UPDATE: This article was originally posted on August 22, 2018. It has been updated with new information and tips below. 

Located in the heart of New York City, Columbia Business School offers its students access not only to top-notch academics but also to myriad networking opportunities outside of the classroom. Famous for having big names like Warren Buffett drop into classes to discuss past deals, Columbia truly offers unparalleled access to some of the biggest names in business. 

Given its tight-knit network, reputation as a finance powerhouse, and privileged location, landing a spot at Columbia Business School is no small feat. 

That’s why we’ve prepared this guide to help you use your Columbia admissions essays to stand out. We’ve rounded up not only our best tips but have also included example Columbia MBA essays to ensure you give your Columbia application your best shot. 

 

1. Who is Columbia looking for?

(Photo courtesy of @columbia_biz on Instagram)

“Only Columbia Business School gives you the opportunity to shape your career in the very center of business. There’s something about being positioned in New York City, where access to leaders across industry is truly advantageous. Here you will learn to take on challenges and respond dynamically. You’ll gain skills to succeed in fast-moving, competitive environments anywhere. Hone your strengths. Find your best career path. Realize success.” Columbia Business School Admissions

Every year, Columbia’s admissions team enrolls around 900 students for their prestigious MBA program out of around 6,500 applications. Though CBS does work hard to admit a diverse class (44% of the Class of 2025 were women, 47% were international citizens, and 43% were of minority origins (in the US), they do tend to admit applicants with an average of 5 years of work experience. Applicants also tend to have average GMATs of 730 (GRE scores were not reported). 

NOTE: Columbia also takes the Executive Assessment exam. Read more here. 

Nonetheless, that does not mean that Columbia looks simply for good test-takers. Instead, they want a talented, principled, well-networked group of business leaders.

According to Columbia’s Admissions team:

In addition, Columbia tends to respond favorably to applicants who can demonstrate that studying in New York City is a differential for them, so make sure to reflect on how you will use the city of New York to complement your learning and accelerate your career. 

If this sounds like the perfect B-school for you, you’ll first have to prove you’ve got what it takes by successfully answering Columbia’s admissions essay questions. 

2. How should I answer the CBS essay questions?

Columbia has multiple different essays on a relatively wide range of topics. Our tips below break each down in detail. 

 

2.1. Full-time Short Answer Tips

Short Answer Question: What is your immediate post-MBA professional goal? (50 characters maximum)

Examples of possible responses:

-“Work in business development for a media company.”

-“Join a strategy consulting firm.”

-“Launch a data-management start-up.”

In their instructions, Columbia asks you to be extremely straightforward in telling them what you want to do professionally (and in which industry) immediately after graduating. 

Since you’ve only got 50 characters, get straight to the point and make sure you answer the question they are asking (job + industry). Being creative at the expense of giving them the information they want will be a mistake. Finally, no need to add “I want to…” here. Just jump right in.  

 

2.2. January Term Short Answer Tips

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

In addition to answering the previous short answer question, J-term applicants also need to complete this question. 

Since you only have 50 characters here, be short and sweet. Mention the key reason the J-term appeals to you, such as not needing an internship because you’re returning to your current company or your plans to work for the family business. 

You’ll want to expand a bit more on your reasons for pursuing the J-term as opposed to the full-time MBA in Essay 1, but make sure you condense your motivations to your key reason here. 

 

2.3. Essay 1 Tips

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)

Like last year, CBS wants you to focus more on your longer-term plans (logical, since they have asked for your immediate post-MBA goal in the first question). This type of question reveals that CBS is interested in understanding your plans for the future in terms of how you see your career advancing over the long haul.

To answer this question, like any goals essay, it’s important to keep in mind that this is not a restatement or dramatic retelling of your CV. You will, however, want to provide a few lines of context, as this helps the reader later understand that you have the skills and motivations necessary to succeed in your goals. 

Next, launch into your 3-5 year goal. This should be related to your post-MBA goal and should state how you intend to continue growing. Stagnant goals here will not work well. 

Finally, make sure you state your long-term plans. Columbia asks you for your dream job, so really dream! Envision the impact you want to achieve in the world with your career and discuss why this “dream job” is so important for you. At the same time, make sure your dream job is feasible. 

They do not ask you how CBS will help you reach your goals, like many other goals essays do. As such, keep any mentions of CBS brief and ensure the star of the show here is your future and your motivations for pursuing the path you desire. 

TOP TIP: If you’re still not sure about your MBA goals, we’ve written a post designed to help you think through what your objectives are and how you might present them in your MBA application. You can check that post out here! 

Need more guidance? Our MBA Resource Center has dozens of past successful Columbia Business School essays that worked to get our clients admitted and a detailed brainstorm to help you plan out a winning CBS essay. Our center also includes guides for all top global MBA programs, detailed essay brainstorms, interview tips and mocks, CV templates, and recommendation letter guides. Click to join! 

 

2.4. Essay 2 Tips

Essay 2: The Phillips Pathway for Inclusive Leadership (PPIL) is a co-curricular program designed to provide students with the skills and strategies needed to develop as inclusive leaders.  Through various resources and programming, the goal is for students to explore and reflect during their educational journey on the following five inclusive leadership skills:  Mitigating Bias and Prejudice; Managing Intercultural Dialogue; Addressing Systemic Inequity; Understanding Identity and Perspective Taking; and Creating an Inclusive Environment. 

Describe a time or situation when you had the need to utilize one or more of these five skills, and tell us the actions you took and the outcome. (250 words)

The topic of diversity and inclusion has become increasingly center stage both in the business world and in MBA admissions. Columbia’s return to an essay question focused on their PPIL program is a reflection of Columbia’s continued effort to train leaders who truly value and promote inclusivity.  

Of course, success in business school and in your future career highly depends on your ability to work well with people who are different from you. But as the question also touches upon “mitigating bias” and “addressing systemic inequity,” it seems to me that Columbia is making a statement that the successful leaders of the future are those who actively promote ethical, inclusive work environments and company cultures. 

This essay prompt gives you the chance to prove that you have already had the opportunity to either work in an environment with others who are different from you or have championed the cause of diversity, ethics, bias, inclusion, or inequality in some meaningful way. 

The wording of the question makes it clear to me that this is not the place to write an essay that gives a superficial nod to diversity. For example, perhaps you held a 1-hour training session for the only woman on your team. Though this technically does fall under the category of promoting diversity, it just doesn’t convey the image that DEI is a topic that you resonate with and have actively promoted.

Before deciding if this is one of the three essays you should write, I think it’s important to first examine exactly what types of scenarios the question is asking about. Let’s break them down one by one. 

Creating an Inclusive Environment: Inclusivity often gets thrown together with the concept of diversity, and is often used interchangeably with this term. However, inclusivity is more than just bringing diverse perspectives to the table. It’s fostering those perspectives and ensuring that they are fully able to meaningfully contribute. 

Mitigating Bias and Prejudice: Bias, especially unconscious bias and how it shapes our decisions, is a critical issue to tackle when promoting greater diversity, equity, and inclusion. 

For example, several years back we worked with a client from Latin America who had built a career in the public sector. Though English was not used in any way in the work his department did, a rigorous English test was administered as part of the hiring process in order to keep traditionally privileged people in government jobs. Recognizing how this bias was greatly damaging the fairness of the public service exam – and access to equal opportunities for stable jobs – our client took action and campaigned for a year to remove the English test as part of the hiring process. The results were tremendous, and the practice has been rolled out to other local and state governments. 

This is the perfect type of example to use for this question. If you do choose to write on this topic, make sure the bias – and how you actively challenged it – is clear. 

Managing Intercultural Dialogue: If you decide to go in this direction, make sure the example clearly demonstrates how you communicated or helped facilitate communication across different cultures. It might be helpful to keep the Council of Europe’s definition of Intercultural Dialogue in mind as you brainstorm: “In a general sense, the objective of intercultural dialogue is to learn to live together peacefully and constructively in a multicultural world and to develop a sense of community and belonging.” 

When choosing an example, make sure you clearly show how the identities you communicated across were different, what techniques you used to overcome the challenges associated with this type of communication, and what the final outcome was. 

I wouldn’t frame this as a single conversation, but would contextualize it in the form of a STAR-format story where communicating across identities is core to the example. 

Addressing Systemic Inequity: I feel like this is the most difficult but one of the most potentially powerful options for this essay. Addressing systemic, entrenched inequity is no easy task. With the numerous candidates we’ve worked with over the past years, I can think of very few who had a story that would fit this answer. 

First, it’s important to define the difference between inequality and inequity. Many people use them interchangeably, but they mean very different things. We love this simple yet effective illustration by Sollis that demonstrates the two terms: 

Source: achievebrowncounty.org 

As such, if you choose this option, you need to make sure you show a story where you challenged a long-standing lack of fairness. Of course, showing exactly how you did that – and why you decided to take this issue on – is of paramount importance. 

Understanding Identity and Perspective Taking: New compared to the list presented the last time this question was asked, this question is broad enough to include many different experiences with diversity, including your own personal experiences. 

Since the question asks you to discuss perspective taking, I don’t recommend choosing an experience solely focused on exploring your own identity (more on this later). However, you can focus on your own identity in relation to others. You could also focus on an experience that allowed you to understand another person or group’s identity. 

It’s important to note that this skill is presented as Understanding Identity and Perspective Taking, not either/or. As such, a complete answer here also needs to address the perspective taking part of your experience. 

As you brainstorm, it might be helpful to keep this definition from LinkedIn in mind, “Perspective taking is defined as trying on the perspective of another without fully agreeing or understanding the complexity of their perspective. Then, you can search to uncover and learn why they may have that perspective.”

So, great examples here are going to focus on understanding an identity in some way and then trying on the perspective of another to learn why they have that perspective. 

Remember, though – you should share a clear story on this theme. A broad personal narrative or intellectual discussion of identity or perspective taking won’t work well for this assignment. 

Overall, we suggest you start by considering the brand you are presenting to CBS and examine which examples might fit one of the five areas above. Though your example might actually tick multiple boxes, it’s imperative that you choose an example that fully links to one of the five concepts above. 

Though examples where you experienced one of the above work well, examples where you took action to overcome one of the challenges presented is, in my view, even better. If you were the one who faced discrimination in the example you choose, that also works well for this essay. 

Then, make sure you narrow this list down to your single best story. In a 250-word essay, you won’t have time to fully explore multiple examples, so limit yourself to one excellent story. 

Finally, write from the heart. Share the context, show why you took action, and tell us both the outcome of the story and how it changed you. Equally as important, avoid shaming or blaming others involved in the situation. If you have an example that fits this question, you’re well on your way to a “small but mighty” admissions essay. 

 

2.5. Essay 3 Tips

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 think the best way to break down this essay is to think about your answers for each of the three aspects CBS notes in the question: academics, culture, professional development. 

Let’s start with tackling the academics part of this question.  

To begin, we suggest you do deep research into Columbia’s MBA and make a list of the opportunities you hope to pursue.

An MBA is not a catch-all degree that serves a purpose for all career paths. As such, you need to demonstrate that the goals you have set for yourself require the additional training that the CBS MBA can provide. 

Be thoughtful about this particular section. If you show fluffy or unsupported ways in which you plan to take advantage of the CBS curriculum, you’ll also likely see your application tossed aside in favor of an applicant who was able to clearly demonstrate how they plan to leverage their time at business school. 

Instead, show that you deeply understand Columbia’s curriculum and have done significant, thoughtful research into how their academic opportunities will help you reach the goals you laid out in Essay 1. 

Then, tie each of these to a specific development goal you have during your MBA or a specific reason each. You won’t have space for a lot of reasons here since the question asks you to cover three different pillars, so we suggest focusing on 2-3 ways you can benefit from CBS academically. 

Considering the professional aspect, the benefits of an MBA extend far beyond the classroom, and nowhere is that more true than at Columbia. 

Since the city of New York plays such an important role in your CBS education, you want to demonstrate here that you’ve fully considered how you will take advantage of the city’s varied offerings and how this will lead to your development. 

Furthermore, Columbia is very proud of its many unique advantages (like renowned business leaders “dropping into” CBS classes), so you may also choose to discuss elements of the CBS MBA program like these that attract you. 

For example, a few years ago, our client Helena wanted to use her CBS MBA to transition from investment banking to private equity. When reflecting on the advantages CBS and New York City offered her to support this move, she knew access to one of the world’s PE hotspots was a huge asset, and opened her essay like this:

“When I decided to pursue an MBA to transition into Private Equity, I knew there was only one place to make this career change: New York City. The industry originally began there, and the city is still a hub for PE activity. I plan to capitalize on this geographical advantage and intern at one of these top firms. Putting theory into practice in New York, where the biggest, most important global deals are done, will give me an unmatched opportunity to build experience in deal execution with the very best.” 

Beyond CBS’ privileged location, you’ll also want to consider other aspects of the program specifically geared towards professional advancement and development, like the Executives-in-Residence program the prompt mentions. No matter what you choose, make sure you clearly connect how these opportunities will specifically help you reach your professional development goals. 

It is also important that you address the part of the question people often overlook – how does CBS align with you culturally? Addressing this topic means really finding one of the core values of the school and finding a way to discuss how it aligns with your career plans in a meaningful way. To do this, we suggest bringing in some mention of how you have exhibited one of Columbia’s values, such as promoting DEI or being a good collaborator, and connect it to how you will continue to pursue this value at CBS in specific ways. 

While you should do your own research to find the most relevant courses, opportunities, values, and people at Columbia for your goals and experience, we do suggest addressing one of these opportunities: clusters and learning teams, the Phillips Pathway for Inclusive Leadership, or the Executives-in-Residence program. Particularly, we suggest that you address the topic of diversity and inclusion, which is foundational to CBS’s increased efforts to train leaders who truly value and promote inclusivity.  \

Keep in mind to additionally mention not just how CBS can help you, but how you can enrich your peers’ and community experiences through your participation in the program to address how you will “co-create” the experience.

Finally, make sure to include meaningful mentions of any students or alumni you’ve interacted with and how they have shaped your view that CBS is the best school for you. A laundry list of names won’t work here, but a quote from a mentor or citation of a class recommendation from a friend that helped reinforce your interest in Columbia would be appropriate. 

TOP TIP: When writing your essay, strive for the same level of specificity and connection to your unique professional and personal goals.

 

2.6. Optional Essay Tips

If you wish to provide further information or additional context around your application to the Admissions Committee, please upload a brief explanation of any areas of concern in your academic record or your personal history. This does not need to be a formal essay. You may submit bullet points. (Maximum 500 Words)

This optional essay is unlike other schools’ essays, in that it is open enough to speak about more than just “issues” in your application. If you do have a low GMAT score, poor academic record, or other pressing weakness, please use this space to address the issue(s). 

However, if you would like, you can also use this space to discuss a personal challenge you have overcome or some unique factor in your profile you were not able to address in the essays. 

Do not use the essay to discuss “Why Columbia.” You have ample space to address this in other parts of the essay. 

 

2.7. Reapplicant Essay Tips

How have you enhanced your candidacy since your previous application? Please detail your progress since you last applied and reiterate how you plan to achieve your immediate and long term post-MBA professional goals. (Maximum 500 words).

We have written extensively on the topic of reapplicant essays here.

Looking for Columbia Business School MBA essay examples? Check out our real sample essays that got our clients admitted here.

 

3. Worried you won’t get into your dream school?

Our expert consultants will work with you to develop a strategy tailored to your goals, ensuring every part of yourYou’ve built an impressive career and worked hard to get to this point, but now you’re facing the daunting task of pulling together a compelling MBA application. The pressure to choose which stories best sell your profile, write essays that reflect your achievements, prepare for interviews, and manage multiple deadlines can feel overwhelming. Are you doing enough to be noticed by admissions committees at top business schools? 

At Ellin Lolis Consulting, we understand the stakes. With a 98.9% success rate, we’ve helped countless applicants just like you secure spots at their dream schools. application—from essays to interviews—tells a cohesive, compelling story that gets you in.

Don’t leave your future to chance. Learn more about working with us and take the first step toward a successful MBA application journey.

4. CBS Deadlines

Find below the deadlines for the 2024-2025 application cycle. You can start an online application by clicking here. 

Columbia is no longer using rolling admissions and has moved to a traditional rounds system (as detailed below).

 

Columbia MBA August 2025 Entry Round 1 Deadlines

Application Deadline: September 10, 2024

Interview Notification: By November 15, 2024

Decisions Released: By December 20, 2024

 

Columbia MBA August 2025 Entry Round 2 Deadlines

Application Deadline: January 7, 2025

Interview Notification: By February 20, 2025

Decisions Released: By March 26, 2025

 

Columbia MBA August 2025 Entry Round 3 Deadlines

Application Deadline: April 1, 2025

Interview Notification: By May 1, 2025

Decisions Released: By May 15, 2025

 

CBS January 2025 Round 1 Deadline

Application Deadline: June 18, 2024

Interview Notification: Ongoing, about 2-3 weeks after applying

Decisions Released: Ongoing, and no later than August 15, 2024

 

CBS January 2025 Round 1 Deadline

Application Deadline: August 15, 2024

Interview Notification: Ongoing, about 2-3 weeks after applying

Decisions Released: Ongoing, and no later than October 15, 2024