<p>any advice on my interview?! should i wear a tie? how should i prepare? should i bring anything? anything will help</p>
<p>dress business casual (collar shirt / khakis). No tie necessary.</p>
<p>carefully think through the questions you KNOW you're going to get, like:
1) Why do you want to go to college? Why now? Why not [insert other options]
2) Why do you want to go to columbia specifically?
3) What was your favorite [class, activity, trip, moment in high school, teacher, etc]?
4) What do you want to be when you grow up? --> Contrary to what you might expect, a definitive answer is NOT expected. If you lay out a few possibilities, explain why they interest you, and say that a goal of college is to clarify your passions for you, it will look good.</p>
<p>etc.</p>
<p>Don't bring anything special. I kept a copy of my application materials in the car but they were totally unnecessary.</p>
<p>A resume helps.</p>
<p>How long did it take for them to contact you after your application was submitted? My son submitted his ED app in on 11/1 and Columbia rec'ed the teacher recs, transcript, etc on 10/31. </p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>they've got to go through all the paperwork before they start assigning interviews. My regional ARC director hasn't assigned me anything yet - for anyone - and not a lot of interviews have even come through the system at all.</p>
<p>I submitted Part I on 9/25, and I was contacted for an interview on 10/31.</p>
<p>BTW, I just had my interview today, and my advice is to just know at least a little about Columbia and be yourself, and you should do fine.</p>
<p>All I brought was a printed copy of the e-mail she sent me (and some money for the coffee at Starbuck's).</p>
<p>My interview is on the 20th...does anyone else think that's really late for ED?</p>
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All I brought was a printed copy of the e-mail she sent me (and some money for the coffee at Starbuck's).
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<p>Your interviewer made you buy your own coffee?</p>
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My interview is on the 20th...does anyone else think that's really late for ED?
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<p>Nope, deadline is 12/1 I think?</p>
<p>I went to high school in California, but graduated last year and am living in New York now. Will I be able to get an interview here?</p>
<p>Nope, she bought it for me, but I didn't exactly know how the process works and brought money just in case.</p>
<p>sarah - the manhattan area is pretty well stocked with loyal columbia grads. there's no guarantees but you probably have a higher-than-typical chance.</p>
<p>I've had one already(almost a month ago) I think you just need part 1 in for one.</p>
<p>We are in NJ. My son submitted part I of the app in the last week of October. It sounds like from what I am reading it takes about a month to hear if you are getting an interview. My son's friend, a double legacy did have an interview already, but I am not sure when his app was submitted.</p>
<p>The Columbia interview was my first college interview. In retrospect, it probably wasn't a good idea to have that be my "practice interview," but I went in with enthusiasm, and I tried to let my personality speak for me.</p>
<p>I mean, I had an alumnus interviewer who graduated in the '70s, so I couldn't really ask him any very specific questions about Columbia because his answers might not have been really relevant.</p>
<p>I didn't bring an activity resume at all. I had indicated my interests in Part I, so he just asked me to describe them at the beginning of the interview.</p>
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sarah - the manhattan area is pretty well stocked with loyal columbia grads. there's no guarantees but you probably have a higher-than-typical chance.
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<p>The number of people who have received them over the last few years for NYC interview seems to be pretty low. There are so many applicants from the 5 boroughs and the suburbs, even though there's also a ton of alums in the area.</p>
<p>Actually, I found out that I can't get an interview in New York anyway, given that I attended high school in California. An alum from CA contacted me, but I'm not about to fly across the country just to go to an hour long interview which won't carry much sway in my application anyway.</p>
<p>I was contacted about one week after I submitted Part I. Columbia University actually gives a whole page of questions to the interivewer (which my interviewer showed me). I think interviews differ; mine was quite casual and relaxed even though it took place at his office. The interview took quite a while because my interviewer and I got pretty chatty (almost two hours). Bringing additional materials is optional, although my interviewer made it clear to me that CU prefers to keep the application private between ADCOMS and myself.</p>
<p>sarah - you should tell the interviewer who contacted you that they have you down in the wrong region. Have him put you in the manhattan pool. they regularly do this.</p>
<p>Of course I can't speak broadly, but my S got the impression when he interviewed that it was all about getting to know him in an individual way, not as an opportunity to go over credentials tht CU already knows. He did not bring a resume, and it didn't seem to be expected. They had a nice chat, and the guy called up several times with follow up questions.</p>
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Of course I can't speak broadly, but my S got the impression when he interviewed that it was all about getting to know him in an individual way, not as an opportunity to go over credentials tht CU already knows.
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<p>This is exactly the intention. The interview is to give CU additional info about the candidate that they don't already know. The same is the case for a letter of recommendations. Plenty of teachers write recommendations that are just a laundry list of every wonderful thing the kid has done in high school, and those are absolutely useless.</p>
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I think interviews differ
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<p>Yep. There are 5,000+ interviewers, so it's hard to generalize what your interview is going to be like. What's going to be the same is that your background and interest in Columbia are going to be the focus of the interview.</p>