Columbia 2013 (CBS) - Calling All Applicants

I think it's impossible to assign a number to the interview, but I've always understood it to be a "truthing" exercise. Unless you've made some effort to visit campus and meet adcoms, the interview is the school's only opportunity to assess your interpersonal skills and get a feel for your real-life personality. I would imagine that most interviews are arranged to either (a) confirm that a strong applicant is indeed strong in person and (b) confirm that international applicants are strong and comfortable in English. I'm sure that many are a combination of both. Twenty percent seems like a reasonable weighting I suppose. While I think a strong interview could rescue an on-the-fence application, I also think a weak one could kill a strong application.