Applied to Columbia MBA program: Jan. 15th, 2012
Invited to Interview: Mar. 5th, 2012
Interviewed: Mar. 11th, 2012
Status Changed to Complete: Mar. 14th, 2012
We met at a Starbuck’s in Atlanta The interviewer was a recent grad who works for McKinsey. He was candid, straight-forward, and didn’t let things feel formal. He first gave me a chance to ask questions about his Columbia and work experience. It was a great way to break the ice. This lasted for 15 minutes. We thoroughly discussed the academics at Columbia (particularly around finance and Heilbrunn) along with the new grades disclosure policy during the course of my questions for him.
We then went into the set questions. The list is below, which may not be totally inclusive due to the natural course of the conversation. This lasted for 20-30 minutes or perhaps a little longer.
- Give a personal example of leadership or teamwork in a professional setting.
- Describe an ethical dilemma and how I dealt with it.
- Describe a time where I faced adversity.
- Why Columbia? Had I visited the school?
- What was my backup plan if I was not admitted to Columbia?
- Where would I want to work immediately after Columbia? Where do I see myself in 5-10 years afterward?
I emphasized why I felt that an MBA education in NYC and at Columbia was a great fit for my desired education and career. I made it very clear that Columbia was my top choice (and that I had only applied to NYU and Columbia). When asked the backup question, I did specifically state that I would care to receive feedback from the Adcom and see if there was something that I could improve on to potentially apply again next year if denied (due to Columbia being my top choice).
We continued the conversation with questions of mine for another 10 minutes after the Adcom set.
After returning home, I sent the interviewer a thank you e-mail. I usually care to send paper thank you’s, but I also wanted to increase the chance that he would receive the thank you before completing my evaluation.
