Columbia - No Pant pooping yet?

Columbia has a pretty active official thread on the BW forum. Their process works like this. All applications received before Jan. 10 are reviewed first, but still in the order received. All applications reviewed afterwards are reviewed in order after that.

Your application is read by two people, each of which can request an interview; it may be read by a third if there is a disagreement. It then goes to committee, and if you haven't been asked already they could request an interview.

Once you complete your interview, your timing will depend on who requested your interview. If the first reader requested it, you file may still need to go to a second or third reader and then committee before your decision will be released. If the committee requested the interview, you could have a decision right away.

I submitted my application on 1/8. One of my recommenders couldn't access the online rec form so he had to send it in. It was delivered on 1/16 and the app went complete and under review on 1/22.

As I recall from the director of admissions when she spoke at an info session, Columbia pretty much interviews people that they would like to admit. I don't remember how she put it exactly, but it was something like if you get an interview, that means one or both readers, or the committee thinks positively about your application. If the interview confirms the positive outlook, you're in. If there is a great disparity between the evaluation and the interview, they might have it read again.

Since several people have recently been asked to interview, I thought I'd share some tips I have learned (note, I have not yet done my interview, just reading other interview reports).

Apparently, the single most important thing you must do is convince them that you will attend if admitted. That is the most constant theme of all the interview reports on accepted.com, reports which span about 6 years. Columbia is intensely concerned about yield, and evidently they do a pretty good job at it. Their yield 79%, which is 3rd highest overall trailing Stanford by just a few percentage points. The ED round probably has a lot do to with this. Their admit rate is the 2nd toughest at 15%, which slides in under Wharton's 21.1% and even Harvard's 15.7% (US NEWS).

The other basic theme is that they will be evaluating your conversational skills. Most of the reports indicate that there were no tough questions, but it is important to show that you can adapt socially. Smooth talkers should do well.

So, that's pretty much what I have found. Anyone else with info please post.

Excellent info Pelihu, thx. I will check out the BW forum.

just a friendly advice..if you can visit the columbia campus a a few days before your interview...goes to show your interest in the program..a

I know that several of us received interview invites late last week. I tried scheduling with the first 3 names that Columbia provided. One was a professor at some European University, but apparently is in the Bay Area a lot. He's in Europe now so he's out. The second was an '05 female grad. I thought that would work out pretty well for me, but she will not be available until March and suggest I look at other options. The third hasn't responded so I decided to pull up 3 more names.

My original thought was that a younger, recent grad might work out best for me. This new list is kind of scary. 1st is founder and managing partner of a hedge fund in SF. 2nd is founder and CEO of a telecom equipment company in SF and appears to be one of the most active alumni in the area. 3rd works for a start-up; no other info. I think that scheduling with one of these founder/CEO/managing partner types might be inviting trouble; although Columbia is not known to grill people in their interviews. I'm a little concerned because a unique feature of my background is that I'm a founder and owner of my own business, but it looks pretty lame next to these profiles.

What do you guys think? Maybe I could interview with the hedge fund guy, have a great interview that helps me get admitted and lands me a job all at once. Not really counting on that. Has anyone scheduled their interview recently? Anything to report?

I'm not sure what I'd do. However, I've got one short clarification: you're a pre-MBA entrepreneur and they are post-MBA entrepreneurs. That's not a levelled field!

Hope it helps. L.

Just my two cents.

I had a interview with an alumni who was a entrepreneur (although not a big one) and the interview was the best one I had. He came from the same industry as mine and understood my needs and aspirations. Though my post MBA goal was different from the one he is in but that did not stop him from grilling me for a while about my intentions. I think he just wanted to see whether I have done soem research on my goals.

IMHO, these guys might just click for you. You are an entrepreneur yourself which gives you a chance to talk about the problems you faced etc etc.

Those are great tips. I believe I will give them a shot. I think there could be significant upside and downside, but I'll take a gamble here.

Invited for interview.for CBS RD..conducted interview on Feb 19....horrible experience.....the guy graduated in 73 when i was not even born and somehow he thought that I am making fun of his old age....i dont know why he had this impression....my dream of cbs is probably over...good luck to everyone....

Haddy, sorry to hear about your experience. Maybe it was not as bad as you think it was. At this point, you can only hope for the best.

Can you share the details of when you turned in the app and when the app when complete.

Thanks and good luck.

Haddy74,

It might not be as bad as what it seems. My interviewer kept drilling if a MBA is necessary for whatever that I wanted to do. It seems odd because my goals are exactly his current job function.

I am crossing my fingers that everything will turn out ok and am stil waiting....I saw that those who turned in their app later than I did have already been admitted. I guess mine was sent for a 3rd read or something.

Good luck Haddy!

I finally got an interview invite today. It took them one week from the notification that we should be waiting for 12 more weeks.

thanks DJM and yogil80...

I submitted my app on dec 06, went under review last week of dec and got my int call on Feb 07.....By that time, i had totally given up my hope...I mean i applied on Dec 06....so I have no idea why it took CBS so long to call me for an int....I am hoping for the best...good luck to all of you.

That's too bad about the interview. You never know, maybe it will still work out alright. Good luck.

Congrats nemo! I am sure you will do well.

Do come back and report your experience.

Thanks.

I feel a Rhyme-worthy post coming on, so for those that don't want to read it all, I'll summarize. I had my Columbia interview earlier tonight. We met for dinner and everything went perfectly; I can't imagine how it could have gone better. Now, I realize that Columbia only admits 10% of RD applicants, only 1/3 of those that they interview, and people reporting great interviews have still been dinged. Still, if I'm dinged after this interview, I don't know why they even bothered meeting with me.

As many of you know, Columbia provides the names of 3 potential interviewers. My first 3 turned out to be duds (out of the country, too busy) so I requested 3 more and got some responses. I was able to schedule with an alumni who was an entrepreneur. He was founder and CEO of his own company, which turned out to be a great match for me. He's also on the board of the alumni association here in the Bay Area. We had a very good discussion about starting and running a new business, and he seemed very interested in my ideas for a new business that I plan to launch after business school.

It's amazing how much stuff you can cover during a 1 1/2 hour dinner. This interview was much more involved than the others that I have had, and I think it really worked out well for me because we both had a lot to share. After about 15 minutes, I was talking about things at Columbia that interested me, and he said that I didn't need to convince him any further that I would fit in well there. He also said many different times that he would recommend my highly. He also said, at least 5 different times that he would be surprised if I were not admitted. Towards the end of the meeting, he actually said that he would be very disappointed if the Adcoms didn't follow his advice and admit me.

Another factor that really worked in my favor is that he seemed to highly value the GMAT score. I never brought it up, but he talked about it over and over again throughout the interview. The first time he brought it up, I said that I was happy I was able to get the score because I thought that schools might be concerned about the quantitative abilities as an English major and lawyer. He laughed aloud and said "well, I think you've definitely addressed any concerns they might have." Later on, he said he thought that Columbia was likely to admit 780 scores (he referred to the actual score time and again during $the interview) because it allowed them to admit the children of wealthy alumni donors with 650 scores. I'm conscious to not bring up GMAT scores during interviews, but he kept bringing it up and considered it a very important factor.

He was surprised when I told him I wasn't applying to Harvard. I told him I felt that because of my age, Harvard and Stanford were extreme longshots and I just selected one. He thought I was overestimating the importance of age, but I think that he wasn't necessarily current with admissions trends. He also suggested (accurately I think) that people of my ethnic background have among the toughest competition, and raised the possibility that Columbia, like all schools, must consider factors unique to various applications when setting up their class. He did believe that as an English major with a law degree, I would have an easier time of it than engineers, which he thought was the most common background.

We had a great discussion about job possibilities. Of course, Columbia has among the best connections to Wall St. and the best placements for finance jobs of all kinds. He said he felt that Columbia's entrepreneurial offerings were not on par with the best of top schools, but that they were strong and improving. He also said that the alumni association here in the Bay Area was small, but growing. They recently doubled the number of activities and he said it was a small but tight knit group.

Talking about my goals for launching a future business, I was also able to squeeze in some information about clubs and activities I'd be interested in. I told him I was interested in working with small businesses and factories in China and he asked if I had a particular interested for helping the local population. I talked about a project that I worked on in law school, drafting humanitarian briefs in support of people seeking relief from deportation. I talked about how I met people facing extended prison sentences who, because of the incredible economic disparity, would rather stay in jail in the US rather than be deported to their home countries. I expressed interest in a social entrepreneurship program at Columbia, and said that while it was not one of my primary goals, I would like to help further economic development for the benefit of local populations.

At the end, he unexpectedly picked up the check - and this was not a cheap restaurant. I think he was convinced of my interest in Columbia, which was actually any easy task on my part because it really is my top choice at this point. I also sensed that given my past experience in New York and working with investment banks, I would be a great fit at Columbia; in fact he said several times. I think I also painted a convincing picture of how I would be able to contribute at Columbia, and that I would be able to make great use of the education and resources that the school and city have available.

So, it just turned out to be one of those days when everything seemed to really fit into place. Our conversation was lively, and we seemed to connect well. As mentioned above, I really can't imagine how this meeting could have gone better. Throw in the fact that this interviewer seems to be pretty influential, as a board member of the SF alumni association, and I think I really lucked out. I understand that they look at the entire application with the interview as just one factor, and that the interview is not make or break, but if this interview doesn't result in an admit, then I really don't know why they even bothered.

So, that's that. If anyone would like any additional details, I'd be happy to share what I'm able. I guess all that's left for me is to wait for a decision, which could come at any time now. Good luck to everyone waiting.

Great News Pelihu. You were due some breaks. I still hope for a full half hour interview, let alone a dinner discussion.