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Essay 1: Considering your post-MBA and long term professional goals, why you are pursuing an MBA at this point in your career? Additionally, why is Columbia Business School a good fit for you? (Maximum 750 words) Okay friends, as much as this seems like a straight up career goals essay, resist the temptation to copy/paste from elsewhere. Columbia is clearly hovering over the sweetspot for what they need from their applicants; they have been futzing with these questions every year. What …
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Columbia has released its questions as many of you know, and there’s an interesting change from last year. Gone are the questions about Master Classes and about team failure; the application is now simply two big questions [listed below for your benefit]. One can only speculate as to why Columbia changed it up in this way, but what interests us is: “What does this mean for you?” Well, let’s figure it out. Clearly they were getting too much information compared …
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What are your short-term and long-term post-MBA goals? How will Columbia Business School help you achieve these goals? (Recommended 750 word limit) I wanna make a (hopefully) quick-ish point about “How will Columbia Business School help you achieve these goals?” Too often, the essays we see confuse this section with “Why do you love the idea of Columbia” or “Can you think of ways to flatter Columbia GSB?” Guys, gals. Columbia knows why it’s awesome. And they don’t to hear …
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CBS’s trademark question: Master Classes are the epitome of bridging the gap between theory and practice at Columbia Business School. Please provide an example from your own life in which practical experience taught you more than theory alone. (Recommended 500 word limit) To start with, this is not an either/or situation. One is not better than the other. Rather, it’s a peanut butter and chocolate thing. Each one on its own, yum. But together… holy orgasm, batman. So the language …
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[Older Question, but still relevant] Please provide an example of a team failure of which you’ve been a part. If given a second chance, what would you do differently? [500 words] Usually a straightforward 2-part response: 1. Team Failure 2. What would you do Differently? PART 1 – When describing team failures, it can sometimes work against your ultimate point to start out with the learned lesson in mind. In other words, don’t get too far ahead of yourself. Sometimes …
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