Columbia Business School

Thanks for the tips! I'm sure I'll be back with more questions...

Have fun at CBS next year!

Does columbia feel more like a commuter school or does everybody live in pretty much the same area?

Wherever you are, except the dorms, you still have to commute. However, most people live in the Upper West Side. Everyone spends most of their time at Columbia, so UWS offers a great place to live and a short commute.

djhouse81,

Congrats on the CBS admit! I plan to visit Columbia/NYU early next fall but will continue researching schools throughout the summer. One quick question: Columbia students have a reputation for being very competitive. Do you think this is a fair description, or would you say they are very collaborative and willing to help each other out? Thanks.

Good question. Of course, I have not attended as a student yet, so I can only speak to my experiences, and, so far, I have not seen competitive attitudes that are over the edge. In fact, during the Open House in February, I was the one being fairly competitive with my mock negotiations partner, and I don't consider myself overly competitive at all.

I think Columbia gets that reputation because it is known to be such a finance school, and people in finance are stereotyped as having ultra-competitive streaks. Did you know that '08'ers have landed 50-60 positions at McKinsey? That's a lot of consultants! Also, at Open House, they really pushed their entrepreneurship program, and that says a lot about Columbia's initiatives in that sector.

At Columbia, you are going to have just as many clubs, group projects, and first-year sections, called Clusters, as at other schools; so, Columbia facilitates team-oriented activities without a doubt.

I think it's less of a question about whether Columbia is collaborative enough, but more so how is it collaborative. If you want to travel for team projects, then maybe Ross' MAP is for you. However, if you want to enjoy experience New York City!!! with your classmates, then Columbia is definitely for you. Columbia is definitely collaborative (and not more competitive than any other b-school), and interacting with the school before you and apply will determine whether it fits your collaborative style.

Thanks for the great response! Columbia is high on my list, and I look forward to visiting next fall.

Great! When the time comes, pm me, and I will take you around to class and introduce you to students, faculty, and adcoms (as many as possible).

I visited Columbia on March 30th as part of host program , and attended Capital Markets class.
I will be applying in ED round for Class of 2011. I took GMAT in Jan 2008, I have been busy crafting essays. Would you be willing to review rev0 of my essays.

PM me.

Hi,

Could you comment briefly on student interactions based on your campus visit. How does the professor generally interact with students?

Thank you,

-M

mlchang,
My campus visit was great! Student interactions were frequent and helpful. First, I was taken by a student to a class, Entrepreneurial Finance, and there he introduced me to everyone who walked in and sat down next to us. Everyone gave their take on why I should go to Columbia...everyone. The student also introduced me to thr professor, who gave me a handout with which to follow along. He told me upfront that he was not going to call on me, which also infers: don't participate. That was fine with me, as it was my time to observe. Come Fall, I will participate all day! I was surprised that I could follow along so well, I thought most of the material would go over my head. But, when you think about it Entrepreneurial Finance is just like learning about investments, but just a different type of vehicle than the usual stocks and bonds. The professor tried explaining it using the Black-Scholes Model, which is an investment tool that I use at work to value options and he applied it to venture capitalism. Very interesting, and it was exciting to think that I could be learning that material very soon!

After class, the student dropped me off at the Admissions Office where there were Peer Advisors. The Peer Advisors hang out in the Admissions Office to answer questions and discuss Columbia and the MBA epxerience. There were other prospective students there, as well. I asked a slew of questions, and the answers to some I even mentioned in my essay. One really cool thing was that Linda Meehan stepped out of her office to say hi and answer some of our questions! After about an hour, it was time for my next class. This class was a core Corporate Finance course, and it was the same thing: students talked to me about Columbia, and then I sat and observed the class.

Overall, the students were personable, and they all seem to have a genuine pride in their school. They built up Columbia to me without seeming forced to do so, nor did they bash other schools. I did not interact with the professors as I did with the students, but I did not plan on it. I was there to observe the professors, and I was nothing short of impressed! You can just tell that they are all brilliant. I especially liked how they had a perfect balance of lecturing and interacting.

I hope this encourages you to visit for yourself, or, that is not possible, interact with the community somehow. Best of luck with applications!

djhouse81,

Just curious - what do most Columbia students do for housing? I know that many apartments and brokers in Manhattan require you to prove a certain income level or have a guarantor in order to lease a unit. Does Columbia have connections to make the housing hunt painless and easy?

Which neighborhood do you plan to live in and where do you think most of your classmates will live?

Terp06,
Most students live in apartments off campus in the Upper West Side. I have yet to actually delve into the housing process because I have roommates-to-be who are already in NYC and on the case. However, the Yahoo group is bustling (and I mean bustling!) with posts regarding housing. There's even a subgroup that is made up of students who are trying to find roommates within the class. There's also graduates who are trying to pass along their apt's to incoming students. It does not hurt or help these grads, but if they like the place but have to move then they would like the "next generation" to get a good deal. From what I can see, everyone works together to find housing and that makes it less daunting and more exciting.

The Peer Advisors have compiled a wiki of important information regarding housing--a perfect example of the teamwork involved in the apt hunt--and the only type of place that will most likely require income verification and/or a guarantor is a co-op. And, if you use a broker, then you will pay for that service unless the landlord does for you. Otherwise, it just takes some serious research on the , with the help of your classmates of course, and then hit the streets/subways!

Hi DJHouse,

What do you know about the process of selecting 2nd year electives? Could you tell us a little bit about the bidding process?

Thanks,

-M

I hope this question is not a make or break for you because I have never gone through the process, so I can only tell you what I have read. You get a set number of bid points every semester, which you can carry over if you do not use them all. You can bid any number of points for each class, and the highest get in but they get in for the lowest amount of points that were bid and accepted. I.E. if a class has 40 spots and exactly 39 people bid 500 points and one person bids 1 point, then they will all get in for 1 point because that is lowest number of points that were bid. There are multiple rounds of bidding, so people can see the lay of the land and then allocate more or less points. There's definitely a strategy. As for electives, since they are more compeititve and they may take more points than core courses, students get extra points added to their account just for bidding on electives.

That's all I have so far on that subject. I will post more when I actually go through the process.

DJHouse,

Thanks for that reply! Its certainly not a deal-breaker for me. But an interesting topic. NOt sure whether you know this, but would think that students would know what the highest and lowest bids are for a course. right?

Thanks,

-M

I'm going to have to defer this question until I've been through the process.