Columbia Essay Tips - January Entry

Short Answer Question 1:

What is your immediate post-MBA professional goal? (50 characters maximum)

They only give you 50 characters for a reason. It should be focused enough to convey in few words. The more focused your goal, the more likely you will stick to it and be satisfied with the program. What they really want here is a job title, geography and industry.

Short Answer Question 2:

Why do you prefer the January-entry term? (50 characters maximum)

The question behind the question here is, are you applying to J-term because it is a good fit or because it’s a bit of a back door into CBS? The acceptance rate is higher, but that is because they have de-risked themselves of helping you find a summer internship.
There is a reason they specify this program is ideal for entrepreneurs, sponsored candidates and family business folks – the job piece is already sorted, and this is a bit of a hedge when it comes to employment stats for the overall class.

A few ideas:

• Why a shorter MBA works best for you (but don’t overshoot it)
• Why being around those with a similar situation will add more value  (other entrepreneurs, family business, etc)
• Need for the tight-knit community aspect, special to J-term, slogging through the summer term on campus together.
• How you just need in-semester internships in the 3rd and/or 4th semesters to achieve your goal; they don’t need to be in the summer.

Through your resume and recommendation, we have a clear sense of your professional path to date. What are your career goals over the next three to five years and what is your long-term dream job? (500 words)

One thing that might come as a surprise: they expect you to include career-related CBS resources here.

Goals for J-term are a bit similar to those for an EMBA, the value/impact you bring to the company by building functional and leadership skills. Give some thought to your “why” to arrive at something germane.

Learning finance is not a “why.” It’s an action. A goal might be to make better company investments so you can afford to start a foundation for a cause that matters to your company. And learning finance would be the action you can take at CBS to catalyze this goal.

First, Situation. How far have you gotten, so far? They emphasize a future orientation for the essay, but a bit of context will help them understand your "why MBA." Do you want to manage a team effectively? Enhance your credibility? Obtain the skills to start or scale a business? Or seem more investible from the VC or angel viewpoint.

Next, Task. What do you need to get done? In order to manage a team, you might need more leadership skills and a deeper understanding of change management, motivation, negotiation. A lot of entrepreneurs feel they’ve maximized their current skills and want to shorten the learning curve before taking their business to the next level. It’s OK to just state personal development goals as well, if the outcome has a broader positive impact on those around you.

Then, Action. How is business school the answer for you, CBS specifically? Research what they have that best fits your “task.” More specifically, how is THIS business school the answer? Meaning, how will this school be the ideal forum for you to achieve your goals aka carry out your task?
Briefly state where you hope to end up in 5 years and then take them through each progression. Mention the gaps you have and/or opportunities you have spotted. Couple each one with resources at CBS.

Don’t mention too many – it’s better to go deep and develop your reasoning than plugging a ton of resources just for the sake of it, which sounds like website regurgitation. Plus, business school is extremely busy so you will only have time for one professional club and one or two social clubs.  On top of treks, EIR mentorship, speaking events, socializing.

Last, but not least, Result. How will an MBA catapult you on to a new career trajectory? How will you be adding more value at your current company, or where you want to work after graduating? Is there some unmet need that you will fulfill? If there is some socially beneficial aspect to the work you plan to do, mention that.

Please share a specific example of how you made a team more collaborative, more inclusive or fostered a greater sense of community within an organization. (250 words)

I would recommend you use CARR format for this: challenge, action, result, reflection.

This is a clever essay that needs to get across teamwork, leadership and inclusiveness all in one tidy little story. The question behind the question is - how would you behave in your study group and cluster at CBS? CBS wants satisfied customers and realizes positive experiences with fellow clustermates is at the core of that.

So, they want to admit people who will uplevel the experience for others by drawing out the quiet ones rather than sidelining them. Encourage a shared-power dynamic rather than one of domination.

If you choose to talk about enhancing collaboration or a greater sense of community, it’s ideal to pick a diverse organization (at work or outside of work) similar to the student body makeup at CBS rather than the annual family reunion committee.

We believe Columbia Business School is a special place with a collaborative learning environment in which students feel a sense of belonging, agency, and partnership–academically, culturally, and professionally.

How would you co-create your optimal MBA experience at CBS? Please be specific. (250 words)

I see this as a contribution essay, but shorter than most!

Think about your areas of mastery, special knowledge, or passions. Consider ways you have contributed in the past, at work, school, or in the community. For one admit, we spoke about how he reached out to new startups he found in ProductHunt and gave them critical advice at a critical time.

Another admitted candidate spoke about how he left his dorm room open in college to encourage mixing among different groups of people, hosting impromptu hot chocolate parties.

Then reflect on the CBS resources you’ve come to learn about -  think about how and where these strengths can be applied there. The first admit considered how he could help early-stage founders achieve product-market fit at the Lang Center, Growth Hacking course, and the Summer Startup Track.

The 2nd admit had spoken with an affinity club member who mentioned how CBS affinity club members tend to silo themselves, and so my client identified ways to cross-seminate different groups of people, as he had in undergrad. The point is they used clear examples of their “co-creation,” by taking contributions from the past + ways they would add value to the student experience at CBS in the future.

The best structure here might be CAR

Challenge: students are siloed, not taking full advantage of the diversity at CBS.

Action: client is comfortable with all kinds of people and takes a leadership role with that in his cluster; lay out 1 or 2 ways he plans to naturally get them to mix more.

Result: students have a richer experience there, taking with them a bigger, more global network.

Optional Essay

If you wish to provide the Admissions Committee with further information or additional context about your application, please include it here. You may write an essay or submit bullet points. (500 Words)

This is an open-ended optional essay, so prioritize explaining potentially worrying things like work gaps or GPA anomalies. But you don't have to confine it to that.

That said I believe discussing adversity and hardships is a great opportunity for them to get to know you more deeply, how you observe in a crisis or what you gained from facing this adversity. Tell the story about whatever happened, a health scare, family crisis, etc. Keep in mind they cannot share these essays with anyone; you can be free with your words.

Use the rest of your words for 1) things you are proud of that need a deeper qualitative discussion than what’s provided on your CV and/or 2) things you need to include to look more viable for your target job.

For one of my clients, we did a whole deep dive on the origin story for his nonprofit and the impact it has made on the lives of others.

Another was an early career candidate with no finance background who wanted to get into investment banking (August intake). We had used the goals essay to articulate his tranferrable skills and strengths to IB, despite having a wholly unrelated background.

So here, we spoke to his passions and motivations to get into investment banking. Really showed how his characteristics and makeup fit with that role. I believe this helped admissions understand how he could communicate his passion and motivation to recruiting banks, and therefore more likely to find an internship.