Columbia Interview..

When I got accepted to Yale in December, I had already applied to 6 schools (Wharton, MIT, Yale, Columbia, Haas, USC). I knew Yale was one of my top choices, so I immediately sent emails to Columbia, Haas, and USC to withdraw my application because I pictured myself in New Haven in August. All three schools did not give my application fees back, but I still gave them notice that I was planning on going to Yale.

Fast forward to the end of January, and I get responses from those three schools. I have interview invites to USC and Columbia, and a flat rejection from Haas. I'm pretty sure I won't be attending USC if I were offered admissions, but the Columbia interview invite made me wonder about the possibility of living in New York. Even though ranking systems are flawed and fluctuate year to year, many different b-school rankings have Columbia and Yale at relatively similar positions. Also, New York is 10x better than New Haven as a place to live, so all else being equal, Columbia has an edge on location. It couldn't hurt to interview, but I'm still leaning toward Yale right now. My Haas rejection gave me good perspective on how it feels to get rejected. Maybe it'll soften the blow if I don't get into Wharton or MIT, but I am so thankful that at least Yale wants me. It sure feels good to know I'll be going back to school this fall.

For those interested, I just got back from Tahoe and my weekend was amazing! It snowed on Saturday (bad omen for MIT decision in 14 hours) but cleared on Sunday (good omen?). Today, the powder was soft and dry, and I felt like I was skiing on pillows. For those that have been to Kirkwood, all the lifts were open and I got to do "The Wall".

I also had much better luck gambling in South Lake Tahoe vs Vegas; I'm definitely going to miss Tahoe Trips!