We just received the following Columbia MBA admissions interview report from an applicant who is waiting on a decision from Columbia. Best of luck to them!
This site was extremely helpful when preparing for the CBS interview, so I wanted to make sure I gave back. I applied Round 3 and submitted my application on April 14. I received an email inviting me to interview on May 6. The AdCom gives you 5-6 people in your area for you to chose from. I contacted an individual and the interview was set up for 2 weeks from when I emailed my interviewer (Memorial Day weekend didn’t help for scheduling it any sooner).
I completely agree with what a lot of others have said, which is to prepare for a formal interview but expect an informal one. I met him in his office and the interview was held in a conference room. This sounds like it would be intimidating, but it really wasn’t. The interview was very casual and relaxed and lasted 45-50 minutes. Thanks to this site, I was prepared for every question, which were the following:
1) Why an MBA? If you don’t get in this year will you re-apply next year?
2) Why now? Why Round 3?
3) Why CBS?
4) Describe a time when you had to overcome adversity.
The adversity question threw me off a bit, just because I had read that it was more of a 2013 question. Nonetheless, I had thought of something off the top of my head earlier and was able to sound somewhat prepared in answering the question. This interviewer graduated in [the 90s], so he probably was not aware that they aren’t using that question anymore.
All in all I think it went really well! Even though he graduated in [the 90s], he was still able to list off the classes he enjoyed most and got the most out of. It was helpful that I had read through the course catalog online and found classes that interested me. It also helps to talk about specific clubs you are interested in. Fingers crossed!
For more Columbia MBA admissions interview questions, visit our Columbia Interview Archive!
