Calling all Columbia Applicants for 2009!

ok, I e-mailed a 4th alum and it bounced back as a bad e-mail address. My girlfriend works for the same company as this guy in a different division, is it a breach of protocal to get the proper e-mail address from her and contact the guy?

Also...one of the people on my washington DC list says Sao Palo, Brazil for location...what's up with that?

That sounds risky. (It can backfire depending on the individual. What will you say if he/she ask you directly about the email?) Do it only if you HAVE to go down that route.
Until then, keep trying your other options.

I wouldn't go down that route. CBS gives you 9 different alumni... and you only contacted 4 so far. E-mail the others!

I guess I got pretty lucky when the first alumni I e-mailed responded within 2 hours.

Do not do that.

I received a list of 9 alumni -- at first, I was confused how to go about it (much like you are). I googled all of their backgrounds and tried to find out more information and I whittled down the list to a "top 3". Out of my original top 3, 2 of them had their e-mails bounce back and one told me that he would be out of town for 3 weeks. At this point, I e-mailed the remaining 6 (all at once).

Out of the remaining 6, 2 of them told me that they were out of town / had other commitments, and 4 of them offered to do an interview with me that week. I chose one out of the 4 and we set it up very quickly. I kindly e-mailed the remaining 3 and notified them that I already set up an interview.

E-mail all of them and see what their availability is like - and then go from there.

thanks for the advice, I've moved on to the rest of the list but I've had no luck so far.

Worst case scenario is you'll have to call up Columbia and let them know that you couldn't schedule an interview with any of the 9 interviewers.

thank you jj

OK, on the 8th try I got a response, I'm setting it up for next week.

I had my interview yesterday, when/where do i see my status changed in CBS website?thanks

You will get a notice when your interviewer submits his/her feedback. From that point, it seems to take 1-3 weeks. From my experience, ding notices come out quicker than admit notices. Good luck.

10 weeks passed. The status is still "under review". Does it mean ding as remained 2 weeks are not enough to conduct an interview?

I'm in the same boat and am assuming a ding!

10 weeks is a long time but it doesn't mean your app is dead. Interviews can absolutely be conducted within 2 weeks. My interviewer offered to interview me the same day I emailed him. My turnaround was three days from interview invite to interview conducted.

To be clear, CBS says that you will hear something within 12 weeks (interview or ding, essentially). You do not necessarily have to get your final decision within that 12 week window.

Scratch that.... Just got an interview invite

WOW! Congrats!!!

Walker thanks I very suprised (but happy). Does anyone have any advice on how to approach the alumni for the interviews?