I applied at Columbia at the back end of October and was notified about my interview on the 24th of December. Interview was conducted at the end on Friday (6th of Jan) and I was admitted last night the 10th of Jan. The interviewer was an alum whom I knew from my time at McKinsey. We chatted over email, and the interview was held at a coffee shop in a nearby shopping mall.
The interview was exceptionally informal; he was wearing shorts and a golf shirt. We started by chatting about what we had done since we had last seen each other (when he left McKinsey, about a year ago).
He had my CV printed out as well as a detailed set of forms. He only had one real question, “Why do you want to go to CBS”. I spoke about New York and my passion for returning to South Africa to work in PE, a field I felt Columbia would help me enter. After that, he seemed satisfied with the answer, and he said he needed to fill in a few other things on the form. He asked about an ethical dilemma as well as an example of working in a team.
Overall, like others on this page it was laid back and not formal like some others i have done. Hope this is helpful and good luck!
