I had my interview on January 15 and have not yet heard a decision from Columbia.
I was invited to interview on January 6 and as per the instructions, I sent out e-mails requesting interviews to the three alumni who came up in my regional search. Only one responded and we set up an interview for the next week at his place of business.
The interview itself was extremely informal. My interviewer only directly asked me two things about myself:
- Walk me through your resume.
- Why Columbia?
I cannot stress enough how important it is to have specific reasons for wanting to go to Columbia in particular and not just to a good school in general. The rest of the interview was more of a conversation about his career path and his time at Columbia. I tried to insert pieces of knowledge I had about Columbia (i.e., their excellent career resources, clubs I am interested in, people I have spoken with, anything to show that I have done my research) but on the whole it just felt like a chat with a friend. The whole meeting lasted about an hour. My advice to anyone heading in for an interview is to be prepared, but be relaxed and let your personality show.
