Columbia 2013 (CBS) - Calling All Applicants

I heard from a friend of a friend. I think he submitted in late June for ED. I don't have any more details, but thought I would check in with you folks to see if you had any movement.

No movement for me...still stuck at "Received: Application" for like a month now but as user mappleby said earlier in this thread, this might be a good sign. (re-posted his comments below)

I wouldn't read too much into it yet. Very few people submit their applications in June/July even with the rolling admissions. Those who have heard it seems like have all been dinged, which tells you the ad comms knew right away that this person didn't fit what they are looking for. If you haven't heard then I would assume that to mean they like your profile but are waiting to see some more applications come in to compare it against.

Orientation week has been freaking EPIC guys... the wait sucks but it's worth it!

Hi guys,

I've been thinking about applying as a regular decision candidate within the ED deadline. Based on your research / conversations, does this negatively impact one's chances at CBS? I'm pretty much ready with my application but hesitant to put it through right now because I don't want them to think that I'm not serious about the college by not applying as an ED candidate when the option is clearly available. I would love to hear your thoughts on this.

Thanks!

I definitely would say that applying earlier, even for RD, would not negatively impact your chances at all. If anything, I think it shows that you have a strong interest in CBS and, almost more importantly, have the maturity to show that you are taking the ED binding commitment very seriously. There is nothing wrong with wanting to research and apply to other schools. It's important to find the program that best suits your needs. But applying to CBS as an ED applicant just to improve your chances knowing that you may well go somewhere else given the opportunity is the wrong way to go about the b-school application process.

So long as you're ready, I say the earlier you apply, the better. Just make sure you pick the round that makes the most sense for your needs.

Best of luck!

Just to reiterate Bananas' point, I actually asked the adcom this question at a recent admissions event and confirmed that CBS does not look down upon those who apply to RD before the ED deadline.

A little bit of nostalgia and amusement while we wait:

I recently was digging through boxes in my basement, and found a 1999 copy of BusinessWeek's Guide to the Best Business Schools (6th edition) -- the year when Columbia's tuition broke (ohgosh) the $27,000 ceiling. Yes, that's right: $27,000/yr.

Some other incredible tidbits from a decade and change ago, to distract us from our communal freak-outs:

Columbia Graduate School of Business (Ranked #6 by BusinessWeek)

Corporate ranking: 4
Enrollment: 1284
Average age: 27
Applicants accepted: 12%

Average GMAT score: 680
Average GPA: 3.45
Average work experience: 4 years

Median starting pay: $125,000
Average starting pay: $146,400
Annual tuition and fees: $27,770
Room and board: $9918

Who else misses the 90's?

Good find. Amazing how much more competitive this has gotten. Still no confirmation of any interview invites? Crazy. I imagine they have to get this ball rolling after holiday weekend

Posted from my mobile device

Major breaking news

Columbia applications down from 6669 to 5409 - a whopping 18%+ . Selectivity, assuming they accepted 1060 students to give them the target size of 750 students, jumps a massive 4 percentage points in one year to 20%!

Also, 1% of students came without work experience - maybe ot as surprising. Everything else is significantly surprising!

https://www4.gsb.columbia.edu/mba/admiss ... assprofile

Is the downward trend also happening at other M7 schools? If not then something seems weird here...

I don't think it's an isolated thing. A WSJ article last year mentioned that HBS applicants in 2011 fell by 4% and Stern/Darden by 10% (a trend continued from the past 3 years): Maybe CBS is finally getting heavily hit by the trend. Also it could just be an indication that businesses are finally doing better after the 08 crash, since people tend to flock to b-school when the market is worse.

Still, a drop in admissions of 20% is pretty crazy - maybe that's why there's been little movement from the admissions office so far this year: they need to reassess their yield and how many people they need to let in? Median GMAT and GPA stayed stable though, so it seems that the pool is still pretty competitive...

Posted in haste. The app drop is 18% not 24%

18% is still a big drop ...IMO

More pie for me!

Has anybody else seen issues of answers getting cut off when you look at the PDF review of your application. This is most noticeable in the Extracurricular activities section where it only displays 1 line. So do I have to fit all of my involvement in that 1 line or will the ad comm folks see my whole answer?

Columbia admitted they were having trouble with their pdf converter but assured that they will see entire response.

I respectfully disagree. I think that the economy has been in a downward spiral for so long that many people are giving up on even going to b-school because of all the uncertainty. Traditionally after a crash people do flock to grad schools. However since the crash has been prolonged people are afraid of leaving their jobs in such a poor economy and taking on more debt.