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Sep 1609:00 AM PDT
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What’s in it for you - Live Profile Evaluation Chat Session with Jenifer Turtschanow, CEO, ARINGO. Come with your details prepared and ARINGO will share insights! Pre-MBA Role/Industry, YOE, Exam Score, C/GPA, ECs Post-MBA Role/ Industry & School List.
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Sep 16, 2026 2:11 pm
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Preparing for Columbia (CBS) Interview? Here is What Has Changed Since 2018
Hello Everyone!
This is yet another episode of our Interview question analysis series. Bringing to you the Columbia (CBS) interview question changes over the year from Y2018 to 2025-26. Below are some stats about questions from which i have done these analysis.
- Number of Interview Reports: 44
- Number of Interview Questions: 300
- Time period covered: 2018 to 2025-26 (8 Years)
[b]Sample Size[/size]
Interview year | Questions | |
2025-26 | 5 | 28 |
2024-25 | 8 | 61 |
2023-24 | 9 | 67 |
2022-23 | 1 | 4 |
2021-22 | 2 | 11 |
2020-21 | 4 | 33 |
2019-20 | 2 | 11 |
2018-19 | 8 | 48 |
2018 | 5 | 37 |
Total | 44 | 300 |
Year-over-year analysis: What has changed
2018-19: Traditional MBA interview structure
The earliest interviews are heavily centered on:
Resume → Why MBA → Why CBS → Goals → Leadership → Plan B
The 2018-19 data similarly emphasize:
- Resume
- Why MBA
- Why CBS
- Goals
- Why now
- Leadership
- Plan B
- Other schools
- Career differentiation
The interviewer is trying to establish:
Who are you? → What have you done? → Why MBA? → Why CBS? → What will you do afterward?
2019-20: More career-specific probing
The sample is tiny, but there is an interesting move toward career-specific and intellectual probing.
Examples include:
- Why MBA instead of a PhD
- Questions about the candidate's current company/business
- Business suggestions
- Short/long-term goals
- Leadership style
- Plan B
- Self-description
Shift
"Do you actually understand your industry, company and career direction?"
2020-21: Stronger behavioral + contingency focus
This year has a particularly high average number of questions in the sample.
The questions include:
- Resume deep dives
- Specific accomplishments
- Leadership experience
- Leadership style
- Study-group contribution
- CBS contribution
- Why now
- J-Term rationale
- Backup plan
- Other schools
Shift
There is a noticeable expansion from simply asking "Why MBA?" to: "What kind of person/team member/leader will you be?" and "What happens if your plan doesn't work?"
2021-22: More reflective/personal questions
Questions include:
- Three words to describe yourself
- Personal motivation/philosophy
- Why you moved between geographies/roles
- Information sessions attended
- Alumni/professors/current students contacted
Shift
The interview appears somewhat more self-reflective:
"Why are you the person you are, and why have you made these career decisions?" rather than merely: "What are your career plans?"
2023-24: Major expansion into CBS fit, contribution & teamwork
This is arguably the most important shift in the dataset. The questions become noticeably more CBS-specific.
Examples include:
- How will you contribute to CBS?
- What clubs would you join?
- What opportunities at CBS will you pursue?
- How will you contribute in the classroom?
- How will you enrich the CBS experience?
- What is your role in a team?
- Teamwork with peers
- Leadership style
- Handling conflict
- Plan B
The interview is no longer just: "Why do you want an MBA?" It increasingly becomes: "Why CBS specifically, and what will you contribute to the CBS ecosystem?"
2024-25: Behavioral/team-based interviewing becomes prominent
There are many examples of:
- Teamwork
- Conflict
- Handling challenges
- Leadership
- Diversity & inclusion
- Campus involvement
- Courses/professors
- Other schools
Strongest shift
The 2024-25 interviews show a move toward behavioral interviewing. Instead of merely asking: "Are you a good leader?" the interviewer increasingly asks:
"Tell me about a time..."
"How would you react..."
"Tell me about a conflict..."
"How would you handle a difficult team?"
This produces much stronger evidence about interpersonal skills.
2025-26: More concise, CBS-specific and personalized
The 2025-26 sample has only 5 reports, so we should be cautious. Nevertheless, there are some interesting signals.
The core remains the same but some questions are more personalized:
- Who are you outside of your resume?
- Why a particular company?
- Which particular client would you like to work with?
- How will your professional qualification benefit from an MBA?
- What do you want to be involved in on campus?
- Which courses/professors do you want?
- What are your interests outside work?
Interpretation
The latest interviews appear less formulaic and more personalized around the candidate's story. The interviewer still checks the standard MBA framework, but the questioning seems more likely to branch into: candidate-specific career, interests, CBS resources and fit rather than simply running through a standardized checklist.
The biggest shifts across the entire period
We would summarize the evolution in five stages:
Stage 1 - 2018-19: Traditional MBA admissions interview
Resume → Why MBA → Why CBS → Goals → Leadership → Plan B
Stage 2 - 2019-21: Career depth + contingency
Why this career? → Do you understand your industry? → Leadership → What if Plan A fails?
Stage 3 - 2021-22: More introspection
Why are you making these choices? → What motivates you? → Why now?
Stage 4 - 2023-24: CBS community/fit becomes much more important
How will you contribute? → What clubs? → What opportunities? → How will you work with classmates?
Stage 5 - 2024-26: Behavioral + personalized interview
Tell me about a real situation → How did you respond? → How do you work with others? → What will you specifically do at CBS?
What has NOT changed
Despite the evolution, there is an extremely stable core. Across almost the entire eight-year dataset, CBS repeatedly tests four fundamental questions:
1. Why MBA? (Career motivation)
2. Why CBS? (School fit)
3. What are your goals? (Career direction)
4. Why now? (Timing)
Most important finding for interview preparation
You can divide your interview preparation into three tiers.
Tier 1 - Must have exceptionally strong answers
These are the highest-priority questions:
- Why CBS?
- Why MBA?
- Short-term and long-term goals
- Why now?
- Tell me about yourself
- Walk me through your resume
- How will you contribute to CBS?
- What do you want to do at CBS?
- Leadership style / leadership example
- Teamwork/conflict example
These account for the overwhelming majority of the recurring interview structure.
Tier 2 - Highly likely follow-ups
Prepare strong stories for:
- Plan B
- Other schools / why CBS over them
- Why New York
- Extracurriculars
- Biggest accomplishment/impact
- Failure/challenge
- Weakness
- Disagreement with boss
- Difficult team member
- Courses/professors
- Clubs
Tier 3 - Candidate-specific questions
These depend heavily on the applicant:
- Why your company?
- Why your industry?
- Why did you change roles/geographies?
- Why did you found X?
- Industry/business questions
- Specific clients
- Stock ideas
- Undergrad major
- Deferred/J-Term rationale
- Specific career transition
The source clearly shows that interviewers sometimes go deeply into the applicant's individual professional background.
Bottom line
The CBS interview has remained remarkably consistent at its core, but the emphasis has shifted. Do not prepare only polished answers to "Why MBA?" and "Why CBS?" The newer data strongly suggests you need a portfolio of concrete behavioral stories-leadership, conflict, teamwork, failure/challenge, impact-and a very specific CBS contribution/involvement plan. "Why CBS?" is the single most important recurring question in the entire dataset, appearing in roughly 43 of the 44 interview reports.
I hope that helps
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