[分享]Interview with a Columbia MBA Couple

Joanna and Yingbin are more than a couple. They are college classmates, McKinsey colleagues and Columbia MBA classmates.

JANE: Joanna, four years ago, you graduated from Fudan University. That year McKinsey China hired 2 persons in Shanghai - you and another person who was then your boyfriend and is now your husband - out of probably 1,000 applicants. That must be tougher than applying to a top MBA. Tell us something about that experience.

Joanna: When looking backwards, I also feel it was a bit of luck.

    Actually I was planning to go to Hong Kong to pursue a Doctor's Degree in Finance due to a very good opportunity offered by Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. However, McKinsey's campus presentation impressed me so much that I thought it was worth it for me to go through the interview process. I remember that we had to fill in the application form, which includes three questions quite similar to B-school essays. That was maybe the first time for us to go through a process similar to a B-school application. Both Yingbing, my husband, and I were so happy that we were on a short list to have the chance to get interviewed. At least round 0 passed!

     The whole interview process is quite long and challenging. Yingbing and I were joking that it was the first time we spoke so much English, because all the interviews were in English, for both case study and general questions. The two interviews for the first round were relatively easy with general questions only, but more than half of the students were screened out after that. There were 2 interviews each for round 2 and 3, which is much tougher given the unfamiliar case study. Both Yingbing and I had the same feeling - the more interviews we had, the more interested we were in getting into McKinsey. Those interviewers were so professional, smart and nice that we were sure that we would enjoy the experience there. After 6 interviews, there were only 4 lucky guys left.

Some rumor said McKinsey would only pick 1-2 in the last round and we did not hold much hope that both of us would survive - it was such a perfect scenario that hardly could happen. If there would only be one get selected, I was hoping it was Yingbing, because I can still go to HKUST. Luckily, with our demonstrated strength, we became the only 2 hired that year in Shanghai.

JANE: That is simply wonderful! You must be the envied couple in college! Could you talk about your college life a little bit?

Joanna: Maybe a bit stereotyped, but I have to say that college life is the most wonderful life so far. I also believe I have had a rich life there; friends, study, social work and part-time jobs.

I am the sort of person to live for experience, so I would rather tighten my schedule up to study well, work well, and play well. I worked for Student Government as head of Public Affairs. I tried all kinds of jobs, such as English teacher, waitress at Da Jia Salon (Salon in Fudan), real estate agent, market researcher, and even account receivable consultant. All these experiences helped me live busily but happily in college and they helped me get a relatively impressive CV to present to job recruiters and schools.

Columbia Interview Experience

Just finished the interview in a starbucks with a columbia alumna. Very informal atmosphere, however, lots of questions. One recommendation is that even your interviewer asks you to do it in a informal or relaxed place, be sure to wear your suits.

Let us get back to the interview questions. Why MBA, why columbia (mention courses, faculty, and programs, clubs blah blah), why now? career goals (be sure to tie them back to why MBA!!!) very common ones first.

Then came in the trickier ones: Leadership challenges (professional only), teamwork dynamics, entrepreneurial experiences (fortunately i have some , leadership styles, what makes me different, what can i contribute to CBS and the student body?

Three words to describe myself, Three weaknesses (holy sh*t, i only prepared one weakness to talk about. anyway, it is a good opportunity to test your own mental agility

Finally, she asked me if i have any questions for her. an easy one.

The whole interview was very enjoyable, except the loud music in the starbucks. Hope my post will give brothers and sisters here some general ideas. one more key: be prepared and keep a smile on your face

Columbia Alumni Interview

刚刚面试归来！校友是ABC，英文非常快，人非常nice，始终和你保持交流，时不时对你笑笑，让你感觉不错。今天完全be myself,所以一点也不紧张。

经过两次面试，的确这次感觉好多了，但自己有点aggressive，因为我说话快，然后还第一、第二、第三的，反正就是非常快，讲了非常多的东西，面试一共进行了1个小时多几分钟。

问题很普通：

1.               Why mba

2.               why school

3.               why now

4.               career goals

5.               leadership experience

6.               strengths

7.               if not be admitted, what would I do?

8.               some specific questions from resume

9.               my turn to ask him some questions

每个题目都go to details的challenge。大概情况就这样，无论如何，就像我今天形容new york的话，new york is not just a city, it's an experience.

我想申请也是一样的，经历了，感受了，不管怎样，还是那句话，永远不放弃！大家加油！

Columbia interview in Beijing

Special thanks to zuoyu, ColumbiaD09, my classmate zzq and lanz

1. why MBA
2. why Columbia
3. teamwork experience
4. what do you like most of your job
5. what do you think the most challenging part of your work
6. leadership experience
7. other schools applied? why those schools?
8. some specific questions about my job
the Columbia alumni is really nice (just as it is said by zuoyu and D09 )
best luck to people who applied and will apply columbia

Columbia interview notes

Columbia interview notes

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Pre-notes: Sincerely Thanks to Tim, Zuoyu, Flashstar, Molly, Tong7777, AJ, Jack, Esther...etc.

Practises: Q&A key strategy and fine-tune/ three times practises (two times at interview day)

Prepare: Interviewer research (Pre-interviewee, webportal, google, media interview), Strategy position, Topics prepare and research, Warm up...Etc.

Interview process review:

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# free talk from name card exchange: first impression (funny and relax style), basic info intro, "present who r u"

# resume go through, why make career transition? Detail explanation after the facts in CV

# what's ur feeling about Columbia's unique thing?

# the intention for business school and why columbia is the best choice? Actually, should better prepare for the linkage with the real situaion. Not just the obvious common reasons but aline with your own story.

# mid-term review: sum up and adjust the focus (analyze the situation and re- act)

# if not got admited, what's ur plan

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Learning from interview:

Columbia's top unique advantage: NYC. (center of the world, see the best business practises through real cases)

Reference the interviewer's background and really interactive discussion

Simle and Really Enjoy in the chat

Good Luck to all~

Columbia Interview Experience

Finished my Columbia  interview yesterday afternoon with a very nice alumni. It was a very enjoyable process, as we had a really pleasant talk. I was pretty relaxed, and even joked a little bit. Guess I am being myself. Only that I was a little bit too relaxed to mention some strong points I have. Anyway, I have done my part, and wish my experience would be helpful for other

He asked quite a few standard questions, some of them I didn't prepare for.

1. Why MBA?

2. If not MBA what else would you do to achieve your goal?

3. Why now?

4. What other schools?

5. Team work.

6. Leadership.

7. What is the most challenging thing you have faced in work?

8. If you were to start a business now, what kind of business would you do? (I never mentioned that I want to be an entrepreneur, wondering why he asked me this question)

9. If you didn't get in this year, what would you do, will you apply next year?

10. Since you have two years working experience, why would columiba choose you over the other applicants who have 5+ years working experience?

We also talked about my current job, and he asked some specific quesitons about my work.

He shared with me his experience with CBS, and really sold the school with passion!

All the CBS Alums I met in BJ are nice and proud of their schools. I do like the CBS people!

Good luck to Cders who will do their interview soon!

Columbia面试

转自BW

Just to clarify some doubts you may have. RD applications started to be seen on 15th Jan, not before. ED applications were reviewed till that date, so if you applied after 15th October, your application was put into a "hold" till 15 Jan. After that date, they started reviewing RD applications, and they started in the application order, thus those who submitted on 16th October are going to be reviewed first. If you applied in January, you will have to wait for all applicants who submitted before you to be reviewed, and that takes time. Do not worry about how much is your application in the same status (received, in process, etc).

The status order is first received, then in process, then invited to interview (not always, as you may be invited to interview or not), then thank you for interviewing, last acceptance (if you are lucky).

After interviewing you can wait for 2 weeks or 1 day. In my case I was accepted 2 days after interviewing, but I know others who had to wait for 2 weeks or more.

Most of the times you will receive a mail saying that your status has changed, but it is not true in every status change, so check you on line status page once in a while. In my particular case, I received the first mail when In process, and after when admitted. Interview invitations are announced by email. You will receive a letter from admissions congratulating you and giving you the possibility to interview (it is not mandatory, but suggested). You will be given 3 possible interviewers (you will be given names, email address and phone numbers). You can schedule an interview with any of the suggested interviewers (you will have to contact them). After the interview is arranged you will have to write in the application (you will find a link at the status page) who the interviewer is and the time appointed.

Interviews are held by alumni or actual students, no admission staff. The interview is blind, and in a very relaxed format. There are no standard questions but the usual (why columbia, career goals, etc). Be prepared to answer about yourself (past career, what do you enjoy doing, etc).

After all the suffering, if you are lucky, you will get an acceptance letter.

Hope this helps, any other doubt please ask

Columbia校友面试经验

Just had an interview with an alumnus during lunch today. He picked the place and the time. It lasted about 1 hour and 15 minutes!!! In hindsight, I can not believe that I answered so many questions!

School gave me three alumni to contact, only names, emails, and year of graduation showed on the list. I tried the oldest alumnus first, but that phone number did not work. Another phone number seemed to be in a different region, I don't know whether that person is physically in town, so I did not try that one. Then there is only one choice left. Fortunately my interviewer is a very nice person. I really enjoyed the conversation with him.

List of questions that I was asked:

1.               Why Columbia (this is the first question he asked when we picked a table and sat down)

2.               Have you visited the campus

3.               What other schools are you applying (this question has a high frequency of showing up in interviews, be prepared)

4.               What will you contribution to school

5.               How did you come here (casual)

6.               teamwork example

7.               leadership style

8.               what you boss would say as your strengths (2-3) and weakness (2-3)

9.               To whom do you report

10.            do you manage people

11.            what activities are you involved in here

12.            who is your mentor, your role model

13.            If someone knew you well, and they want to introduce you to a group of people in 2 or 3 sentences, what would he/she say? i.e. your most prominent background to distinguish you from other MBA students.

He interrupted me a few times when he was interested in a certain words or phases I just said – what does xxx mean, why, etc.

These are what I can remember. Plus the questions I asked him, and the chatting, it was a long time but I did not feel it at all. All in all, it is not bad. Hope I can receive the decision from school very soon.

Good luck to everyone!

columbia面经

First, I have to announce that I haven't been admitted yet till now, so I hope my opinion would not mislead the friends. 

Before my interview, I just prepared the routine questions, such as describe youself, teamwork, leadership, why MBA, why now, why columbia...because I think that's enough, and my interview experience prove that that's really enough. I think the most useful tip in your interview is "be yourself" and show that to your interviewer by your answer(you know, all of your interviewers are very smart and seasoned guys, so please never try to trick them by your boasting or acting ). However, there is nobody in the world know you better than yourself, so take it easy and prepare yourself well.

Good luck!  my friends!