SBC Columbia Admit Profile

COLUMBIA BUSINESS SCHOOL
ADMITTED STUDENT
PROFILE
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COLUMBI A BUSI NESS SCHOOL PROFI LE
2 201 3 STACY BLACKMAN CONSULTI NG I NC. www. StacyBl ackman. com ALL RI GHTS RESERVED.
Copyright 2013 by Stacy Blackman Consulting, Inc. All rights reserved.
Published by Stacy Blackman Consulting, Inc, Los Angeles, California, USA. www.stacyblackman.com
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DISCLAIMER:
This guide is designed to assist in your MBA Admissions application, but does not guarantee admission to Columbia Business School.
INTRODUCTION
MBA program applications require you to present your career progress, career goals, accomplishments, and potential contributions to the programs
student community through essays, recommendations, resume and application data.
Before putting fingers to keyboard, its a good practice to first consider who your reader will be, what the subject matter is, and your objective for the
writing assignment. The answers to these three questions are fairly straightforward:
WHO IS MY READER?
The Admissions Committee
WHAT IS THE SUBJECT MATTER?
My attributes, strengths, achievements, and goals, which combine to form a complete picture of me
WHAT IS MY OBJECTIVE IN WRITING THESE ESSAYS?
To earn an acceptance letter
The next question isnt so easy to answer:
WHAT IS THE ADMISSIONS COMMITTEE LOOKING FOR?
It would be helpful if each schools admissions committee told you exactly what they were looking for. Representatives of the program from admissions
officer to current students certainly offer plenty of clues, but there is no definitive source of reference.
The dean of admissions for one of the top programs responded as follows when asked what his program was looking for:
We look for people who will contribute in a meaningful way to our community. We dont just look at one thing we look at the whole picture and think
about the fit.
When reviewing your application, the admissions committee is trying to determine if who you are, what youve accomplished, and what you hope to
achieve in the future is a good fit for their institution. With this in mind, we can refine our answer to the question above about your objective for this essay
writing assignment. Your end goal is, of course, to earn an acceptance letter, but the way you do so is to persuade the admissions committee that you
fit. You must look at your strengths and achievements through the lens of the admissions officers. Your MBA application is your opportunity to communicate
those strengths and provide multiple reasons to believe that you will fit in next years class.
Based on over a decade of experience with the admissions offices of the most competitive MBA programs, we will offer some insight into what constitutes
fit for the program being discussed. By listening carefully to the admissions officers over the years and by paying close attention to the profiles of
successful applicants, we have assembled a list of the fundamental qualities and attributes that each program values. By reviewing these key attributes
you can tailor your MBA application strategy to ensure that fit is coming through loud and clear.
COLUMBIA PROFILE: WHO is Columbia looking for?
Columbia Business School looks for intellectually driven people from diverse educational, economic, social, cultural, and
geographic backgrounds. Our students share a record of achievement; demonstrated, strong leadership; and the ability
to work in teams. Columbia MBA Admissions
Columbia Business School is a highly selective MBA program with a admission rate of approximately 13 percent. Most of
the nearly 5,500 annual applicants to CBS are qualified, with above average GMAT scores and undergraduate GPAs. When
Columbia is choosing a class from this highly qualified group of candidates, who does the admissions committee actually
admit?
The most recent Columbia class had an average GMAT score of 714 and the GMAT scores in the middle 80 percent ranged
from 680 to 760. The average GPA for this most recent class was 3.5 with a middle 80 percent range of 3.1 to 3.8. Its
uncommon for Columbia to admit candidates directly from undergrad and 99 percent of a Columbia class has more than
one year of work experience, and typically has 5 years of work experience and is entering Columbia at age 28.
Beyond the statistics, what does it take to be Columbia material?
A TYPICAL COLUMBIA BUSINESS SCHOOL STUDENT
Columbia is known as a finance school and has a highly quantitative approach to business education. While Columbia
students hail from a variety of industries, finance backgrounds are the most typical and make up almost 35 percent of the
class. Consulting is another 20 percent of the class and Marketing/Media and Nonprofit make up another 15 percent. Also
represented at lesser numbers are Military/Government, Real Estate, Technology, Healthcare, Energy and Manufacturing
to round out the rest of the class.
The most common are of study for Columbia Business School students was Social Sciences (likely Economics as a highly
represented undergraduate major) and Business. Engineering, Sciences and Humanities are the second most common
group of majors. Along with performance in college, Columbia sees the GMAT test as highly predictive of performance in
the MBA program and therefore prefers students who have demonstrated ability through a balanced GMAT score with
greater than 80 percent on both verbal and quant.
A typical Columbia student has proven herself in a demanding professional career in finance or consulting and
demonstrated progression in the form of increased responsibility or promotions. She is likely a sophisticated thinker with
interest in attending school in NYC with a highly international class. Her recommenders describe her as high potential and
say that she has above average management potential. Demonstrated passion for Columbia and fit is an additional factor
determing whether the average Columbia applicant is ultimately admitted.
A UNIQUE COLUMBIA BUSINESS SCHOOL STUDENT
Columbia has an exceptionally international class with almost 40 percent non-US citizens. Last year Columbia admitted
35 percent US Minorities. Typically the most underrepresented MBA applicantsin terms of US ethnicity are African
American, Hispanic American and Native American. Columbia has a large female percentage for MBA programs at
nearly 40 percent.
A unique Columbia applicant has explored his interests as a media professional and came to his interest in Columbia
while looking for progression in management of the business. He also will have exceptionally supportive recommenders
and is described as high potential with strong business acumen.
COLUMBIA PROFILE: WHAT is Columbia looking for?
Columbia Business School, located in New York City, has an impressive reputation and history. The schools dean, Glenn
Hubbard, while fortifying Columbias traditional strength in finance education, has made experiential learning,
entrepreneurial thinking, and global perspective the new cornerstones of the program.
Will you thrive in Columbias hands-on, team-oriented learning environment given your attributes and experiences? Are you
endowed with the social intelligence required to grow as a person (not just a professional) during your two years? Will
you make the community stronger through your contributions, diverse background, values, and unique point of view?
These are the questions the admissions committee will be asking as they review your application.
Based on over a decade of experience helping our clients earn admissions letters to Columbia, weve assembled a list of
attributes and characteristics of the kind of candidates Columbia is looking for:
Entrepreneurial Mindset Team Leadership Passion
Global Awareness Community Leadership Analytical Ability
Social Intelligence High-Impact Leadership Integrity
An effective set of Columbia essays will convince the admissions committee that you embody these qualities. In the
following section of the guide, we discuss these qualities in more detail, so you can decide which of your attributes to
feature and what stories to tell to convince the admissions committee that you belong at Columbia.
ENTREPRENEURIAL MINDSET
Entrepreneurship is far broader than just starting a business. It is, indeed, a way of thinking. - Columbia Admissions
The entrepreneurial mindset is a popular catch phrase at Columbia and is integral to the new deans vision for the
program. As Linda Meehan, Columbias former director of admissions, points out: One can concentrate in entrepreneurship
if he or she chooses. But all the core classes are infused with the entrepreneurial theme. In other words, it is impossible to
come to Columbia without being exposed to all of the different aspects of entrepreneurship.
A person who is entrepreneurial initiates change and creates something that has not existed before, whether it is a new
product, process, or way of viewing the world. Dean Hubbard shed some further light on the entrepreneurial quality the
school is looking for. He defined entrepreneurial-minded people as follows: Those who know how to recognize and capture
opportunity, minimize risk, and make the best decisions possible with inadequate or incomplete information.
Columbia is on the lookout for future entrepreneurs but does not define entrepreneurship narrowly You need not have
started a business or want to start one in the future. Rather, the school is looking for dynamic, inventive, creative individuals
who are forward looking who see the potential to make things better and, moreover, have taken action in the past to
implement positive change. This entrepreneurial thinking and action may well have taken place within the context of a
very large and established organization.
If you are having trouble coming up with ways to feature your entrepreneurial mindset, consider situations in which you
have taken initiative versus waiting to be assigned a task. Consider times that you have stepped forward to address a
longstanding problem in your organization or community or an instance in which you volunteered for additional
responsibilities outside of your job description. Early in your career, your superiors may be reluctant to entrust you with
major leadership responsibilities because your ability to lead is untested; therefore, candidates who have actively sought
out opportunities to make an impact above and beyond the call of duty will have demonstrated the entrepreneurial mindset
the admissions committee is looking for.
GLOBAL AWARENESS
Not only is the business environment fiercely entrepreneurial, but it is also relentlessly global. In working across borders
and cultures, one must be adept at working in a decentralized organization and have the ability to recognize and capture
opportunity. Dean Glenn Hubbard, Columbia Business School
Approximately one-third of Columbias student body comes from countries outside the U.S. The curriculum is infused with
an international perspective through Master Classes, study tours, and a variety of special projects that sends students to
Asia, Africa, South America, and other locations where they apply lessons to business challenges. Consequently, the
admissions committee prizes an awareness and appreciation of other cultures and a demonstrated ability to connect with
a diverse community of people. Candidates should emphasize concrete experiences as an outsider and highlight an ability
to find common ground and form effective relationships with people different than themselves. The diverse makeup of
Columbias student body as a whole means there will be almost no insiders. Indeed, every student begins life at Columbia
as an outsider, but those who are successful dont stay on the outside for long. Those applicants who can provide evidence
that they not only survive but also thrive in this kind of environment will be of particular interest to the admissions
committee.
Global awareness isnt just a matter of fitting in during your two years at Columbia. It also relates to ones past experiences
and future career goals. Columbia graduates will compete in a global marketplace; so experience with the challenges of
doing business globally and a natural curiosity for learning more about other countries and cultures will be valued by the
admissions committee.
SOCIAL INTELLIGENCE
The fast, decentralized nature of modern firms means that social intelligence is required in a managers career from
the start. Dean Glenn Hubbard, Columbia Business School
Social intelligence is required to effectively manage individuals, teams, and networks. The Columbia Admissions Committee
will be looking for evidence that you understand what Dean Hubbard referred to as the softer side of management and
interpersonal interaction. When writing your essays, you should go beyond just rattling off the plot, I did A, then I did B,
and we accomplished C. The admissions committee also wants some insight into what you were thinking and feeling, why
you made a particular choice given the alternatives, and how you factored in the feelings and motivations of your
teammates and colleagues before taking action.
A quality that goes hand-in-hand with social intelligence is maturity the extent of your life experience and how you have
matured, crystallized values and passion, and formulated a worldview. Maturity isnt a matter of growing older; its a matter
of growing wiser. You should be on the lookout for opportunities to share defining moments in your life and to describe what
you learned and how you have grown as a result. Remember that social intelligence and maturity are very often the result
of experiences that take place in our lives outside of work. Try to balance the personal and professional and share a portfolio
of experiences that reveal your human side, not just your business persona.
TEAM LEADERSHIP
We are looking for interesting people who are involved and want to contribute. We also take into consideration the
ability to work well in teams. Columbia Admissions
When reviewing your application, the admissions committee will be assessing not only your capacity to play on a team but
also your ability to lead one. Team leadership, as opposed to some other leadership styles, requires the ability to influence
others without direct authority. This type of leader engages, empowers, and motivates his teammates to give their all.
Dean Hubbard stresses how important it is for Columbia students to possess the skills to build and lead teams, to work in
borderless environments, without organizational silos and, often, without national identities.
Columbias experiential learning model is designed to prepare its students to face complex challenges in which a rigid,
hierarchical team structure will be of limited application. The admissions committee needs to see evidence that you are
capable of the team play, collaboration, and the learning/teaching dynamic required to excel in a hands-on learning
environment.
Your capacity to work in a fluid, dynamic team environment, taking the lead when necessary, capitalizing on the strengths
of others, and handing over the reins when the time is right are what Columbia is looking for.
COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP
At Columbia Business School, we are grooming the next generation of business leaders and we look for students with
demonstrated leadership potential. It may be evident from their work history, how they have taken a leadership role in
other areas such as community leadership, or leadership positions in school or from volunteer experiences. Dean
Glenn Hubbard, Columbia Business School
Most candidates who have a goal of attending business school at some point in the future understand that the top programs
want to see evidence of community service. In response, they dive into a community service project in hopes of checking
the community service box on the application. Unfortunately, they never stop to think about why the admissions committee
is interested in their community service accomplishments.
The admissions committee isn't like a judge who has sentenced you to 100 hours of community service. Rather, the
committee is interested in your community service work because it provides insight into your deeper interests. According
to Columbias Dean Hubbard, Professional as well as personal accomplishments are important, as are activities that
demonstrate that a candidate is fully engaged in his/her endeavors and is committed to making a contribution to the school
and the business world that goes beyond the expected.
Most of us need a job to earn a paycheck, but community service (barring a judges mandate) is optional. Therefore, you
will want to put a great deal of thought into what kind of community and volunteer work you do. If the only reason you can
come up with for being involved with a particular organization is because you think it will look good on your business
school application, you are probably wasting your time.
The other reason that admissions officers want to see evidence that you are the type of person who devotes energy to
making a community stronger is that they are deciding whether or not to invite you into their community. You will be as
busy in an MBA program as you are at your current job. Do you have the dedication and drive to get involved and give back
even when its not strictly required? If you have a history of contributing energy to the causes and communities you care
about, then the admissions committee is likely to conclude you will make their student community stronger.
According to recent leadership research, Leadership style can be broken down into takers and givers. Takers are often
charismatic personalities who end up making decisions to enrich their own coffers and careers. Givers, on the other hand,
create value and empower employees to become leaders. This is a critical distinction that sheds some light on why some
candidates who have impressive transcripts and resumes might not make the cut at Columbia. The admissions officers are
not only concerned with your achievements; they are also interested in the connection between those achievements and
who you are, the means you used to reach the ends you achieved, and the value of your achievements to the organization
or community as a whole. Leadership stories in which youve enriched the team, helped your teammates grow, and put the
needs of a community of people ahead of your own are therefore the most compelling to the admissions committee.
HIGH-IMPACT LEADERSHIP
Leaders are people who leave their footprints in their areas of passion. This leadership definition offers important clues
about what the admissions committee will be looking for when evaluating your leadership potential. They will want to see
evidence that you have made a significant impact (i.e., left your footprints) on the communities of which youve been a part
(i.e., your areas of passion).
Stories about your past leadership achievements will help the admissions committee to gauge your potential for realizing
your future ambitions. The term footprints in the leadership definition is instructive. You should provide concrete
examples and tangible evidence that you made a difference. The admissions committee understands that you are early in
your career, so they dont expect that you will have led an entire company or founded a not-for-profit. If you have, great!
If not, admissions officers will appreciate leadership on a smaller scale from organizing a classroom to directing a combat
squad, from running an independent business to spearheading initiatives at work. The scale of your achievement is less
important than the fact that youve left indelible footprints in areas that matter to you. Your job description provides the
baseline of what is expected of you. Applicants who are accepted to Columbia have gone above and beyond and challenged
the status quo. Applicants dont get into a top school because they are different but because they have made a difference.
PASSION
The leadership definition above doesnt end with the word footprints a leader leaves footprints in their areas of passion.
The admission committee will expect you to articulate what you are passionate about and will want to see evidence that
you have actively expressed those passions inside and outside of work. Columbia prepares its students to make a mark on
the world, but no school can supply you with passion. The hope is that you will arrive on campus on day one with a burning
desire to make the world a better place.
Grand achievements are rarely the work of a single individual; passion is critical to Columbia because leadership requires
harnessing the energy and talents of others. Your spirit and desire to achieve something meaningful will be necessary to
activate and motivate your team and, some day, an entire organization. Its not just your footprints that interest Columbia
admissions officers they also want to see the footprints of those who are following you as you blaze a new trail in an area
of passion.
ANALYTICAL ABILITY
Columbia has a reputation for valuing quant jocks, but the school has outgrown its roots as a program primarily for
future i-bankers. Nevertheless, those roots run deep, and prospective students must have the capability to handle the
rigorous analytical demands of the program. Even so, the school wants to attract applicants from a variety of professional
backgrounds, so poets can certainly apply. Those applicants who do not have sufficient academic or professional evidence
of analytical prowess will probably want to take a college-level calculus and possibly a business statistics course to prove
they can keep up. Scoring in the high percentiles on the GMATs quant section will certainly help your case.
Furthermore, the admissions officers will read your essays to glean your analytical approach to problem solving. In your
essays, its critical to describe what you did but also what you thought the decision-making process that provided the basis
for your actions.
Proving that you made the best choice generally requires some discussion of the paths you didnt chose. Where possible,
feature your ability to analyze and breakdown a complex problem, weigh the alternatives, and select the one that best
achieves your objectives. By doing so, you will show the admissions committee that you have the analytical aptitude to
excel at Columbia.
INTEGRITY
In light of a litany of corporate scandals and the global financial crisis, business schools have redoubled their efforts at
ensuring that their students are prepared for the ethical challenges they will face in the future. Columbia has increased its
commitment both to admitting students who possess what Dean Hubbard referred to as a strong ethical code and to
providing the tools and training to prepare graduates for complex ethical decision making.
Integrity is not a single attribute but a combination of attributes. In his book, Integrity, Dr. Henry Cloud defines this quality
as the courage to meet the demands of reality. He then provides specific traits required for integrity: creates trust,
unafraid of reality, results oriented, solves negative realities, causes growth, and finds meaning in life. His list may help
spur your thinking about how you might convey your integrity to the admissions committee in large and small ways
throughout your essays by describing what you thought, felt, said, and did.
The challenge for applicants is to figure out how to communicate the quality of integrity in the essays. It bears mentioning
that this is one of those qualities that is often more convincing when reinforced by a third party; therefore, consider ways
that your recommenders might build the case and supply examples that you possess integrity.
CONCLUSION
In this guide, we have provided guidance that will help you to craft the best set of essays possible:
We have armed you with a list of the fundamental qualities and attributes that the admissions officers are looking for as
they review your application, so that you can be sure to emphasize and accent these characteristics in your essays. The
intention here is not to give you a cheat sheet or a list of buzzwords to paste into your essays. Rather, you should study
this list closely and feature the qualities that describe you, and use your essays and stories to supply the admissions officers
with convincing reasons to believe that you possess these characteristics.
Most applicants are surprised by how demanding the business school application process turns out to be. The truth is that
there are no shortcuts to crafting an excellent set of essays. It is helpful to keep the advice of two very experienced writers
in mind while you are embroiled in the fight to pen your application magnum opus:
The first draft of anything is [expletive deleted]. Ernest Hemingway
The best writing is rewriting. E.B. White, author of The Elements of Style
Hemingways words are a reminder that after all the soul searching, brainstorming, and navel gazing, you must eventually
sit down and write something. If you set your expectations that the first draft you write will probably be absolutely terrible,
then the pressure is off. Some candidates read examples of successful essays and become so intimidated that they
become terrified about facing the blank page and wait around hoping that the perfect essay will somehow spring from their
finger tips. They procrastinate, waiting for inspiration that never arrives. Budget plenty of time for the process of writing,
rewriting, and more rewriting. The essay process is a marathon, and trying to sprint a few weeks from the deadline will
usually not work well.
HERE ARE A FEW FINAL TIPS:
Make sure that the question asked is being answered no more, no less.
Take advantage of all the essay questions on an application. An essay cannot be evaluated in isolation. How the application
essays work together to provide a holistic view of you is critical.
Why you made a choice and what you learned from an experience are just as important (perhaps more important)
as what you did.
Show personality and be a little daring but within reason. Use judgment here, and if you are questioning a particular
story too much, it is probably best to omit.
You cant tell them everything; so tell the admissions officers the most important things.
We believe that if approached correctly, this can be a fun and enlightening experience. Of course, if you feel you need more
inspiration, guidance, and advice, we will be happy to match you with one of our experienced application strategy
consultants. Learn more about the editorial and comprehensive business school admission consulting services we offer at
www.stacyblackman.com.
BEST OF LUCK!
ABOUT STACY BLACKMAN CONSULTING
Stacy Blackman Consulting's mission is to help our clients achieve their most ambitious educational and professional goals
by making the MBA application process less stressful and more successful.
Since 2001, we have helped hundreds of candidates with their applications to top business schools; our clients have been
admitted to every top MBA program worldwide.
Stacy Blackman Consulting offers Comprehensive, Hourly and Editing services. Services may include:
School selection
Strategy development
Assistance with essay writing: coaching, review and feedback
Interview coaching
Planning for school visits
Reference selection, preparation and editing
Developing resumes
Review of data forms
Wait list and deferral strategy
Assistance with extra-curricular involvements
Coordinating school communications
In addition to our consulting services and our online guides, we have published a book on the MBA admissions process
entitled The MBA Application Roadmap.
To learn more about our services and resources, visit our website (www.StacyBlackman.com).
Also, visit our blog at www.StacyBlackman.com/blog, which is updated daily with the latest MBA news and application tips.
Sign up for the Stacy Blackman MBA Roadmap newsletter at http://www.StacyBlackman.com/newsletter.

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