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Considering Columbia Business School? To help you put your best foot forward, Personal MBA CoachNicole Shay sat down virtually with former colleague and current CBS admissions director Jordan Blitzer. Since joining CBS in 2017, Jordan has focused on recruiting for the school’s full-time MBA program, engaging with MBA candidates from around the world.
As the former Associate Director of Admissions at Columbia Business School, Nicole is working closely with Jordan through early 2021.
Below, Personal MBA Coach shares some of the key questions that Jordan and Nicole answered. To get more inside information about CBS, including what Jordan wants applicants to do differently, what’s new on campus and common misconceptions about CBS, watch the full interview here. This is a must see for prospective CBS students!
Nicole: Are there any major changes to the application process over the past year, related to COVID or otherwise, that you want to address?
Jordan: One question we get often is around in-person vs. virtual events. As I mentioned, the campus is still closed to visitors in order to prioritize space for our students to study in person. Another question we get quite often, and you probably get this a lot too, is about taking online tests. We absolutely accept tests taken online and consider them valid.
Not related to COVID, we still have our traditional objectives essay, but we now allow our applicants to choose between two of three options for the other essays. We really want people to talk about the things that matter to them so we can get to know them even better. We have also lowered our referral requirements and now require one referral. I think our candidates were a little overwhelmed at first, but it made the process more manageable overall.
Finally, the biggest general change (not related to COVID) is that we have joined the Consortium for Postgraduate Management Education. This means that it is now possible for people to apply to CBS through The Consortium. This is completely new territory for us as we are the latest school to join the group. I’m excited to see from an admissions perspective how this all affects our process and building our class.
Nicole: I’m curious if you have any advice on which of the three essays to choose if anyone has really struggled with how to choose. Do you have any advice at this point considering you’ve only been giving this option for a few months?
Jordan: A big part of the MBA process is about reflection and being honest with yourself. If you think you can meaningfully answer two of the prompts instead of the other, choose those two. We don’t really have any preferences that we want to see. Again, it’s about being able to respond meaningfully to prompts and share more about yourself.
Nicole: Something we often emphasize with clients is that although the topics of different essays at different schools may be the same, perhaps goals, suitability, etc., they are not the same question. It’s very easy to tell if you try to smear the content of one essay into another essay. I know I can spot it very easily and I stress that to people so it’s good to hear from you that it’s real.
Any must-have tips to boost authenticity or tone down this awkward approach to essays?
Jordan: Something I encourage people to do is identify someone in their life, it probably won’t be your significant other, parent/guardian or grandparent. This is someone who knows you but doesn’t know you that good. Give them your essays and don’t give them the prompt. Get them to share with you a bit about how you’re doing – does that sound like me? Does the person you know feel this way?
It helps to have someone somewhat distant because you don’t want the person filling in the holes for you. Your parents can fill a gap and connect the dots in a way that an admissions committee member cannot.
Have that person give some feedback and general thoughts on your answers, and then have them guess what the prompt was. Then you can really say to yourself “OK, I answered the question” or “Oh, something is wrong here; they didn’t understand what my dream job was.“
I think it’s a good way to see if you’ve hit or missed the mark.
To get more insider information on the Columbia Business School admissions process, we encourage you to check out the full interview here.
About Personal MBA Coach:
Founded by a Wharton MBA and MIT Sloan graduate who serves on the Board of Directors of the Association of International Graduate Admissions Consultants, Personal MBA Coach has been guiding clients for 14 years and is consistently ranked #1 or #2 by leading sources including Poets & Quants.
We assist clients with all aspects of the MBA application process, including early planning, GMAT/GRE/EA training, application strategy, school selection, essay editing, and mock interviews. Our team includes former M7 Admissions Directors and former M7 Admissions Interviewers.
Last year our clients won more than $6.5 million in scholarships!
Scott Edinburgh is a Wharton MBA and MIT Sloan BS graduate and founded Personal MBA Coach 15 years ago with the goal of providing personalized one-on-one support. Scott also serves on the Board of Directors of AIGAC, the Association of International Graduate Admissions Consultants, and is invited to speak at MBA admissions events around the world. Our clients have been accepted into all the best schools in the world with a 96% success rate. They received $6.5 million + in scholarships last cycle.
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