Interviews at Columbia

Colleges and Universities A-Z Columbia University
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I recently was interviewed by a student at Columbia College for admission, I figured I would explain how these interviews work for those who have not yet recieved one.

I had the advantage of having an interviewer who grew up and went to school one town over from me and who was admitted under a similar program I am seeking admission into (HEOP) so we had a lot to relate to.

The night before the interview I provided my interviewer with a copy of my CommonApp essay and a breif resume consisting of my school, anticipated major, EC’s, and why I believe Columbia is a good fit for my needs. (Highly recommened as it creates some structure and creates focus points)

At 10:00am sharp I reieved a facetime call from my interviewer who introduced himselfand asked how I was.

The questions were generic: “Why Columbia?”, “How would you involve yourself?”, etc. As long as you have good answers and can sound not too-rehearsed and sound enthusiastic about going to Columbia you’ll be fine. Naturally, the questions differ from interviewer to interviewer, however, there are a few that remain constant and that are written in the ARC manual:

(https://undergrad.admissions.columbia.edu/arc/guide/sites/archandbook/files/ARC%20Training%20-%20General%20-%20updated%2007-12-12.pdf)

DO NOT: share your grades, test scores, or any other academic data(This information is not given to the interviewers to ensure they remain unbiased), tell the interviewer about the other colleges you applied to, explain your shortcomings (unless explicitly asked), and most importantly DO NOT SOUND CONCEITED.

DO: Write a short resume (regarding your EC’s, interests, why columbiia, etc.), read the ARC handbook to get a general sense of what they are looking for and expecting, have a mock interview, prepare answers for generic questions, be polite, KNOW THE CORE, and of course express genuine and enthusiastic attitude toward applying to Columbia

The interviews usually last around 30min to 45min, mine lasted about 35min.

After the interview, the interviewer will log into their ARC portal and do these two things;

  1. They will rate you from 1-5 (1= Not Recommended, 2= Recommended with reservation, 3=Recommended, 4= highly recommended, 5= highest recommendation)

  2. They will write a 2-3 paragraph synopsis of their time with you

Now, there are some people who say that an interview doesn’t really matter, however, according to the ARC handbook, the interview does indeed “Weigh heavily” in their admissions decision. While this interview will not make or break an applicant, it is considered.

I wish everybody the best of luck in their interviews and hope you get in.

1 Like
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Just to offer another perspective, I got in ED and did an interview, and reading this almost gave me secondhand stress and I’m already done with the whole process. In my experience the interview was not as intense or stressful as this post would make you think. My interview was with a pretty recent alum who was from my city and she kept it relatively informal. She basically said not to worry too much and that she liked seeing people from my area go to Columbia (because not many do) so she would try to be nice.

My questions were pretty standard and similar, but there were a few that tripped me up with some that were something like “Describe yourself and your friends.” and “How are you similar to and different from most of your friends?” which I kind of stumbled through. Overall the interview was pretty chill though I wasn’t super confident or comfortable as it felt like a slightly awkward situation. Also mine only lasted like 20 minutes. I guess this could be different in areas with more applicants or more competition, but I felt like the interview was less adversarial than your experience or the ARC handbook make it seem. I think most interviewers don’t generally like writing mean things about high schoolers unless they get the sense that an applicant is crazy or something.

The only prep I did was talking to a family friend informally some who did interviews for another school, and he basically said they’re just looking to see if an applicant can have a sort of normal conversation/interview or if there’s something that really stands out. And the ARC handbook says the interview is important, but they might be sort of overemphasizing its importance so that the people actually doing the interviews take it seriously. I think the admissions people making the final decisions realize how well you get along with the interviewer can vary from person to person independently of their strength as an applicant.

Again, not trying to discount what you’re saying, but just offering another perspective so people don’t freak out if you didn’t send a resume or your interview was shorter or whatever. Lots of your advice with things like considering sending a resume could definitely be helpful, but I think the most important things would be to not freak out and to have a genuine interest and knowledge about the school (that’s sort of important for the whole application, though, not just the interview).

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I interview students by phone and those ratings are like Uber ratings. I give everyone I interview a 4 or a 5 and other interviewers that I know do the same.

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Is it because the applicants are just generally qualified? Or do The interviews just not matter?

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Yeah and we also expect that high school students aren’t super experienced with interviews. Some college students still have trouble with them.