Columbia 2013 (CBS) - Calling All Applicants

Thanks for the input guys, I'll do that.

Congrats on the acceptance by the way mappleby. I also have a fairly low gpa (3.2), did you talk about yours in the optional essay or do anything in particular to take the sting off the gpa?

For what it's worth RJ, I have a 3.2 undergrad GPA as well and was admitted ED. I did not address my GPA in the optional essay - I chose not to write an optional essay at all.

I understand where you're coming from, because if you're like me you look at the 3.2 and know you could have done better, but if you ask me it is also not so bad as to warrant highlighting/explanation.

That said, my GPA was of my own making - no excuses. If you're in a different spot - i.e. extreme family commitments, or a taxing part time job while studying (something material that distracted you from your studies) you could mention/explain it. Otherwise I would leave it and let the best parts of your application speak for themselves. No need to highlight a weaker part of of your candidacy.

Your 3.2 should not keep you out. It didn't for me.

Hope that helps.

Cufflinks, I have a similar GPA (3.2). Would you mind sharing your profile? Apologies if its already mentioned somewhere in this thread.

No worries.

ED, M, 27, 3.2, 720, 5 yrs, finance, CFA

You nailed the GMAT so that will help you out for sure. 2 questions, what was your undergrad major and do you have any F's on your transcript? I was an engineering major so I think that gave me some flexibility but I also have 3 F's on my transcript. So yes, I addressed it in an optional essay. If you choose to write one, keep it short. Mine was less than 400 words total. I basically said, look I screwed up and didn't know how to properly balance all the activities I got involved with. I explained how I worked on my time management skills and my final year was my best GPA.

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Thanks for the input, I really appreciate that. I'm in the same boat. I didn't really have any extenuating circumstances, I just didn't take things seriously and I should have done a better job. I think everything else about my application should be pretty solid so I'm hoping they'll be willing to overlook the relatively low GPA.

Congrats on your acceptance.



Thanks for your response. I was a chemistry major, and unfortunately I also have a couple of F's. Where I went to school chem is a tough major, not quite on par with engineering but still pretty intense. I feel like the F's look like black eyes on the transcript so I'm thinking I might write a small thing similar to what you did just to address that. I did a lot of extracurriculars during school and I worked the whole time as well so I might point that out. But yeah, I think the GMAT should make the GPA a little easier to swallow.

Thanks again.

Any more RD invites today? I saw a few invites start to go out at the beginning of this week; hopefully some more GmatClubbers hear good news before the holidays!

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Hi everyone. I went to a Columbia info session in Mumbai yesterday and the Asst Admissions director was conducting the session. He mentioned 2 things I'd like to share with everyone here.
1. Some CBS RD interviews have gone out but he expects a slew of them to go out in the next week or so.
2. For your recommendations if both your recommendations are not from current supervisors or if you are getting a recommendation from a supervisor in a prev. Co. He said you should mention it in the optional as to why you prefer to get your second frm a prev Co.

The second point really stood out for me coz most schools don't care abt both recommendations being from your current organization. Also they queue the apps in the order they receive them so he suggested not submitting ON Jan 9 to avoid the rush since for those apps the process may get a bit delayed due to the sheer no. of apps recd tht day.

He also kept repeating being very specific about your goals in the essays.

Hope this helps anyone who is about to submit your application in the next few days. I plan to send mine in Mid Dec.

I would check your schools closely. Almost all the schools I applied to this year and last year specifically asked for your current supervisor's recommendation. That's actually fairly standard practice.

I would add an extra point to your goals essay. Not only should your goal be specific but it should clearly tie to something specific about the school. It's not enough to know exactly what you want to do, you also need to understand how and why Columbia will help get you where you want to go.

Hey mappleby what I ment by saying I was surprised was that I am surprised that BOTH recos are expected from your current org. Most schools won't question you if one is frm your current supervisor and the other is from a direct supervisor at a past company. For me personally there is only one person above me in my current org and the same with my prev org. It helps tht I knw tht it's important to mention in the CBS app why my past supervisor frm another org is recommending me.

Also when I said specific that is what he meant. Not just being spwciic about ur goals but specific reasons as to why Columbia is a choice and how you will fit in with the student body and contribute.

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Submitting my application on Monday, anyone have an idea what the turnaround will be like for learning if I'm accepted or rejected? That is, when should i expect to hear about an interview, and if i get one, when do you think I'll hear if I'm in?

I suggest you look at the 2012 Columbia Calling All Applicants thread (calling-all-2012-columbia-gsb-applicants-113136.html) and try to approximate from there.

Ah, now I see what you are saying. I didn't realize they wanted both from the same organization, I happened to do it that way but not intentionally.

People who submitted in October for RD still haven't gotten interview invites yet so there is a pretty big back-log. I wouldn't expect an interview invite until Mid-January realistically.

I would expect interview invites to start rolling out very quickly beginning mid-DEC. Columbia is generally a back-up to the top applicants who will begin receiving admit notifications mid-DEC to H/S/W and subsequently withdraw their application from Columbia.

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This comes as a surprise to me as well. You would think they would explicitly state this if that is the case.

As you mentioned, virtually every school expects one recommendation to come from a current supervisor, but two almost seems counterintuitive. You would think as an admissions director you would like to see more depth/variety in perspectives. For example, for my second recommendation I'm using a former supervisor at another firm who I've maintained contact with and knows me on a much more personal level than my current supervisor.

If it really is the case that CBS prefers both letters to be from your current place of work, I would imagine that people who cannot inform their current workplace about their applying for an MBA (for whatever reason) would be at a severe disadvantage as both letters would not be from a current supervisor. Eek.

Perhaps this is CBS' way of finding applicants who are "truly" committed to applying to their program. By informing your manager of you wish to leave the company, you are going "all in" for an MBA.
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I think the reason might be because they want people who know the current You and not the You from a job or two ago.
I heard that rumor as well but don't really believe it as what matters is that they can really attest to your strengths and weaknesses.