Interviewer asked me about ED School

<p>I just had an extremely casual interview with a recent Columbia alumna. She seemed a little indifferent to Columbia in general, saying that she could make friends and have a great education at many schools. She was in fact Asian and talked about the influence of her mom on her college process. She actually applied early to Columbia but said she was waitlisted, went to Cornell freshmen year, and then was urged by her mom to transfer. She also made some comparisons to other top schools ("At Harvard you can't get this which you can get at Columbia" or "At Cornell there was an amazing premed program.") So essential she talked very openly and casually and was not like "Columbia is the best!" or "Let me test you to see if you actually want to go to Columbia!" So when she asked me where I applied early, I answered Princeton. I thought it was a casual question and was not meant to gauge interest in the school.</p>

<p>However, I'm looking back on the interview and I'm a little alarmed that this "taboo" question came up. I'm worried that it will be included in her writeup. I seriously doubt she had some sort of agenda to find out if I have another #1 school that's not Columbia. She was so casual and only asked me two other questions: "Tell me about yourself?" and "What are your extracurriculars?" So I wanted to ask you what I should do in this situation. Was this question inappropriate? Should I ignore it or contact Columbia? Is it likely she will include the fact that I applied EA to Princeton in her writeup?</p>

<p>Let it pass – definitely do not contact Columbia. </p>

<p>Dont read too much into it. Columbia is not allowed to know or ask which other schools you applied to so it is bizarre that an affiliate asked you but it was probably to get to know you better and not to worsen your chance. good luck</p>

<p>It’s not entirely explicit to alumni interviewers that one can’t ask such questions. Even if there were interviewers generally do their own thing as is the case with interviewing in general. Don’t read too much into questions like this, and definitely don’t contact Columbia. Keep in mind that we all went through this process and Columbia admissions as a whole understands not everyone coming will have Columbia as their first choice, especially in the RD process. </p>

<p>Why oh why would you give this much detail on your interview on CC as if your interviewer doesn’t have access to this site?</p>

<p>Seriously, exercise some discretion. </p>