Columbia University

Medical School Overview

U.S. News Rankings

Ranking score and category

Research rank Category Name #10 Best Research

Ranking score and category

Primary care rank Category Name #51 Best Primary Care

Specialties #7 in AIDS #2 in Drug and alcohol abuse #9 in Internal medicine Locked in Pediatrics #6 in Women's Health

Medical School Overview

The Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons (P&S) does not operate on the traditional four-year medical school curriculum schedule. Instead, the medical education is divided into three chunks: Fundamentals, which last a year and a half; Major Clinical Year; and electives and selectives, a 14-month program of clinicals, refresher courses, and projects.

Students complete rotations at affiliated hospitals in New York City, including the highly ranked New York-Presbyterian University Hospital and the Harlem Hospital Center, and at affiliated institutions elsewhere like the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Concord, N.H. and Stamford Hospital in Stamford, Conn. Students interested in rural medicine can apply to the Columbia-Bassett Program, which sends students to Bassett Healthcare in Cooperstown, N.Y. after they complete the Fundamentals curriculum at Columbia P&S.

P&S runs more than 10 centers and institutes like the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Columbia Summer Research Institute. The school also runs the Institute of Human Nutrition and offers other programs including the highly ranked Occupational Therapy Program.

Outside of the classroom, there are about 70 student organizations to check out. Full-time students can live in university housing in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, N.Y. 

Admissions

Application deadline	October 15
Application fee	$85
AMCAS application accepted	Yes

Academics

Full-time faculty	1,928
Full-time faculty-student ratio	3.0 - High

Student Body

Total medical school enrollment	638
Gender distribution

Cost

Tuition
Full-time: $46,212
Required fees	$4,750

Residency

Graduates admitted to their first-choice residency program	N/A
Most popular residency and specialty programs (2009 and 2010 classes)
anesthesiology orthopaedic surgery emergency medicine pediatrics internal medicine psychiatry obstetrics and gynecology radiology - diagnostic ophthalmology surgery - general

* Medical School Overview details based on 2010 data