<p>I have my interview soon, and I am kind of worried.</p>
<p>What types of questions do they ask you?</p>
<p>How should you dress? Polo shirt khaki pants?</p>
<p>^^I interview candidates, and I actually don't care how they dress: in fact, I wear jeans and a t-shirt for the most part. I started off wearing business casual, but that seemed to intimidate my victims (I've NEVER intimidated ANYONE before)</p>
<p>Anyway...</p>
<p>Polo and khakis work if you're meeting at a starbucks or something, but in general, it's better to wear a button-down shirt--business casual, it makes you look more mature. </p>
<p>They'll ask you about yourself, your passions, what drives you. Be able to discuss a book you've read for fun, a political issue. I place a lot of importance on 'why columbia'--probably because I interview international studetns, and from a perspective 3000 miles away, all ivies look kinda the same.</p>
<p>So, have a solid reason why you want to go to Columbia: NYC--that's peripheral, avoid that, unless there's an actual reason why you want to go to school in the city. The Core is important--talk about what you like in the core. Also, be able to talk about a professor or department that interests you, or a campus group...</p>
<p>This is a little biased--but other than this, be relaxed, be yourself, and you'll be fine. Your interview shouldn't be intense--it's for college, not a job. As long as you prove that you're a person you should be fine. And the interview forms a very small part of your application anyway :)</p>
<p>
[quote]
^^I interview candidates, and I actually don't care how they dress: in fact, I wear jeans and a t-shirt for the most part. I started off wearing business casual, but that seemed to intimidate my victims (I've NEVER intimidated ANYONE before)</p>
<p>Anyway...</p>
<p>Polo and khakis work if you're meeting at a starbucks or something, but in general, it's better to wear a button-down shirt--business casual, it makes you look more mature.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>The exception to the 'wear whatever but look presentable' is if you're interviewing at a place of business; then you should definitely wear business casual at a minimum.</p>
<p>I've interviewed kids when wearing shorts and sandals, and also in a suit.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot.</p>
<p>What's the "core?" ... I've yet to hear that term, sorry.</p>
<p>"intimidate my victims" < haha...victims...</p>
<p>What was the most unusual reason you've heard for "why columbia?"</p>
<p>one of my reasons was the variety of restaurants in the vicinity so i could conveniently enjoy a large number of cuisines. This was dangerous because most campuses have different restaurants around so you have to spin it in the context of diversity, my interviewer agreed and went on the btch about dining hall food.</p>
<p>other reasons (some not so uncommon but still decent):</p>
<p>1) columbia is a uniquely concentrated campus, rural campuses are spread out, whereas other urban campuses tend to be too integrated with the city. High living costs forces everyone to stay on campus and campus is a cocoon. highest level of creativity/action per square foot. Few, if any, top schools have this characteristic as strongly as columbia does.</p>
<p>2) there are no outsiders in columbia / new york, its too difficult for you to look like an outsider, so people are easily accepted and one is constantly bombarded by the weirdest people so it's difficult to maintain stereotypes/molds.</p>
<p>3) being a road biker/runner: want to take part in fundraising or protest walks/runs/dance marathons/bike rides. This is pretty specific and would not fit most profiles</p>
<p>usual reasons:</p>
<p>1) international, diverse campus
2) everything you could ever want is within 30 minutes by public transportation
3) intellectual/political campus, constant debate
4) balance of kids from different disciplines, with highly varied career plans (wall street, law, politics, medicine, engineering, tech startups/entrepreneurship, non-profit, international development, academia, journalism, performing arts, activist) - every college has these but at columbia every single career i've listed has many who aspire to be in that career. No subset dominates.
5) not athlete/frat centric
6) specific clubs and programs you want to join (be careful with this).</p>