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ryguy904
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Calling all Columbia Applicants for 2009! 17 Jul 2008, 14:42
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IHateTheGMAT
I'm glad I can talk about ECs in my app. If they give room for resume, bullet point type info (I'm pretty sure I remember djhouse saying that they do) then that would at least give me a chance to talk a bit about what I've done and accomplished outside of work. My best leadership example is outside of work and I want to mention it somewhere - I guess a bullet or two in my app is good enough. Though I'd obviously prefer to write an essay on it....
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So I went back and looked at my app from last year to see what there was room for:

On EC's, it looks you have you ~250 characters (including spaces) to discuss each of your EC's. Not a lot, but hopefully enough room to provide some meat. If you do multiple tasks at the same organiztion, I would break it out by activity. I have three distinct "jobs" with the non-profit that I work for and that's what I did :)

For the resume section, it is titled "Employment History," so you won't be able to throw in the EC's there.

Hope that helps!
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Calling all Columbia Applicants for 2009! 17 Jul 2008, 16:21
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ryguy904
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I'm glad I can talk about ECs in my app. If they give room for resume, bullet point type info (I'm pretty sure I remember djhouse saying that they do) then that would at least give me a chance to talk a bit about what I've done and accomplished outside of work. My best leadership example is outside of work and I want to mention it somewhere - I guess a bullet or two in my app is good enough. Though I'd obviously prefer to write an essay on it....

So I went back and looked at my app from last year to see what there was room for:

On EC's, it looks you have you ~250 characters (including spaces) to discuss each of your EC's. Not a lot, but hopefully enough room to provide some meat. If you do multiple tasks at the same organiztion, I would break it out by activity. I have three distinct "jobs" with the non-profit that I work for and that's what I did :)

For the resume section, it is titled "Employment History," so you won't be able to throw in the EC's there.

Hope that helps!
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Thanks for the info!

When you reference the "resume section" is that just app forms you have to fill out with employment info, or do you actually submit an employment only resume? On ECs - the 250 characters is just to discuss what you did right? You don't have to use up any of those words for the name of the organization or your position title or anything like that?
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Calling all Columbia Applicants for 2009! 17 Jul 2008, 16:44
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IHateTheGMAT

Thanks for the info!

When you reference the "resume section" is that just app forms you have to fill out with employment info, or do you actually submit an employment only resume? On ECs - the 250 characters is just to discuss what you did right? You don't have to use up any of those words for the name of the organization or your position title or anything like that?
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You do not submit an actual resume. And as far as the EC's go, you are correct - separate lines for the company name, etc.

Just to be aware, the Columbia application system is TERRIBLE! Compared to the other systems, it's like DOS vs. Windows. You have to cut and paste everything, including the essays (no uploading)! The worst part is, if you have an apostrophe (e.g., my company's position as a leader in the industry...), when you copy it over and hit save, it turns the apostrophe into a question mark!!! I even followed the directions that said to copy things into notepad first and then into the application. Whatever....it didn't work for me. Expect to take a little extra time, because you don't want things like that to slip through the cracks.
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Calling all Columbia Applicants for 2009! 17 Jul 2008, 21:06
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ryguy904
You do not submit an actual resume. And as far as the EC's go, you are correct - separate lines for the company name, etc.
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Is there a character limit for the resume section? Will I be able to write my responsibilities and the clients?
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Calling all Columbia Applicants for 2009! 17 Jul 2008, 21:24
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For each of my EC's, they followed this format:

Name of Organization
* [NAME]
Number of Members
* [#]
Dates of involvement
* [DATES]
Offices Held
* [POSITION]
About Organization and Actitvities
* [LINE ABOUT ORGANIZATION
* [MY RESPONSIBILITIES]
* [MY RESPONSIBILITIES]
* [MY RESPONSIBILITIES]
* [MY RESPONSIBILITIES]
* [MY RESPONSIBILITIES]
* [MY RESPONSIBILITIES]
* [MY RESPONSIBILITIES]
* [MY RESPONSIBILITIES]
* [MY RESPONSIBILITIES]
* [MY RESPONSIBILITIES]
Hours/Month
* [HOURS]
Contact Information
* [PHONE]
* [WEB]

I definitely had more than 250 characters, is this a new thing?
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Calling all Columbia Applicants for 2009! 18 Jul 2008, 07:44
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djhouse81
For each of my EC's, they followed this format:

Name of Organization
* [NAME]
Number of Members
* [#]
Dates of involvement
* [DATES]
Offices Held
* [POSITION]
About Organization and Actitvities
* [LINE ABOUT ORGANIZATION
* [MY RESPONSIBILITIES]
* [MY RESPONSIBILITIES]
* [MY RESPONSIBILITIES]
* [MY RESPONSIBILITIES]
* [MY RESPONSIBILITIES]
* [MY RESPONSIBILITIES]
* [MY RESPONSIBILITIES]
* [MY RESPONSIBILITIES]
* [MY RESPONSIBILITIES]
* [MY RESPONSIBILITIES]
Hours/Month
* [HOURS]
Contact Information
* [PHONE]
* [WEB]

I definitely had more than 250 characters, is this a new thing?
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Perhaps I didn't know how to work the Columbia app system (since we both applied 2007-2008), so you could be right. For the "My Responsibilities" section, I was only able to squeeze in the one line of ~250 characters :( uggghhh
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Calling all Columbia Applicants for 2009! 18 Jul 2008, 09:21
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dj,

It sounds like I might need to pay you to help me navigate these app forms. Haha

One other question - Columbia asks you to list both college and post-college ECs and work experience right?
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Calling all Columbia Applicants for 2009! 18 Jul 2008, 09:48
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IHateTheGMAT
dj,

It sounds like I might need to pay you to help me navigate these app forms. Haha

One other question - Columbia asks you to list both college and post-college ECs and work experience right?
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If I remember correctly, yes. There is a separate section for college EC's, and a separate one for post-college EC's. I formatted each as I have illustrated before. For example, if you have 3 college EC's, do three sections in that format, within the college EC section.

For work experience, if I remember correctly, you add an employment record for each company. Within that employment record you fill in the necessary information, i.e. company name, salary, bonus, etc. At the bottom there should be a section to go through you roles and responsibilites. I used my resume as a guide to do this. I listed my roles and responsibilities in bullet form, but I was not as succinct as my resume. I would write a brief qualitative description of my for each job function, and I always tried to quantify them--or at least give an idea of the results of each job function. They do not want a copy of your resume in there, but they don't want another set of essays either.

Do they still have a section to upload your resume for merit-based scholarships?
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Calling all Columbia Applicants for 2009! 18 Jul 2008, 11:11
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Solaris already gave all of us at GMAT Club the scoop, but I wanted to let you all know that Christina, the Columbia adcom on the BW forums, official announced the Fall 09 essay questions and they are exactly what Solaris told us. First 3 are the same as J-Term, passion essay is dropped.
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Calling all Columbia Applicants for 2009! 18 Jul 2008, 13:28
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The EC form looks complicated. You actually have to list the contact information and website? What happens if the student organization is no longer there a year after you graduated? Eh... looks like lots of work.
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Calling all Columbia Applicants for 2009! 18 Jul 2008, 16:53
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happybunny
The EC form looks complicated. You actually have to list the contact information and website? What happens if the student organization is no longer there a year after you graduated? Eh... looks like lots of work.
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I know for one of my school ECs, there's no one person who's a point person...I'm planning to put the school's Dept of Student Life contact info!
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Calling all Columbia Applicants for 2009! 20 Jul 2008, 07:09
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ac8706
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The EC form looks complicated. You actually have to list the contact information and website? What happens if the student organization is no longer there a year after you graduated? Eh... looks like lots of work.

I know for one of my school ECs, there's no one person who's a point person...I'm planning to put the school's Dept of Student Life contact info!
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Give the best, most up-to-date information you possibly can. You don't have to hunt down your supervisor's contact info or anything like that. If you only have a website or one person's email, then that is fine. You can even write that it is no longer there; it won't affect your application.
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Calling all Columbia Applicants for 2009! 20 Jul 2008, 07:38
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Anyone been able to access the Columbia GSB website today? Seems to have been down since the early AM.

Maybe the 09 application is going live? :)

And is everyone keeping Essay 1 750 words or under? I understand that's just a "recommendation."
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Calling all Columbia Applicants for 2009! 20 Jul 2008, 19:02
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I still only see Spring 2009 application :x when is it suppose coming out?
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Calling all Columbia Applicants for 2009! 20 Jul 2008, 19:05
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End of this week, supposedly. I just assumed something was up since CBS' website was down for most of the day.
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Calling all Columbia Applicants for 2009! 21 Jul 2008, 09:41
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ok. Thank you solaris. :P

dj house is there a word limit on writing description for each EC and working experience?
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Calling all Columbia Applicants for 2009! 21 Jul 2008, 13:07
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750 words is tough....
Just describing a bit of the background already at over 400 words.....
This is not gonna be fun :cry:
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Calling all Columbia Applicants for 2009! 21 Jul 2008, 22:08
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ok. Thank you solaris. :P

dj house is there a word limit on writing description for each EC and working experience?
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No there isn't, but brevity is the key word. Don't be short like a resume where you are trying to fit in on one page, but you don't need a paragraph for each responsibility--adcoms don't want to read more essays than they have to. I would say a few lines per job responsibility at most. So, if one of your positions had 5 distinct responsibilities, then that would be 5 bullets with a few lines each at the most.
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Calling all Columbia Applicants for 2009! 22 Jul 2008, 22:06
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I am under the impression that Col's essay 1 is mainly focused on the future and that any previous experience should be kept under 100 words or less. what do you all think about this?

In terms of the EC, I think the best way is to work that portion into your essay one when you discuss about clubs and organizations when asnwering "How will Columbia help you achieve your goals".
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Calling all Columbia Applicants for 2009! 22 Jul 2008, 23:05
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And when will CBS release their damned Essay questions for Fall 2009?!!
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