CBS

Short Answer Question: Summer after Your 1st Year at CBS

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Prompt: How do you plan to spend the summer after the first year of the MBA? If in an internship, please include target industry(ies) and/or function(s). If you plan to work on your own venture, please indicate a focus of business. (50 CHARACTERS maximum)

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In this super-short format, demonstrate that you have a recruitment plan for your first year.

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This question seems to demonstrate that CBS might prefer an applicant who is actively pursuing a purpose or mission in business school rather than an "explorer."

Essay: Short-Term Career Goals & Long-Term Dream Job

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Prompt: 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 would be your long-term dream job? (500 words maximum)

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You have just stated what your short-term goal is. You now have 500 words to describe the why and how.

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Basic Dos and Don'ts

• Do offer some points from your professional background to give context to your goals.
• Don't just repeat your resume, which they have.
• Do provide them with the "Why" you have an interest in your goals, and the "How" you have the skills to achieve your goals.
• Map your background / past experience to your future goals, in order to convince your reader that your goals are achievable.
• Be ambitious, but realistic.

Regarding Your Dream Job

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Why would this appeal to you? Why would this be the dream job?

Important: As part of your goals, tell them what sort of impact that you want to make, and where: community, company, region of the world? This is particularly important for your "dream job."

Note: At the end, mention briefly but specifically how CBS would be essential to meet those goals. This is mainly so you don't have a generic essay.

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Essay: Collaboration, Inclusion, and Community

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Prompt: 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 maximum)

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In this essay, you should tell the story of an extended period of time or a distinct situation brought together a team or a group of people. You have only 250 words in which to

• tell a story describing the time or situation and the actions that you took,
• state which skills (for example, management, diplomacy, reasoning, influence, leadership) you put to use,
• the outcome, which hopefully had a positive impact on the team,
• and a lesson that you learned.

CBS writes the question awkwardly, but I believe that the story is about

• a team, or
• a disparate set of people in an organization for which you "fostered a greater sense of community."

The story should center on

• you actively encouraging collaboration where there was little or none before
• you taking action to include people who had previously been excluded and/or had felt excluded, or
• you bringing together a set of people to feel and/or act as more of a community.

In deciding what story that you would like to share, consider what it demonstrates about how you will act at Columbia, emphasis on action.

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Most people have been involved in collaboration with others in pursuit of a common goal. If you choose a story of collaboration, it should be one in which the team faces and overcomes obstacles to collaboration, demonstrating that you will assist others in overcoming friction and blockades.

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A story about creating an inclusive team environment would describe you making a deliberate effort to create an environment where every person is respected and empowered to contribute equally, as well as be supported with access to the same resources and opportunities, regardless of individual demographics.

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Columbia is still an international school, so fostering a sense of community might mean communicating with people from other cultures, using the ability to persevere and be sensitive to one another's differences, including language, customs, ways of thinking, social norms, and habits. It might involve learning to understand and interpret the motivations and behaviors of others, even if you don't fully agree, in order to better understand and appreciate values and beliefs that are different from your own.

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Whatever the story, you must be an active player, not a passive observer and lucky beneficiary.

Essay: Co-Create Optimal MBA Experience

Prompt: 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 maximum)

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Note: CBS prefers that you reflect a range of CBS's unique curricular experiences in your essay, and not be narrowly focused on just one aspect of CBS.

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Last year's prompt asked why CBS is the best fit for you (better fit than other schools). This year, CBS asks how you will actively and proactively create a unique learning experience for yourself, in other words, creating an MBA experience that will uniquely fit you.

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CBS provides a series of hints about what they are looking for in the essay:

• Describe how you will collaborate with others (peers, professors, executives) to create your optimal experience.
• Consider how you will belong to the community, partner with others, and use opportunities to create your own path forward (agency).
• All three topics must be covered: academics, culture, and profession / industry.
• You will co-create your learning experience, meaning that you should actively pursue what you want to do.
• What you are describing is your optimal MBA experience - so, what you hope to get out of your time at CBS.

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The following won't be an essay outline, but a list of possible points to cover.

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You will not be able to cover all of the points in just 250 words, so just choose the top three for you. This essay should complement Essay 1, Goals.

The CBS academic curriculum

• Don't just list a bunch of things. Explain how you would use lessons from a key class, such as Napoleon's Glance, will help you achieve a goal.
• Many of the courses bring in business leaders to speak to the class - why might that benefit you especially?
• Many of the courses are taught by adjunct professors who are leaders in their field - again, why might that benefit you especially?
• You might benefit from a Chazen consulting project or trip - this isn't really unique, but it could be something very appealing to you - the opportunity to do a Chazen consulting project and go on a Chazen trip at the end - you can even learn a new language.
• You might wish to pursue the really unique opportunity to write a case study! (I don't know of any other business school that does this.) How would you use this opportunity as a learning experience?
• The new dean, Costis Maglaras, a professor of decision, risk and operations, designed CBS's business analytics curriculum and led the Managerial Statistics course. He is moving CBS forward to a future when data science and technology are central to advanced business education: Maglaras Appointed Dean of Business School
• CBS has introduced co-curricular initiatives like the Phillips Pathway for Inclusive Leadership*, which aims to equip students with the skills and strategies necessary to lead in an inclusive and ethical manner. Through PPIL, students attend programming focused on five essential diversity, equity, and inclusion skills: a) Creating an Inclusive Environment, b) Mitigating Bias, c) Communicating Across Identities, d) Addressing Systemic Inequity, and e) Managing Difficult Conversations. PPIL is heavily geared towards thinking of others in your leadership; in contrast, Stanford GSB's "Touchy Feely" course focuses on identifying and changing your own inner obstacles to leadership, and Wharton's leadership program focuses on challenging yourself (very different from CBS).

The CBS culture

• If you've talked to anyone from CBS, and they shared something that you thought, "Wow!" - this is the essay to share that.
• You can mention the new Manhattanville campus if you have visited it, and you have an interesting / authentic reason to value it.
• CBS has close ties to New York City - giving you access to opportunities you'll only get from NYC - and NYC gives CBS its distinctive culture. NYC gave CBS its original motto: At The Very Center of Business. Why would you value being in NYC; how would you make the most of that?
• The CBS class is composed of 45%+ non-US citizens. It is one of the most international classes in the United States. Why is this especially important to you?
• The CBS clusters systems distinguishes it from other schools. For example, HBS sections are large groups of 90 students each, while CBS clusters are smaller groups of 65 students, further subdivided into small learning teams; Chicago Booth does not have sections or clusters at all.

CBS support for your professional goals

• Explain how being part of a certain student organization will help you achieve your goals - and do some research into how being in NYC really helps that organization (for example, the speakers brought in). What event would you to help organize? What club would you hope to lead as a learning experience?
• Do some research, and find a lesser known or brand-new course that will really assist toward a professional goal.
• You would have the unique opportunity to pursue a Friday internship at a top company (and be specific about where you might want to go) - for many other / most other business schools, internships can only come on summer breaks, because you'd have to travel to the internship.
• Is there an Executive-in-Residence who would really help you progress in your profession, and why?

In writing this essay, because it is so short, focus ONLY on what is distinctive about the CBS program, and what matters most to you.

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Optional Essay

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 personal history. This does not need to be a formal essay. You may submit bullet points. (500 words max)

Use to address:

• choice of recommenders (in particular, if your current direct supervisor is not writing your recommendation - which is no big deal!)
• gaps in work experience
• low GPA or inconsistent or questionable academic performance
• interruptions in academic career
• difficult issues (i.e., Driving Under the Influence or other types of arrests)
• areas of weakness (i.e., less than five years work experience)

Use this essay to turn a potential weakness into a strength. Tell the Admissions Committee what happened and why it happened. Be honest in your self-evaluation. Most importantly, tell them what you have learned from the negative experience, and how this learning has influenced future actions.

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