<p>Just got an email offering me an interview.
Does this mean i passed the first step and they are interested in me? How important is this interview for my admission decision?</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure the site says all applicants receive an interview, and that the interview has nothing to do with whether you’ll actually get accepted.</p>
<p>Not sure how honest they are with that tho.</p>
<p>nothing to do? what’s its purpose then?</p>
<p>Columbia strives to interview as many candidates as possible based upon the availability of alumni interviewers. Not getting an interview in no way penalizes you. Given the volume of applicants these days, the interview has become less and less of a factor in admissions process and more of a way for applicants to learn more about the school. Unless, the interview goes EXTREMELY poorly, AO’s usually don’t pay much attention to the write-up.</p>
<p>What I meant was that the fact that they’re going to interview you does not mean they’re more likely to accept you / are more interested in you.</p>
<p>The interview itself, however, does have at least a small impact on whether you get accepted.</p>
<p>
Usually not. Only in rare circumstances when admissions wants more clarification or illumination. 98% of the time, the interview just confirms what’s already being conveyed in the rest of the application. A bad interview can hurt however. A positive interview can nudge forward a borderline app but no interview can breathe life into a application corpse, however.</p>
<p>Basically falcon is 100% right.</p>
<p>Do you work in admissions for Columbia University?</p>
<p>Show: no. I’m an alumni volunteer for another Ivy – this will be my 24th year and I have three interviews this weekend. I’ll probably have 15-20 by the end of March. To date, I’ve probably interviewed ~250 applicants.</p>
<p>I’ve sat through probably a half dozen programs about interviews and their impact. Sufficient?</p>
<p>It just seems odd that the University would establish such a large network of interviewers - stuff that costs time and money - for something that “usually does not have even a small impact” on a student’s chances of being accepted.</p>
<p>@ShowShowShow True that!</p>
<p>1) what is the value of a 45 minute face to face with a lightly trained and diverse group of interviewers and a highly focused “put on my best face for Columbia” student? Not that great – it’s too variable.</p>
<p>2) It’s good PR. The vast majority of people interviewed will be rejected. But if their last interaction was a smiling CU alum, wishing them well – the sting is lessened. And they keep a positive image of CU in their mind – perhaps grad school or whatever.</p>
<p>3) It’s good PR. Some kids will be accepted. A follow up call from that interviewer is super important to try to get the kid to accept CU – (it’s 99% likely that the student has been accepted at a ton of other schools wanting to shower love on him/her too). Here’s a pre-existing relationship that CU then turns up to coax the student to matriculate.</p>
<p>4) It’s good PR. The alum feels he/she is contributing to CU even though they know the write ups have limited utility. They can “give back” in this manner – being another set of eyes and ears for CU and acting as agents a la posts 2 & 3.</p>
<p>5) The interviews can be some value in some circumstances:</p>
<p>5a) the very BAD interview: student is a racist and too stupid to conceal that fact. student has no original thoughts, just apes banalities. Student is clueless about the rigor required of CU. Student has no social skills. Student only wants Ivy prestige.</p>
<p>5b) the student who is “on the bubble” – the Admissions committee likes aspects but isn’t totally sold out one way or another. The objective write up from an alum may influence the final evaluation one way or another in this circumstance. Is the kid REALLY that inquisitive? Did the kid REALLY overcome adversity X? Numerically, these cases, I would guess, to only be in the few hundred – the vast majority of applicants are NOT on the bubble – either IN or OUT without the influence of an interview write-up.</p>
<p>Organization and manpower is invested but not THAT much on behalf of the colleges – the vast bulk of the work is voluntarism.</p>
<p>One last hint for you: don’t assume the interviewer (no matter how friendly they are) is your advocate. If he/she is worth his/her salt, then they truly are objective evaluators on behalf of the college. They will be asked to rate you in the context of the highly competitive Columbia application pool. That’s a very high standard. Of the 250 students I’ve interviewed I’ve rated probably 80% of them to be AVERAGE. And I’m genuinely nice and supportive to everyone. But since I’m asked to truthfully rate them in that context, I give them a clear rating.</p>
<p>Certainly interviewers “connect” with students and we are disappointed when those we think are particularly strong don’t get in – but we also know we don’t see the entire package or the applicant’s competition. Of the students I’ve interviewed, they’ve been accepted along the lines of the overall pool – which is crushingly small. I get it and accept it.</p>
<p>interview tomorrow…how should i prepare?</p>
<p>@alexbcn Be yourself. Try not to wander off in your responses. Be focused and be yourself. Sell yourself but don’t overdo it. HONESTY</p>
<p>According to the application tracker, I’ve submitted all the components but I’ve yet to be contacted for an interview. Does this mean that I don’t stand a chance and that I’ll probably won’t get an interview? ><</p>
<p>where do you track your application. all I can find is a message that says, “Admissions online document tracking will be available from November 18, 2013 until December 2, 2013 for Early Decision applicants and from February 10, 2014 until March 21, 2014 for Regular Decision applicants.”</p>
<p>Goldblue it’s closed right now but it wasn’t last week and still isn’t thier just hiding the address you can check now if you go to this link
<a href=“Admissions | Columbia University in the City of New York”>Admissions | Columbia University in the City of New York;
<p><a href=“Admissions | Columbia University in the City of New York”>Admissions | Columbia University in the City of New York;
<p>None of my recs, transcript, ed agreement which were sent by mail were processed yet. Did this happen to anyone else?</p>
<p>School Report not yet received but transcripts have…odd</p>
<p>austrailianfilm I had the same problem last week but as long it says downloaded on common app yo’re good</p>