Columbia Bridge to the PhD Essays & Interview Questions

Last year, I had the chance to interview with Columbia’s Bridge to the PhD in STEM program. This is a 2-year predoctoral award to research at a lab at Columbia’s campus. I was accepted and matched to work with Dr. Daphna Shohamy, but ultimately declined to pursue an MS at Teachers College instead (but stayed in Daphna’s lab as a graduate RA!).

At the time I was applying, I was extremely nervous; I couldn’t find many resources to help with the application or the interview. As a first-generation college student from a low-income background, I was also hesistant to apply because of my insecurity: I just didn’t think I was good enough and that would be palably reflected in my subpar application.

Thus, I thought I would share with you the materials I submitted for the application. I’ll update the folder with information if I receive more, but hopefully my essays and interview notes are of some help.

If you have additional questions, please don’t hesitate to connect via email or Twitter! So long as this post is up, so, too, is my offer.