniff around and see what they think? ;) I don't know anything about psych outpatients, but there is a homeless shelter across the street from the school. And a lot of them roam around. But I haven't felt unsafe. There are a lot of guards/NYPD wandering around the area near the hospital/school. So I always feel safe around here.

2. If you're only talking about the medical school, I want to ask: What medical school has more than one library? I'm not a fan of our health sciences library. But we do have a free shuttle that takes us down to the Morningside Campus (the main campus of Columbia U.) which has many other libraries to choose from. It is hard to get space sometimes, but only close to exam time. Which is probably normal. And we also have an entire floor of the hospital (PH-17) for our use. And that has a quite a few classrooms.

3. The teachers comment is completely untrue. I feel like the professors for our courses (most of them anyway) genuinely care about helping us and making sure we understand things. I can't say that all of our lecturers are the greatest, but the directors of the courses are pretty cool. And care about us.

4. Most of the students here aren't prissy (but they may be rich for all I know...though lots of them bitch about the amount of loans they had to take out to come here, just like I do) and we certainly don't have an abnormally high Asian population. I don't think anyway. I haven't counted. :p But I'm not rich or Asian and it's been fine here.

5. Dirty water? Please. I've seen worse water in Durham, NC. I haven't seen it come out dirty. I'm usually wary of drinking water out of the faucet anyway, so I use Brita, but the water isn't dirty. Or at least isn't brown.

6. Bard Hall....is a dorm. Judge for yourself, I suppose. I've lived in worse dorms. I don't think it's that bad. But it's a dorm. And you don't have to live there. You can elect to live on a single sex floor if it makes you feel better. But the co-ed thing isn't a big deal. And sure as hell shouldn't be a deal-breaker in picking a medical school to go to.

7. oops, six should have come before five.

8. Wishing they chose a different school: I don't know what your sample size is, but I've seriously only talked to one person who fervently believes that. For the most part, I feel like our class is pretty happy. It just depends.

Anyway, that's just my two cents. Or fifty cents. Or whatever. This post is too long and I must stop procrastinating now :) I hope it's helpful though. I just wanted to give a more accurate representation of the school.
 
Originally posted by SistaKaren
I haven't smelled a urine stench, but hell it could be because of olfactory adaptation. Maybe DW or tBW should come up and sniff around and see what they think? ;)
Click to expand...
Well, I think the urine stench on the upper east side is expensive wine/champagne based, where as the washington heights urine stench is more of a malt liquorish funk ;)

In all seriousness, I think the Columbia hate on this thread is kinda misguided. I choose to do the Cornell thing, but Columbia's got a great reputation for a reason people. And while not the most exciting place in manhattan, you dont need to wear a flak jacket around the campus like people would have you believe. You're going to meet a handful of sour apples at any med school who wish they went elsewhere, no student body has 100 percent satisfaction rate no matter what anyone tells you.



how ya been sistakaren? :)
 
"Everyday there is assaults, burglaries, pipes flooding the streets, drug busts, etc...in that area." I live in Washington Heights (half a year now) and am not a med student. I only know of one person who ever got mugged in the region, never had a burglary or seen a drug bust. And the one water main break happened half a mile from the school past the GWB.

"The Washington Hgts area smells like urine and there are lots of psych out-patients roaming around from the mental clinic at Columbia." My nose must be broken because I never smell it.

"The school has 1 library with few rooms. People fight for space."

Starr Library. (hope I didn't just ruin that place for the few people who use it). That is the best studying library I've seen, and it isn't completely full at exam time. It's the Asian Library at the main Columbia campus. 10-15 minutes from the med school, or 20 if you use the shuttle.

"The teachers are cocky and too busy with research to really devote time to teaching well."
Can't comment since I don't go to the school.

"Students are mostly prissy rich kids or Asian from far away countries. If you are in that category, then you may like that. Its hard if your not, because the school is clicky."
Patently untrue. I sing in the P&S choir and haven't dealt with any prissy kids. I work with a grad student who TA's histology and she says that there are only a couple prissy kids in the class (this is the large histology class. The other smaller ones don't use TA's). By and large they are all nice people. Haven't seen a predominance of Asians either. Don't know about clickiness since I only know one group of students.

"Bard Hall sucks. Water comes dirty out of faucets. Its co-ed...even the bathrooms. Some people do get along OK there."
no arguments with Bard. But the towers are extremely good housing. I'm friends with someone who lived in them (it's not 100% students). As for water, that must've been bad pipes. NYC has extremely good water (upstate reservoirs), and if the pipes are bad, then there's Brita.

"But all the students I know say that at the end of the day they wish they chose a different school"
The ones I know encourage me to go there because they liked the school. Well, some of them. The first years were sometimes a bit dismayed with orientation and didn't encourage me either way. They seem to be happier now.
 
Originally posted by DW
Well, I think the urine stench on the upper east side is expensive wine/champagne based, where as the washington heights urine stench is more of a malt liquorish funk ;)
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Hee!


how ya been sistakaren? :)
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Good good! Busy, but who isn't these days? Looking forward to the Thanksgiving break, because I'm heading home for a few days. How are you? :)
 
Originally posted by SistaKaren
I haven't smelled a urine stench, but hell it could be because of olfactory adaptation. Maybe DW or tBW should come up and sniff around and see what they think? ;)
Click to expand...

...but wouldn't I need 3 days of arduous travel and a passport to come that far north in Manhattan?? At least to read some of these posts you'de think you would.... ;)
 
Sista Karen and all,

Sorry if I came off harsh or offended anyone.:( I really did mean to. It is of course, as you stated, my personal "perception". I guess I would rather be in a nicer area.

You can't tell just by visiting one day, you have to live there to know what I am saying. When people told me, I did not believe them either. Living there for a year, I finally broke down and admitted that all the rumors I heard were true. (The crime rate is not low...sorry.)

OOoops...not complaining about 1 library...it is just hard to find a quiet place to study. I have been in PH-17 at night and most classrooms are filled. Morningside is better. The shuttle never comes on time, so most do not use it (because you have no time to wait like that). I have been on the shuttle a couple of times where it was empty.

By the way, Morningside is beautiful. (My grandfather and uncle went to Morninside and taught at Washinton Hgts) It has many buildings that you can study in. THe area around it has markets and cafe's where you can grab a bite to eat. Washington Hgts, students all eat from the vending trucks. Especially falafel truck...that guy is famous.

Please continue to apply and go there if you want an Ivy League school and you like Manhattan.

The course coordinators are really nice, especially Dr. Pon. YOu have a different lecturer almost everyday. Some people are not as outgoing as others and had a harder time getting answers to their q's. Other students are there to help also.

THe joke at columbia is how everyone is gonna die from drinking the weird water in Bard...its really bad. Its not opinion on that one.

Maybe you all would handle it well. I am not able to, though. Good Luck.
gracey:) :) :)
 
In the first line, that was I "didn't" mean to.:rolleyes:
 
I was afraid when I started this that it could turn into a Columbia-bashing thread, and that wasn't my intention. I just hadn't heard any negatives about the place, so I was hoping to find some so I wouldn't feel bad about missing the deadline. And it did help. I know it's an excellent school, but now I can look at it more objectively. Every school has its good and bad points. So I apologize to any Columbia students who might have been offended by this thread.

I'm glad I started it, though, otherwise I wouldn't have thought to find out about an extension. I'm still waiting to hear. I'll post when I get an answer, for those who might be in the same situation.
 
Hi Everyone,
I am sorry for ranting on. I should not have bashed the place. For me, if you know about med schools that you did not like...I would really appreciate knowing about it. I don't want to be in an uncomfortable environment.....MED school is hard enough. Maybe I should start a new thread on the topic. Thanks for all your candid comments.

~gracey:D
 
tBw: or you need five canisters of mace! :) Slightly off-topic: So I was hosting a tour today, and an interviewee told me that some of your classmates are talking smack about Columbia! What's up with that?!


Originally posted by gracey
can't tell just by visiting one day, you have to live there to know what I am saying. When people told me, I did not believe them either. Living there for a year, I finally broke down and admitted that all the rumors I heard were true. (The crime rate is not low...sorry.)

OOoops...not complaining about 1 library...it is just hard to find a quiet place to study. I have been in PH-17 at night and most classrooms are filled. Morningside is better. The shuttle never comes on time, so most do not use it (because you have no time to wait like that). I have been on the shuttle a couple of times where it was empty.
Click to expand...

Well, I'm a first year but I've only been here for three months now. Maybe I'll see something different, but I haven't heard anything about a high amount of crime. At least not where the HS campus is.

The shuttle. Yeah, I (and about 7 other people) were waiting for the last shuttle and it never came. But that's only been once. My experience is that it's pretty consistently on time. And I study on the undergrad campus on average at least once or twice a week. I've only had the one bad experience.

You didn't offend me or anything, but some of the things you said are just things I have never heard or encountered. Maybe in 9 months I'll have different opinions.
 
Originally posted by SistaKaren
tBw: or you need five canisters of mace! :) Slightly off-topic: So I was hosting a tour today, and an interviewee told me that some of your classmates are talking smack about Columbia! What's up with that?!
Click to expand...


hmmm, wasn't me. I prefered Cornell (obviously...) but I recognise both are good schools and it was just my personal preference...having said that back when I was interviewing last year for your school up there above the arctic circle I heard more 'smack' talked about Cornell by P&S than the other way round...

I would just advise anyone to take it all with a pinch of salt and form their own opinions :)
 
wow, some of the comments here are so out there. As someone who lives in "washington heights" i have to say most of the comments so far are really msiguided and just plain not true.

bonnie
 
Originally posted by SistaKaren
tBw: or you need five canisters of mace! :) Slightly off-topic: So I was hosting a tour today, and an interviewee told me that some of your classmates are talking smack about Columbia! What's up with that?!
Click to expand...

I got your back on this one, girl. Who's over there talking smack about my school? I am so READY for the cross-town rumble, and we'll totally take DOWN those pasties from Cornell too! Our battle instincts are honed to a razor edge because we live in the war zone of Washington Heights. The plutonium-laced drinking water from Bard Hall and the food of indeterminate origin from those carts build strong bodies, and we get combat training everyday when we have to beat back the hordes of dog-sized rats we encounter on our way to class. (Gracey forgot to mention those!) What do those Cornell kids have? Poodles and shih tzus for attack dogs? Maybe they'll get their doormen to fight for them. We can take 'em! :p

I'm just kidding. Personally, I think my school is heaven on earth (er... most of the time), but I know it's not for everyone. I admit that there's not a whole lot going on in Washington Heights other than CPMC, BUT it's very easy to escape to the more fun parts of the city. Case in point: I went to the opera tonight to see Deborah Voigt in Die Frau ohne Schatten. I :love: NYC.
 
Originally posted by Entei
I got your back on this one, girl. Who's over there talking smack about my school? I am so READY for the cross-town rumble, and we'll totally take DOWN those pasties from Cornell too! Our battle instincts are honed to a razor edge because we live in the war zone of Washington Heights. The plutonium-laced drinking water from Bard Hall and the food of indeterminate origin from those carts build strong bodies, and we get combat training everyday when we have to beat back the hordes of dog-sized rats we encounter on our way to class. (Gracey forgot to mention those!) What do those Cornell kids have? Poodles and shih tzus for attack dogs? Maybe they'll get their doormen to fight for them. We can take 'em! :p
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oh yeah!?!? you p&sers wanna rumble?!?! bring it!!!!!

it will end up something like this:
cornell----->
sport-smiley-002.gif
<-----columbia

or we'll just get our maids and limo drivers to whoop up on you guys for us :laugh:

:p ;) :D
 
FIGHT FIGHT!!

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

you guys are hilarious!
 
Originally posted by DW
or we'll just get our maids and limo drivers to whoop up on you guys for us :laugh:
Click to expand...

Oh please! Like you could fit a maid in those tiny ass rooms in Olin! I'm just sayin'.

tBw....so you're saying that we are the ones who talk smack? Okay, that's cool. Let's just settle this then: how about you guys walk to a bus stop, catch a crosstown bus, transfer to the subway, walk a few blocks...and THEN we'll talk! YEAH!
 
don't you guys have something better to do in med school? ...errrr..... like studying????

:smuggrin:
j/k
:)
 
WOW....I'm kinda in shock.

I just got an email from the admissions office, and they said my application has been submitted. :clap: I guess they just pulled it off the web. The only minor problem with that is that I hadn't entered the essay yet (oops). But I have to mail them the payment, so I can submit it then.

Actually, I better go in and see if I can check the app. I'm not even sure what was in there anymore! I hope nothing I was planning on rewriting. Gulp.

So, I guess they are lenient about the deadline.
 
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