Admitted to Columbia Business School: Class of 2013

You guys want some endless gloom, try living in Seattle. 9 months of it. Is it summer yet? Only 4 more months to go.....

Minneapolis here soo... unless there's someone from Alaska... haha.

Hey guys, US News and WR ranking came out yesterday. We are at 9. I believe this is same as last year. I prefer to think that the Poets and Quants is the most accurate, cause we are ranked 5! Haha

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Ditto -- but on either ranking we beat out NYU!

I guess mag 7 we're no longer....:/

No reason to be upset y'all! I've wasted more time thinking about the M7, top-10 b-school list, etc. than I care to admit and I think it comes down to one simple thing: once you're inside the top-10, it really doesn't matter where you go. Every year HBS turns down TONS of very well qualified applicants capable of rocking the case method. Similarly, Wharton and Stanford turn down thousands of applicants perfectly capable of thriving in either school. Unless you have your heart dead-set on participating in a unique program that only exists at one school, all that matters is that you get a stamp of approval on your forehead from an elite b-school. That stamp of approval then gives you access to get your foot in the door nearly anywhere you want. At that point, it doesn't matter what school you attended. What matters is what you learned, how you apply that knowledge, and how hard you work.

Also, I think most people list "building a network" as a major reason for attending b-school. Obviously H/S/W attract students that are likely to have wildly successful careers, but you're unreasonably obsessed if you think H/S/W are the only schools where you can build an elite, diversified, international professional network. If you guys are honest with yourselves, you know you applied to HBS with confidence that you could be a star there. Also, you know just about everyone else and their mother applied there too. If you know that you would have rocked HBS, and your new classmate at CBS knows (s)he would have done the same, who is to say that the network you develop at CBS is any different than what you would build at HBS?

My point is that people who get starry eyed when they hear H/S/W or who love to talk about the M7 just don't get it...and those that do get it, don't talk about it. So, I look forward to seeing everyone at the Amsterdam Ale House during Columbia Connect II weekend to toast to getting our feet in the door. What we do with our careers from here is up to us and the sky is the limit.

Cheers!

This rant brought a tear to my eye Well said Philly!

Sad that I'll miss y'all at Connect II, have an extra beer for me!

Oh and by the way - if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere! Forget Boston, Palo Alto, and Philly. Listen to Ms. Keys - "there's nothing you can't do, now you're in New York!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UjsXo9l6I8

I don't know about you guys, but I'm going into finance. While Columbia's reputation among recruiters for health care brand management consultants may not be up to speed with other schools, I really don't care. If that's what's pulling our overall ranking down so be it. The fact of the matter is, for finance, NYC is the place to be. And if you're in NYC, Columbia is the school to be at. If you look at finance recruiting stats we're competitive with anyone -- that's the ranking that matters to me.

nope, not going into finance. but, i'm happy with my choice.

lol didn't mean that as a dig on brand management!!!!

FYI I got my Kroll results back yesterday. I think I submitted the form just under a month ago so it took a bit of time for them to get back to me. Nonetheless I passed with flying colors!

Congrats!

I'm still waiting...any day now...(i think we submitted around the same time?)

I got a note from Mary earlier this week saying that I passed. No idea if my manager was called or anything?

cidney, how long did the whole process take for you? i called cbs two days ago and they told me that no news was good news.

Got the confirm that Kroll had received my release Authorization on March 1, email from Mary on March 17th.

Hey all, well looks like Kroll is definitely NOT discreet.

Voicemail from boss:

"Got a form here, for employment verification. Says Columbia Business School?! Call me."

He was actually very cool about it, not the way I wanted him to discover my plans but oh well!

As far as rankings, it will be interesting to see what happens when we get our brand new shiny building a few years from now. That will probably bump up our student satisfaction rating. I don't care much about rankings either, unless we fell to 15-20 then I would wonder.