Calling all Columbia CBS MBA Applicants: Class of 2025 J-Term 2024

Greetings, Everyone!

With the interview invites flying out for September season deadlines, we congratulate everyone who has received an invite, and we wish you all the best in your future endeavors!🎉

For anyone who hasn’t received an invitation yet, be patient; sometimes, it might take a little more time than usual! But don’t worry; it will come. Also, especially for anyone Waitlisted, we are very sorry to hear that. However, you must understand that the waitlist doesn’t mean all is lost; there is hope!

At Top B-schools like Columbia, the WL applicants are considered alongside all other applicants in subsequent application rounds and sometimes even into the summer after round 3 decisions have gone out.

Also, I recommend you follow these tips; it will definitely help with your current situation.

1. Change viewpoint – View being waitlisted as having potential as a Columbia student, but there was something about your application, or due to a greater applicant pool, that made adcom unable to extend you a full acceptance offer.

2. Taking Steps – Actively taking steps to improve your candidacy; that’s all the committee cares about, a fighter! Showcase how you embodied some of Columbia’s core values in the time period will definitely improve your candidacy.

3. Don’t bombard Adcom with needless emails or check-ins; limit your communication to specific events, actions, or materials.

The bottom line is that the admissions team won’t know your level of dedication to attending Columbia unless you tell them. So, reach out and explain your commitment to getting accepted, and finally, stress on Why Columbia; what is it about the school that makes you want to be a part of it so much!

To know more, you can click – How do you deal with being waitlisted?



Lastly, for anyone denied, WE ARE WITH YOU! It’s just a minor setback in your road to your dream, nothing that you can’t shake off; there are plenty of Schools you can target in Round 2! We will try our best to assist in your quest for your dream B-school.

At MBanndBeyond, we believe that “it’s never too early to start preparing, and it’s never too late to improve.”

Hence, with that said, we bring to you a detailed profile (one of its kind ) of one of our candidates who got an Interview invite from Columbia EVEN AFTER BEING REJECTED PREVIOUSLY IN ROUND 3 FOR CBS. The story is about inspiration, determination, and how one should handle rejection!


To understand what needs to be done after being Rejected from your dream school, you can refer to this article HERE

Also, we are putting the profile below for everyone’s thorough inspection & Understanding! This would help draw comparisons for your own profile rebuilding & remodeling.

Candidate Profile

Work Experience — 10 years In charge of operations/production/maintenance in a Family business (Peru), in raw material purchasing/manufacturing of Brazil nuts

Undergraduate Information — Engineering background

Target Schools — Columbia J-Term 2023 MBA Program.

GMAT Score — 660

Why MBA — Wanted to acquire more knowledge to help company grow&develop and to further explore investments.

Post MBA Goal — Wants to establish governance and proper company accounting and professionalize it.

Well, yes, we did make some improvements. To be specific, he needed help with branding and essay editing for Columbia in time for R1.. Hence, we focussed on a few points to make a strong narrative!


1. Incorporating Personal Branding Statement — Made it more specific and highlighted even minor aspects to make it reflective of the journey, character, and values.
2. Goal Identification & Goal Articulation — Polished the short-term goals while keeping interests and values aligned and also helped determine long-term goals to present a strong profile to adcoms.
3. Clarity about Why MBA (very important) — Worked on creating a strong narrative about how an MBA gets you closer to your goal(s).
4. Reflect & Revise — Fixed gaps & any possible misalignments between goals and branding statements and supported all of this with real-world examples.

These are some points you can all learn from and highlight as a part of your profile-building process!

Not only that, if your profile is strong, we can help you connect with the Consultant who worked with her and even the Candidate himself in case anyone wants to discuss different aspects of their profile with them! Hence, you can either get on a profile evaluation call with us to help you with your profile. Click HERE to get additional benefits.

We wish you all the best with your Application Process!
MBA and Beyond