Columbia 2012 - Calling All Applicants

Honestly.. that stinks man. You may still do very well but I guess I just got real fortunate with my interviewer selection. He's been a CBS alum for over 30 years and actually is an adjunct at my undergrad university now. Really relaxed and comfortable. In fact, he advised that I keep in touch and reach out to him on any questions I may have, relating to CBS or general career, as he likes to see ambitious people succeed. I think having someone 1-2 years removed might make it much more difficult as they are trying to stick to the formalities... either way, best of luck!

I wouldn't put much emphasis on the age of the interviewer. Mine was a 2010 grad of CBS. Our interview was very casual.

Yeah, that is rough!

I can get through all of my anecdotes in about 2-3 minutes. I really spent some time making my responses concise enough so that they leave out all of the long boring details. I'll be happy elaborate on anything per the interviewer's request, but as a person who has done interviews myself, those details are often just plain boring and better left out. I truly couldn't imagine being interviewed that long. I think that I could adequately provide comprehensive answers to all of those questions you listed in under 30 minutes. So it really sucks that your interview kept probing so deeply. And it's also weird that he asked you "Why an MBA," followed by "How will an mba help you achieve your professional goals." Are these not the same question?

Anyways, best of luck. Let us know how it pans out!

Also, I'm not bilingual, but isn't that weird that he kept jumping back and forth between languages? Talk about making an already stressful situation more confusing...

For the people who just had interviews... Anyone have it go complete yet?

Posted from my mobile device

My interview occurred on Thursday night and my status changed to 'Interview Complete' on Friday. Is there another status change, such as 'Interview Report Received', or am I pretty much waiting for a decision at this point?

No, I think that means that the report has been received. You only has to wait for the Final Decision release.

From Columbia's web page:

Right, it goes to status "Complete"... then it's just waiting for the admit/ding.

Just got a decision... ding! Best of luck to the rest of you. Back to the essays.

Damn, sorry man. That's not giving me a warm fuzzy feeling. You said your interviewer seemed in a rush or something... again I wonder if having a younger interviewer actually hurts you as they are trying to follow a "by the book" type of approach. Both having 3 years WE... now I'm nervous! Your gmat was higher than mine (710) but my gpa (3.93) was slightly better. I guess I need to just wait and see.

Wow sorry bro. 1 day to review is really quick. Any ideas what happened?

I'm scared now too. My interviewer just graduated in May, and I thought that would actually help since he remembers exactly what we would be going through. Still haven't gone complete though.

To be honest, I don't believe my interview had anything to do with the ding. It went great. At the end of the day, I'm a white male from the Northeast with a 3.08 GPA. I didn't save anyone from a burning building or cure a terminal disease. Pretty tough hole to climb out of, regardless of my 750 GMAT.

I'm sorry to hear that you got bad news. I don't really know if your GPA is why you got dinged. Does Columbia give feedback? You got an interview so something about you interested them. If your GPA was a dealbreaker they wouldn't have even interviewed you. While your GPA may be the obvious place to put the blame that doesn't mean it's the correct place. Did you use the optional essay to discuss your grades? Since Columbia was obviously your first choice you might want to create an alternate transcript if you reapply next year. Otherwise, best of luck for your remaining applications this year.

From what I understand, they do not offer any sort of feedback, even if it is requested. They deny thousands of people every year so they wouldn't have the time. Regardless, I will ask and let you guys know what the answer is. It would be really helpful for future applications.

My thought would be to contact the interviewer. Tell him you did not get accepted and ask him if he can provide any feedback or insight into how you can improve your candidacy. Columbia does say that interviews can occur any point during the application process which is indicative that the interview is not the end all decision. You may be correct that the GPA was the factor pulling you down but if you had a solid optional essay addressing that and your GMAT score, I think that should of offset. Certain schools are more focused on GPA (HBS for one) for the general applicant pool. The less experience you have the more important that GPA is also. Having only 3 years post-undergrad (2 year prior to UG in management role), I know that my GPA will likely be more focused on than if I had been working for 5 years or so. That may be the issue as well, but perhaps your interviewer may provide some feedback that provides more detail. Best of luck with other apps (if applying), otherwise maybe next year!

Sorry to hear the news mbarealestate! best of luck with the rest of your apps.

I emailed a member of the admissions department and got this in return:

"As policy, we do not give feedback but I will say generally that all involved thought that you might be better served getting a little more experience before business school."

Hope this helps.

Do you have 3years of WE now (so 4 years at enrollment)?