2014 AIGAC MBA Applicant Survey Now Available

The 2014 AIGAC MBA Applicant Survey is now available. The full version of the survey analysis is here.   I want to thank my clients and readers who made application in 2014 for contributing to the survey results.  Those making application for 2015 admission will find the survey worth reviewing in order to understand the way in which applicants make use of available resources and their opinions about which resources are effective.

-Adam Markus

I am a graduate admissions consultant who works with clients worldwide. If you would like to arrange an initial consultation, please complete my intake form. Please don't email me any essays, other admissions consultant's intake forms, your life story, or any long email asking for a written profile assessment. The only profiles I assess are those with people who I offer initial consultations to. Please note that initial consultations are not offered when I have reached full capacity or when I determine that I am not a good fit with an applicant.

Adam in P&Q's "What MBA Admission Consultants Charge"

My perspective on why hourly rates instead of per school packages are fair was given extensive coverage in Poets & Quants.

-Adam Markus

I am a graduate admissions consultant who works with clients worldwide. If you would like to arrange an initial consultation, please complete my intake form. Please don't email me any essays, other admissions consultant's intake forms, your life story, or any long email asking for a written profile assessment. The only profiles I assess are those with people who I offer initial consultations to. Please note that initial consultations are not offered when I have reached full capacity or when I determine that I am not a good fit with an applicant.

Interview with TOEFL and IELTS Expert Taichi Kono

The highly experienced TOEFL, GMAT and IELTS instructor, Taichi Kono , author of  five English language textbooks including two on TOEFL , was kind enough to answer my questions on TOEFL and IELTS.  I previously posted Taichi's Japanese language blog posts  on GMAT Sentence Correction (The whole series can be found on Taichi's blog).  The timing of this interview is directly connected to the fact that TOEFL will no longer be accepted in the UK for visa granting purposes. Update: TOEFL will be accepted in the UK under certain conditions. See Using TOEFL® Scores to Apply to U.K. Universities. I have reported on that issue in detail here.   Taichi teaches both IELTS and TOEFL. Based on our past conversations, I knew he was the best person to ask about the impact that this will have not only on Japanese applicants to UK programs, but on any applicant who needs to demonstrate his or her English proficiency to gain a student visa in the UK.

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Adam: Overall, how would you compare the difficulty of iBT TOEFL and IELTS?

Taichi: Hard to say. Rumor on the Internet has it that the IELTS test is super-easy, but the fact is IELTS is NOT THAT easy. It all depends on each candidate's strength. All in all, though, I would say for most people IELTS is a bit easier due to its scoring system: on the IELTS test an average score of 6.75 on all four tests counts as 7. Plus, most people will find it easier to speak to a human rather than the PC on the speaking test. There is no listening on the IELTS writing test, so if your listening skill is not very good, you'll find IELTS writing easier.

Adam: Given the following key scores for graduate how would you compare the difficulty of obtaining  them?  How hard is it to get a iBT TOEFL 100 compared to an IELTS Band 7?  An iBT TOEFL 109 versus an IELTS Band 7.5?  An iBT TOEFL 110 versus a IELTS Band 8?

Taichi: An IELTS Band 7 is definitely easier than an iBT TOEFL 100. The same goes for TOEFL 109 vs IELTS 7.5, maybe by a little smaller margin. 110 vs 8 is a close call, but I'd say an IELTS Band 8 is less difficult.

Adam:  Given the dominance of TOEFL in Japan, how common has it been for Japanese to prefer studying IELTS?

Taichi: It is increasingly becoming more common year after year. There has been more and more awareness among those who are seriously thinking of studying abroad that the IELTS is a lot easier than the TOEFL iBT. Again, WARNING: IELTS IS NOT THAT EASY! But the recent development in the U.K. will only add to the IELTS' momentum. Having said that, all that is a matter of comparison with the past; the TOEFL test is still dominant in Japan by far.

Adam:  After the British government stopped taking the TOEFL last month have you seen an increase in the number of your students interested in studying IELTS? Have many switched from TOEFL to IELTS?

Taichi: The number of IELTS students coming to my school had already increased well before the development in the U.K. because of the wide-spread (false) awareness of the IELTS' easiness. Or rather, I'd say because the TOEFL iBT was just too difficult for some candidates and they turned to the IELTS as the last resort. Most schools in the States (including the Ivy League ones) now accepting the IELTS is definitely a contributing factor as well.

Adam: So, in general, IELTS is actually easier?

Taichi: You should carefully examine each school's requirement, because some US schools demand higher scores on the IELTS. For example, while the official (or commonly accepted) equivalent of a TOEFL 100 is an IELTS 7, some schools want 7.5. It may be either because they think the IELTS is easier, too, or they just don't have any clear criteria for comparison. Anyhow, it all depends on the school, or even the department you're applying to, so it is for you to decide which test would be more to your advantage. For UK schools, IELTS is now the only option.

Adam: Given that IELTS is accepted at all US schools, if someone was preparing to apply to both US and UK schools, would there be any reason why they would want to study TOEFL?   It is so common that my non-native English speaking  clients apply to both London Business School and US MBA programs that I can only imagine most will decide to just focus on IELTS.

Taichi: If you are aiming for schools in both the U.K. and the U.S., you have no choice but to prepare for the IELTS now that the IELTS is the only option in the U.K. Check school requirements and consider your strengths in English to decide if you want do both the tests or only the IELTS.

Adam:  So, in some cases, depending on where an applicant is applying, they might need to study both tests?   That seems rather challenging!

Taichi: Yes, preparing for both tests is highly demanding, and I simply wouldn't recommend it. I would say by and large the TOEFL is the safer bet if you are applying only for US schools. Then, if you find TOEFL too difficult for you, you could switch to IELTS after you have done your research and know for sure that the school does not have requirements favoring the TOEFL.

Adam:  What advice would you give to someone who needs to switch from preparing for iBT TOEFL to preparing for IELTS?

Taichi: The most distinct difference between the two tests, in my opinion, is the listening test, as on the IELTS, you answer as the audio progresses, while on the TOEFL all the questions appear after the audio has stopped. Now, that requires some getting used to and practice. Plus, needless to say, you should get used to the British accent, too. The writing test of the IELTS has two tasks and Task 1 is unique. You have to know how to describe graphs and charts in English. The IELTS speaking section IS a lot easier than the TOEFL, but then again you'd be better off practicing for that test, too.

Adam:  Does IELTS require applicants to use British spelling or grammar rules?  If so, are these difficult for test takers trained in American English to adjust to?

Taichi:  No, you don't have to worry about spelling and grammar rules, and you don't have to speak with a British accent, either. You only have to listen to and understand British English.

Adam:  Does it take much time for your students who are more exposed to American English  to adjust to the British accent?

Taichi:  No, I wouldn't say "much." But you need to know some sound-conversion rules and listen to some chosen audios with British English recorded many times. The problem is, though, most Japanese candidates don't know much about and haven't learned or practiced any English accent. In my school I teach the basic phonetics of American English first and have them practice A LOT!! Then with those who are taking the IELTS, we switch to the British accent later on. From experience, I find that particular sequence a little bit easier for Japanese students.

Adam: As far as IELTS preparation materials go, do you have any recommendations?  If you can provide suggestions that are in English as well as Japanese that would be great.

Taichi:  Quite honestly, IELTS books from Japanese publishers are not so good. The "Cambridge IELTS" series are what is best available. I use some other texts in class, too. Bear in mind, though,  that there's no "perfect" IELTS materials in the market. Every material "feels" different from the real IELTS test in one way or another. It's just a matter of degree. Those Cambridge books are "usable."

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I want to thank Taichi for taking the time to answer my questions.

-Adam Markus

I am a graduate admissions consultant who works with clients worldwide. If you would like to arrange an initial consultation, please complete my intake form. Please don't email me any essays, other admissions consultant's intake forms, your life story, or any long email asking for a written profile assessment. The only profiles I assess are those with people who I offer initial consultations to. Please note that initial consultations are not offered when I have reached full capacity or when I determine that I am not a good fit with an applicant.

Beating the Competition, Gaining MBA Admission: Averages & the 80% Range

 This is the second post in a series. In the first post, I looked at competition from the macro-level of Acceptance Rates, Number of Applicants, Number of Enrolled, and Yield.

Given the global nature of my client base and my experience over the past twelve and half years, I am able to assess the competition amongst applicants from a variety of perspectives.   In this series of posts, I will discuss some of the ways to assess your competition and beat your competition.

In this post, I look at some of the key data points that each applicant needs to consider when determining how competitive he or she is compared to other applicants.  Two of these data points are academic indicators, GMAT and GPA. The other two, age and months of work experience relate to a program’s minimums and maximums when it comes to age and experience.  


Who gets 80% of the seats?
Depending on where you apply, your competition might be extreme, possibly overwhelming to the point that your chance of admission is zero, or alternatively, relatively moderate or even possibly non-existent.  To assess where you stand when applying to a particular school, look at its admissions data.  This is consistently easy with US schools which report their data to publications such as US News and World Report and BusinessWeek, but less consistently possible with European and other non-US programs which vary from complete transparency to stated score minimums/ age ranges/ work experience requirements to near complete secrecy.

Numbers are not everything, but the numbers do matter.  The numbers I will be looking at are ones that indicate characteristics of applicants who get in in.  Numbers don’t tell the whole story and can be confusing.  Being in the 80% range in one category does not necessarily mean an admit was within the 80% range for all the categories that I will be considering. In fact, based on my experience those getting admitted with a GPA or GMAT in the lower 10% or are in the upper 10% for work experience (older candidates), usually only deviate from the 80% range in one category.  For example, in past years, I have had clients admitted to Wharton and Yale with low GMATs (600 and 580 respectively), but their GPAs and ages were well within the 80% range.  Generally, unless, there are some strong additional factors at work, things really start to get difficult when an applicant’s GPA and GMAT both fall outside the bottom of the 80% range.  Beyond the 80% range, the remaining 20% consist of those who are 10% below that range and those that are 10% above. In some cases, only average data is available and not 80% range data, so the following tables lists both 80% range and average data and, for consistency and general data availability,  are listed in terms of averages. Just as in my prior post, I am looking at the Top 20 MBA Programs reported in US News & World Report, but I’m also supplementing that table data with additional information in my written analysis.

Table 1: Rank Does Not Tell All
 US News & World Report Top 20 US MBA Programs in Rank Order: GMAT, GPA, Age/Work Experience

School Name	US News & World Report Rank	Acceptance Rate	Average GMAT	GMAT Range (10%-90%)	Average GPA	GPA Range (10%-90%)	Average age of new entrants	Average work experience (months)
HBS	#1	11.3%	727	N/A	3.7	N/A	27	49
Stanford GSB	#1	6.8%	732	690-770	3.73	3.43-3.97	N/A	49
Wharton	#1	18.7%	725	N/A	3.6	N/A	28	60
Chicago Booth	#4	21.0%	723	680-760	3.58	3.24-3.91	28	57
MIT Sloan	#5	13.1%	713	670-760	3.58	3.21-3.88	28	60
Northwestern Kellogg	#6	21.6%	713	660-760	3.54	3.19-3.87	28	62
University of California—​Berkeley (Haas)	#7	14.3%	714	680-750	3.6	3.34-3.82	29	62
Columbia Business School	#8	18.1%	716	680-760	3.5	3.1-3.8	28	57
Dartmouth Tuck	#9	20.8%	718	680-760	3.53	3.24-3.85	28	63
New York University Stern	#10	16.0%	721	680-760	3.51	3.14-3.84	27	58
University of Michigan—​Ann Arbor Ross	#11	33.7%	704	650-750	3.4	2.9-3.8	28	65
University of Virginia Darden	#11	25.1%	706	650-760	3.51	3.08-3.84	27	57
Yale SOM	#13	21.3%	714	660-760	3.57	3.2-3.85	28	67
Duke Fuqua	#14	26.5%	694	640-750	3.42	3-3.83	29	66
University of Texas—​Austin McCombs	#15	32.6%	690	640-740	3.39	2.85-3.79	28	59
UCLA Anderson	#16	22.3%	706	660-750	3.47	3.14-3.8	29	63
Cornell University Johnson	#17	22.1%	691	640-740	3.32	2.9-3.78	28	57
Carnegie Mellon Tepper	#18	32.0%	691	620-750	3.28	2.78-3.85	28	50
UNC Chapel Hill Kenan-​Flagler	#19	43.8%	683	620-740	3.33	2.92-3.76	28	62
Emory University Goizueta	#20	31.2%	681	620-730	3.34	2.79-3.76	29	65

 There are many ways to look at a table of school rankings in order to determine what is actually going on, but School Rankings (US News or otherwise) are not a consistently accurate way to measure the actual difficulty of admission.  A higher ranking program is not always a harder program to enter:  For example, It is easier to get into Wharton than NYU,  Yale is harder to enter than Kellogg.  Each program has its own unique characteristics that might make admission easier or more difficult and these characteristics are not always the same. Let’s dig into this date by breaking this table down and focusing on each major factor. The point is to look at the competitive landscape from multiple perspectives.

Table 2: Top 20 US Programs in GMAT Average Order

School Name	US News & World Report Rank	Acceptance Rate	Average GMAT	GMAT Range (10%-90%)
Stanford GSB	#1	6.8%	732	690-770
HBS	#1	11.3%	727	N/A
Wharton	#1	18.7%	725	N/A
Chicago Booth	#4	21.0%	723	680-760
New York University (Stern)	#10	16.0%	721	680-760
Dartmouth Tuck	#9	20.8%	718	680-760
Columbia Business School	#8	18.1%	716	680-760
University of California—​Berkeley (Haas)	#7	14.3%	714	680-750
Yale SOM	#13	21.3%	714	660-760
MIT Sloan	#5	13.1%	713	670-760
Northwestern Kellogg	#6	21.6%	713	660-760
University of Virginia Darden	#11	25.1%	706	650-760
UCLA Anderson	#16	22.3%	706	660-750
University of Michigan—​Ann Arbor Ross	#11	33.7%	704	650-750
Duke Fuqua	#14	26.5%	694	640-750
Cornell University Johnson	#17	22.1%	691	640-740
Carnegie Mellon University Tepper	#18	32.0%	691	620-750
University of Texas—​Austin McCombs	#15	32.6%	690	640-740
UNC Chapel Hill Kenan-​Flagler	#19	43.8%	683	620-740
Emory University Goizueta	#20	31.2%	681	620-730

The first thing you will see from this table is that there is actually quite a bit of inconsistency between ranking and average GMAT scores once you get beyond the top four programs.  The next thing you will notice is that there is an inconsistent relationship between average GMAT scores and acceptance rates: Take a look at Booth, MIT and NYU if you don’t immediately understand that this inconsistency.  If one were looking for proof that GMAT is not the sole factor in determining admission, the inconsistency between acceptance rates and GMAT scores here would be sufficient evidence that other factors are at play.


For GMAT, the question many applicants ask is how low do they go?  After all 10% are getting below the range. HBS, always the leader when it comes data transparency, actually indicates that in the Class of 2015, the GMAT range (100% range, not 80% range) was from 550-780. At Stanford GSB, the 100% range was 550-790. Based on my experience, I have worked with clients who entered Stanford with a score in the low 600s and another who was  invited to an interview with 580 (That person was rejected from Stanford, but admitted to other top programs).  I have had clients enter Wharton and Columbia with 600. Based on those experiences, I would caution readers to understand that highly unusual candidates are gaining admission with very low GMAT score s.  By unusual, I am someone who is highly accomplished and strong in other respects, but weak at GMAT. This person might be extremely impressive in terms of their professional background. They might be company-sponsored and come from a company with influence at the school. They might come from a prestigious background and have institutional influence.  For the right candidate, applying with low GMAT can be fine, but if you think you are not exceptional, don’t count on being the statistical outrider who enters HBS with a 550.  In general, if you are 10-50 points outside the bottom of the 80% range, you might still have a shot. If you are 60 or more points below the bottom of the 80% range, you best be exceptional.


Table 3: Rank and Average GPA in the Age of American Undergraduate Grade Inflation
 Top 20 US Programs in GPA Average Order

School Name	US News & World Report Rank	Acceptance Rate	Average GPA	GPA Range (10%-90%)
Stanford GSB	#1	6.8%	3.73	3.43-3.97
HBS	#1	11.3%	3.7	N/A
Wharton	#1	18.7%	3.6	N/A
University of California—​Berkeley (Haas)	#7	14.3%	3.6	3.34-3.82
Chicago Booth	#4	21.0%	3.58	3.24-3.91
MIT Sloan	#5	13.1%	3.58	3.21-3.88
Yale SOM	#13	21.3%	3.57	3.2-3.85
Northwestern Kellogg	#6	21.6%	3.54	3.19-3.87
Dartmouth Tuck	#9	20.8%	3.53	3.24-3.85
New York University Stern	#10	16.0%	3.51	3.14-3.84
University of Virginia Darden	#11	25.1%	3.51	3.08-3.84
Columbia Business School	#8	18.1%	3.5	3.1-3.8
UCLA Anderson	#16	22.3%	3.47	3.14-3.8
Duke Fuqua	#14	26.5%	3.42	3-3.83
University of Michigan—​Ann Arbor Ross	#11	33.7%	3.4	2.9-3.8
University of Texas—​Austin McCombs	#15	32.6%	3.39	2.85-3.79
Emory University Goizueta	#20	31.2%	3.34	2.79-3.76
UNC Chapel Hill Kenan-​Flagler	#19	43.8%	3.33	2.92-3.76
Cornell University Johnson	#17	22.1%	3.32	2.9-3.78
Carnegie Mellon Tepper	#18	32.0%	3.28	2.78-3.85

As many applicants soon realize when they start looking into US MBA programs, American B-schools seem to really place a high degree of importance on GPA. The absurdity of GPA is painful because Grade inflation is extreme at many US schools, so anyone going to a school (American or otherwise) where the grades were not inflated is at an apparent disadvantage.  For the record, "The median grade in Harvard College is indeed an A-. The most frequently awarded grade in Harvard College is actually a straight A." No forced curves there.  Harvard College is not alone in the US:

About 1.8 million students will graduate from college this year [2013], according to the National Center for Education Statistics. At least one-third of them will graduate with honors. In some colleges, about half will be honor graduates.

It's not that the current crop is that bright, it's that honors is determined by grade point average. Because of runaway grade inflation, the average grade in college is now an "A." About 43 percent of all college grades are "A"s, according to a recent study by Stuart Rojstaczer and Christopher Healy, and published in the prestigious Teachers College Record.  About three-fourths of all grades are "A"s or "B"s.

Everyone applying to top US MBA programs is applying to programs  where the majority of students (including many of the international students) have undergraduate degrees from the US.  To a certain extent you will be compared to those students, especially if your application is initially being read by an admissions reader who is not completely sensitive to the distinctions between the school you attended and US schools.  Given that in any particular year about 65%-75% of my clients have undergraduate degrees from outside the US, I  have become an expert in analyzing what their GPA means and helping them explain it to an admissions committee. Fortunately, at least based on my interactions with admissions officers and experience with clients, differences in grading systems are accounted for. To be on the safe side, if one of my clients has a substandard or substandard appearing  GPA, I have them address it in the optional essay. If you look at these GPA ranges and start to feel doomed, ask yourself the following:
-Was my GPA on a forced curve?  Can I document that? If so, what is my adjusted GPA when that forced curve is taken into consideration? If the school compares my GPA to that of other graduates of my school does my GPA look average or even good?
-Did I have a problem in a specific course that is lowering my GPA? If so, can I explain this?
-Did my GPA increase over the length of the program?
-Do I have provable extenuating circumstances why my GPA is low?
-If you did graduate from a US university and your GPA appears relatively low is there any way to show that the grading in your program or at your school was actually strict.
If you can answer “Yes!” to any of the above, there is still hope. You simply can’t rely on the intelligence, attention span, and capability of your reader. You need to control what you communicate.  While I know the admissions director will account for differences between educational systems, I would not leave that to chance with the other readers: The optional essay is your friend.

As far as how low of GPA they will go, this is often difficult to determine with precision because finding any data for the lower 10% is quite hard.  While both HBS and Stanford provide 100% range data for GMAT neither provide that data for GPA. However if we look at the Top 20 list as a whole, it is pretty clear that applicants applying to Top 20 programs with less than 2.9 are going to begin to have a hard time, those with a 2.7-2.5 are going to have an even harder time, and those with less than a 2.5 are going to be really challenged. Given that schools do put significant emphasis on demonstrated academic potential, in my experience those with GPAs below the bottom of the 80% range and with GMATs in the 80% range have a much easier time gaining admission.

Table 4:  Age 30 OK, but by Age 35? Well…
 Top 20 US Programs in Average Age of Entrant Order 
(Stanford does not provide Average Age Data, )

School Name	US News & World Report Rank	Acceptance Rate	Average age of new entrants	Average work experience (months)
Stanford GSB	1	6.8%	N/A	49
HBS	1	11.3%	27	49
New York University Stern	10	16.0%	27	58
University of Virginia Darden	11	25.1%	27	57
Wharton	1	18.7%	28	60
Chicago Booth	4	21.0%	28	57
MIT Sloan	5	13.1%	28	60
Northwestern Kellogg	6	21.6%	28	62
Columbia Business School	8	18.1%	28	57
Dartmouth Tuck	9	20.8%	28	63
University of Michigan—​Ann Arbor Ross	11	33.7%	28	65
Yale SOM	13	21.3%	28	67
University of Texas—​Austin McCombs	15	32.6%	28	59
Cornell University Johnson	17	22.1%	28	57
Carnegie Mellon Tepper	18	32.0%	28	50
UNC Chapel Hill Kenan-​Flagler	19	43.8%	28	62
University of California—​Berkeley (Haas)	7	14.3%	29	62
Duke Fuqua	14	26.5%	29	66
UCLA Anderson	16	22.3%	29	63
Emory University Goizueta	20	31.2%	29	65

If you are planning on entering an MBA program  between the ages of 24 and 30 and have from 24-96 months of work experience, age is probably not really something you need to worry very much about. If you are a college student applying to a program with differed admission (HBS, Stanford) and/or a policy of taking recent grads or those with limited work experience (Check with each program to determine that), again, no problem.  What makes the age issue such a sensitive one for schools is that they clearly don’t want to be accused of age discrimination while simultaneously they feel an institutional need to discriminate based on age to make certain that all the participants fit within the program.  However, for those who age is above the 80% range, the question becomes how old do they go?  The Average Age data above tells us that paranoid talk to the contrary, schools are admitting plenty of people in their early 30s.  Since most of these schools have an average age of between 28 and 29, clearly they have plenty of entrants in their 30s. The Average Months of Work Experience also indicates this.  At all of these institutions, entrants have an average of between 4 and 5.5 years of experience by the time they enter.  While manyentrants began their full-time employment  at age 21- 23, many pursue graduate education (Most likely 1-6 years beyond an undergraduate degree), may take a gap year before/during/after college or between jobs, many graduate in 5 years,  many have experienced unemployment etc.

The  admissions picture becomes significantly less positive when applicants are planning to enter at age 34 or older, but not necessarily impossible.  This is true even at Stanford, the B-school with the biggest reputation for preferring younger applicants. Stanford’s  Class of 2015′s work experience range was from 0-12 years, so unless the oldest admit or admits started working much before the age of 22, they entered Stanford at 34-35 years old. Still, given Stanford’s average of 4 years of work experience, they can’t be taking many older candidates.  I think the fact that their MsX program admits those with eight or more years of experience, is a good indication that Stanford’s MBA program is primarily focused on those with up to eight years of work experience, but does not exclude exceptional candidates with up to 12 years of experience.  Also, consider that since MsX is a full-time management program, it  provides a program specifically designed to meet the needs of “more experienced managers.” This is a major externality that the above data cannot account for because except for MIT, none of the rest of these schools has a full-time graduate degree in management for this specific demographic. Most have EMBAs and/or part-time programs, but this is not the same.

How many older applicants are actually getting in?  HBS is the only program that systematically accounts for age distribution. HBS does this based on years since undergraduate graduation. The following is taken from a July 24, 2013 post of  From The Admissions Director:

“This histogram shows the “number of years since graduation from undergraduate school” for the classes of 2013 – 2015.”

Keeping in mind that HBS has both a low average age and low number of months of work experience, we can assume that the distributions are more favorable to older candidates at schools with higher average ages and months of work experience because HBS gets the most applications and is the second most difficult program to enter. What we can see from the HBS numbers distribution is that about 100 or more of the HBS Class of 2015 must have been around age 30 or more at the time of entering the program.  My oldest admitted client so far was 32, but somebody is getting into HBS who must be a bit older than that, but just a bit.   Based on the available data and the admissions outcomes I have seen,  it is pretty clear that age 35 represents the typical high end for admission though exceptions can be found with candidates getting admitted to about age 40.

If you have from 7 to 10 years of work experience and are age 30-32 at the time of matriculation,  my advice would be to simply apply where you really want to go, but to make sure that you are applying to at least one school with a relatively higher age and/work experience range to better hedge on this.  To be even safer, apply to more schools with higher age and work experience averages.

If you are over age 32 and have over 10 years of work experience, in addition to applying to programs that have high average ages and work experience numbers, I would really recommend that you look at the full-time residential programs at Stanford, MIT, USC, and LBS designed for mid-career managers as well as EMBA programs.

Finally, I just want to emphasize again that while the numbers considered in this blog post do matter, they don’t tell the whole picture and are far from the only factors you need to look at in order to understand and beat your competition. 

In the next post in this series, I will be looking at demographics.

-Adam Markus

I am a graduate admissions consultant who works with clients worldwide. If you would like to arrange an initial consultation, please complete my intake form. Please don't email me any essays, other admissions consultant's intake forms, your life story, or any long email asking for a written profile assessment. The only profiles I assess are those with people who I offer initial consultations to. Please note that initial consultations are not offered when I have reached full capacity or when I determine that I am not a good fit with an applicant.

TOEFL To Be Accepted for UK Student Visas Under Certain Conditions

Update: TOEFL will be accepted in the UK under certain conditions. See Using TOEFL® Scores to Apply to U.K. Universities.  Except for this paragraph and the title, the rest of this post has not been updated. 


If you have been preparing to take the TOEFL and plan to apply to graduate programs in the UK and will need a Tier 4 Student Visa (The student visa required for longterm stay), you should stop studying TOEFL and start studying IELTS.  


For my interview with a TOEFL and IELTS test prep expert, please see here.  


According to the UK’s Guidance on applying for a UK visa: approved English language tests:
“Expiry of Educational Testing Services' (ETS) licence to carry out secure English language tests: impact on student visa applicants.
The Government wants to ensure that this change does not have an impact on genuine international students who took an ETS test in good faith before the licence expired.
UK Visas and Immigration are accepting visa applications which rely on an ETS certificate issued before the expiry of the licence was made public on 17 April. These applications will be considered subject to our normal checks. Applications will be accepted until new Immigration Rules come into effect and transitional provisions have come to an end.”


ETS reported it this way:
“Following the broadcast of a BBC Panorama program in February 2014 which highlighted an organized criminal element seeking to circumvent the U.K.'s visa-granting process, ETS has made the decision not to extend our Secure English-language Testing (SELT) license with the Home Office. As a result, TOEIC® and TOEFL iBT® testing will no longer be offered for U.K. visa-granting purposes.”


If you have taken TOEFL on or before April 17, 2014, you can still use your TOEFL score as part of the UK student visa process.  If you TOEFL test was after April 17, 2014, you need to take a new test.


The London School of Economics posted a long explanation of the issue on their site.  Since this is all very new most schools have yet to handle the issue, but the University of Cambridge (the school behind TOEFL’s rival test, IELTS) has:
“The Home Office has suspended accepting ETS tests as evidence of English language ability. This includes the Princeton TOEFL test (Test of English as a Foreign Language), and as a result the University of Cambridge will no longer be accepting TOEFL test scores as sufficient to meet the language entry requirements for Graduate study.”


Unless the Home Office and ETS come to some sort of agreement, if you want to attend a graduate program in the UK and you need to prove your English ability based on a standardized test, forget about TOEFL and take IELTS.  Even if the schools would be happy to take the TOEFL test, it is meaningless to do so because you can’t use it for a student visa.  I am assuming, the rest of the UK will follow Cambridge’s lead.


I will update this story as it develops.

-Adam Markus

I am a graduate admissions consultant who works with clients worldwide. If you would like to arrange an initial consultation, please complete my intake form. Please don't email me any essays, other admissions consultant's intake forms, your life story, or any long email asking for a written profile assessment. The only profiles I assess are those with people who I offer initial consultations to. Please note that initial consultations are not offered when I have reached full capacity or when I determine that I am not a good fit with an applicant.

The Possible Impact of the HBS Round 1 Deadline on Columbia Early Decision

Harvard Business School's Round One Deadline of September 9th is perfectly designed to make the decision to apply to Columbia Business School Early Decision easier than ever before because applicants who time their ED applications right can know whether they have been invited to an HBS interview long before paying Columbia's deposit and even possibly before applying. My post on Columbia’s essays for 2015 entry, including an extensive discussion on Early Decision and Regular Decision can be found here. My post on HBS Class of 2017 essays will be up soon.

Here is what Dee posted on the “From the Admissions Director” blog about the first round deadline:
“Round One application deadline will be September 9, 2014. Interviews, by invitation only, will be conducted from mid-October through end of November. Notification will be on or around December 10.”

Unless HBS is particularly nice to Columbia, which I doubt, it will send at least some and perhaps all of its invites before the ED deadline of October 8, 2014. This is the first time this situation will have occurred and it could impact the way some applicants apply to Columbia. While HBS has not announced when Round 1 invite interviews will go out, last year the invites went out on October 9th and 16th and interviews took place between October 21 and November 22.  Since the interviews will be conducted between mid-October through end of November and the application deadline is a week earlier this year (September 9, 2014 compared to September 16, 2013) it is likely that interview invitations will come around the last week in September and first week in October, which means that applicants can make much better decisions about proceeding with an ED application.  If my invite date assumption is correct, HBS interview invites will go out before Columbia’s ED deadline,  so they can simply switch to Columbia RD.

This does not mean those applying to HBS and interviewing in R1 are likely to have their result before the Columbia ED deposit is due, so if  an applicant  is admitted to Columbia ED and waiting for the result of the HBS decision after interviewing, the applicant will still have a difficult choice (Not even considering other schools that they might prefer to Columbia). Since Columbia’s Early Decision Deadline is October 8th,  anyone applying to Early Decision close to or by the deadline will know whether they have been offered an HBS interview way before interviewing at Columbia because all the HBS invites will most likely  be out prior to when interviews start in mid-October. Assume that Columbia will process applications quickly,  so if someone applies to ED sometime between the end of September and the October 9th deadline, it is likely that will have interviewed and received a decision sometime between late October-mid November and since a pplicants have only two weeks to pay the deposit once admitted, I expect that they would still have to pay that deposit before HBS decisions come out.

To summarize, if you do plan to apply to HBS in R1 and Columbia ED,  you now have the following options:

The option ED applicants always have had: Apply early to Columbia ED so you know the result before you apply to HBS or other schools. If you are admitted and happy with Columbia than you can choose  to be finished with the application process very early and can minimize the time and expense invested in the application process. Alternatively, if you are admitted, you can treat CBS like a $6000 insurance policy (See next paragraph about that issue).   If you are rejected, you will have a  good indicator that you probably need to change your application strategy in some way and can make modifications prior to submitting your application to HBS and other schools.

-Apply to HBS in R1 and then apply to Columbia no sooner than about two weeks before the ED deadline. To be even safer, a week or less before the deadline would be ideal.   You will know whether you have been invited to an HBS interview before you would have to pay your ED deposit if you are admitted to Columbia. You can then decide to (1) withdraw from Columbia because you are feeling optimistic about HBS and/or other applications you have submitted or (2) can pay the ED deposit and withdraw from other schools or (3) be unethical by treating CBS as a $6000 insurance policy while waiting to see what happens with your other applications. It is not my place to defend CBS ED policy by telling applicants that they should be ethical in regards to it, merely to state the available viable options.

-Possible option if the HBS interview invitation notification is before the Columbia ED deadline of October 8th, you will not need to apply to ED if you are invited to HBS.  You can apply to Columbia RD.

I am quite interested to watch how this all plays out in the fall. I doubt any significant statistical impact on CBS. For example, I can't imagine their yield being negatively impacted because of a decrease in ED admits (who are highly likely to  attend because of the ED deposit and ethics policy)  in comparison to RD admits (who are more likely to decline an offer of admission).  Instead the impact will be, as I have discussed above,  on how this plays out for applicants. 

-Adam Markus

I am a graduate admissions consultant who works with clients worldwide. If you would like to arrange an initial consultation, please complete my intake form. Please don't email me any essays, other admissions consultant's intake forms, your life story, or any long email asking for a written profile assessment. The only profiles I assess are those with people who I offer initial consultations to. Please note that initial consultations are not offered when I have reached full capacity or when I determine that I am not a good fit with an applicant.

Columbia MBA Essays for January and August 2015 Admission

Whoever designed Columbia Business School’s The MBA Application Process webpage deserves a design award. If you have not done so, take a look at that page. It does a really nice job laying out the admissions process in a visually appealing way. Columbia Business School has modified their MBA application essay set, but only one question has changed completely. Those applying for January and August 2015 entry will find that they are likely to spend as much time thinking about how to answer Columbia’s essay questions as answering them. Given the limited space applicants will have to work with, coming up with answers that stand out is critical.


You can find testimonials from my clients admitted for CBS here. Since 2007, when I established my own consultancy, (I have been an MBA admissions consultant since 2001) I have been fortunate to work with 24 clients admitted to Columbia Business School for either January or August admission.


Before discussing the essays, I will discuss who J-Term (January Entry) is for and differences between Early Decision and Regular Decision for August Entry. For my analysis of recommendations for 2015 admission, please see here. For my analysis of Columbia Business School application interviews, please see here.

Rolling Admission
The first thing to keep in mind about admission to both January Term and August Term (ED and RD) is that Columbia uses a rolling admissions system.  While there are final deadlines, since applicants’ files  are reviewed and decisions are being made as they apply, by the time that that the final deadlines have arrived most seats are already filled.  Rolling admissions works just like buying assigned seats for an airplane, movie, concert, etc.  When they are gone, they are gone. Columbia’s rolling admissions system is a differentiator from other top MBA programs because only Columbia uses this system. Rolling admissions is commonly used by EMBA programs.

J-Term

The Accelerated MBA, J-Term, can be a great program for those who don’t need an internship. All my admitted J-term clients have one thing in common: Real clarity about their goals and strong track records in their professions. J-term is not for career changers, it is those looking to enhance their position within their present career trajectory and/or entrepreneurs. Keep the following into consideration when explaining why the January Term program is right for you:

“The primary requirement for the January term is that you do not feel you need an internship. This tends to attract students who wish to remain in the same industry (including sponsored students), entrepreneurs, and students in family businesses.Please note that there is no early decision option for January entry and that, due to the timing of the application cycle, January term applicants are not eligible for merit fellowship consideration.“

The program is designed for those students who do not want or need an internship and don’t require merit fellowships. The principal advantage of the 16-month program is its accelerated format, which allows members of the smaller January class to network quickly and effectively and return to the workplace sooner. You need to make the case in Essay 1 (Goals essay) and/or the Optional Essay that you meet the special criteria for this program and that an internship is not something critical for you. For those who don’t need an internship, this is really a great program. It is an even better program for those who

Here are some common issues that arise when considering J-term:

Is J-term easier to get into than August entry? There is much speculation on this issue, but no admissions data. All I know for sure is that relatively late application to J-term has not prevented my clients from being admitted, whereas late application to RD is a real problem simply from a seat availability perspective. In one way, J-term is clearly easier: Unlike an August entry RD and (and to a lesser extent ED) applicant, someone applying to Columbia J-term can really be assumed to prefer Columbia over all alternatives. This can make interviews a bit easier in the sense that August entry Columbia alumni interviewers are notorious for being particularly aggressive at determining whether the interviewee’s first choice is really Columbia. Since J-term has no real US rival, this topic can be easily dispensed with.

Alternatives to J-term: There are no US alternatives to J-term worth mentioning if someone wants a January start. Kellogg and Cornell offer one year MBAs, but neither Kellogg nor Cornell start their programs in January and both are accelerated programs in terms of the number of courses taken. Only J-term makes it possible to do a full two-years of courses on such an expedited basis. In addition, the Kellogg program is extremely restrictive, since one has to have the equivalent of an undergraduate degree in core business courses to attend it. Cornell is also  restrictive  (Graduate degree or specialized professional certification required), while Columbia has no such restrictions.  I have had clients who apply to J-term and IMD and/or INSEAD. Both IMD and INSEAD have January entry. Still J-term is an incredibly different program in terms of length and content from either of these top European programs. LBS, which does not have a January start, would als o be another alternative to CBS in the sense that it can be completed on an accelerated basis. Still I don’t have many clients who apply to both CBS J-term and LBS and as is generally the case with US schools, I don’t think they pay much attention to non-US programs as competitors.

Can an August entry applicant reapply to J-term? Yes! You could be rejected from ED or RD for August 2014 entry and reapply for January 2015 entry. If you entered in January 2015, you would graduate in the Class of 2016 with those who entered in August 2014. I have worked with a couple of reapplicants who were admitted to J-term after being dinged from the August entry for that same graduating class. The key issue is explaining why J-term is now a better choice.


August Entry: ED Versus RD

Applying for Early Decision (ED) is ideal for anyone who considers Columbia to be their first choice and is ready by the application deadline of October 8th. Columbia takes ED very seriously, so I suggest you do as well. CBS ED really is unique among top MBA programs and the decision to commit to it should not be taken lightly. Every year many applicants to Columbia Business School have to deeply consider whether to apply to the ED or RD round. First keep the official statement from Columbia regarding ED in mind:

• Candidates have decided that Columbia is their first choice and must sign the following statement of commitment within their applications: I am committed to attending Columbia Business School and will withdraw all applications and decline all offers from other schools upon admission to Columbia Business School
• Applicants must submit a nonrefundable $6,000 tuition deposit within two weeks of admission.

In my experience, there are two types of applicants to ED. The first type are those people who really consider Columbia as their first choice and sometimes make or hope to make no other applications. For this type of applicant, choosing ED is easy. The second type of applicant likes Columbia, but it is not necessarily their first choice. This type of applicant applies to ED because it is perceived as easier to get admitted to than Regular Decision (RD). This type of applicant treats the $6000 deposit as an insurance policy in the event that they are not admitted to HBS, Stanford, and/or Wharton (I don’t know of any cases of applicants forfeiting $6000 to go to other top programs, but suppose some one has done it). If they do get into HBS, Stanford, or Wharton and break their commitment to Columbia, they lose $6000 and make Columbia admissions mad. Can Columbia do anything aside from keeping the money? No. For those who have no problem breaking oaths and losing $6000, treating ED as possible insurance is a rational decision through clearly not an ethical one. As an admissions consultant, my sole concern is helping my clients reach their admissions objectives, so I don’t pass judgment one way or another on this issue. Based on my sense of how seriously admissions takes ED, I was not at all surprised that the Columbia Admissions office did not respond to my request to meet with them last fall since I don’t advocate on behalf of their ED policy. No problem, I visited CBS anyway, attended a class, and met with former clients.

I do recommend the January 7th Merit Fellowship deadline or earlier as optimal for applying to RD.  While you can consider January 7th to be kind of a  ”Round Two Deadline,” I recommend you apply as soon as you are ready to do so. I would especially encourage those coming from groups with large numbers of applicants (American males from Wall Street and Indian males in particular), to make their applications to RD ASAP. That said, RD takes applications until April 15, 2015, so applications are still viable for some applicants until quite late in the admissions cycle. In general, applying late in RD is best for those with highly unusual backgrounds, stellar backgrounds, no need for merit scholarships and a love of gambling.  In other words, if you are not exceptional, applying late in RD to Columbia is a very high risk activity.

How to leverage RD to your advantage when applying to other MBA programs in the First Round.  If you are applying in the first round, an ideal time to apply to Columbia is after you have completed all the applications that were due in September to mid-October.  Assuming you are relatively freed up, while you are waiting for your R1 invites, apply to Columbia. This means you will be considered early in RD and that is an advantage because there will be more seats available.

How to leverage RD to your advantage when applying to other MBA programs in the Second Round.  Since most R2 applications are due in January, applying to Columbia in November or December will still give you a relative advantage over those applicants that apply right before the Merit Deadline.  Again, the earlier, the better your chance for an available seat.


The Essay Questions
I have taken the essay questions from the online application.
Instructions: In addition to learning about your professional aspirations, the Admissions Committee hopes to gain an understanding of your interests, values and motivations through these essays. How you answer these essays is at your discretion. There are no right or wrong answers and we encourage you to answer each question thoughtfully. The "What is your immediate post-MBA professional goal?" question, Essay 1, Essay 2 and Essay 3 are all required.


What is your immediate post-MBA professional goal? Required by all applicants. 75 characters including spaces!)
Take this very short statement seriously. Last year, it was 100 characters long (and the year before that 200 characters), but it has now been cut to 75 characters. Remember this is 75 characters, not words! This would be about 10-20 words.
Given the length, you can’t possibly expect to explain what you want to do short-term.  That is what Essay 1 is for. In fact, it is best to simply write this little statement after you have a good working version of Essay 1.  
CBS actually provides examples of possible responses in the online application:
Examples of possible responses:
"Work in business development for a media company."
"Join a consulting firm specializing in renewable energy."
"Work for an investment firm that focuses on real estate."
As you can see from the above examples, CBS is looking for a short, but a very clear statement of what you intend to do after your MBA. If you have difficulty explaining your immediate post-MBA plans in the space given, I think that is likely an indication that your plans are too complex, vague, or otherwise not well thought out. What you state here should be backed up by what you discuss in Essay 1 (or the reapplicant essay for reapplicants) and possibly in the other essays.

If you can be clever or catchy in formulating this response that is fine, but it is a completely secondary consideration to simply stating something that is very clear and that is completely consistent with what you write in Essay 1. Being clever os not critical here, being clear is

Essay 1: Given your individual background and goals, why are you pursuing a Columbia MBA at this time? (500 words) (Maximum 500 words)
This is a revision of the question from last year, which did not include “and goals.”  Since it does mention goals, explain your goals here.  While you will have stated your immediate post-MBA goals in 75 characters, you need to explain that and your longer goals here.  Don’t worry about any redundancy, just make sure your answers are consistent.

Be strategic and thoughtful about  you are wanting a Columbia MBA now:  Given the importance of being able to state your post-MBA goal clearly in 75 characters or less as well as the need in Essay 1 to explain why you want a Columbia MBA now, is is critical that you be strategic and thoughtful in presenting your post-MBA plans and your reasons for wanting a Columbia MBA.

If you are having problems clearly articulating your goals either in Essay 1 or in the 75 character statement,  I think Gap, SWOT, and ROI analysis are great ways for understanding what your goals are, why you want a degree, and how you will use it.


The following image may not work for all browsers. If so, see here.

(A Google Docs version of this matrix can be found at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WobczFFLHBzQRxUeuwBRNmGQ3q-RKP_94iGHuLlXXEs/edit?usp=sharing)

Step 1. Begin by analyzing your “Present Career.” What roles and responsibilities have you had in clubs, part-time jobs, internships, volunteer activities, etc.? What was/is your functional role(s)? What was/are your responsibilities?
Next, analyze your present strengths and weaknesses for succeeding in your present career. In particular, some of your greatest strengths may have been demonstrated outside of work, so make sure you are accounting for them.
Strengths: What are you good at? Where do you add value? What are you praised for? What are you proud of?
Weakness: What are you bad at? What are you criticized for? What do you try to avoid due to your own limitations? What do you fear?
Next, analyze your situation in right now. What opportunities exist for your growth and success? What threats could limit your career growth?

Step 2. Now, do the same thing in Step 1 for your “Post-MBA” future after you have earned your graduate degree. If you cannot complete this step you need to do more research and need to think more about it. I frequently help clients with this issue through a process of brainstorming.

Step 3. If you could complete step 2, than you should see the “Gap” between your present and your future. What skills, knowledge, and other resources do you need to close the gap between your present and future responsibilities, strengths, and opportunities?

Step 4. After completing Step 3, you now need to determine how an MBA will add value to you. It is possible that an increased salary as a result of job change will be sufficient “ROI” for the degree to justify itself, but you should show how a degree will allow you to reach your career goals. How will the degree enhance your skills and opportunities and help you overcome your weaknesses and external threats? If you can complete Step 4, then you should be ready to explain what your goals are, why you want a degree, and the relationship between your past and future career, as well as your strengths and weaknesses.

The above table will also help you answer such common interview questions as: Where do you want to work after you finish your degree? Why do you want an MBA? What are you strengths? What are your weaknesses? What are your goals?

Be informed about your goals. Columbia Admissions needs to believe you know what you are talking about. If you are changing careers, no one expects you to be an expert, but you should come across as having a clear plan based on real research into your future. If you are planning on staying in your present industry, you should be well informed not only about the companies you have worked for, but about the industry as a whole. If you are not already doing so, read industry related publications and network.

Those August ED and RD applicants who are changing fields should most certainly read industry related publications in their intended field. Additionally I suggest conducting informational interviews with at least one peer level and one senior level person in that field. Conduct a peer level interview to get a good idea of what it would be like to actually work in that industry. Conduct a senior level interview to get the perspective of someone who can see the big picture and all the little details as well. Don’t know anyone in your intended field? Network! One great way to start is through LinkedIn. Another is by making use of your undergraduate alumni network and/or career center. No matter whether you are changing fields or not, learn what is hot now and try to figure out what will be hot by the t ime you graduate. Now, of course, this is just a plan and chances are that what is hot in your industry or field now may very well be cold in the future. The point is to come across to Columbia Adcom as someone who is not only well informed, but has CUTTING-EDGE knowledge. In addition to Columbia’s Public Offering blog, also look at ideas@work,  and The Chazen Web Journal of International Business. Some other great general sources for learning what is hot: Harvard Working Knowledge, Harvard Business Review, University of Chicago GSB’s Working Papers, The University of Chicago&#82 17;s Capital Ideas, Stanford Social Innovation Review, Knowledge @ Wharton, and MIT Sloan Management Review. You may also want to do a search on itunes for podcasts: My favorites are Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders (from the Stanford School of Engineering, but totally relevant) Net Impact, Chicago GSB Podcast Series, and Harvard Business IdeaCast. INSEAD, IMD, LBS, and Wharton also have podcasts. Other sources: Read magazines, websites, and books that relate to your intended field.

If at the end of the above process you feel as though you are uncertain about whether you need an MBA, please see Do You Really Need an MBA?

Balance Experience and Why Columbia?
Columbia is specifically asking why now in reference to your background as well as your goals. As result, you will need to explain "Why an MBA now?" in relationship to who you are and what you have done so far. I think it is important that you provide Columbia with insights about your background, but don't let your explanation of your past experience crowd out answering why you need a Columbia MBA now. Given limited space you need to tell a story about your background that connects to why you want an MBA. That story is likely to primarily relate to your professional background, but your personal experience, and your motivations are also important potential justifications for why you want an MBA.

Make it personal! By moving away from the formulaic standard “What are your long and short-term goals and why do you want an MBA now from Columbia”, it is clear that Columbia is emphasizing personality and why MBA in this answer and just not goals and MBA. Therefore your answer to this question should not merely be a one-dimensional answer focused solely on career goals. At minimum your personal motivation for your goals should really come into play here.

The resources available at CBS and Columbia University are vast, so figure out specifically what you want from the school as you will need to discuss that. The program is flexible, so identify your needs from Columbia as specifically as possible. After all, you want to show them you love and need them For learning about what is hot at Columbia, I suggest taking a look at their blog: Public Offering. Also look at Hermes which provides news on the Columbia community. You will likely want to write about taking a Master Class. Japanese applicants should most certainly visit http://columbiamba.jimdo.com/index.php. Also see here for why Columb ia students love Columbia.

While you should be explaining why you need an MBA, you need to make  sure that your reasons align well with Columbia. I suggest reviewing some of the full course descriptions that you can find on their website. You need not mention the names of particular courses as long as it would be clear to your reader that your learning needs align well with Columbia’s offerings. For example, it is really a waste of word count to mention the names of particular finance courses if the main point you are simply trying to make is that you want to enhance your finance skills. Every admissions officer at Columbia is well aware of the programs major offerings.  If you have a particular interest in a more specialized course or studying with a particular professor, it might be worth mentioning it as long as it is an explanation of why you want to study the subject and not based on circular reasoning.

An example of circular (tautological) reasoning:  ”I want to take Capital Markets & Investments because I am interested in learning about capital market investing.”

This kind of circular reasoning is so common. Usually it takes place within a paragraph consisting of many such sentences. They actually convey nothing about the applicant.  They are just abstract needs and will have limited impact on your reader.  The admissions reader wants to learn about you, not about their own program.

An example of an explanation for why:  ”While I have been exposed to finance through my work at MegaBank of Joy, I presently lack the kind of comprehensive understanding of capital market investing that I will need to succeed as an investment analyst and I know I can gain at Columbia.”  A more complete explanation would include additional details about the kind of issues that the applicant is interested in learning about and/or specific ways the applicant intended to apply what he or she would learn at Columbia.  By focusing on very specific learning needs and explaining those needs in relationship to one’s goals and/or past experience, the admissions reader will be learning about you.

Editing Essay 1 down to 500 words.
Chances are extremely high that when you initially write this essay (or any essay) and even when you have good working version of it going, it is likely to be well over 500 words long. Here are some suggestions for editing it down:

1. Is there anything in the essay that repeats what is said in the other essays? If so, you can probably cut it out.

2. Do you find yourself needing to explain too much context about your background? If so, consider whether any of it can be explained in the Optional Essay.

3. Do you find yourself extensively name dropping? “I met with Anand Kumar (Class of 2006), Sally Johnson (Class of 2009), Taro Suzuki (Class of 2010), Anat Weinstein (Class of 2011), Mohammad Efendi (Class of 2012), and Tom Lee (Class of 2013)…” (Note all these names were made up and any relationship to actual Columbia alumni is merely coincidental). If you do, consider cutting or summarizing it. Also consider whether this can be included in the Optional Essay.

4. Do a paragraph by paragraph and then a sentence by sentence search for redundancy. When a client asks for my help in cutting words, that is what I do first.

5. Now the really hard part. You have a tight text and it is still over the word count. You have cut something “important.” Prioritize your content and eliminate low priority items. Killing good sentences is never fun, but sometimes is simply necessary.

“Essay #2: Please watch this video. How will you take advantage of being “at the very center of business”? (250 words)”

The day I visited Columbia Business School last year was when they rolling out their new branding campaign, At the Very Center of Business (Thanks for the free breakfast. I could have taken a t-shirt too, but I make it a rule never to wear a university’s t-shirt unless I am student or an alumnus).  After you watch the video, I suggest reading their detailed press release on At the Very Center of Business, which I will discuss below.  Compared to last year’s topic on New York City, this  topic is actually wide enough to make for more potentially interesting answers.
On one level, CBS is at the center because it is in NYC. I could make the same totally cynical comment  I made last year about how the focus on NYC  here is a way to avoid the fact that their new campus will not be ready until 2017-2018, but I would not do that.  I just did again!  Sorry…

I know the Columbia folks can take my jab, they are tough, they are New Yorkers.  Anyway everyone knows you don’t go to Columbia Business School right now because of the state of the art facility (And after visiting CBS, NYU, Wharton, Cornell, as well as looking into Yale’s new building last fall, I can tell you the classrooms at Columbia are underwhelming)  you go because of the quality of the faculty  and adjunct faculty, the school’s deep connections to Wall Street and all other major industries in the city, the networking opportunities, the interning opportunities, the diversity of  CBS students, and the city of NYC.  Anyone who is considering Columbia and does not factor NYC into the equation would surely be missing a critical part of the school’s value proposition. I was recently talking with a potential client who did not quite get this value proposition because he was simply fixated on the classroom.  Wh ile classroom technology plays a role in selecting a school, a full-time two-year MBA program at a top American school is simply not reducible to the building.  I think this is especially true of Columbia.  That said, at least in the class I visited, the professor was great, the students were friendly but highly engaged, and even though the whiteboard was old school (Just like in the video) and hard to see, I was impressed.  Columbia really is at the center of NYC, but so is NYU Stern (And given Stern’s greater proximity to Wall Street, Soho, start-ups, etc, I think I would be careful about claiming to be at the center of NYC).

 Of course, Columbia wants to claim that it is at the worldwide center of business.  Maybe, but it has no exclusivity in that regard, but don’t tell them that.  I think the branding concept reflects this school’s desperate need to assert its self-importance and to have applicants affirm this.  Saying you are at the center is an incredibly narcissistic statement.  ”I am at the center” is a statement of self-importance. It is pure arrogance.  It reflects an underlying  insecurity about one’s place in the universe, in other words, if someone tells you they are the center, assume they  probably are not.  At minimum, assume they have a strong need to be loved. I have always maintained that Columbia needs to feel loved. This is especially true in the interview process. It is also true in the essays.  Therefore, YOU MUST TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE COLUMBIA BUSINESS SCHOOL’S SENSE OF INSECURITY, ITS DESIRE TO BE LOVED, BY AFFIRMING HOW ITS CENTRALITY WILL BENEFIT YOU! 

Use the At the Very Center of Business branding campaign to help you brainstorm content for Essay 2:
“The Four Pillars of the Branding Campaign
The campaign narrative is supported by four key attributes that collectively comprise Columbia Business School’s brand:

• KNOWLEDGE: An Unrivaled Culture of Academic Excellence. Columbia Business School’s approach to thought leadership is constantly informed in real time by the global business environment. Groundbreaking research from the School’s faculty influences business practices in every sector while the transformative, 21st-century curriculum develops leaders who can create opportunity in any environment.
• ACCESS: Unmatched Exposure to the Pulse of Business, Both Inside and Outside the Classroom. As the top Ivy League business school immersed in New York City, Columbia Business School provides its students with direct access to countless businesses and business leaders, both inside and outside the classroom, allowing them to take lessons learned in class and see them applied directly in the real world.
• COMMUNITY: A Diverse, Engaged, and Entrepreneurial Community. High achievers are drawn to the School’s reputation and unique position at the global center of business, where a diverse, entrepreneurial-minded community of students, faculty members, staff, and alumni share an open exchange of ideas and perspectives. Combine this range of voices with an alumni network of more than 40,000 graduates and you have an expansive community that fosters creativity, invites entrepreneurial thinking, and opens doors to opportunity.
• IMPACT: An Immediate and Lasting Impact on the Business World. The thought leadership of the School’s faculty and staff, combined with the accomplishments of its distinguished alumni and position in the center of global business, means that the School’s efforts have an immediate and measurable impact on the forces shaping business each and every day.”

Which of these pillars will you  take advantage of? Think about each of them to come up with 1-3 topics for this essay.
KNOWLEDGE
-What specific research activities at Columbia really excite you?  How will you use this research?
 Will CBS help you become a thought leader? How?
- See my suggestions for learning about Columbia in Essay 1 above.
ACCESS
-How will leverage the access you gain at CBS?  In what ways?  For what purpose?
COMMUNITY
-What do you hope to gain from the community?
IMPACT
-How will being at the center help you have impact? What kind of impact do you want to have?

In Essay 1, you are explaining why you need an MBA from Columbia now and would surely be addressing particular aspects of the MBA program in your answer. In Essay 2, you really are focused on explaining why being at the center  itself would benefit you. The reasons might relate to your professional goals, but may very well be highly personal or most likely a combination of the two. Given the length, I suggest you focus on two to three ways you anticipate that being at the center will impact your experience. An effective answer here will provide the reader with greater insight into your personality, interests, and motivations.  A bad answer might very consist of making a bunch of general comments about why NYC would be great, but not giving the reader into any insight about you.


Essay 3: What will the people in your Cluster be pleasantly surprised to learn about you? (Maximum 250 words)

This question did not change from last year. I love “SURPRISE US” questions.  Actually, one of the things I do in my initial consultations with potential clients is ask this question because it helps me understand whether the person I am talking to has really had to ever sell themselves as a person (and just for getting a job).  Unlike Columbia, I don’t use it as a basis for selecting clients, but rather as way to gauge an applicant’s self awareness and ability to respond spontaneously to an unexpected question.


The wording, pleasantly surprising, is really important. The topic(s) you should be positive aspects of who you are. This is an essay about how you will add value to your Cluster (If you have no idea what that is, see here).

Good answers here are really engaging and very unique
I actually like this question quite a bit because it is a great way for applicants to highlight some really unique aspect or aspects  about themselves. The point is that it should be something that would not be obvious about you. The focus may be on something very specific that you did or something about your character. Whatever it is, it should not simply be pleasantly surprising, but also relevant in some way.  It might be something that will add value to your Cluster. If it is highly personal, it should reveal a quality or aspect to you that is not merely interesting, but also something really worth knowing.  A good answer here might involve an unusual hobby or experience, but the possibilities are endless.


Bad answers to this question will likely to do the following:

-Focus too much on action and context and not enough on providing an interpretation of oneself.
-Focus on something that is relatively obvious from your resume
-Focus on something that does not really have any clear selling points about who you are.

- Focus on something that simply is not in the least surprising and thus dull

I mention the above because I view these as typical problems I see with ineffective answers to this question. Consider the above a checklist to use when determining whether you are on the wrong track for preparing an effective answer.

Optional Essay: Is there any further information that you wish to provide the Admissions Committee? Please use this space to provide an explanation of any areas of concern in your academic record or your personal history. (Maximum 500 words)
As with other school’s optional questions, do not put an obvious essay for another school here. If you read the above, it should be clear enough that this is the place to explain anything negative or potentially negative in your background. If you have no explanation for something negative, don’t bother writing about it. For example if your GPA is 2.9 and you have no good explanation for why it is 2.9, don’t bother writing something that looks like a lame excuse. This is more likely to hurt than help you. In the same vein, don’t waste the committee’s time telling them that your GMAT is a much better indicator than your GPA (the opposite is also true). They have heard it before and they will look at both scores and can draw their own conclusions without you stating the obvious. That said, if you have a good explanation for a bad GPA, you should most certainly write about it.In addition to GMAT/GRE, TOEFL, and GPA problems, other possible topics include issues related to recommendations, serious gaps in your resume, concerns related to a near total lack of extracurricular activities, and major issues in your personal/professional life that you really think the admissions office needs to know about.

You can certainly write on something positive here if you think its omission will be negative for you, but before you do, ask yourself these questions:
1. If they did not ask it, do they really need to know it?
2. Will the topic I want to discuss significantly improve my overall essay set?
3. Is the topic one that would not be covered from looking at other parts of my application?
4. Is the essay likely to be read as being a specific answer for Columbia and not an obvious essay for another school?
If you can answer “Yes!” to all four questions, it might be a good topic to write about.


For Reapplicants
“The Admissions Office retains all applications for one year after a decision is rendered. If you are reapplying no more than 12 months from your initial term of entry to Columbia Business School, the checklist below will help ensure that you submit everything the Admissions Committee will need to reassess your candidacy. For example if you applied for August 2013 your will be considered a reapplicant for January 2014 or August 2014. If you are reapplying more than 12 months after your initial term of entry, you must submit a new, fully complete application.”

Reapplicant Essay (No other essays are required)

“How have you enhanced your candidacy since your previous application? Please detail your progress since you last applied and reiterate how you plan to achieve your immediate and long term post-MBA professional goals. (Maximum 500 words)”

When judging reapplicants, Columbia makes it perfectly clear what they are expecting. See here for their criteria. Clearly this essay gives you the opportunity to:
1. Showcase what has changed since your last application that now makes you a better candidate.
2. Refine your goals. I think it is reasonable that they may have altered since your last application, but if the change is extreme, you had better explain why.
3. Make a better case for why Columbia is right for you.
For more about my many posts on reapplication, please see here.  I have helped a number of reapplicants gain admission to Columbia.


 Columbia Loves to Be Loved
One thing that is consistent about Columbia Business School is that they want to know that their school is your first choice. If you have an alumni interview you can be expected to be asked about that very directly. See here for my advice on Columbia interviews. Best of luck!

-Adam Markus

I am a graduate admissions consultant who works with clients worldwide. If you would like to arrange an initial consultation, please complete my intake form. Please don't email me any essays, other admissions consultant's intake forms, your life story, or any long email asking for a written profile assessment. The only profiles I assess are those with people who I offer initial consultations to. Please note that initial consultations are not offered when I have reached full capacity or when I determine that I am not a good fit with an applicant.