Columbia 2012 - Calling All Applicants

Has anyone signed up for a visit or information session? I'll be at the DC info session tomorrow. This is my first one of the year so I'm pretty excited for it.

even9net, any update on your application? I am waiting to hear back as well.

Please write if anything interesting

Submitted my application today for early decision. Does anyone know how long it takes to hear about an interview? Are we informed if we have not been chosen for an interview?

Do you know if there's any advantage to submitting your application before your LORs are in?

I'm dying to press submit and check CBS off my list but my LORs might still be a few weeks out.

Count me in for ED as well.

Long time lurker.. first time poster..

I'm applying for Columbia ED. My Profile - Indian Male/710/32/Finance/Entrepreneurial ambitions

I suppose there was a pdf file on gmatclub whose title was "What does Columbia look for in a prospective student?" or "How to get admitted to Columbia Business School?" Can somebody post the link to this file? I can't find it.

Thanks in advance.

I got my interview invite for J-Term today!

Anyone know where to find CBS-specific interview tips?

Thanks.

Check Clear Admit's Columbia Interview Wiki

Lots of good information there.

Gonna give CBS a shot, may go ED not sure yet. Working on essays now
Having a class visit next week, ill give feedback when I get back.

Can I ask when you submitted your application?

guys is it too late to apply for january columbia program in august? i just started thinking about applying and figure it will probably take me a little while to get my application together. i know the deadline is october but it is rolling, so just wanted to get an idea of how my chances would be affected if i apply that late. thanks in advance!

At the info session the other day they mentioned that there is no advantage to applying early or late. She mentioned that they get the bulk of their apps on the due date, but they will all be read in the order that they are received. You'll get an earlier response if you apply earlier, but that is about it.

I hear that there is a slight advantage if you apply early. I guess it depends how you look at it. Here is an excerpt I pulled from an MBA chat with Michael Robinson:

"Michael Robinson: Exactly. We still get most of our applications after the Early Decision deadline. Just to give people a timeline, I would say that by the end of January, we will have received between 70%-80% of all the applications that we will get for the entire year. So if you are looking at a system of all things being equal, those at the front of the line have an advantage over folks at the back of the line. We probably have to admit 750 people based on our current yield to have a class of 550 in the fall. So view it as having a line of 7,000 applicants, and every time we admit someone it's 750-1, 750-2. So when we get to 750, based on historic numbers, the class tends to be around full. So by the end of January, we will have 70%-80% of those 7,000 applicants. And literally, within a 48 hour window of our fellowships deadline which is always within the first ten days of January (this year it's January 6th), we literally get about 20% of all our applicants within two days, right around the "deadline for fellowships".

Linda Abraham: Your servers are cranking.

Michael Robinson: And sometimes they break down because we just get overloaded at that time. And then we get these desperate phone calls, "I'm trying to submit, but it's crashing! I'm going to miss the deadline." And then we say, "Don't worry, this happens every year. Just keep on trying. If we get it tomorrow, it's perfectly fine." But what I'm saying is that someone who applies the last day of December as opposed to someone who applies on January 11th, there could be a gap of around 2,000 applications. So keep that in mind. So if you are ready to apply in December, you would have an advantage to somebody who would apply in January, just based on all things being equal and the flow of applications."

[quote]At the info session the other day they mentioned that there is no advantage to applying early or late. She mentioned that they get the bulk of their apps on the due date, but they will all be read in the order that they are received. You'll get an earlier response if you apply earlier, but that is about it.quote]

I am not sure how this can be true in a 'rolling' admissions system. The whole point of having it is to admit people as the apps roll in. If they like you they'll take you after reviewing your app without sitting in anticipation for another app to come in through the door and trump you. So in that sense I can only imagine applying as early as possible is an advantage if they happen to like you. And you won't know whether they like you unless you apply. If they don't like you that much then its not an advantage as they'll keep you waiting or if they hate you then they'll reject you soon (which again isn't so bad if it happens as at least you know where you stand)...

She mentioned that b/c the ED applicants will be read before any of the RD applicants will be read. She even noted that they have about 10-12 applications for Regular Decisions 'sitting on the shelf' because they don't plan to review them until ED is completed sometime in late Novemeber/Early December.

It probably depends on the round you apply as to whether or not 'early' will help. Applying now for ED is advantageous, because we've already seen GMAT Club members get invited to interview, and its not even August! But applying this early for RD might not be advantageous or disadvantageous because the adcom will be going through the meat of ED before they get to yours. In that case, spending more time on essays or working with recs might serve you better.

J term --- ED --- RD: in that order each unit of that cycle follows a rolling review schedule...

I think with Cbs for each sub-cycle its probably best to get in nice and early. Also, some admissions consultants out there like Alex Chu on their threads say Cbs has only 2 rounds for non-J term entry... If you are not in by ED then its like the last round of other schools... at least thats the impression a lot of these posts left me with