There are a few people I have worked closely with for > 12 months: research; attending rounds; indication conferences; and, all else. Most of these orthopaedic surgeons wrote me excellent letters of recommendation.
Their program makes it very difficult for research fellows to earn a position; however, these guys are tremendously supportive - and, one of them is internationally recognized for research and chairs a great fellowship program. Ultimately, their goal is for me to match.
Could you please state the kinds of things that - as a program director - you want to hear over the phone - ie. to move an applicant up on a rank order list? When the appropriate time to call is? (I didn't apply to Columbia)
Also, were their times that a phone call hurt a particular applicant at your program? (I didn't apply to Columbia)
Strengths: medical student using a 5th year to enrich my understanding of orthopaedic surgery; former competitive intercollegiate athlete; multiple past leadership positions; experienced clinical researcher; likeable blue-collar mentality; consistently demonstrate completing tasks efficiently; perhaps most importantly, well-liked.
The whole issue of phone calls is tricky because many, many programs do their rank lists immediately after the interview day - for those programs the phone calls are likely futile.
For the programs that don't rank immediately a phone call can be useful but remember it's like going to jail, "you can make 1 phone call only!" So you have to choose wisely and ask your mentors to call that one place only.
The phone call will never hurt an applicant (can't think of a scenario where that would be the case). If you're already competitively ranked then the phone call will just confirm the program's perception and won't change too much. If you're not ranked too competitively then the phone call will likely not do very much to bump you up. If you're on the cusp of being ranked high (not necessarily a guaranteed match) then the phone call might possibly bump you up the list.
