Columbia Business School

Columbia: Interview Transcripts & Notes

Interview Reports27 reports

Advice from SBC's CBS AdCom:

Interviewers aren't necessarily told to ask certain questions. They are trying to get a sense of if they'd want the person to be on their learning team. So, my advice is really to

1. be consistent with what you said in your essays/app (goals, especially)

2. be yourself, don't forget to let a little bit of your personality show so that they can get to know you a bit better (otherwise, what's the purpose of the interview!?) and

3. really make a point to practice the question of "why CBS". It's really important that you sell them the idea of CBS being your first choice.

My Interviewer:

CBS class, enrollment (so was only there for ~16 months), did the value investing pathway, works at a first-time-fund focus on value investing asset management
Questions I received:
Walk me through your resume
You had a cushy job that is often a post MBA role at Giant Bank X; what is your main reason for leaving this company for your current role, and now to pursue an MBA?
Given the short-term nature of your current business acquisition advisory work, what are your plans if for some reason you don't get into business school?
What are your immediate and longer term post-MBA goals?
What do you see as some of the largest opportunity areas / trends in climate technology in the short to medium term?
It seems you have a high risk tolerance; what do you think you attribute to your high risk tolerance, and how do you think about taking risk?
What gets you excited and eager to get out of bed in the morning?
What do you like to do outside of work, socially / extracurricularly?

Interestingly, there weren't too many "Why Columbia" questions, but I made sure to weave that into my responses, and really tried to sell that Columbia is my top choice, and that I'd done my homework. I asked five or six questions and we wrapped up after 50 minutes or so.

Columbia interview, alumnus, remote (questions in no particular order)

1. Tell me about yourself.
2. Why did you choose College X?
3. Tell me about a leadership position in college.
4. Why MBA? Why now?
5. Have you visited the new campus?
6. Why Columbia specifically?
7. How will you get involved socially at Columbia?
8. What other schools are you applying to?
9. A leadership position at work
10. Short term and long term goals

CBS Interview summary. Interviewer: Alumnus

The interview was very conversational. It started with the interviewer presenting themselves and history: their undergrad education, post-undergrad experience, why they chose to pursue an MBA, and what their path looked like post-graduation.

The remainder of the interview was more of a conversation:

Tell me about yourself. (walk me through your resume)
Why MBA?
Can you tell me more about your short/long goals.
Can you please expand on how your short-term goals fit in your career path
Why CBS?
What do you do for fun outside of work?
What clubs are you looking to participate in?
Have you applied to other schools?
Questions for your interviewer

Interviewer shared that CBS will send him an email asking the following questions:

What are my short term goals
What are my long term goals
Would I be a good fit at CBS
How likely I would be to accept an offer

Interview with alum, who worked with Adcom

Walk me through your resume

Why MBA

Why cbs

Talk about a time you worked on a team where there was a disagreement

How will you approach your career /getting a job when you arrive at cbs

What clubs are you interested in?

Any qs?

30 mins!

Interview with alum, Chicago

1. First 10 mins was intro/about resume:

where I live
where I went for undergrad
why I graduated early
why I chose Company X

2. Next 15 were all about Company X:

tell me about your current role
proudest accomplishment at work so far
how many different teams I've been a part of
how I adapt,
is Company X supportive of me getting an MBA

3. Next 20 was all about CBS:

why mba, why now, why CBS,
what's my backup plan if not CBS,
why New York,
what excites me the most about CBS,
how will CBS help me reach my goals,
why not stay at Company X longer

4. Closed with: what's an experience that you've had that people don't expect, and time to ask him questions

Interview with alum

Questions:

1. Tell me about yourself?

a. Follow up question about internship / first job and if that was a random thing or a career plan that pivoted

2. What do you want to do after business school?

3. What would you do if this did not work out?

4. How would you be involved at CBS?

5. Can you give me examples of how you’ve been involved in community previously?

6. What type of leader are you?

7. Can you give me an example of a time you were challenged in your leadership?

8. Can you tell me about a time you were in conflict with what a leader asked you to do?

9. What are the top three things you would want to achieve at CBS?

Interview with alum

Questions:

- Tell me about your background - why you went to (undergrad) and walk me through your resume

- Why MBA?

- Why CBS?

- Which classes are you interested in?

- What was I looking to move into/why/dream job?

- If this doesn't work out, where would I go?

- Talk about a product/project I was proud of, my role, and why I was proud

- Life outside of work

We moved through this in about 22 minutes, and I asked questions following that.

The interview lasted 50 minutes

Questions in order of discussion were:

Tell me about yourself!

Why MBA?

Why CBS?

Are you comfortable with the hybrid model?

What does a typical work day look like for you?

What does your team structure look like?

What are your long term goals?

What is your plan if consulting does not work out?

What electives?

Is CBS your top school and how would you decide

Interview in San Francisco with an Alum (friendly & laid back alum)

Walk me through your resume
Why CBS?
What clubs are you interested in?
What are your target companies?

Then 30 minutes of Q&A - he got really excited talking about his experience

I had prepared questions and also followed-up on what he said.

Columbia Alumni Interview

As an alumna interviewer a few years back, we were always asked to probe deeply on the likelihood that the candidate would choose CBS over the other schools they are applying to. I always have my candidates prepared to give detailed reasons why they've applied to the schools on their list and to answer their preference (clearly CBS) in a structured and thoughtful way. Sample current questions are below:

If admitted to CBS will you attend?
Why MBA? Why now?
Why CBS?
Tell me about your family.
Tell me about your quantitative experience (for a candidate with liberal arts background / PR professional role)

And, deep probe on industry topics and/or specific work projects should be expected.

Tell me about yourself
Why MBA?
What is your short term career goal? Why? (Some more detailed questions around this)
Do you like your job?
What aspects do you not like about your job?
What will you do if your career goal doesn't work out?
What other schools are you applying to?
How will you contribute to campus?
How will you manage your time?
Where do you want to work post graduation?

---- Columbia interview

How do you define leadership?
What traits do you feel you possess?
What traits do you need to develop?
How do you feel about working in teams?
What role do you think you take on?
Where do you think you could improve?
Why do you feel now is right time for b-school?
Elaborate on long - term plans.

Walk me through your past few jobs.
Why did you switch around so much – talk me through the reasons for transitions.
Talk to me about how you got up to speed with each new job.
Why do you want to go to bschool?
Why Columbia?
What do you think you bring to the class?
What are you most excited about?
What do you think could be improved about the school?

Tell me about your current role.
What do you like?
What do you not like?
What are your short and long - term career plans?
What gaps do you need to fill to reach these goals?
Why are you applying to Columbia?
What other schools did you apply to?
What will you participate in if admitted?

Why do you want to go to business school?
Why Columbia?
What do you think makes a successful entrepreneur?
Do you think you can be entrepreneurial in a bigger company?
Do you have an example of when you were an entrepreneur?
What do you like to do outside of work?
How do you make time for everything?

Walk me through your resume?
Why do you feel that now is the right time for an MBA?
What are you hoping to gain?
What do you feel you bring to the table?
Why Columbia?
What do you like to do in your free time?

Had my interview with an alum at a coffee shop. I applied regular decision. The alum was very nice and after giving me a one minute personal overview, proceeded to ask me the following questions:

Walk me through your resume.
Describe a time when you faced adversity / an adverse situation.
What are your long term goals?
What is your post-MBA goal?
What are some of the steps you might take to achieve your long-term goal?
What is/are your backup plan(s) in case your long-term or short-term goal(s) do not pan out?
Why do you want an MBA and why now?
Why is Columbia the school for you?
How will you contribute to Columbia?
What are some of the classes / programs at Columbia in which you are interested?
Describe a time you worked in a team at Columbia?
Have you visited Columbia or attended an information session?
Do you have any questions for me?

Overall, I came out of that with a decent feeling, but time will tell. The interview was approximately 45 minutes. Hope this helps.

Update: Admitted in January!

With alumnus at his office - very conversational. Lasted 45-60 minutes. He was very relaxed and more intent on sharing his experience and advice than grilling me. He said the purpose of the interview was to make sure I could handle curriculum and the work/life balance (i.e. time commitments). He said he could tell by my resume that I was smart, could handle curriculum, and played well with others. Full-disclosure: unbeknownst to me, an analyst from my undergrad worked for him and he apparently asked the analyst about me beforehand.

Why Columbia?

Why not stay at [current employer]? (aka Why MBA?)

What other schools?

Assume you get in to all (3) schools. How do you decide which one?

Assume you are at b-school and don't get a [current/desired field] job. What do you do?

Said he remembered the agony of waiting so he'd submit feedback within 24-48 hours.

With alumnus - very conversational

Tell me about yourself?

How does your past experience (and future goals) fit in to your desire to get an MBA?

Why specifically CBS?

What quantitative preparation have you had?

Tell me about an ethical dilemma you have come across

What kind of leader are you?

Tell me about a challenging team experience

Tell me about a failure / setback you have had

What do you think about the state of the current economy? What is the best course of action?

Alum Interview

As many have suggested the interview was indeed conversational, however, the in depth industry discussion was quite brain draining and was out of my expectation. The interviewer had a similar background and is somewhat familiar with my field. He is quite a casual laid-back guy but became very intense when we got into my career goal discussion. We talked in details of the area I am heading to, and I felt he intentionally challenged my ideas, and was evaluating my responses. About 20 minutes of debating, then I felt he was slowly convinced with my points and moved on to a different subject.

Columbia is my very first choice and that flew naturally during our conversation, therefore he did not dig too much into the school selection questions. He even mentioned that he could of considered Wharton, for personal reasons. In the end, he mentioned that he personally considered me as a good fit for the program, and that he expected me to have a good time at Columbia.

A few questions I recall from the interview:

1. Why MBA (which leads to a brainstorming, very detailed discussion of my goal) 2. First day at Columbia, what you strength you bring to your team 3. Last day at Columbia, what is your final comments to your team

Bold text

If you have content to add simply click on the edit tab above and add to the top of the page, above the dotted line. Please add a date at the end of your entry and note whether it was on campus or an alumni interview.

Alumni Interview

1) walk me through your resume and how you arrived at wanting to get mba.

2) what are your ST and LT goals?

3) why Columbia?

4) did you visit Columbia? what did you think?

5) if accepted, how will you contribute to the school?

6) a few pointed questions about interests/organizations listed on my resume.

7) what do you do outside work?

8) have you had a positive experience so far w/Columbia's application process? - she used to work w/admissions as a student and they're always curious to know how applicants feel about CBS's process and what they can improve on.

I visited Columbia, but did my interview here in LA in a coffee shop. Coincedentally, she actually went to the same high school I did here in LA. I think it went pretty well. It was an hour long and she asked me all the standard questions, and it became more of a conversation at the end. She asked me what my number one choice was and it threw me off.

Why MBA, why Columbia?
Describe a difficult teamwork experience when you had to convince people of something they didn't want to do
Describe a difficult teamwork experience when you had to deal with difficult team members
What are you short term and long term goals?
What schools did you apply to?
What is your number one choice?

Tell me about your resume and your background.
What does the company you work for currently do?
What problems do you see within the company and if there are any, what would you do to improve it?
Tell me about a teamwork experience that challenged you.
Tell me about a failure you faced during college, work, or personal life.
What kind of leadership roles have you had, if any?
Why do you want to go to Columbia?
What do you plan on doing after graduating from Columbia?

Alumni Interview

Walk me through your resume
Why business school?
Why Columbia?
What other schools are you looking at?
If you are admitted to CBS, how will you work with your study team members? How will you get the best out of each other's experience/strengths? How will you act if one of them is difficult?
Any other questions?
What was your GMAT score?

Thoughts: Interviewer was tough to read. She didn't ask that many questions and was not as engaging as I had hoped. Be ready to answer the WHY CBS question. Looking back on the interview, that question and response made up the bulk of the interview, and she seemed to be most attentive during this part. She seemed to really want to find out if I was genuinely interested in CBS and ONLY CBS. I'm not sure if I gave a convincing enough answer, but be warned - this is an important point to them!

Why MBA?
Why Columbia? Are you applying to other schools?
Why now?
What do you think you can contribute to the class?
Why do you think you don't need the internship?
What does your manager think about your strength and weakness?
What kind of the role are you playing in the team at work?
What do you think the most significant thing you've learned from the military service?
Talk through every education and working experience on the resume.

The interviewer was pretty tough. She prepared many questions and focused on details.

Can you talk through what you did up to now?
Then what led you to the idea of an MBA?
And why did you choose our school?
What do you find interesting in the teaching model of CBS?
If you are admitted, what do you think your contribution will be to your classmates?
Can you tell me more about your management style?
Well, do you have any questions?

We started by talking about my career and the industry I work in. I have worked in US and Europe and spoke about cultural differences with some funny anecdotes. He asked me about my future goals and why I chose Columbia. He then asked if I have visited campus? I think it was very important to him. I mentioned that I had visited the campus when I was in NY which was about 3 years ago and he mentioned that I should visit it now to see if there have been any changes. He asked which other schools I was applying to. I gave 2-3 names and he went on to bash all of them. :) Though to his credit he mentioned that there is only 1 school which is better in finance than CBS. Finally he asked me if I had any questions.

Alumni Interview

Walk me through your resume.
Why MBA, why now?
Career goals?
Leadership/teamwork experience?
What is your leadership style?
What is unique about you?
What schools other than Columbia did you apply to?
Questions for me?

Alumni Interview

He started with questions about my current responsibilities and a lot of details about my company and its focus. He asked me specific details about the project I am working on.
He asked me if I would stay with my current employer after the MBA and if not, what my plans were.
He asked why I was interested in Columbia and why I wanted an MBA.
He asked about my activities outside of work.
He asked how I chose my career path.
He seemed unfamiliar with my undergraduate institution, so he asked for me to tell him more about it.
The interviewer then asked what my father's occupation was. He also inquired about all of my family members. This part of the interview was very friendly and conversational.
We had a bit of an industry discussion (related to my career).
We then had a casual discussion about literature and our favorite authors, etc.
Turning back towards my candidacy, we had a detailed discussion about my hobbies and volunteer work.
We closed the discussion with a focus on my long term goals.

Alumni Interview

Why MBA? Why now? Why Columbia?
What other schools did you apply to? Where are you in the process? Why Columbia over those schools in particular?
What would you bring to Columbia that other applicants of similar professional background would not have?
What is your experience regarding international business?
Tell me about your current responsibilities.
Explain your career goals.
What are some of your concerns regarding attending Columbia?
Tell me about a time where you managed people or managed a project.

Alumni Interview

Walk me through your resume.
Where do you want to be/what do you want to do? (why mba?)
Why Columbia?
Columbia is known as a finance business school, why does someone with your background want to attend Columbia? (interviewer had finance background)
What kind of leader are you?
What makes you different?
Any questions for the interviewer?

Alumni Interview

Why MBA? Why now?
Why Columbia?
You're into marketing...why not Kellogg?
Where else are you applying?
Talk about a time when you were successful as a leader.
Talk about a challenging team situation and how you handled it.
What are the qualities of a good team player and what would you bring to a team situation at Columbia?
How do team skills differ from leadership skills?
What clubs or activities would you like to be involved with on campus? (Wish I could have been a bit more specific here)
Have you contacted anyone on campus to talk about your particular interests?
Is there anything you want Columbia to know that wasn't mentioned in your application?
Do you have any questions?

Alumni Interview

Why Columbia? Why now?
What others schools am I applying?
How did I choose my undergrad?
He asked me some difficult industry-related questions, which challenged me a bit.
We talked about his involvement with the school.

Back to Explore

Columbia Business School

Columbia: Interview Transcripts & Notes

Interview Reports27 reports

Advice from SBC's CBS AdCom:

Interviewers aren't necessarily told to ask certain questions. They are trying to get a sense of if they'd want the person to be on their learning team. So, my advice is really to

1. be consistent with what you said in your essays/app (goals, especially)

2. be yourself, don't forget to let a little bit of your personality show so that they can get to know you a bit better (otherwise, what's the purpose of the interview!?) and

3. really make a point to practice the question of "why CBS". It's really important that you sell them the idea of CBS being your first choice.

My Interviewer:

Columbia interview, alumnus, remote (questions in no particular order)

CBS Interview summary. Interviewer: Alumnus

The remainder of the interview was more of a conversation:

Tell me about yourself. (walk me through your resume)
Why MBA?
Can you tell me more about your short/long goals.
Can you please expand on how your short-term goals fit in your career path
Why CBS?
What do you do for fun outside of work?
What clubs are you looking to participate in?
Have you applied to other schools?
Questions for your interviewer

Interviewer shared that CBS will send him an email asking the following questions:

What are my short term goals
What are my long term goals
Would I be a good fit at CBS
How likely I would be to accept an offer

Interview with alum, who worked with Adcom

Walk me through your resume

Why MBA

Why cbs

Talk about a time you worked on a team where there was a disagreement

How will you approach your career /getting a job when you arrive at cbs

What clubs are you interested in?

Any qs?

30 mins!

Interview with alum, Chicago

1. First 10 mins was intro/about resume:

where I live
where I went for undergrad
why I graduated early
why I chose Company X

2. Next 15 were all about Company X:

tell me about your current role
proudest accomplishment at work so far
how many different teams I've been a part of
how I adapt,
is Company X supportive of me getting an MBA

3. Next 20 was all about CBS:

why mba, why now, why CBS,
what's my backup plan if not CBS,
why New York,
what excites me the most about CBS,
how will CBS help me reach my goals,
why not stay at Company X longer

4. Closed with: what's an experience that you've had that people don't expect, and time to ask him questions

Interview with alum

Questions:

1. Tell me about yourself?

a. Follow up question about internship / first job and if that was a random thing or a career plan that pivoted

2. What do you want to do after business school?

3. What would you do if this did not work out?

4. How would you be involved at CBS?

5. Can you give me examples of how you’ve been involved in community previously?

6. What type of leader are you?

7. Can you give me an example of a time you were challenged in your leadership?

8. Can you tell me about a time you were in conflict with what a leader asked you to do?

9. What are the top three things you would want to achieve at CBS?

Interview with alum

Questions:

- Tell me about your background - why you went to (undergrad) and walk me through your resume

- Why MBA?

- Why CBS?

- Which classes are you interested in?

- What was I looking to move into/why/dream job?

- If this doesn't work out, where would I go?

- Talk about a product/project I was proud of, my role, and why I was proud

- Life outside of work

We moved through this in about 22 minutes, and I asked questions following that.

The interview lasted 50 minutes

Questions in order of discussion were:

Tell me about yourself!

Why MBA?

Why CBS?

Are you comfortable with the hybrid model?

What does a typical work day look like for you?

What does your team structure look like?

What are your long term goals?

What is your plan if consulting does not work out?

What electives?

Is CBS your top school and how would you decide

Interview in San Francisco with an Alum (friendly & laid back alum)

Walk me through your resume
Why CBS?
What clubs are you interested in?
What are your target companies?

Then 30 minutes of Q&A - he got really excited talking about his experience

I had prepared questions and also followed-up on what he said.

Columbia Alumni Interview

If admitted to CBS will you attend?
Why MBA? Why now?
Why CBS?
Tell me about your family.
Tell me about your quantitative experience (for a candidate with liberal arts background / PR professional role)

And, deep probe on industry topics and/or specific work projects should be expected.

Tell me about yourself
Why MBA?
What is your short term career goal? Why? (Some more detailed questions around this)
Do you like your job?
What aspects do you not like about your job?
What will you do if your career goal doesn't work out?
What other schools are you applying to?
How will you contribute to campus?
How will you manage your time?
Where do you want to work post graduation?

---- Columbia interview

How do you define leadership?
What traits do you feel you possess?
What traits do you need to develop?
How do you feel about working in teams?
What role do you think you take on?
Where do you think you could improve?
Why do you feel now is right time for b-school?
Elaborate on long - term plans.

Walk me through your past few jobs.
Why did you switch around so much – talk me through the reasons for transitions.
Talk to me about how you got up to speed with each new job.
Why do you want to go to bschool?
Why Columbia?
What do you think you bring to the class?
What are you most excited about?
What do you think could be improved about the school?

Tell me about your current role.
What do you like?
What do you not like?
What are your short and long - term career plans?
What gaps do you need to fill to reach these goals?
Why are you applying to Columbia?
What other schools did you apply to?
What will you participate in if admitted?

Why do you want to go to business school?
Why Columbia?
What do you think makes a successful entrepreneur?
Do you think you can be entrepreneurial in a bigger company?
Do you have an example of when you were an entrepreneur?
What do you like to do outside of work?
How do you make time for everything?

Walk me through your resume?
Why do you feel that now is the right time for an MBA?
What are you hoping to gain?
What do you feel you bring to the table?
Why Columbia?
What do you like to do in your free time?

Had my interview with an alum at a coffee shop. I applied regular decision. The alum was very nice and after giving me a one minute personal overview, proceeded to ask me the following questions:

Walk me through your resume.
Describe a time when you faced adversity / an adverse situation.
What are your long term goals?
What is your post-MBA goal?
What are some of the steps you might take to achieve your long-term goal?
What is/are your backup plan(s) in case your long-term or short-term goal(s) do not pan out?
Why do you want an MBA and why now?
Why is Columbia the school for you?
How will you contribute to Columbia?
What are some of the classes / programs at Columbia in which you are interested?
Describe a time you worked in a team at Columbia?
Have you visited Columbia or attended an information session?
Do you have any questions for me?

Overall, I came out of that with a decent feeling, but time will tell. The interview was approximately 45 minutes. Hope this helps.

Update: Admitted in January!

Why Columbia?

Why not stay at [current employer]? (aka Why MBA?)

What other schools?

Assume you get in to all (3) schools. How do you decide which one?

Assume you are at b-school and don't get a [current/desired field] job. What do you do?

Said he remembered the agony of waiting so he'd submit feedback within 24-48 hours.

With alumnus - very conversational

Tell me about yourself?

How does your past experience (and future goals) fit in to your desire to get an MBA?

Why specifically CBS?

What quantitative preparation have you had?

Tell me about an ethical dilemma you have come across

What kind of leader are you?

Tell me about a challenging team experience

Tell me about a failure / setback you have had

What do you think about the state of the current economy? What is the best course of action?

Alum Interview

A few questions I recall from the interview:

Bold text

Alumni Interview

1) walk me through your resume and how you arrived at wanting to get mba.

2) what are your ST and LT goals?

3) why Columbia?

4) did you visit Columbia? what did you think?

5) if accepted, how will you contribute to the school?

6) a few pointed questions about interests/organizations listed on my resume.

7) what do you do outside work?

Why MBA, why Columbia?
Describe a difficult teamwork experience when you had to convince people of something they didn't want to do
Describe a difficult teamwork experience when you had to deal with difficult team members
What are you short term and long term goals?
What schools did you apply to?
What is your number one choice?

Tell me about your resume and your background.
What does the company you work for currently do?
What problems do you see within the company and if there are any, what would you do to improve it?
Tell me about a teamwork experience that challenged you.
Tell me about a failure you faced during college, work, or personal life.
What kind of leadership roles have you had, if any?
Why do you want to go to Columbia?
What do you plan on doing after graduating from Columbia?

Alumni Interview

Walk me through your resume
Why business school?
Why Columbia?
What other schools are you looking at?
If you are admitted to CBS, how will you work with your study team members? How will you get the best out of each other's experience/strengths? How will you act if one of them is difficult?
Any other questions?
What was your GMAT score?

Why MBA?
Why Columbia? Are you applying to other schools?
Why now?
What do you think you can contribute to the class?
Why do you think you don't need the internship?
What does your manager think about your strength and weakness?
What kind of the role are you playing in the team at work?
What do you think the most significant thing you've learned from the military service?
Talk through every education and working experience on the resume.

The interviewer was pretty tough. She prepared many questions and focused on details.

Can you talk through what you did up to now?
Then what led you to the idea of an MBA?
And why did you choose our school?
What do you find interesting in the teaching model of CBS?
If you are admitted, what do you think your contribution will be to your classmates?
Can you tell me more about your management style?
Well, do you have any questions?

Alumni Interview

Walk me through your resume.
Why MBA, why now?
Career goals?
Leadership/teamwork experience?
What is your leadership style?
What is unique about you?
What schools other than Columbia did you apply to?
Questions for me?

Alumni Interview

He started with questions about my current responsibilities and a lot of details about my company and its focus. He asked me specific details about the project I am working on.
He asked me if I would stay with my current employer after the MBA and if not, what my plans were.
He asked why I was interested in Columbia and why I wanted an MBA.
He asked about my activities outside of work.
He asked how I chose my career path.
He seemed unfamiliar with my undergraduate institution, so he asked for me to tell him more about it.
The interviewer then asked what my father's occupation was. He also inquired about all of my family members. This part of the interview was very friendly and conversational.
We had a bit of an industry discussion (related to my career).
We then had a casual discussion about literature and our favorite authors, etc.
Turning back towards my candidacy, we had a detailed discussion about my hobbies and volunteer work.
We closed the discussion with a focus on my long term goals.

Alumni Interview

Why MBA? Why now? Why Columbia?
What other schools did you apply to? Where are you in the process? Why Columbia over those schools in particular?
What would you bring to Columbia that other applicants of similar professional background would not have?
What is your experience regarding international business?
Tell me about your current responsibilities.
Explain your career goals.
What are some of your concerns regarding attending Columbia?
Tell me about a time where you managed people or managed a project.

Alumni Interview

Walk me through your resume.
Where do you want to be/what do you want to do? (why mba?)
Why Columbia?
Columbia is known as a finance business school, why does someone with your background want to attend Columbia? (interviewer had finance background)
What kind of leader are you?
What makes you different?
Any questions for the interviewer?

Alumni Interview

Why MBA? Why now?
Why Columbia?
You're into marketing...why not Kellogg?
Where else are you applying?
Talk about a time when you were successful as a leader.
Talk about a challenging team situation and how you handled it.
What are the qualities of a good team player and what would you bring to a team situation at Columbia?
How do team skills differ from leadership skills?
What clubs or activities would you like to be involved with on campus? (Wish I could have been a bit more specific here)
Have you contacted anyone on campus to talk about your particular interests?
Is there anything you want Columbia to know that wasn't mentioned in your application?
Do you have any questions?

Alumni Interview

Why Columbia? Why now?
What others schools am I applying?
How did I choose my undergrad?
He asked me some difficult industry-related questions, which challenged me a bit.
We talked about his involvement with the school.