Columbia 2013 (CBS) - Calling All Applicants

This is normal compared to last year. The standard was closer to 4 weeks for interview invites and once the ED deadline hit they get a big backlog. They do rolling admissions so your application will be reviewed in the order it was received. However that doesn't guarantee that interviews/admits/dings will be in the same order. It could be they want to see what more of the applicant pool looks like now that the deadline has passed. If you are in an over-represented career or are borderline they might be holding off to compare you against more applicants with a similar background. This isn't necessarily a bad sign.

Congrats! Can you share your profile? Invited to interview 1 day after submitting and accepted 1 week after interview went complete. You must have a superstar background or something!

at the risk of being overly pessimistic - doesnt seem to bode well i suppose. if they need to think thrice before sending an interview invite low chance of conversion to an admit

Nope, I got invite exactly 3 weeks after the interview and a week after the report was delivered.
As for background.
Born in the middle of nowhere, South Ural, unknown tech. university bachelor and master with ~4 GPA, pure IT consulting in Moscow for a year (not a star company), some entrepreneur experience in IT consulting, IT PM then Deputy CIO in a brokerage and asset management company (again not a star but known locally), between PwC offer and promotion to business PM chose later (some can think stupid but it suited better to my career aspirations), quite strong volunteering experience for many years (not so strong though as serving at Peace Corps). So, not a rock star at all. However, I know exactly what I want to do (asset management or IB), more importantly WHY I want doing this, what I already did to achieve my goals and what Columbia can offer me. I think if you are honest with yourself and can show this in your application, this is more important than your background or previous career experience. However, I do believe that numbers such as GMAT score and GPA play more important role for Columbia than for other schools. Applying in ED I can't take offers from other schools to which I applied. LBS and Booth are out anyway. It's difficult to say no to HBS but I feel that this is not my school especially after reading "Ahead of the curve". Wharton is a contender anyway, so here I should weigh more strong academic against being in NY. Honestly, I don't like Phil as a city and NY itself can open even more doors for those who is going to stay in NY. Surprisingly but people in Russia know only Harvard and Oxford, so both Wharton and Columbia are equal from this point of view. But who cares about their opinion - "The minority is always right" (HENRIK IBSEN). I hope it was my small contribution to this online community!

Good thought process and analysis. All the best polyaris!

Submitted: August 3
Invited to interview: September 13
Interviewed: September 20
Interview report submitted: September 21

Admitted: October 10

Congratulations, RD!

Congratulations! That's the date my interview report was submitted, so hopefully I'll hear something soon.

Hey Ebee, Can you please post the link to the J-Term thread. I cant seem to be able to find it.

I interviewed for J-Term on 8th October. Waiting anxiously for the outcome.

Hey mgec,
The site is not letting me post a link, but the forum is called "Columbia J-term 2013"

I just received an invitation to interview today, submitted 9/27

Good luck!

Has anyone that submitted for ED on Oct. 3rd gotten any status updates (other than the "Submitted" designation)?

I submitted on 2nd.
Where do you see the status? I logged into the application portal but don't see any specific status designation.

When you successfully log in, they bring you to your application management page. That table has a "Status" column.

After I login, in the application check list table, under the status column I see a series of "Received" and a green check mark next to them. What am I missing?

I applied just a few hours before the ED on 3 October... Does anyone know what is the response time to hear on the status? I am already worried sick!

You are most likely not going to hear back in October..I submitted a few hours before the deadline too.

Save your sickness for later. You do not hear till atleast 2 weeks from applying. Make it three when you applied on the last day of ED with several thousands others.