Columbia MBA essays

As we near round one MBA deadlines for the 2024-25 admissions cycle, top B-schools have released their essay questions. Today, we will discuss the essay questions released by Columbia Business School for this year’s admissions cycle. Understanding and effectively responding to these Columbia MBA essays prompts can significantly enhance your application and increase your chances of securing admission to this prestigious program.

But before that, let us take a look at the deadlines for each round:

Here is the table for the Columbia Business School MBA application deadlines for the 2024-2025 cycle:

Round	Application Deadline	Interview Notification	Decision Notification
Round 1	September 10, 2024	By November 15	By December 20
Round 2	January 7, 2025	By February 20	By March 26
Round 3	April 1, 2025	By May 1	By May 15

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Great! Now that you know the respective deadlines, you can choose whether to apply at early or regular rounds. Early rounds generally have better prospects of getting in and bagging scholarships. It’s especially advantageous for over-represented applicants.

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This article is dedicated completely to how to crack MBA School essays. It is part of our exclusive “MBA B-School Essays.” Here, we help you understand how adcoms think. Additionally, we guide you on how to craft admit-winning essays!

Now, let us look at the required application essay questions released by CBS!

SHORT ANSWER QUESTION:

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

Almost all the schools do ask this question, and almost all the aspirants seem to know the answer. But still, a very slim percentage of them manage to get the glance of the adcoms. Why?

Because one needs to follow a structured framework before getting on these questions that help them introspect on their goals thoroughly.

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To introspect on your short-term goals, start with long-term career aspirations. Weird, huh?

This will help you understand your immediate goals and your ‘Why MBA.’ Once you have some understanding, narrow it down to the desired industry, function, and geography you want to pursue post MBA. And finally, align the dots with your current work experience to bring practicality and collinearity.

Furthermore, for someone belonging to an overrepresented pool of candidates, a pinch of uniqueness and some bits of personality could cut!

So, whenever answering such questions, the trick is to remember what separates you from the crowd?

ESSAY 1

Q) What are your career goals over the next three to five years, and what is your long-term dream job? (500 words)

“The hefty one, the most common one, the crucial one, or you may call it whatever you want. This question is the most basic one and is shared among all top B-schools, albeit using different sets of words. Perfect it once; get rid of it forever! That’s our advice.

Once a candidate has spent enough time to draft a structure best to his knowledge. It’s perfectly hemmed together with the other elements of your profile. Then, it’s just a matter of incorporating smaller stuff. This includes school values and your aspirations regarding specific schools and their culture!

In order to dive deep into the process, we would recommend that you once go through our article on How to frame practical post-MBA goals essays? You will get valuable insights into how you could incorporate the distinction & specificity of your professional & academic background into a generic industry like finance, consulting, product management, etc. Finally, the only thing left to do is make them “Collinear.” No matter how good & strong your background is, being a doctor, you can’t go all the way to start working in an IT role. The aim should be to be as far as possible from being unrealistic and hypothetical in your post-MBA goals.

ESSAY 2:

Q) Why do you feel Columbia Business School is a good fit for you academically, culturally, and professionally? (300 words)

Let’s try a different approach! Think of this as a precap of every resource you need, everything you will try to achieve, your aspirations regarding an MBA, your career projectile, and finally, a culture you can thrive upon. Take all these and, in 300 words, summarize how you think an MBA from CBS could cater to all of your needs. Remember, don’t be shy! The adcom likes demanding people; after all, you are giving your precious years and a hefty investment, and the school must help you achieve everything you desire!

ESSAY 3:

Q) Tell us about your favorite book, movie, or song and why it resonates with you. (250 words)

Once again, it’s a good one! Describing anything you feel attached to helps the adcom know you apart from your professional and academic background. Moreover, we always say that GPA and GMAT do not decide admissions; it’s the built-in character, the aura, the values, and the collaborative leader with the potential to bring a huge impact to the CBS community that will cut.

Quick Insight-

While bringing a good personality, try to align your values with the schools. Very impactful!!

There you go! These are the essay questions released by CBS for MBA applicants applying in this year’s admission cycle. Furthermore, as you can see, it’s a clear mix of post-MBA goals. Additionally, it explores how an MBA from CBS would enhance your skill-set. Moreover, there’s a personal question to gauge your character apart from your professionalism.

Strategy-wise, to get started, we would advise you to spend about two weeks doing adequate research on the Columbia MBA program itself. Additionally, familiarizing yourself with the curriculum, culture, clubs, and campus activities is essential. Next, it’s crucial to understand how to interlink your experiences, ECAs, and professional accolades in a well-structured manner. Moreover, with an approach that would provide a clear sense of your professionalism and define a strong character that matches the school values, you can effectively craft your Columbia MBA essays to reflect your unique strengths and alignment with the program.

It seems a bit confusing, doesn’t it? But fear not; MBA and Beyond is determined to help you develop a unique structure for each essay question, providing step-by-step procedures to build a specific answer that will help you stand out among the crowd! We are a team of expert consultants who follow a unique process to achieve maximum efficiency, quality, and interaction, ensuring a 100% unique and authentic application for the Columbia MBA program. Our expertise in crafting Columbia MBA essays will guide you through the intricacies of the application process.

Feel free to hop on a 1:1 profile evaluation call with our experts, where we’ll dip deep into your profile and help you understand your chances to top B-schools with absolutely honest feedback. “at certain points in life, we require guidance and assistance from others to grow.”

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