<p>Why Columbia for a premed?</p>
<p>For me, it has to be that the curriculum is very broad and you can explore other things while still being on your path for your major as well as major science courses for pre-med. The core ensures that you are well rounded. That’s a big deal to me; also in the midst of doing the core, you might find something you are even more passionate about.</p>
<p>in addition to what galaxynebulla2 said, columbia’s medical programs and institutions are some of the best in the country. columbia presb.? one of the best hospitals in the world. so their medicine department is quite strong. if you go premed, you’re pretty much guaranteed to be working alongside some of the brightest doctors, surgeons, and researchers out there.</p>
<p>The main concern for me about Columbia is the core. I also like the idea of the core and its universal curriculum amongst all Columbia students. However, for a premed, is this usually where the GPA drops?</p>
<p>^^ Well that heavily depends on the person and depends on the study habits and difficulty of the course.</p>
<p>I suggest you answer this question in your application with the response, “why not?”</p>
<p>More seriously, any real answer to this question is going to be an immensely personal one. There is no “right” answer that you can get off a forum somewhere. Even if I could sit with you and knock out a response in 15 minutes that checks all the admissions officer’s boxes, it would still ring kinda hollow if it didn’t connect with your background, your goals, and your experiences.</p>
<p>Just don’t fall back on “New York City!!! omglol.” which is what a lot of these essays boil down to. Make it something personal - that someone else couldn’t just put their name on it and have it be equally true.</p>
<p>“The main concern for me about Columbia is the core. I also like the idea of the core and its universal curriculum amongst all Columbia students. However, for a premed, is this usually where the GPA drops?”</p>
<p>Hell no. The humanities classes in the Core are usually pretty easy on the GPA. It’s the pre-med regimen of chem/bio/orgo/physics/biochem that will murder your GPA. The Core makes pre-med tough insofar as you don’t have as much space for electives and you have to take lots of classes each semester, but the individual Core classes are cake. Of course, if you’re an engineer who hates words, then the Core classes will be excruciating, but generally speaking, they’re not as hard as the pre-med classes.</p>
<p>Denzera, I don’t think the OP is talking about the “Why Columbia?” question. I think he’s asking whether, and if so why, Columbia would make sense for a preemie.</p>