On the importance of college interviews by current Columbia student

Having finished my college applications on the same day last year, I remember how much anxiety and fear my peers and I had about this process. As I know that there for sure will be others who fret much about it like I did, I would like to write that most likely, interviews don’t matter at all.

From my high school, 5 people including myself applied to Columbia last year. We all lived in the same region (at most 20km away), but only four people except myself got an interview, so naturally, I thought I was outright rejected. On the decision date, it turned out that I was the only one who got admitted, with everyone else being waitlisted or rejected. Note that I wasn’t a “super applicant” who would be an automatic admit. I didn’t have legacy, IMO gold medal, or a publication in Nature, etc.

In sum, don’t fret about the interview and whether or not you got one, since the way interview invitations are sent is probably decided by random availability which has nothing to do with your chance of admission, and, if whether an applicant gets an interview is decided by chance and not merit, then admissions officers cannot take interviews seriously. Interviews won’t matter unless you present yourself obnoxiously, in which case officers might take note. But I highly doubt a Columbia applicant who made it thus far would act in such a manner.

Good luck on all your applications.