Applied to Columbia back in mid-October 2011 and received an invite to interview on December 23. Emailed all of my interview ambassadors (nine in total) and had to wait about a week and a half before the first one responded, most likely due to the holidays. Set up the interview on the following Friday January 13th with a recent alumn who just graduated in May. Sent him my resume beforehand.
The interview was very informal – took place at a Starbucks. It lasted for about a hour and he asked me some obligatory questions to be filled out on the Columbia form. It went like this:
- Walk me through your resume
- Why MBA? Why now? Why Columbia?
- Leadership style
- Ethical dilemma
- Example of when you took initiative
- Backup plan
Then we spent the last 15-20 minutes talking about his time there and what it takes to succeed at Columbia. He was very nice and encouraging and we had a great, candid conversation. He submitted his feedback form on the following Tuesday 1/17 and I received my acceptance from Columbia on 1/23.
