<p>Hi, everyone. I'm an international ED applicant to Columbia College this year. I'm from Shanghai, China. </p>
<p>I've just received from an interview from a Shanghai alumni and am just wondering what actually the interview means since not all ED applicants in Shanghai receive interview. Besides, during the interview the alumni also alluded to me that for Columbia interviews matter, to some extent (maybe just for the applicants in China?). There are also rumors about Columbia's interview that it's only given to the borderline or all applicants as long as alumni are available in that area. Are they true?</p>
<p>Columbia insists that all of its interviews are done based on availability of alumni. There is no evidence that says otherwise (that borderline applicants are interviewed, which is something I’d love but is probably untrue).</p>
<p>My own interviewer said that there are 8 alumni around here - with ~80 applicants for ED. So they each interview ~10 applicants. So it’s all availability down here (Hawaii, US). China is probably the same. They can’t go through applications fast enough unless they have a program that singles out score ranges or something. Which I would find somewhat amusing.</p>
<p>I got the notification of the interview right after my application status was complete. My home address is Beijing, China, so the interviewer made the appointment automatically in Beijing, but now I live in NYC. So I can’t make it. He hasn’t informed me about the next-step solutions.</p>