Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons Individual responses

⭐ Overall Impressions ▼

How did the interview impress you?

Negatively

What was the stress level of the interview?

5 out of 10

How you think you did?

No responses

How do you rank this school among ALL other schools?

No responses

How do you rank this school among other schools to which you've applied?

No responses

💬 Interview Questions ▼

What is one of the specific questions they asked you?

What was your favorite class in undergrad?

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what was your most significant extra-curricular?

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Where do you see yourself in 3 years? 10?

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What was the most interesting question?

what would you do next in your research project if you had a grant and a full time tech?

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What was the most difficult question?

all pretty typical questions about research, why MD/PhD, what do I want to do in 10 years, that sort of thing.

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🤝 Interview Format and Logistics ▼

How long was the interview?

35 minutes

How many people interviewed you?

6

What was the style of the interview?

One-on-one

What type of interview was it?

Open file

Was this interview in-person or virtual?

No responses

Where did the interview take place?

At the school

📍 On-Site Experience ▼

Who was the tour given by?

Student

How did the tour guide seem?

No responses

How do you rank the facilities?

No responses

What is your in-state status?

No responses

What were your total hours spent traveling?

No responses

What was your primary mode of travel?

No responses

About how much did you spend on room, food, and travel?

No responses

What airport did you fly into?

No responses

Where did you stay?

No responses

What is the name of the hotel you stayed in?

No responses

How would you rate the hotel?

No responses

Would you recommend the hotel?

No responses

What is your ranking of this school's location?

No responses

What is your ranking of this area's cultural life?

No responses

What are your comments on where you stayed?

No responses

✅ Interview Preparation and Impressions ▼

How is the friendliness of the admissions office?

No responses

How is the responsiveness of the admissions office?

No responses

How did you prepare for the interview?

Read over my application, looked at the Columbia website.

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What impressed you positively?

The research labs, new york city, the views from the offices. The students were over all nice, but seemed a little self-absorbed (well, what can you expect, they are medical students). The staff in the admissions office were great. The food at the faculty club lunch was good, and the dinner that night with the other MD-PhD applicants was fun, but too loud.

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What impressed you negatively?

Some of my interviewers were pretty rude. I got the feeling that my medical school interviewer thought badly of my volunteering at planned parenthood.

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What did you wish you had known ahead of time?

bring your change of clothes with you so you can change for dinner. About half of the applicants were still wearing our suits for the dinner at a busy, crowded place. The thing I wanted most at that point (after 8 hours of interviewing and touring) was to change out of my stupid suit!

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What are your general comments?

Columbia is great. The facilities and faculty are really impressive. The director of the MD/PhD program seemed a little rude, and it seems like they are making lots of changes. No one said this at the time, but I've heard since I did the interview, that Columbia lost its NIH funding for the MD/PhD program. This could be a rumor, but might explain all the changes they are trying to make - ie. trying to get their funding back. I think it's be a great place to go to school, but I was not impressed with my interview experience there, at least overall. Some interviewers were great, others were rude, argumentative, and disrespectful. There was very little "recruiting" mentality. Given that many of the applicants have already been accepted at other programs, I expected them to be a bit nicer to us. The director did a lot of bad-mouthing the other programs. Not very impressive.

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What are your suggestions for the admissions office?

No responses

Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons

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