Calling all Columbia Applicants for 2009!

I just hit "enter" twice to separate paragraphs after pasting text into the box. I wouldn't worry about indentation or using HTML. Be sure to "print app" to view your text before submitting. Good luck!

Hi All,

Not to provide any extra anxiety or anything, but I thought you'd all appreciate the info... I got my interview invitation yesterday! I actually got the status change email at 5:16 pm. For those who are interested, I am a first-time applicant from Washington, DC and my app went under review on August 14th. I have the option of searching for up to 9 alumni interviewers (they only show 3 names at a time, but you can keep searching until the max of 9 is reached).

I'm in a conundrum because I only want 1 of the 9 interviewers. I did extensive research on all of them last night and most of them are finance types who might ask me complex questions that I might not feel comfortable answering under pressure. Two of them I could not find any info on at all. The 1 ideal interviewer unfortunately listed her undergraduate email address! I hope she checks it often and replies soon... if she doesn't respond within 48 hours, do you guys think it'd be a terrible idea to email her work email? (this wasn't provided by CBS but I was able to find it thru online research) I know that she'll definitely receive her work email but she might be offended that I'm bothering her at work... sigh.

Anyway, I promise you I am a real person so rest assured that invites are coming out excruciatingly slowly, but coming out for sure. I'll keep you posted. Any advice in the meantime is appreciated!

Great news, Tien! Congratulations, and good luck with the interview. I'm very happy to see your enthusiasm for CBS pay off...well almost!

I don't think you should e-mail her at work just yet. And how do you know the finance folks you're finding aren't really cool sales desk folks? Or for that matter this ideal interviewer isnt' a hard$$ interviewer?

Stop worrying about this and just go with whoever is able to schedule you for the earliest.

I would not email her work AT ALL! First I don't think she'll appreciated the background check you did on her. So if she doesn't, then I would move on. But being that it's the schools contact for her, I'm sure she checks it often and that's how so volunteered to interview in the first place. They go through training I believe so the must have recieved a lot of info through columbia.

TienyChesney,

Congrats on getting your interview!

I am getting pretty close to getting my app in and had a question:

Has anyone figured out how to edit the excel transcript form more than once without getting the error msg "Document Not Saved"?

I have tried saving it as a diff. file name and it gave the same msg. I also tried copying and pasting the sheet into a diff. workbook -- was successful but it lost some of the formatting and printed funny. Appears like the workbook is locked but I do not have the pw -- has anyone been successful in editing this xls file more than once?

Thanks!

Thanks for the congrats, guys! I am excited and even more anxious (oddly enough) now that I have to strategize with interviewer choices...

Palmetto, I had the same problem as you did! I thought my computer was just messed up but I guess that's not the case. I did not find a workaround to it... I basically re-downloaded the template and did the transcript in one sitting. Sucks but no pain no gain right? (stupid saying, I know)

Congrats!!! Way to kick off the season for the g-club.

1) Don't fret about the "finance" folks. I think you are trying to game the system a little too much. They are interviewing you, not the other way around. These interviews are intended to be conversational; it's not a job interview in which they are trying to assess your technical skills.

2) Do NOT email anybody at an address that is not listed within the CBS interview system. Although I don't know if it works this way at all schools, My gf went to Michigan for law school and she has all of her email forwarded from her umich.edu account to gmail automatically. In fact, when she needs to provide her email address, she lists the umich account.

3) Good luck with the interview. It's hard to listen to this advice, but honestly don't overprepare. You think you may have someone pegged based on a job title or company, but you don't want to have any preconceived notions. It may do more harm than good.

hey RyGuy,

Three great points- thanks! I didn't even think about the school email forwarding function! A part of me wants to just interview with the earliest available interviewer like Solaris suggested... but getting someone who seems really laid-back and cool (from my facebook research hehe) would obviously be optimal. I've emailed my second choice interviewer and we'll see if either of them get back to me by friday morning. If not, I'll cast a wider net so to speak.
:

Oh, and for everyone's reference the admissions committee said (on the BW Ask CBS Admissions thread) that they encourage applicants to contact more than 1 alum to schedule interviews. So if you're OK with it, you can e-mail 3-4 folks at the same time and just set up a time with the first person that responds.

Then just let the others who reply know that you scheduled an interview already, and blame the admissions office for asking you to e-mail multiple people at the same time.

Let us know how it goes, Tien. This is very exciting!

I would personally have a really difficult time determining this through online research. So many people out here in California especially, are masterful at creating an image that projects "laid back" and "care free", when the reality is that they are wearing $500 jeans and are semi-neurotic.

I would just go with whoever is available. You may even find it easier to connect with someone who is outside your industry - they won't grill you as hard on the specifics because they won't know the specifics. It's almost like a learning experience for both sides. It's more difficult for someone to have an ego or a superiority complex if they're from a completely different industry/function.

Great news, Tien!

You may become the first admit from Gmatclub!!! Good luck with your interview. I think you will get an offer.

Congrats on the interview invite!

Submitted ED app yesterday, 9/24.

Keeping my fingers crossed....

Palmetto, congrats on your submission - I will start crossing my fingers for you (and Solaris, and Sonibubu, and...) after 3 pm today... because I scheduled my interview for today! Thanks to everyone for their support, I really feel warm and fuzzy from all the help. In the end, I decided to email a couple of the other choices and one of them replied right away. She is a management consultant and I'm seeing her at her office at 3pm today. I have some examples/stories ready and I got a haircut yesterday. I am conducting a couple mocks beforehand. I believe I'm ready. Get ready for a debrief later!

You're a charmer, Tien. I know she will be impressed. Good luck! Will look forward to your debrief.

Wow - so quick!! Best of luck this afternoon. Looking forward to hearing about your experience!

[quote="TienyChesney"]Palmetto, congrats on your submission - I will start crossing my fingers for you (and Solaris, and Sonibubu, and...) after 3 pm today... because I scheduled my interview for today!

Don't cross your fingers too hard for me, I'm RD and won't hear back from CBS until January at the earliest. Weird thing that the 2nd school I applied to will probably be the last one I hear back from.

You're probably interviewing as I type and I'm sure you did well. Looking forward to your debrief (the interview, that is).