So you got an email from a random email address asking you to set up a Columbia Interview. What’s next? Many schools offer alumni interviewers for prospective students and Columbia is on that list. If you haven’t already done these types of interviews for other schools or are just super nervous about Columbia, these interviews can seem scary, but they don’t have to be. We wanted to break the Columbia interview down and share our top tips and tricks for how to approach it!
But what is the Columbia Alumni Interview?
After you apply, you may get an email (the email tied to your Common App account most likely) from a volunteer member of Columbia’s Alumni Representative Committee. These emails come any time from October to March, so make sure you check your email regularly. Interviews are not guaranteed and due to a high volume of applicants, not everyone will get one. If you don’t get one, don’t worry. It won’t affect your admissions decision. However, if you don’t get one, don’t try to bug the admissions office for one. It will do more harm than good. Interviews will be conducted virtually and cannot be scheduled during school hours (typically 7:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. local time.) Interviews typically last between 30-45 minutes. Now that we are all on the same page, let’s move on to some tips.
Tip 1: Do some prep!
Columbia instructs interviewers to give students appropriate lead time before the interview. Why is that? Well, they want to give you some time to prepare. The easiest way to prepare is to think about your answers to some probable questions. Columbia doesn’t publish sample questions exactly. However, they have a guide for interviewers that breaks down some topics to ask about. They say, “you can ask about what kind of books the applicant reads or the extracurricular activities s/he would like to do outside of school.” You should be ready to talk about these kinds of topics.
Other topics we see come up again and again in these interviews are, “why do you want to come here?” and “what do you hope to study.” These questions can take a little research beforehand. Before you interview, you should know some specifics about the program that you hope to be in. Knowing some specific opportunities, programs, and even clubs and extracurriculars will be able to help you answer questions like this. Columbia is looking for passionate students and having specifics you can speak to is a great way to show that you are serious about the school and your future there.
Tip 2: Think up some questions.
Columbia instructs interviewers to talk about their time at the school. They say, “You're encouraged to share your experience about Columbia and New York City. You should also talk about your experience at the school and in Morningside Heights, especially if the applicant you are interviewing is outside of New York City.” They might bring this up organically, but it can be easier for them if you ask them some questions.
Asking questions about what their time at school was like is a great way to start. Also, note how many times they bring up New York and Morningside Heights. Old school New Yorkers might call Morningside Heights South Harlem or West Harlem. They say this because Columbia is very much in a city and a big city. Some would say the biggest city. They really want you to know this. If you don’t live in a city, this is a great time to ask specific questions to feel out if you would do well in this type of environment.
You can ask almost anything when it comes to questions in these interviews. Think about what you are most interested in knowing and start there. The only real questions to avoid are inappropriate ones (think booze, hookups, clubbing) and ones that make you look like you haven’t researched the school at all. For example, if you ask, “Is Columbia in the Ivy League?” it seems like you haven’t looked into it at all. Pretty much if your question is easily google-able, don’t ask it here.
Tip 3: Relax!
This is a hard tip. Telling someone to relax when they aren’t relaxed usually doesn’t work. But this tip is important. These interviewers want you to relax because if you aren’t it’s really hard to have a good conversation. The interviewers want to get a sense of who you are and your personality and they can’t really do that if you are speaking like a stressed-out robot.
College interviews can feel scary, especially if it’s your first time or your dream school. But trust us, being nervous and stressed won’t help the actual interview. Try to get into a relaxed head space before the interview starts. Try to meditate or take deep breaths. Whatever you usually do to relax and get out of your head, do that.
Tip 4: Think about answer length
Nothing ruins a conversation like a one-word answer. Try your best to avoid them. At the same time try not to ramble on. We find that most students don’t ramble as much as they answer too succinctly. For example, if an interviewer asks, “what is your favorite subject?” more students will just say, “biology,” and not go into a 5-minute diatribe about the nature of biology. You might be saying to yourself, “but ‘biology’ answers the question!” It kind of does, but it leaves out the why.
If you don’t include the why in your answer, it will usually be the interviewer’s next question. But that shifts the onus to carry the conversation back on them a little too quickly to establish a natural flow. Instead of just saying, “biology.” Try, “I love my AP Biology class. I think it’s fascinating looking at how the natural world functions. I especially enjoyed our unit on gene mapping.”
Now the interviewer can ask a more interesting follow-up than just “why?” They can ask you about APs, they can ask you about DNA, and they can ask you about earth sciences. They have more options to continue the conversation. There is a bit of a sweet spot when it comes to answer length that you can use as a rule of thumb. Your answers should be about 2-5 sentences. This is short enough that you shouldn’t ramble too much but also long enough to really pack in some details. There might be some questions that have shorter or longer answers, but this is a general yardstick. For example, if they ask you, “Have you been to New York?” and you haven’t, the one-sentence answer of “No, but I plan to visit the school and the city this summer” is perfect.
The Columbia interview is all about getting to know you better and you should put your best foot forward. You can do this through a little prep and a little relaxation. These interviews are amazing tools to learn more about the school and have the school learn more about your personality. They shouldn’t be scary and you shouldn’t be mystified by them. We know that using these tips, you can have a great alumni interview.
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