Columbia: Calling all applicants - Class of 2016

I went about 70 words over (which I knew was pushing it) and had a typo in my essay last year and was still invited to interview. They're not lying when they say it's a holisitic evaluation.

I think I posted this in the wrong section originally so I'm re-posting here:

Hi all, Question about the "application status" webpage. Since I submitted my complete application about a week ago, my status page currently says "Application Submitted." Does anyone know if this will definitely changed to "Under Review" at some point, or will it go straight from "Application Submitted" to "Invited to Interview" or "Not invited to interview" etc.?

Thanks!

Congrats on submitting so early, I think you're one of the first at least on GMAT Club. It is hard to say since it changes from year to year. 2 years ago they had an "Under Review" status however last year it never changed from "Submitted." If they use the same process as last year you will get an email update when you are invited to interview. The main page still said "Submitted" but when you click through to the details there would be a big status update at the top of the page with the most recent update.

Hi guys,

I'm considering applying for the J term but not too sure if its the best idea given than I'm not 100% sure about my post MBA goal. Would it be a better idea to apply for 2 year program. Please guide me based on my profile-

Mechanical engineer from American University, 3.3 gpa, 690 GMAT, worked at a Fortune 100 Aerospace firm in US and moved to India to start a business in the food industry. I've just exited from that venture and am not too sure what I'd want to get into later. 5 years work experience in all.

Thanks,
V

Hey V. - Goals are super important at Columbia and nowhere is that more true than the J-Term. The fact that you've started a business already indicates that you could be a fit for the different structure offered in this track but you need to come into it with a PLAN. The post-MBA goal needs to be rock solid for you to have a real shot. Some people think that the J-Term is less competitive but that's just not true, it can be harder to get a spot than the August start if the pitch is off. Not that Columbia is ever forgiving if the pitch is off...

Anyway, the profile is a little borderline too. A 690 GMAT is in the realm of possibility for Columbia (it really depends more on the breakdown) however the rest of the app needs to be over the top in order for that to work. It sounds like you have at least a semi-differentiated background compared to others - we're making a lot of guesses about your peer group so we don't want to be too definitive one way or another. There's stuff that seems like big positives in what you sketched out but there's definitely some risks too - and you MUST nail down the goals before you take another step towards a J-Term option. There's no other way to make it in there.

EssaySnark

Thanks for the feedback EssaySnark. I'll definitely give further thought to my goals before I take a call. I meant to ask this question for one other perspective: will the J term limit my chances of seeking a job post MBA, especially since there's a possibility that I may make up / change my mind DURING the program as to what exactly I want to do, even if I have the industry clear early on?

I'm just trying to factor all this in before I get cracking.

Also, are these newly introduced essays? Or have the same ones been around earlier? Just curious.

Thanks ES once again. Btw my GMAT score was Q47 V38.

Yes and no. You'll be much more on your own for a job search, in that you'll be out of sequence from the standard recruiting cycle - you miss out completely on summer internship recruiting obviously, and you don't have that major advantage of having done an internship before going for the main recruiting cycle. If you were to start January 2014 then you'd be technically a "second-year" in August 2014 (you'd have the first two terms under your belt) and that's when the folks starting their first year next month will be second-years so you'd be able to morph in with that group and go through the process with them. As far as we know Columbia doesn't explicit prohibit J-Termers from participating in that full-time job recruiting cycle (by contrast, NYU P/T students cannot do on-campus recruiting with the F/T people), you might want to ask Columbia about this directly. You will be at a disadvantage without the internship though.

Regardless, landing a job after the MBA requires a lot of networking and shoe leather regardless of whether you've got the on-campus recruiting option or not - you'll need to take control of your own destiny as a 2nd year regardless of what school or what track you're in. Anyone who's self-motivated and driven will do just fine.



These questions are technically new this year but conceptually they're not; Columbia has been looking for the same thing in their applicant pool for many, many years. Discussion here.

EssaySnark

Trying to tackle Essay #2.
1. "Columbia Business School is located in the heart of the world's business capital - Manhattan."
2. "How do you anticipate that New York City will impact your experience at Columbia?"
It seems to me like the two parts are connected and that we need to answer how NYC as a business capital will impact our experience at CBS.
Which means this essay also touches on professional goals and not personal goals and interests.

Whats every 1's take on the second essay question?

I think it touches both professional and personal goals: I broke this essay down into three para's and talked about networking with employers, enjoying the city with classmates and working with my non-profit which has a chapter in NYC.

You can go either way with this one but we agree that the emphasis should probably be on professional goals, mostly because that's what Columbia cares about the most, and also because of the wording as TechWithNoExp pointed out, re: "business capital". Both of you look like you're coming at this the right way. Your three paragraphs sound like a good structure, hailmary620.

EssaySnark

Thanks for the insight.
Lets get cracking.

If you haven't taken a look at CBS's notes to the next class site you might want to.
https://www8.gsb.columbia.edu/notes/cont ... en-buffett

Could give you some good ideas.

Columbia MBA Alumni Pledge $40 Million for New Campus
https://www.businessweek.com/articles/20 ... nav-r-blog

Most people here won't be able to enjoy the new campus but this shows serious investment in the future of the school.
Interesting point for essays.

Yes, CBS has rolling admissions, so the earlier you apply in any round, the sooner you'll hear back from them. However, they will not start looking at RD apps until after the ED apps have all been reviewed.

Source: Info session I attended, it's probably somewhere on their website as well.

@GMATravails, you're right. And to expand on that: They don't start opening the RD apps until December.
@jpd5044, in our experience in watching the cycle unfold for countless applicants over many many years, there is almost zero difference in timing/sequence/outcomes for RD applicants who submit anytime before December. And, just because your app goes in before someone else's doesn't mean you hear back sooner. We often see people who submit in December get an interview invite before the month is out, yet those who submitted for RD in September don't get an invite until January. And final decisions are equally all over the map and unpredictable. It all depends on how the process goes for your specific app.

For those trying to figure out the best time to apply, here's our advice:

• J-Term: Submit now, or anytime through the deadline. No massive dis/advantage in any case, provided your app is strong enough. The advantage to submitting earlier is you get an answer earlier; a possible risk is that there's higher probability to get waitlisted.
• Early Decision: If you submit now, you'll likely get the interview invite (if any) fairly quickly, and you could even potentially get a final answer before Rd 1 apps are due at other schools. If you submit around the ED deadline, which is when the bulk of the ED apps come in, you likely won't hear about an interview until early November with a final decision by early to mid December.
• Regular Decision: No difference in submitting any time from now up to December. Don't submit any later than mid-January. Submitting after February 1st is a huge disadvantage.

Finally: What the adcom states in info sessions may contradict what we're stating here (e.g., they often say that you should apply early in the round regardless of which option you're applying under, and in our experience, applying early just doesn't matter much except with RD - but for RD, it really matters). In almost every other case with every other school and every other admissions policy, we say go with what the adcom says as gospel. In this case, we're going off of our years of data and patterns from a gazillion others who have gone before. This is how it plays out at Columbia. There are always exceptions so please don't hit us with "My friend's sister's fiance's brother had this happen..."; what we just laid out is what we offer as best practices to all our clients.

If you want more: The EssaySnark Columbia page has an index to all our posts about how the process works and when to apply.

EssaySnark

I heard Columbia cares a lot about GPA, I'm a 26 year old white male and have a 3.4 from undergrad at NYU Stern, and 750 GMAT (49q/44v). 4 years work experience doing project management work at BB IB's. Is my below average GPA going to be problematic if I apply early decision to Columbia? Hoping to get into management consulting in the financial sector.

Columbia does like to admit people with high GPAs but you're not in trouble in any way; they admit plenty of people in the 3.4 range too. In fact, pretty sure that 3.4 is the average GPA for all students (or maybe it's 3.5 but in either case, you hardly are "below average"). Your 750 is impressive and NYU is a great school. Now just make sure those essays, resume, and recs are in line with this and you should be good to go!

EssaySnark