Thought I would start a Columbia thread for all of us who were eagerly waiting for that acceptance letter in the mail last week. Guess you can call this the meet-n-greet and maybe wear like a sticker with our screen names so we can recognize each other during the Visiting Day (ok, might look a bit goofy) but hey, what a way to start off our nursing careers together at Columbia.
I was estactic when i opened that letter, seemed like a thin envelope and was prepared for the worst, and then read the first line! I can't wait and indeed it was a life changing letter for both me and my wife, who also got accepted!! I also got into my first choice of specialty, Nurse Anesthesia, and getting into that program without ICU experience (besides being a nursing assistant in the ER and neurosurg unit as an undergrad) is just simply overwhelming. It took the whole weekend to sink in, and now, I'm psyched! I look forward to meeting all of you and enduring the next 12 months of craziness starting in June together.
Ahh, the living expenses are the rub though. I didn't have too much trouble with financial aid (it took about a month for me to get the last $4500 of it) but I know people who didn't get their aid until the end of the summer. People who didn't have money for food (in a famous instance one girl screamed "I have nothing to eat" at oscar, dumped his entire bowl of candy in her backpack and stormed out of his office) or worse had to be late on their rent. Stay on top of oscar and you financial aid. The good news in there are emergency loans available. If you can I recommend saving up a month's worth of living expenses before moving here.
Yup. Staying on top of Oscar is the #1 primo thing to do with financial aid. If you have probs with him, do not pass go, head directly to student financial services in the black building.
Yup. Staying on top of Oscar is the #1 primo thing to do with financial aid. If you have probs with him, do not pass go, head directly to student financial services in the black building.
LB
And prepare for him to get bitchy about you going over his head. But really, what's he gonna do about it? It's been so great, haven't had to deal with him in over three months. Ahhh, springtime...
Just got my packets - and the bad news about being 9th on the waitlist for housing. What do all you veterans know about the INternational House? Are there postings for summer sublets that we can access? Adele hasn't responded to me yet. So much stress trying to organize everything from Cali - please remind me that it's worth it!!
Also curious - I didn't see anything about a SPanish class - where is that mentioned?
Just got my packets - and the bad news about being 9th on the waitlist for housing. What do all you veterans know about the INternational House? Are there postings for summer sublets that we can access? Adele hasn't responded to me yet. So much stress trying to organize everything from Cali - please remind me that it's worth it!!
Also curious - I didn't see anything about a SPanish class - where is that mentioned?
Well, I'm tenth on the waitlist so you're ahead of me! I have a friend who lives in NYC and knows someone who lived in the I-House and loved it. I applied, so that may be where I am for the summer since I was told the waitlist is unlikely to budge. Let me know what you hear from Adele if you do, I haven't tried her yet.
The Spanish class is mentioned when you log into the website.
Sorry to hear about some of your housing situations. Students are beginning to put flyers and postings around the medical center for summer sublease, and here's one I just saw in one of the buildings that I work at:
Summer Sublet in Tower I
Females only!
June to August
$713 for one room of a 3 bedroom apt
Rent includes electricity/utility
I'm pretty sure the info is correct from memory, but to make sure here's the individual's email contact
Hope this would get some of you started in terms of living accomodations for the summer, while you'll physically be here to look at apts during the summer session.
Let me know if this helps, and I'll try to post on here any other ones I see around the medical center.
Just got my packets - and the bad news about being 9th on the waitlist for housing. What do all you veterans know about the INternational House? Are there postings for summer sublets that we can access? Adele hasn't responded to me yet. So much stress trying to organize everything from Cali - please remind me that it's worth it!!
Also curious - I didn't see anything about a SPanish class - where is that mentioned?
I lived in the I-House back in 2000-2001. It was a pretty interesting experience. Everyone there was pretty intense and super interesting. The actual rooms left much to be desired-- they were way too small and you had to share a bathroom with the entire floor of students. The floors were co-ed, not the bathrooms. The dining situation was very very expensive- and alot of the students used the window sill in the winter as their refridgerator. Be prepared for housing shock moving to New York. You will not believe how much you will pay to live in a tiny rabbit hole in the crappiest part of town. It is the price you pay for being able to say you live in Manhattan. In retrospect, I-house really was a deal! I understand they have been doing alot of modernizing and with fewer Manhattan School of Music students applying because Manhattan School of Music recently built their own superior dorm, it shouldn't be as competitive to get in.
I was wondering about the PDA thing too. I've been looking at them, but would definitely love to hear comments on this topic. Is a PDA needed?
I'd say it depends. I got one because my dad is a tech geek and wanted to buy me a toy. I have only used it as a drug book, bc you can download programs with nursing references, etc. If you're a datebook kind of person, I can see it being helpful. If you don't think you really need it, I'd say wait until you start the Master's part. There's some whole thing where you HAVE to have it. They're trying to push informatics in clinical practice.
I didn't have an ac unit in the dorms however I also didn't sleep at night due to the extremely uncomfortable heat and humidity and spent all my study time anywhere else (starbucks/library/etc). You are gone from your room all day because of class but I would say it is a good investment just to be able to bear it when you are actually there.
I am still upset that they weren't specific about the PDA thing. I bought a windows-based one and they tell us in march that they software they use for the masters is only compatible with palm based one. Thank you CUSON for the heads up:angryfire . Have they told you to only buy a palm? if not and you decide to invest PDA make sure it is a palm.
I didn't have ac either, because I don't like having strangers in my room, and the building says they have to install it...yes, I'm weird. But it didn't bother me that much. I got a couple of smallish fans, put them on the windowsill, and sprayed water into them when I got hot. And also spent a lot of time, um, in my birthday suit. I also didn't grow up with ac, so there's that too.
Thank you for the update on the Palm vs. Windows thing. I was thinking of buying the Dell Axim, but now I will wait. I have an older Palm that should do the trick for now.
That does suck that they didn't tell you before hand...
LizzyBennet
36 Posts
Yup. Staying on top of Oscar is the #1 primo thing to do with financial aid. If you have probs with him, do not pass go, head directly to student financial services in the black building.
LB