Dates – Submitted 1/4/11, Interview Invite 2/17, Interview Date 3/3, Report Completed 3/4, Accepted 3/21
My interview lasted an hour and 15 minutes and it felt like about 30 minutes. It was held in his off campus work headquarters (a really neat building) and it began with him giving me a great tour and buying me a cup of coffee. After settling into his lounge he began the semi-formal interview. We both knew the gravity of our talk and he definitely played the interviewer but he was very up front about his goal of just getting to know me. In fact, he went as far as showing me Columbia’s interviewer guide so I would know how he was going to rate me. We then went through my resume starting with the typical, “walk me through your resume,” question and he asked some questions and even gave me feedback on how to improve it before telling me it was a good one. Then came the rest of the questions in this order:
- Give me a leadership example.
- Why MBA?
- Why Columbia?
- What is my backup plan?
- Give me an example of an ethical dilemma (at this point our interview was at an hour and he prefaced the question with, “I have to ask this.” Gave him a great example from work and he really liked it.)
- Questions for him.
- And verbal skills was one part of the guide.
Finally he wrapped up by asking me a question off the top of his head. Let’s say there is a group of five MBA students assigned to accomplish a task- what is my biggest skill that I bring to the group. My first answer didn’t go so hot because he told me that all five of us would have that skill and he made me dig deeper. Good back and forth.
We ended the interview having both enjoyed it very much. He gave me a recommendation for a place to grab lunch because I drove in from out of town and we even exchanged a few emails afterwards with him telling me how excited he was to have me join Columbia if accepted. I of course fretted about how long it took me to get the call because you hear about other people getting the call three days after their interview but the phone rang one night and there she was, the wonderful woman from admissions telling me I was accepted. She even told me the best line I’ve ever heard. At the closing of our phone call I was so excited I gushed, “what an awesome day,” and she replied immediately, “no- what an awesome life.” Epic and a week after that my interviewer called me and congratulated me. Classy move.
