Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons

Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons (VP&S) is the graduate medical school of

Columbia University

, located at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center in the Washington Heights neighborhood of

Manhattan

. Founded in 1767 by Samuel Bard as the medical department of King's College (now

Columbia University

), VP&S was the first medical school in the Thirteen Colonies to award the Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree. Beginning in 1993, VP&S was also the first U.S. medical school to hold a white coat ceremony.

According to ''U.S. News & World Report'', VP&S is one of the most selective medical schools in the United States based on average MCAT score, GPA, and acceptance rate. In 2018, 7,537 people applied and 1,007 were interviewed for 140 seats in its entering MD class. The median undergraduate GPA and average MCAT score for successful applicants in 2014 were 3.82 and 36, respectively. Columbia is ranked fourth for research among American medical schools by ''U.S. News & World Report''.

In 2018, Columbia became the first medical school in the nation to replace loans with scholarships for all students who qualify for financial aid. The scholarships are funded by an endowment that was established by Dr. P. Roy Vagelos and his wife Diana Vagelos; in December 2017, the 250-year-old medical school was renamed in their honor. The Vageloses committed more than $310 million to Columbia, $150 million of which was directed toward the scholarship fund.

Columbia is affiliated with NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, the nation's 4th-ranked hospital according to ''U.S. News & World Report''. Students additionally rotate through its affiliate hospital in Stamford Hospital in Stamford, CT.

Curriculum

Beginning in the fall of 2009, the medical school implemented a new curriculum that differed markedly from more traditional structures. The largest change involved a reduction in the number of preclinical months from twenty-four to eighteen and the expansion of the electives and selectives period to fourteen months. Each student now is required to spend four to ten months working on a scholarly project before graduation.

Student life

Campus

Situated on land overlooking the

Hudson River

and separated from Columbia's undergraduate campus in

Morningside Heights

by approximately fifty blocks and the neighborhood of

Harlem

, the Columbia University Medical Center has its own unique standing and identity. The campus comprises not only VP&S, but also the College of Dental Medicine (formerly the School of Dental and Oral Surgery), the School of Nursing, the Mailman School of Public Health, the Presbyterian portion of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital (including the Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital) and the New York State Psychiatric Institute. Affiliated hospitals include Harlem Hospital, Stamford Hospital in Stamford, Connecticut, and Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital in Cooperstown, New York. In August 2016 th
Roy and Diana Vagelos Education Center
new 100,000-square-foot, 14-story glass medical education tower opened at 104 Haven Avenue, between 171st and 172nd Streets, near the northern tip of the campus. Housing options on Columbia's Medical Campus include Bard Hall and the Bard-Haven Towers, a complex of three, 31-story apartment buildings overlooking the

Hudson River

and the

George Washington Bridge

. Students are guaranteed housing on campus all years, although many students choose to live in other parts of New York City.

P&S Club

There are student clubs covering a range of professional and personal interests, all of which fall under the umbrella of the P&S Club. One unusual element is the Bard Hall Players, a theatrical group entirely run by the students of the medical campus, and one of the largest and most active medical school theater groups in the country. They perform a musical and two plays each year. Founded over a century ago by John Mott, the 1946 Nobel Peace Prize recipient, the P&S Club serves to support and provide activities and organizations for the enrichment of the lives of VP&S students. The P&S Club is well known for its humanitarian aims; most notably the 1917 purchase of a steam launch delivered to Sir William Grenfell, a physician living in

Labrador

. This launch was used to deliver medical services to the Inuit and First Nations fishermen living on the islands of the Labrador coast and frequently, was crewed by P&S students.

History

Colonial years

In 1767, Dr. Samuel Bard, an alumnus of then-

King's College

and the University of Edinburgh Medical School, opened a medical school at

Columbia

. At the time, the medical program at King's College was the first to open in the Province of New York and only the second to be opened in the American Colonies

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