qqq123

Long time lurker. Got a Columbia interview. I know you don't need an interview to get in, but does anyone know if getting an interview signifies that you have a high likelihood of acceptance? trying to mediate expectations... Edit: to answer my own question, found this on last year's board: "My interview was pretty straightforward. No, they aren't asking us to make pitches. At least from what I gathered, if they interview you, they want to accept you. They're just trying to rank you within the final applicants for your specialty. Then once they hear from the admissions committee how many people they can accept, they'll accept the top ones based off of how many they're allowed. (Note: they can sometimes be allowed 0!) My interviewer said this was the last part of the process that was in their hands and the rest of it is up to a committee. For me, it was clear they were asking about the weaker points of my application. I'm fresh out of undergrad and I only switched to the English major in my senior year. Obviously, an admissions committee would notice the risk of accepting me into their PhD program when I am so new to the English discipline. My interviewer asked me questions about that, and I'm assuming in their "pitch" they will defend those weaker points of my application based on my answers, because they do want to accept me. It just still unfortunately might not work out based on things outside my control -- like maybe someone did better than me in the interview, and maybe the committee won't give c18 enough spots for me to be included in the accepted applicants."