<p>So, about 2 weeks ago, I get an email from my interviewer that states that he needs to interview me before the end of February comes (apparently that is when all the interview reports get mailed in). So, I hop into my little black sweater thinking "hey, it’s going to be okay because even if he doesn’t think I’m up to Columbia snuff, the interview doesn’t matter THAT much). However, I am conveniently in denial of the fact that I very well may be one of those borderline kids who needs to kick some serious interview butt in order to get a second look at my app. </p>
<p>Right from the start, he looks like a very self-satisfied man who shakes my hand, folds his hands across his potbelly, and proceeds to explain who he is and how wonderful his career has been and so forth. Then he asks me if I have any questions and all I could blurt out was “Do engineers have to give up their pursuits of the liberal arts in order to focus on their peculiar engineering major?” I thought this was an innocent question to ask, but then he smiles wider, says that I asked a “very good question”, but that if I had actually researched Columbia engineering, I would realize that a lot of my required classes dealt with the liberal arts. All th while, his mouth smiles as his eyes frown at me.</p>
<p>Ooops… (but I wasn’t thinking about taking just some requirement classes, but rather double majoring in something in liberal arts and engineering).</p>
<p>So, off to a bad start I go. He asks me why I want to go into engineering, listens to my reply, and then shakes his head and smiles some more.</p>
<p>“I don’t think you understand the difference between chemistry and chemical engineering. From your reply, you sound far too whimsical and too general to possibly even know what chemical engineering is, let alone have an interest in engineering,” he says…with a great big toothy alligator smile.</p>
<p>I try to explain to him about my personality as a pragmatic, rational person and how I want to use what I learned in Robotics and biotechnology to pursue a career in engineering, and that even if chemical engineering is not my thing, I have an interest in learning how to use my limited resources to come up with solutions for problems. And he shakes his head and says “I think you applied under the wrong major. You clearly do NOT understand what engineering is.”</p>
<p>And he proceeds to bawl me out about the difference btw a science major and a scientific engineering major…for about 10 minutes. Then he went on to look at my extracurriculars, questioned me about my role as a staff member of the school newspaper, and then smirks and says “Perhaps you should have applied to Barnard, with all your OBVIOUS preferences to writing and literature.”</p>
<p>"Do you truly speak three languages? Let me see you write some words down, eh?</p>
<p>“Tell me what you like most about this school.”</p>
<p>“Oh, my son? He is a junior at _________, and he will be applying to Columbia as well next year. <em>evil smirk</em> I will be coaching him on his interviews and such, but I am rather confident on his ability to get in.” And with a toss of his head, he talks about the long lineage of Columbia undergraduates that exist in his wife’s family.</p>
<p>Then, for about another ten minutes, he switches on his robotic voice, ***** his head to the side, and makes me explain my role on the robotics team. He asks me to write down the names of the people in charge of the team, and then pockets the thing to “verify the names later”</p>
<p>Burn. I never ran out of a building faster than after that interview.</p>