Calling all Columbia (CBS) MBA Applicants: (2018 Intake) Class of 2020

Sorry to hear this. Good luck with your other applications. Your profile sounds strong. Do you mind sharing your application timeline?

Thanks! It's looking grim for the schools I applied to, Unfortunately. Rejected by Booth and Columbia with no interview, Sloan is looking unlikely as well.

I applied 10/3, received my rejection today 10/30 at 2:34pm EDT.

I was hopeful a non-traditional path would pay off, and explaining the risks I took, as well as the problems I faced building my business up would provide a compelling story. Buuut apparently not compelling enough haha. Can't really do much but move on and see if I can't glean any information as to why I got dinged

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Sorry to hear this. This is really shocking. Would you mind sharing additional detail about your profile? Such as number of years experience, post MBA career chosen, age and location? I'm sorry to hear about this ding, but if it makes you feel better, a good friend of mine was dinged from Columbia last year but made it into Stanford in the same application cycle. Sometimes it is unpredictable.


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Sorry to hear about this. Good luck with the rest of your apps, your profile sounds excellent. Did you find out the update via email or did you check your portal?

Thanks for the kind thoughts! It's a learning experience, and we've all faced setbacks. My main concern is that I've gotten my application about as solid as can be (given aspects I can control), so it doesn't bode well for other applications haha. Either way, the data:

74 months of work experience upon entering Sep 2018. Post MBA Career was in Media/Tech - I've worked in physical and digital media all my post undergraduate life. My start up is the second largest website dedicated solely to soccer in Latin America, generating between 25-30 million visits a month. We cumulatively reach over 1 billion people a month on Facebook. Age is 27, location NJ

Better format:
STATUS: Applied ED 10/3, Rejected via email at 2:34pm EDT 10/30
AGE:27
GPA: 3.19 (international economics)
GMAT: 750
EXP: 74months
LOCATION: NJ, USA
POST MBA: Media/Tech

Again, good luck to everyone else, I hope you all do great!

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Thanks so much for sharing. If you don't get into the schools you applied to in R1, do you plan to apply to some in R2?
Out of curiosity, did you work on your website full-time after you graduated from college, and have you been working on it full-time since? Is there a reason you didn't plan to work full-time on your website after the MBA? I wonder if the AdCom was looking for an explanation for how the MBA would help you take your website to the next level in terms of monetary value, or why moving on from your website after the MBA is the best move for you. You sound like a great leader, so i'm really surprised you are getting dings. I get the feeling AdCom just didn't connect with the Why MBA part of your application. I'm no admissions expert, just my gut feeling.

Edited

Out of curiosity, why apply to business school if you want to stay in the same field? How'd you explain this in your application?

Snipped

I'm honestly not sure at this point - I have applied to 5 schools, and 1 more planned R2 (2 being hard reaches in Stanford and Harvard, the rest being Booth, Sloan, Stern, and Columbia). I was pretty dead set on any of these schools. So far, I got rejected by Columbia and Booth, with Sloan not looking rosy as the last week approaches haha.

In regards to the website - I have been working on it full time from a year out of college; I started working with my family's business but I wanted to do something of my own. I still advise at times on their business (specifically with digital based dealings). However, with the website, we've entered talks for acquisition and I would like to pursue an MBA and get corporate experience which I severely lack. After 4 years of being a manager and director of my company, I will say my hard skills have also been under utilized and an MBA would help get my hard skills back in shape. Plus it provides a stable pedigree to launch a corporate position off of, with a nice bankroll from selling the website. I think I'm in a good position regarding needing an MBA and how it would help me, as well as a rationale for "leaving" my position to get one. But here we are

I'll be right here rooting for you man. I hope you get into atleast one of your R1 schools. if you do not, I really hope you consider working with an admissions consultant in R2, if you didn't already. If applying next year is an option you are comfortable with and you eventually choose to go that route, I hope you consider using a reputable admissions consultant. My personal opinion is that with the extra help, you could get into any of the schools you listed. You profile is very strong, in my humble opinion.

Thank you for that! I actually used an Admissions Consultant for Columbia, hence why I'm bummed about the rejection . She had the same feeling - that I had a really good chance at Columbia ED and a better than average shot at Booth/Sloan and a shoe-in for NYU. Hopefully I get better news from Stanford/Harvard but that's unlikely haha. We shall see! I just don't want to waste time if I do sell my business, as an MBA fits my "plan" perfectly.

I wish you the best of luck as well if you're currently applying, it is helpful to chat about these things!

Do you have any reflections of what you could have done differently?


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Anyone know when regular decisions interview invitations will be sent out?

Confused

Not until after they're done reviewing ED, which they estimated would be middle to end of November.

So we might not get invites till dec?!

When did you apply? They review regular decision applications in order that they received them as well. So, the earlier you applied the earlier they'll review your application in the regular decision batch!