Really great experience. Columbia sent an interview invite via email and you get matched with your alumnus via their portal. After you are matched with someone (it seems to be by city and by industry you work in), it is on you to set it up by reaching out to them via email. I reached out to her and was a little surprised that the school didn’t seem to give them a heads up ahead of time someone was coming their way, so make sure your email basically introduces it versus thinking they are fully aware. I sent over my resume in that email as well. We set a time via Zoom for four days later after a long weekend.
I was happily surprised by how casual it was. She was very down to earth and told me how nervous she was when she was in my situation which calmed me down. We chatted for half an hour and it was very pleasant. It seemed that they just want to see about fit and if you will definitely choose CBS if admitted.
She asked about how I got to know the school, clubs I’d be interested in and other schools I may be applying to based on my career decisions, which was a good time to emphasize CBS’s key role in my career path. She submitted her feedback within one hour after we said goodbye (you get an email confirming it).
I got the call from adcom at 5pm two days later telling me I got in! I definitely will be trying to get coffee with her in the future. Such a lovely, warm alumna improved my vision of the school and brought the strength of the alumni network to life. It felt like interview to accept, not reject, but perhaps I got lucky.
