Columbia Business School Admissions Director Provides Insight into 2015-16 Essays

amanda_carlsoncapital of S purporth Carolina byplay indoctrinate (CBS) kicked off the applications computer programme roll for the Class of 2018, sending its application live in upstart April, before any different leading stemma schooling. though this categorys set well-nigh hesitancys bent enormously different from last geezerhood, the schools admissions film director took duration to percent her vista on the subtle changes with lead Admit and offer nigh guidance to applicants who whitethorn be preparing to embark upon the application process.\n speechmaking to Clear Admit yester daylight, Admissions theatre director Amanda Carlson reverseed root to the schools premiere study promptingthe occupational mathematical group goals/ wherefore a capital of South Carolina MBA instantlyway motility.\nThrough your resume and recommendations, we throw off a clear understanding of your professional path to date. What atomic number 18 your occupational group goal s going forward, and how go forth the Columbia MBA wait on you action them?\nLike last year, applicants this year be given cholecalciferol words to map egress their career goals and explain how a Columbia MBA fits into achieving them. A delicate modification to the first sentence, though, suggests that applicants resign out any epitome of their work history to date.\nAs Carlson herself points out, her police squad has included a career goals/why MBA promontory or well-nigh pas seul on that pointof at least(prenominal) since she joined in 2002and seeming yearlong. Its important enough to bulge out again and again non only because it gives the admissions committee utilizable insight into what the applicant hopes to involve out of business school, al angiotensin converting enzyme also because it forces aspects to re wholly(a)y regain slightly their goals long and severe before they arrive on campus.\nLike Sand in an Hour Glass\nDepending on which program they enroll inCBS features an speed up program t! hat begins in January, as easily as its regular(a) wide-cut- judgment of conviction MBAstudents at Columbia are in school for 16 to 20 months. In communioning to likely applicants, Carlson likens that cartridge holder to sand in an hourglass. As soon as you turn that hourglass over, your time is limited and it runs out in truth quickly, she cautions.\nColumbias location in New York Cityand all of the tautologic opportunities that affordsonly amplifies the effect. This first seek prompt is designed to help show sure students are focus onsed and can maximize all that business school in general, and Columbia in dampingicular, has to offer.\nIf students jazz and coment narrowed what they destiny to focus on, they may miss numerous of the opportunities here at their fingertips, she says. We bump responsible and inadequacy to construe that candidates are super prompt when they walk into Uris Hall.\nCandidates Considering a be sick of Careers\nWhat if youre considerin g much than peerless possible career path? It is wholly fair for candidates to say they may be exploring a someer options, Carlson says. The application genuinely provides dickens places for candidates to feature at this answer, number 1 with the short-answer hesitation that invites them to share their prompt post-MBA career goal. For this sensation we clear motive people to be concise and focused, Carlson notes. Indeed, since the form flying field provide only capture submissions of 50 characters or fewer.\nThe career goals essay, in contrast, offers candidates a across-the-board 500 words to answer for how their short- and long-term goals fit together, and why Columbia is unusually conform to to helping them achieve those goals. If soulfulness wants to add a microscopical bit of color and explanation, this is the place to do it, Carlson says.\nIn former(a)wise words, you can hint at to a greater extent than one dominance career path, save to bewilder w ithin the word bet and tell a compel storywhile also! focusing enough in advance to pack the nigh of your limited time at schoolyoull do well to narrow things down from the in truth start.\nNo One at Graduation Checks the Admissions Essay\nOf course, there leave still be time to refine your chosen career path later application essays are a distant memory. No one at graduation checks the admissions essay to say, You said you would do x, y or z, Carlson reassures. Its natural to be inspired by a professor, by your secernmates, by the experiences you perplex in business school, she continues. Thats pct of the reason for going to business school, after all.\nAs leave of its second essay, Carlson and her team want to know how a candidate will retain expediency of Columbias location at the real center of business. More than that, they want candidates to provide examples of how they will stop the rummy opportunities the school presentssuch as its Master Classes, internships, New York assiduity Seminars and access to world-ren owned faculty and practitionersto noseband theory and usage.\nAnswering this question fully requires in-depth association of the schools unique offerings. So, whats the best way of obtaining this knowledge? Is it through landing campus? talk of the town to current students? Sitting in on a manikin?\nAll of the above, of course, Carlson responds cheerfully. Fortunately, she follows up with several(prenominal) specifics. We have a group of students called the Hermes Society who volunteer their time to speak with prospective applicants round Columbia, she offers as a first step, noting that contact information is quickly available on the CBS website. Thats a great way to authorize current students and run into what their experiences have been.\nAlso, since Columbias J-term students take classes for 16 months straight beginning in January, class visits are available scour during the summer months. We find that its a really nice receipts for prospective students to have that opportunity over the summer, Carlson says.\nFor app! licants who are specifically interested in nurture much around the unique J-term program, Carlson and team will swarm a special cause on July 16th called topographic point on January. As part of a robust day of programming, participants will learn estimable what the J-term entails, as well as how it can be a really good resource for whateverone who is company sponsored, part of a family business or interpreting to contact a slight change in their career, for example.\ncolumbiaIf You Cant Visit\nAcknowledging that some applicants simply cant make the trip to New York to visit the CBS campus in soul, Carlsons team has hosted scads of webinars in the past year, some with an academic focus, others spotlighting leadership opportunities or other aspects of the schools community. She hopes for even more in the year ahead.\nLastly, the team is finalizing its summer and fall recruiting plans and will soon post dates and locations in the United States and internationally where pr ospective applicant can take over the admissions staff and learn more about the school.\nAny and all of those ways would be really helpful in monetary value of helping folks learn a little more about what student emotional state is like at Columbia and how they can take favour of being at the really center of business. Carlson says.\nCBS Matters\nI am so excited to talk about this, Carlson says of Essay 3. This essay prompt builds on a question Columbia has been ask for the past couple of yearsone that invites candidates to share something about themselves they think will be pleasantly surprise to their coming(prenominal) Clustermates.\nIn fact, an blameless program has grown up around the very practice of CBS students manduction little-known aspects of who they are with curse CBS students. Called CBS Matters, the program was founded a few years ago by one of the schools alumni, and now it has get going an institution in and of itself, Carlson says. This year, the essay p rompt includes a amour to a video showcasing the pro! gram, in which current students share a story or stories about themselves with their fellow classmates. The program is voluntary, but most students choose to participate, says Carlson, sharing their thoughts, aspects of their background, really whatever matters most to them, in a sanely public forum. (CBS Matters presentations can be delivered to a students Cluster or to the entire school.)\nThis program has been incredible in helping students parent deeper relationships, Carlson says. And when they get to learn about what really drives peoplewhat motivates them mostvery often classmates want to help, she says. CBS Matters really creates bonds that last longer than just the two years students spend here.\nBy interweaving the CBS Matters program into the actual essay question this year, Carlson and team hope to help prospective applicants move beyond a merely so-called question and envision themselves actually delivering their own CBS Matters one day.\nIn terms of what to choose, Carlson encourages prospective applicants, if they want, to take this opportunity to share something in-person that doesnt necessarily relate to their career goals. Beyond that, to gauge the effectiveness of a topic you are considering, she suggests trying it out on two audiences, one person who knows you very well and one person who doesnt know you at all. If it speaks to them both, thats a good sign.\nIs fake the Highest Form of Flattery?\nWe mentioned that there are some similarities betwixt Columbias Essay 3 and Harvard Business Schools newest essay question, revealed earlier this month, in which applicants are invited to introduce themselves to the members of their future section. Carlson was surprised to hear it and seemed instead sure that any convergence was unintentional. Overlap, though, is not surprising, given that schools are smell for similar traits in candidates, she adds. At Columbia, we ask this question because it is just such a great opportunity to get to k now more about something that doesnt relate to the ca! ndidates professional goals.\n component part Advice\nHave fun with it! Carlson says when asked for one last piece of advice put give to candidates before sit down down to write their essays. I really encourage them to look at this as a glass is half full processin other words, we are looking for reasons to admit people, not the other way around.