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wnoyes
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[/quote]

Hey Kathmandu,

Given that you have already lived in NYC, how accurate do you consider the $96k budget/year (https://www8.gsb.columbia.edu/programs-a ... tion-costs)?[/quote]

It's very subjective as each person has their own wants / needs. For instance Columbia has almost $2k a month allocated for rent, that's about right. However the neighborhood that you want to live in will strongly dictate what you get for that $2k. If you live near campus, $2k will get you a nice one bedroom, if you want to live in the west village (in my opinion the best neighborhood), $2k will merely get you a studio - if that. A lot also depends on your life style. Do you have a partner, eat in a lot and don't drink? Well if so, you'll be spending $1,000s less than if you're single, eat out and frequent happy hours. Either way, prepare to live in on of the most expensive cities in the world because it is, however, when you strip out car payments (no car needed), gas (no gas, no car), insurance, parking, maintenance, etc., it really isn't the drastically more expensive city people like to paint it as . Further, with paying the "new york premium", you truly do benefit from having NYC at your fingertips - that means the museums, street fairs, bars, restaurants, parks, events, concerts, sports, etc. There's tremendous value in that. Anyway, I hope that helps.

For reference I'm planning in living in my old neighborhood, the west village, and looking for roommates. The commute would be the express train to campus, about 10-15 mins. PM if interested.

Cheers
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I know it's really early but is anyone planning on travelling during June-August period? I'm planning to go to Asia (Japan, HK, Taiwan) and possibly SE Asia/Australia as well as Canada. I'm 28 single M btw. Purpose of travel: party. Any interest?
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Has anyone heard of the required PreMBA coursework? Through google, I came across this:

https://ci.columbia.edu/ci/premba_test/c0332/

I thought I saw some other subjects as well... anyone know if this is still required? When does it need to be done?
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Hi guys! I took the liberty of creating a facebook group. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1523705474540346/
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mbgmat14
Hi guys! I took the liberty of creating a facebook group. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1523705474540346/

Awesome! Thank you :)
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edukredensir
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I was also accepted a couple of weeks back, so happy to part of the club =)

When are people thinking of quitting work? I was initially thinking around April/May but am now considering resigning by the end of Jan.

I don't know what you guys think but I believe quitting too early might somehow damage your resumé a little. When you begin recruiting, your dream employer may question you on your motivations to quit your job 7 months prior to the beggining of classes.
In my case, I'll get married in the beggining of May and I'm planning on not going back to work after my honeymoon. I guess anywhere from May to end of July is fine.

After you've worked 4 years and got into business school believe me that 6 months doing nothing in the worst case won't damage your reputation at all. People do this all the time and you can say you wanted to travel or work in an extracurricular or whatever you really want but no one is going to have doubts about your motivation just because you chose to.
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edukredensir
MBA8717
I was also accepted a couple of weeks back, so happy to part of the club =)

When are people thinking of quitting work? I was initially thinking around April/May but am now considering resigning by the end of Jan.

I don't know what you guys think but I believe quitting too early might somehow damage your resumé a little. When you begin recruiting, your dream employer may question you on your motivations to quit your job 7 months prior to the beggining of classes.
In my case, I'll get married in the beggining of May and I'm planning on not going back to work after my honeymoon. I guess anywhere from May to end of July is fine.

After you've worked 4 years and got into business school believe me that 6 months doing nothing in the worst case won't damage your reputation at all. People do this all the time and you can say you wanted to travel or work in an extracurricular or whatever you really want but no one is going to have doubts about your motivation just because you chose to.

That may be true for US, I can only talk about Brazil. I think if you have the means to travel around the world or work in a EC you should definitely do it! Unfortunately it's not my case! :(
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sydbarrett


Hey Kathmandu,

Given that you have already lived in NYC, how accurate do you consider the $96k budget/year (https://www8.gsb.columbia.edu/programs-a ... tion-costs)?


It really depends. I'm single and make more than average post-MBA pay and save $0 last 3-4 years (relying on bonus to pay credit card debt). I don't think I have ultra-luxury lifestyle but I do spend on whatever I like without doing any budgeting. On the other side, my friend who is married with no kids makes maybe 50% more than I do (as family) already saved down-payment for a decent house. However they pretty much eat at home most of nights and don't do a lot of travel/big purchase. Therefore NYC is probably one of few places that single person spend more than couple (without kid).

The good thing of NYC is that there are cheap alternatives for everything, especially good food. For example, $4-5 authentic Chinese food or $6 lamb on rice can beat most places in US. To give you a better idea of cheap food:

https://chowhound.chow.com/topics/826843
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Has anyone else heard anything from the investigators? I initiated the investigation and got confirmation that it had started but it's been a couple weeks and I have no idea if they or done or haven't really started. Does anyone know much about the process?
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wnoyes
Has anyone else heard anything from the investigators? I initiated the investigation and got confirmation that it had started but it's been a couple weeks and I have no idea if they or done or haven't really started. Does anyone know much about the process?

Does the investigation info appear on your to do list? I don't see it anywhere on my account, but I was only accepted last Thursday
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wnoyes
Has anyone else heard anything from the investigators? I initiated the investigation and got confirmation that it had started but it's been a couple weeks and I have no idea if they or done or haven't really started. Does anyone know much about the process?

Does the investigation info appear on your to do list? I don't see it anywhere on my account, but I was only accepted last Thursday

Yeah, it's one of the items listed under the things to do portion of the admitted students website
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Has anyone else heard anything from the investigators? I initiated the investigation and got confirmation that it had started but it's been a couple weeks and I have no idea if they or done or haven't really started. Does anyone know much about the process?

Does the investigation info appear on your to do list? I don't see it anywhere on my account, but I was only accepted last Thursday

Yeah, it's one of the items listed under the things to do portion of the admitted students website

And it will appear after some time?
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have you paid your deposit yet? If so it may take a couple days, if you don't see it by next week maybe give the school a call but it's not a major rush right now if everything else on your account looks in order
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mbgmat14
Hi guys! I took the liberty of creating a facebook group. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1523705474540346/

Great! Thank you... I just sent a request to the Facebook page. Congratulations everyone for getting in, looking forward to seeing you on campus next year!
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wnoyes
Has anyone else heard anything from the investigators? I initiated the investigation and got confirmation that it had started but it's been a couple weeks and I have no idea if they or done or haven't really started. Does anyone know much about the process?

Does the investigation info appear on your to do list? I don't see it anywhere on my account, but I was only accepted last Thursday

I know this has been answered, but what exactly are the "investigators" doing? My current employer doesn't know I'm leaving, and i'd like to keep it that way prior to my bonus at least? Are they just checking dates that you put on your extracurricular activities - like if you really did Big Brothers for 3 years?
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Kathmandu2013
changums
wnoyes
Has anyone else heard anything from the investigators? I initiated the investigation and got confirmation that it had started but it's been a couple weeks and I have no idea if they or done or haven't really started. Does anyone know much about the process?

Does the investigation info appear on your to do list? I don't see it anywhere on my account, but I was only accepted last Thursday

I know this has been answered, but what exactly are the "investigators" doing? My current employer doesn't know I'm leaving, and i'd like to keep it that way prior to my bonus at least? Are they just checking dates that you put on your extracurricular activities - like if you really did Big Brothers for 3 years?

When you are saying investigators do you refer to the background check?
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That may be true for US, I can only talk about Brazil. I think if you have the means to travel around the world or work in a EC you should definitely do it! Unfortunately it's not my case! :([/quote]


Yeah - I guess there a number of different perspectives here. I personally don't think taking 6 months off prior to starting an MBA programme will hurt your recruiting efforts down the track. Obviously would be better to be able to point to various things you did during that time (travel, volunteering, self improvement etc). Putting aside the issue of money, would be interested in hearing other people's thoughts on any potential impact on recruiting?
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