<p>If two people at a school apply to Columbia at around the same time, and one gets contacted for an interview but not the other.... what does that mean?</p>
<p>nothing. it is random.</p>
<p>the process for interviews is kind of two pronged.
- students are assigned randomly, often by proximity to students. so it is possible that only one student in your school was assigned, not on purpose, but just because of the nature of assigning candidates is without bias, and also sometimes it is not possible to assign every student from every school.
- students then must be contacted by interviewers at their leisure. it is possible that the interviewer(s) are going methodically, one at a time as they interview candidates and you will be contacted shortly, or perhaps they want to contact you, but can’t do so before the deadline (that comes in february)</p>
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<p>this is specific to columbia. columbia does not have any preferences in who it interviews. no student has a better or worse chance of being admitted just because they were offered an interview.</p>