Calling all CBS Applicants - (2016 Intake) Class of 2018

Chat with CBS Students/CBS Adcom/Admission Consultants

• Chat with a current student at CBS - conducted by Accepted
  
• Adcom Chat (See the attachment)
  
• Chat with Adcom - conducted by Accepted

P.S Re Adcom chat - Last year, we conducted a chat session with Columbia's admission team members - Matthew Moll, Associate Director, and Dana Cushing, Assistant Director. I am attaching here the transcript of this chat session. We'll keep on updating this post as and when we conduct more chats.

Since Columbia has now released their questions for this year, a lot of applicants are eager to start thinking about their responses. While you have plenty of time, starting early is certainly wise! Below are some quick intial thoughts about this year's essays, which are largely similar to last year's.

What is your immediate post-MBA professional goal? (50 characters maximum)

Examples of possible responses:
“Work in business development for a media company.”
“Join a strategy consulting firm.”
“Launch a data-management start-up.”

Pretty straightforward

Essay 1:
Through your resume and recommendations, we have a clear sense of your professional path to date. What are your career goals going forward, and how will the Columbia MBA help you achieve them? (Maximum 500 words)

Also pretty straightforward. Pay attention to every word in the question though. There is no need to repeat in great detail your experiences to date, just comment on your goals. Goals not goal, so you should be discussing at minimum a short-term and long-term goal. These goals should show a logical progression after your current experience. If they do not, then a brief explanation is a good idea. When answering the part about how Columbia will help you achieve the goals, don't consider only the academic part of your experience and be as specific as possible.

Essay 2:
Columbia Business School’s location enables us to bridge theory and practice in multiple ways: through Master Classes, internships, the New York Immersion Seminars, and, most importantly, through a combination of distinguished research faculty and accomplished practitioners. How will you take advantage of being “at the very center of business”? (Maximum 250 words)

Since they created a video about being at the center of business for last year's application (not part of this application), this is important to Columbia and it means more than simply being located in NYC. While at first glance, this question may seem like it won't help you differentiate yourself from other applicants, it is important to think through this in detail so that the decision to live and study in NYC does not appear to be arrived at lightly. You have a few things you could discuss (Master Classes, internships, Immersion Seminars, research faculty, etc). Don't feel like you need to or even can address all of those areas. Pick the relevant ones for you.

Essay 3:
CBS Matters, a key element of the School’s culture, allows the people in your Cluster to learn more about you on a personal level. What will your Clustermates be pleasantly surprised to learn about you? (Maximum 250 words)

Watch the video and get inspired. If nothing else, it should help you develop passion for Columbia and write more powerful essays. Explain who you are and what makes you unique. There is no right or wrong answer here, the key is to make it personal and reveal something interesting about you. It isn't necessary to impress here though don't feel the need to be modest either if you have something exciting to share. Have fun with this question.

Optional Essay: Is there any further information that you wish to provide the Admissions Committee? If so, use this space to provide an explanation of any areas of concern in your academic record or your personal history. (Maximum 500 words)

This is not meant for everyone. Read the question carefully and if it doesn't apply to you then leave it blank. There is no need to tell them more impressive things about you here as that would only hurt your application.

Good luck!

Thank You, bagdbmba, for taking the lead and starting a thread for Class of 2018 Applicants.

We welcome everyone applying to Columbia in this discussion and wish all the success. Note that there is a separate thread for 'J-Term' Applicants; Here is the link.

Good luck again to all CBS aspirants. For any help, feel free to reach out to forum moderators.

Hi,
Essays are live for Jan 2016 admits or for 2016 Aug entry?
Thanks
Celestial

Celestial09 - It's for both. If you're planning to go for J-term then you may want to keep a track of this year's J-term applicants' thread as well.

Also, these might be helpful - difference between August Entry and J-term and Why J-term.

My observation as a former insider at CBS is that Columbia is looking to build a diverse class of high-achieving world citizens who’ve got a bit of grit.

World Citizen 

What do I mean by a world citizen? For a small fraction, it means applicants who are internationally famous due to their own achievements or by association. Let’s say, the guy who won an Olympic medal, or the gal who gets a call from the former president of “X” country and says, “Hi, Dad.”

A world citizen also means someone who will add their own confident, distinct vibe to a cosmopolitan student body. Columbia wants to admit people with strong intellects and big ideas. They want confidence, but not arrogance. They like people who thrive in large group settings and don’t need a lot of handholding. They’re looking for admits with resilience and who exude a joie-de-vivre -- kind of like the city itself.

The Greatness of Grit

And what do I mean by grit? That means someone who has achieved extraordinary things in the context of his or her job. It’s someone who has mapped out a plan for his or her future, and has done the hard work of really getting to know Columbia’s program and can prove it’s a good fit.

It can also mean someone who doesn’t have good test scores or a glossy international background.  But that person (usually a New York local) builds a relationship with an adcom member (though is not annoying!), retakes tests and makes efforts to improve at work or have an impact in the community. He or she might have to reapply, but showing that grit can eventually mean an admit.

 The New York Connection 

Finally, Columbia is looking for that New York connection. Why this city? Do you know what it has to offer? Can you thrive in its hyper-competitive business scene? Have you ever lived or worked here? A campus visit can be a huge plus--confirming for the adcom that you’re serious about attending.

New York can break your heart, or fulfill your wildest dreams. It will absolutely affect your experience at Columbia. They want to know you’ve got the right stuff to make the most of it.




Michelle Stockman is a professional journalist, former Columbia Business School admissions insider, and experienced MBA admissions consultant.

Related Resources:
• Columbia Business School 2016 MBA Essay Tips and Deadlines
• What Not to Include in Your Columbia Business School Application
• Columbia Business School Zone

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This article originally appeared on blog.accepted.com, the official blog of Accepted.com.

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Hey future Columbia students, have you signed up for our upcoming webinar, Get Accepted to Columbia Business School? The webinar will take place at 10:00 AM PST/1:00 PM EST on Wednesday, May 27, 2015. During the webinar, Linda Abraham, Accepted’s CEO & Founder, will explain the do’s and don’ts of applying to CBS. This is important stuff folks – you don’t want to miss it!

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This article originally appeared on blog.accepted.com, the official blog of Accepted.com.
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By Adam Hoff, Amerasia Consulting Group

This year the schools are releasing the essays earlier than ever and it's going to be tough to keep up with the onslaught if I write my usual multi-thousand word opus, so we're going to use a little running device of "three key thoughts" for each essay release.  If you want to get a deep dive into these essay sets, of course, the answer is probably obvious: sign up for our services and become a client, at which point we can guide you every step of the way.  Now, on to some thoughts from the new Columbia essays!

As with last year, CBS is using three essays and for the most part, they follow the same general format: 500 words, 250 words, 250 words; goals, Center of Business, Cluster.  But I only have to look at the massive changes I made to our Columbia Strategy Memo to know that these things changed a ton at the center.  Let's dive into our 3 Key Thoughts:

1. Do not talk abut wanting to go to Columbia because it's in New York. [/b] We have been issuing this warning every year since I have been doing this, but it doesn't seem to be getting out there to the masses, because it seems to clearly be an ongoing problem for CBS, such that they are actually moving the Why Columbia request out of its natural place (Essay 2) and into Essay 1.  In the past, it was key to make a subtle distinction, which was to point out what awesome Columbia features, made possible by the New York "very center of business" location, were attractive to you and fueling your interest.  My guess is that too many candidates were still flipping that around and saying "I love New York and I love this and that about it" instead of looking at the ways CBS utilizes its location.  Now, by asking for Why Columbia content in Essay 1, they can force candidates to laser in on some aspects of the school.  And if those applicants fall into the New York Trap on Question 2, it won't completely bury the info the school wants.  Of course...

2. Use Question 2 to stand out.  Now that Why Columbia is going to get some coverage in Question 1, my guess is that "I Love New York!" essays are going to run wild for Essay 2.  What else is there to write about than Columbia's location, right?  Wrong.  You should be using this essay to talk about the way YOU will engage with a "center of everything" kind of place - talk about why a dynamic location and atmosphere is not only good for you, but the kind of environment where you thrive and dominate.  Talk about how it will bring our your best.  Site specific areas of interest and site specific past examples of doing this.  It's going to bring your leadership and teamwork qualities to the surface and make you seem like the kind of vibrant, "make it happen" candidate that they are looking for.

3. Save the joke answers for the Cluster question.  Last year I couldn't definitely prove to clients that a joke/goof answer to Question 3 was a bad idea, but now I probably can.  This is because Columbia has linked to its "Columbia Matters" program, which seems to me a lot like reading Stanford Essay 1 responses out lout.  I (half) kid, but obviously the video is very serious and earnest and it's about digging deep and being vulnerable with your Cluster members.  Now, you don't have to write a deathbed confessional in this 250-essay and you can still have some fun if you want, but don't give them a goofy response when the prompt includes this really earnest content.  Take the tonal cue and dig deep enough that you are actually saying something about yourself here.  (Remember to also address both "surprise" and "pleasant" in your response.  Don't just share something weird or secretive, make sure that others around you will benefit in some way from this aspect of yourself, or there is nothing "pleasant" about the surprise of others.)
Overall, Columbia has made some very clean and beneficial changes that help candidates respond in a way that is on point, and it is our belief that the core DNA of the school - and what they are really looking for - has remained intact.  To find out more about that and how we can help you with your app, email us at mba@amerasiaconsulting.com.

By Paul Lanzillotti, Amerasia Consulting Group
Today's blog post is going to be the first in a series that covers business school rankings. More specifically, it's Amerasia's attempt at ranking top MBA programs by industry and based on publicly available data. Our motivation for doing this is quite simple - business school rankings differ quite drastically from publication to publication. US News seems to be the most consistent and widely followed. After Businessweek ranked Fuqua at number one, they decided to change their methodology.  Whether the two are correlated is up for debate. John Byrne over at "Poets and Quants" covered the change quite extensively here.

Regardless, we've never felt completely comfortable with the rankings because (to our knowledge) the raw data that drives the rankings has never been fully disclosed. Yes, we do know that the methodology (ranking model) has been discussed on relevant websites, but it's a cursory explanation of the process in our opinion. Also our opinion - that the process is still very much a black box.  So we decided to start over and see what we could come up with.  Most importantly we started with the very numbers that the school's career centers are reporting via their respective employment reporting.

Our opinion is that recruiting (i.e. who's hiring) drives most programs "investment" decisions - in students, faculty, courses, experiential initiatives, alumni outreach, etc.  So to know to what a specific MBA program is really all about, you need to see the end result. In other words, what industries are hiring MBA graduates and from what schools?

Now before we get into the numbers, a few words of caution. What we have done is our first attempt at a numerically based ranking and its not perfect. It's based on our interpretation of the numbers put forth by top business schools. Let us explain. Most MBA career centers report employment numbers according to the categories that we use in our rankings. Some schools break "industry" categories into further sub-categories. Other programs - i.e. Michigan Ross - roll up their industry categories under more general headers like "manufacturing". So you could be a "marketing" professional but be within the manufacturing industry. To be forthright, it's a little confusing. (This is why we have decided to exclude Michigan Ross from some categories until we gather a little more insight into their self-reported numbers.)

None-the-less, we have tried to make sense of it all and to do this we did combine some categories in order to get an apples-to-apples comparison across schools. Clear as mud?  That being said, we welcome any constructive feedback you may have. Either post your comments below or email us at MBA@amerasiaconsulting.com.

Top MBA Programs in Finance (2015)
AKA THE RANKING OF BUSINESS SCHOOL PROGRAMS BY PERCENTAGE OF GRADUATES ENTERING THE FINANCE INDUSTRY IN 2014.
Our first ranking is "Finance" and Chicago Booth comes out on top.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="408"]
Top MBA Programs in Finance by Percentage of Graduates Entering the Industry (2015)[/caption]

 

Source Data:

We compiled this ranking based on information taken directly from the following MBA employment reports.
Haas

https://haas.berkeley.edu/groups/careercenter/reports/14-15ReportSummary.pdf

UCLA Anderson

https://www.anderson.ucla.edu/Documents/areas/adm/cmc/2014%20PARKER%20CMC%20Employment%20Report%2002.10.15%20LR.pdf

Stanford GSB
https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/documents/Stanford%20GSB%20Employment%20Report%202013-14.pdf

MIT Sloan

https://mitsloan.mit.edu/pdf/Class_of_2014-intern_employment_report.pdf

HBS

https://www.hbs.edu/recruiting/mba/data-and-statistics/recruitingreport/

https://www.hbs.edu/recruiting/mba/data-and-statistics/employment-statistics.html

Wharton

https://www.wharton.upenn.edu/mba/your-career/career-statistics.cfm

Kellogg

https://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/career_employer/employment_statistics.aspx

Chicago Booth

https://www.chicagobooth.edu/employmentreport/

Columbia

https://www8.gsb.columbia.edu/recruiters/employmentreport

NYU Stern
https://www.stern.nyu.edu/programs-admissions/full-time-mba/career/employment-statistics

Tuck

https://www.tuck.dartmouth.edu/careers/employment-statistics

Yale SOM

https://som.yale.edu/yale-som-connect/recruiting/employment-statistics

Michigan Ross

https://michiganross.umich.edu/our-community/recruiters

Duke Fuqua

https://www.fuqua.duke.edu/mba_recruiting/recruiting_duke/employment_statistics/

Cornell Johnson

https://www.johnson.cornell.edu/Career-Management/Employment-Report-for-Two-Year-MBAs

UVA Darden

https://www.darden.virginia.edu/recruiters-companies/hire-an-mba/employment-reports/

Heading to CBS this fall-this board was a great resource for me last year so I figured I'd post some tips that helped me get into CBS. Send me a message with any questions, happy to try and help people before I go into school in August.

1. Talk to current students, faculty members, administration-anybody you can get in touch with. It shows A) you care about the school and B) you aren't afraid to reach out to random people.
2. In the essay-do not be afraid to shoot for humor. You want to be memorable-and incorporating a funny story is a great (and oft-underutilized) way to do that-I used it in both my "pleasant surprise" essay and my general essay.
3. Do not become ensconced in the application process-keep yourself aware of the surrounding world. It is easy to fall into the trap of endless proofreading, which will drive you mad. My method was using 10Thoughts (link below) , a non-news article curator where tons of current top-15 current MBA's recommend articles-it was a good way for me to still feel productive (by understanding how MBA's were thinking) while decompressing by reading awesome articles every Sunday afternoon.

https://www.10thoughts.com/subscribe/

Best of luck in this cycle!

I'm in. Started the application, but will update my stats once I take the GMAT.

Did you apply last year and defer?

in for round 1!!

Have anyone applied early and received appointment for an interview?

I am in. What is a good time to submit? Aug?

What's that saying about early birds and worms?

Submitted: 6/8
Interview invite: 6/16
Interview conducted / report submitted: 6/23
Admitted: 7/2

Looking forward to joining the CBS family!!!