Columbia Business School - Class of 2015 (Matriculating 2013) Official Columbia GSB Admissions Team on GMAT Club to Answer All Your Questions https://images.businessweek.com/ss/08/11/1112_best_business_schools/image/8-columbia.jpg Also, please see: Columbia GSB MBA Guide Columbia Applicant Summary (Real Time) Quick Glance: GMAT Club vs. Latest Intake (Class of 2014) Application Tracker Feed Detailed Applicant List: Add Yourself to This List (add Columbia GSB to your profile) GMAT Club's Real-time Admissions Statistics Add Your Profile to This List Questions about this Roll Call ? Application Dates for 2013 January 2013 October 3, 2012 August 2013 Early Decision October 3, 2012 August 2013 Merit Fellowship Consideration January 9, 2013 August 2013 Regular Decision April 10, 2013 Rankings (2012 GMAT Club Rankings Table) US News 2011 #8 Executive MBA #5 Finance #4 International #5 Management #10 Marketing #9 Nonprofit #8 Production/Operations #8 Bloomberg Businessweek #1 Financial Times #12 The Economist #2 Historical GMAT Club Applicant Threads Fall 2012 - Calling All CBS Applicants Fall 2011 - Calling All CBS Applicants Fall 2010 - Calling All CBS Applicants Fall 2009 - Calling All CBS Applicants Fall 2008 - Calling All CBS Applicants Fall 2007 - Calling All CBS Applicants Popular Links Programs Offered at CBS CBS Employment Reports Notable Alumni Essay Questions Short Answer Question: What is your immediate post-MBA professional goal? (200 characters maximum) Essay 1: A. Why are you pursuing an MBA at this point in your career, and how do you plan to achieve your immediate and long term post-MBA professional goals? (Maximum 500 words) B. Please view this video , entitled Community at Columbia. Diverse, tight-knit clusters and carefully selected learning teams are defining features of the first year at Columbia Business School. Along with more than 100 student organizations and countless events each semester, the cluster system helps to create a supportive and devoted lifelong community . Describe why you are interested in becoming a part of the Columbia community. (Maximum 250 words) Essay 2: Describe a personal experience and how it has influenced who you are today. This essay should have a personal rather than a professional focus. (Maximum 500 words) Optional Essay An optional fourth essay will allow you to discuss any issues that do not fall within the purview of the required essays. Recommendations All applications require two recommendations. If you have been working full-time for at least six months, one recommendation should be from your current supervisor. The second recommendation should be from either a former direct supervisor or from another professional associate, senior to you, who can add personal insight into your candidacy. Recommendation questions include: What is your relationship to and how long have you known the applicant? Is he or she still employed by your organization? Please list three to five adjectives describing the applicant’s strengths. Please compare the applicant’s performance to that of his or her peers. What does the applicant do best? If you were giving feedback to the applicant regarding his or her professional performance and personal effectiveness, in what areas would you suggest he or she work to improve? How does the applicant accept constructive criticism or handle conflicts? How effective are the applicant’s interpersonal skills in the workplace? Please rate the applicant’s individual vs. team orientation (1 = most effective as an individual contributor; 5 = focused exclusively on the team) Please elaborate on your rating: Please give an example of how the applicant has demonstrated leadership. Is there anything else you feel we should know? Class Profile - Class entering 2011 (January and August) Applications Received -6669 Applicants Accepted -1062 Acceptance Rate - 16% Class Size - 751, divided into 11 clusters January Entry Class Size - 203, divided into 3 clusters August Entry Class Size - 548, divided into 8 clusters GMAT Scores (average) - 716 GMAT Scores (middle 80%) - 680–760 Undergraduate GPA (average) -3.5 Undergraduate GPA (middle 80%) - 3.1–3.8 Work Experience (average) - 5 years At Least One Year of Work Experience - 100% 28% Financial Services, 20% Consulting, 8% Marketing/Media, 8% Tech, 5% Military/Gov, 4% Healthcare, 4% Real Estate, 3% Non-Profit, 2% Energy, 1% Manufacturing, 11% Other 35% Social Sciences, 29% Business, 12% Engineering, 5% Sciences, 3% Technology, 1% Arts, 15% Other Re-Applicant Checklist (if applied last academic year) Submit a new application fee (US$250). Update the “Personal,” “Family,” “Employment,” “Education,” and “Extracurricular Activities” sections of the online application. Update the “How Will You Finance Your MBA?” section of the online application. Submit transcripts of any additional courses taken since your previous application. Submit one new, two-part essay: A. How have you enhanced your candidacy since your previous application? Please detail your progress since you last applied, and address how you plan to achieve your post-MBA and long-term professional goals. (Maximum of 500 words) B. Please view this video , entitled Community at Columbia. Diverse, tight-knit clusters and carefully selected learning teams are defining features of the first year at Columbia Business School. Along with more than 100 student organizations and countless events each semester, the cluster system helps to create a supportive and devoted lifelong community . Describe why you are interested in becoming a part of the Columbia community. (Maximum 250 words) Submit one new recommendation letter, preferably from your current employer, but if not, another colleague in a supervisory role or a client will suffice. UPDATE: We have created a Facebook group for admitted students as well as a LinkedIn group. Join your fellow (soon-to-be) classmates online: https://www.facebook.com/groups/cbs15/ https://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=4686288

You don't want to get lie about such a small thing. It'll raise serious red flags if you get caught (my 2 cents). I asked the admissions consultant at CBS and she said it doesn't matter how many times you took the GMAT. They do want to see that you tried taking it multiple times IF your first score wasn't that good. I wouldn't lie about that (or anything for that matter).

When you all upload your essays, do you include the question up top as a header? Thank you for your help.

For the description in the employment section - are you guys just copying the section from the resume and pasting it there??

For the Financing the MBA section, are we supposed to estimate the $90k figure for one year or should this cover 2 years worth of costs? (Eek...this is expensive... )

I didn't bother - assumed that adcoms read enough of these that they know exactly what each essay is about. As long as you label "Essay 1" and "Essay 2" and your name, I think it'll be fine. You can copy/paste, but there is also no word limit for the description section, I think, so you can use it to flesh out your job a little more, or spend some time describing what you learned from work. The resume tends to be a little drier, more along the lines of "these were my achievements/I did this awesome thing that increased productivity 1000+%." You can give a little more explanation and add some "color" in the description section, add intangibles or takeaways, or overall just give adcoms a better sense of how specific jobs led you closer to your goals. I used it as sort of a bridge between my resume and my essays. I just went with one year; I don't think this section matters much other than to let adcoms know that you've *thought* about the cost of the MBA so hopefully you won't get sticker shock and back out last minute.

I put the question in the headers of each essay. The adcom physically prints out your application, opposed to just viewing it on a computer, so adding the question to the top can't hurt!

"I didn't bother - assumed that adcoms read enough of these that they know exactly what each essay is about. As long as you label "Essay 1" and "Essay 2" and your name, I think it'll be fine." Anyone else put their name in each essay? I just put an Essay header "Essay 1 etc." - I realize it is petty but just curious since I have already uploaded everything for all my schools haha. Thank you.

Resume question - 1 page or 2 pages?! What are your thoughts and what did you do? Thanks!

Resume should always be 1 page. If you aren't fitting it on one page you need to be more concise. Make sure you are talking about impacts and accomplishments, not just job duties.