The following is a report from a recent applicant who provided his Columbia MBA admissions interview questions.
I met with a 2004 graduate at a cafe near his office at 8 AM on a Friday. The interaction was very friendly and casual. We started off with minor chit-chat before diving into the actual “interview”. See below for the order of questions that the interviewer asked. Note that the conversation flowed very smoothly and it wasn’t as if the interviewer was going down a checklist.
1) Tell me about yourself
2) What are you currently doing and why?
3) Why MBA and Columbia
4) Why now?
5) What do you enjoy doing for fun?
All the questions were expected. The interviewer was holding a review sheet provided by Adcom that requested him to ask certain questions, but those questions tended to be the ones that he was already interested in finding out either way. You could tell that culture was big for the interviewer, so directly mentioning my relationship with several other CBS students as well as my knowledge of student life certainly helped enhance his impression of me. It can be an incredibly easy interview as long as you prepare for the standard questions. Just be relaxed and answer sincerely.
We spoke for about 55 minutes until the interviewer’s parking expired, and he had to return to the office. While leaving he mentioned that he has a good conversion rate with interviews to acceptances. He submitted the interview report that Friday. evening.
For more Columbia MBA admissions interview questions, visit our Columbia Interview Archive!
