Calling Columbia applicants for 2008

^ wow, very funny

I hope when I send in my essay about a goat, I get the same treatment

Ok, the cat was one thing, but a goat?? t^2Desi, I confess that I am incredibly intrigued...

Just checked the Columbia site, and found a new message...
Your application has now been printed, and we are matching supplemental materials to your application file.
Let the sweating begin...

A goat suppose to be more *unconventional* compared to a cat. so good luck!

There is no place in Columbia to put in your certification and awards for post-college.
What did you guys do? Leave them out?

Anyone? I am one click away from submit...or...maybe I take a shower first. Wait, maybe I will have a higher chance from submitting 10 min early. I think too much...

Submitted. Count me in for ED.

I hope you mean RD

opps, yes, RD.
With the rolling process, I hope I am not too late...

Like your comment here. I had the same situation with essay #2, and I had two versions prepared for it. A traditional safe one, and a risky, eye catching one (I wrote a story about a cat). CBS is my 1st choice so I filled my application with the safe one, then 15 minutes before I submitted I decided that I am indeed a very creative person and "safe" is never my thing. Therefore i switched to my cat essay for my app.

Got an interview invite 2 weeks later and an offer within 3 weeks from submission date. I think my risky route must of worked! =][/quote]

congrats on getting in. i saw in another thread that you got into wharton as well and chose columbia. i find that to be a really interesting decision. when i started the app process i was extremely focused on prestige -- "i have to get into wharton!" during my research though, i realized that, if you set wharton's reputation aside, i think columbia is actually a better school for finance. this is just my personal opinion of course, but the electives (practioner seminars + that special value investing seminar) combined with "home field advantage" in NYC made columbia seem like a better school than wharton. it certainly seems to have a deeper finance curriculum, but i'm not sure how that plays out in recruiting.

re: your decision -- out of curiousity, why did you make your choice? i think i may have done the same (hopefully i will have that problem in R2!!).

re: essay 2: was it just me or was the speech incredibly poorly written? there did not seem to be any overt theme or coherence, just a lot of jumping around and pontificating about why people should still care about MBA school. i wrote about entrepreneruial obsession (that Roddick chick's comment) and how, while a school can't instill a passion/obsession, an MBA can unlock the potential of people who already have a passion and a strong drive. in doing so, i think i made myself sound like a super intense freak. oh well -- at least they will know i am serious

re: your decision -- out of curiousity, why did you make your choice? i think i may have done the same (hopefully i will have that problem in R2!!). "

Wharton vs Columbia had been the most difficult choice i had to made. I am looking for a strong finance program, so choices are Wharton, Columbia and Chicago. My reasons for choosing Columbia comes to the following:
1. Personal fit. I always enjoy talking to Columbia students and alumni. There is a strong sense of community, and the learning environment is much more collaborative. I admire the student's brilliant mindsets and humble attitudes. My experience and many employers' reviews seem to suggest that Wharton students are very smart, but also cut throat competitive. I find the "Wharton attitudes" a bit unnecessary.

2. I think some of the rankings are underestimating the advantage of CBS's location in NYC. Yes most grads from Wharton end up working in NYC anyway, but at CBS, the inflow of special speakers from wall street and the opportunities of doing part of your business school studies with real cases from new york firms is invaluable. Not to mention what a better life you get living in NYC for two years!

3. School's reputation so abstract that it mostly depends on which parameter you are looking at. Yes people argue W/H/S, M7, top10 to death on these discussion boards, but you can also look at it this way. Wharton being the oldest business school it has a strong reputation in the US business world, but many people outside of US never ever heard of it. Given my wide range of global experience in Asia, Canada and europe, I think, internationally, columbia is second to Harvard, amongst the Ivy leagues, who does a good job incorporating the name power of the university, to a solid, well-reputable school of business.

4. Any top 10 school will give you a good chance to where you want to be, however your ultimate success still comes to your personal strengths. I don't think a few spot differences in the rankings between Wharton and columbia make a huge difference in your future, go where you like to spend your two years, and where you like the people best.

Good luck on your applications.

The "other" forum has a lot of posts from RD candidates receiving interview invites, specifically for Super Saturday. I live in New York, applied early (12/24) and haven't received an interview invite yet. Hopefully this doesn't mean anything but you never know. I strongly believe that for those that applied prior to January 9, you'll know if you're up for a ding if you don't get an interview invite by mid February. Anyone agree/disagree?

hey all,

i didn't make the 9 jan deadline. didn't prepare well in advance, plus i'm trading too much with all the volatility in the markets.

at this point, would any of you recommend i get my app in as fast as possible? Or, should i really try to make my essays flawless? My essays are the only thing holding me up, but i don't just want to submit a product i'm not completely happy with.

I wouldn't recommend that you apply after Jan... I sent my things on mid Dec and sicen then I've heard only "white noise" from them...

Last year a friend of mine, applied late Feb, and couldn't get a place, they told him to re-apply next year (this season) earlier, he did and got into.

It's the neverending story of the trade-offs, when to apply vs quality of essays...

Fridays seem like a very active day for me with regards to b-school apps. Last Friday- Ross admit and today Duke WL AND CBS Interview invite...I am surprised as I did not even know my app was under review.

Congrats on the interview invite, Dosa! When are you going to schedule it?

Thanks Dj- it came completely out of the blue as I was expecting a status change to review before the invite.

There are a couple of alums in my area- so shall send them a note this weekend or on Monday. Hope to get it done with by next Friday. Did you send an email to all the alums in your area or did you send one at a time before someone replied?

I searched the max number of alums that I could (I think it's 9). Then I emailed the first prospect, and luckily they got back to me very quickly so I did not have to email any other alums. You should go the same route: email one alum, and then wait a few days and email another if you do not hear back from the first one.