Columbia MBA Acceptance Rate, Deconstructed
How hard is it to get into Columbia Business School? Let’s take a look. The Columbia MBA acceptance rate of 22% last season was slightly higher than its historical precedents. CBS’s class size is typically one of the largest of the elite programs, with 900 students enrolled for the class entering in Fall 2023.
Columbia maximizes this large cohort through its “cluster” system—three clusters for the January term and nine for the August entry cohort. That way, students have the benefits of a large school in New York City, the center of business, while also getting the intimacy of smaller-group bonds.
Timing plays an outsized role in Columbia MBA admissions because of its unique binding Early Decision Round and its rolling admissions process, now reserved only for J-term applicants. Rolling admissions means applications are reviewed — and decisions rendered — as they are received. It is to your advantage to submit your application as early as possible.
All August-entry applications are reviewed via admissions rounds, which means they are reviewed after the deadline, and decisions are released at once.
Curious about your chances of getting into a top B-school? Contact us to talk strategy with a free 15-minute advising session with an SBC Principal Consultant.
When it comes to test scores, CBS’s 730 average GMAT is among the highest of top-ranked programs. Columbia was also one of the earliest full-time MBA programs to accept the Executive Assessment (EA), alongside the GMAT and GRE. This array of testing options gives the admissions team the latitude to accept interesting applicants from non-traditional backgrounds who they believe will add unique value to the class.
Columbia uses a holistic approach to admissions, but “fit” is very important. In particular, CBS AdCom looks for involvement outside of work and the classroom, as well as leadership or leadership potential. They want to feel certain that you’ll fit into its tight-knit community and super-involved student life.
Who Gets In?
To help demystify the Columbia MBA acceptance rate drivers, we evaluated SBC client data from the 2022—2023 season. Our findings show that although Columbia’s admission patterns, like all top schools, make high demands on quantifiables such as GMAT/GRE, GPA, and years of work experience, they have become increasingly reliant on other factors, too. Things like demographic and experiential diversity and extracurricular commitment are qualities that make CBS such an inspiring community to be a part of.
Recent SBC Clients Admitted to CBS
To preserve anonymity for our client pool, we’ve deconstructed each of our client profiles across these criteria:
- Nationality
- Industry
- Employer
- College
- GPA
- Test scores
- Other distinguishing factors
Our consultants have shared client attributes for each of these criteria. Here, we’ve aggregated the outcomes for Columbia admits according to personal, extracurricular, and professional domains.
These visuals showcase the kaleidoscope of qualities found in Columbia admits across a sampling of recent SBC clients.
Determining Your Columbia MBA Acceptance Rate Odds
We asked the former Columbia Business School Admissions Officers on our Stacy Blackman Consulting team, “What does CBS Admissions look for?” Here’s what they had to say:
Be yourself! The Admissions Committee wants to get to know YOU, not someone you think the AdCom wants to see. Be as specific as possible in your application and show that you’ve taken time to get to know the program. When I worked at CBS Admissions, my favorite applications were always the ones that had great essays where it was clear that the applicant was really being their authentic self.
First-Hand Feedback from a Columbia Admit
As a recent All-In package client, and now a Columbia admit, shared:
The first semester at Columbia tends to be more work intensive. However, this creates a real culture of camaraderie at Columbia. Being in New York City gives you access to unparalleled speakers, great internship opportunities, and really simplifies the networking process because you can easily hop on the subway and go meet with someone from a company you’re interested in.
Ally, a former CBS Admissions Officer who is now on our SBC team, says:
Columbia Business School applicants are drawn to the location and the opportunity to successfully pursue any career you could imagine (what can’t you do in NYC?!), its tight-knit community and super involved student life, and the amazing faculty and opportunity to learn from some incredible industry leaders. It’s a great place for students to work together but also enjoy all that’s going on in their surroundings, both professionally and socially.
Ally encourages showing this value and research in your CBS application. “A key aspect of the program is becoming involved on campus and immersing yourself in the CBS community. Something that applicants may not know is how well CBS connects students with the surrounding city (and the world). There are immersion programs students can take as electives, which allow them to spend time in class and also off-site doing corporate visits around the city (and globally).”
Check out our Columbia vs Wharton school comparison and other school faceoffs here. For details on MBA program application deadlines, check out our chart here.
Here’s a snapshot of the caliber of expertise on our SBC team.
Ashley
Ashley is a former MBA Admissions Board Member for Harvard Business School (HBS), where she interviewed and evaluated thousands of business school applicants for over a six year tenure. Ashley holds an MBA from HBS. During her HBS years, Ashley was the Sports Editor for the Harbus and a member of the B-School Blades Ice Hockey Team. After HBS, she worked in Marketing at the Gillette Company on Male and Female shaving ...
×Kerry
Kerry is a former member of the Admissions Board at Harvard Business School (HBS). During her 5+ year tenure at HBS, she read and evaluated hundreds of applications and interviewed MBA candidates from a wide range of backgrounds across the globe. She also led marketing and outreach efforts focused on increasing diversity and inclusion, ran the Summer Venture in Management Program (SVMP), and launched the 2+2 Program during her time in Admissions. Kerry holds a B.A. from Bates College and ...
×Pauline
A former associate director of admissions at Harvard Business School, Pauline served on the HBS MBA Admissions Board full-time for four years. She evaluated and interviewed HBS applicants, both on-campus and globally. Pauline's career has included sales and marketing management roles with Coca-Cola, Gillette, Procter & Gamble, and IBM. For over 10 years, Pauline has expertly guided MBA applicants, and her clients h ...
×Geri
Geri is a former member of the Admissions Board at Harvard Business School (HBS). In her 7 year tenure in HBS Admissions, she read and evaluated hundreds of applications and interviewed MBA candidates from a diverse set of academic, geographic, and employment backgrounds. Geri also traveled globally representing the school at outreach events in order to raise awareness for women and international students. In additio ...
×Laura
Laura comes from the MBA Admissions Board at Harvard Business School (HBS) and is an HBS MBA alumnus. In her HBS Admissions role, she evaluated and interviewed hundreds of business school candidates, including internationals, women, military and other applicant pools, for five years. Prior to her time as a student at HBS, Laura began her career in advertising and marketing in Chicago at Leo Burnett where she worked on th ...
×Andrea
Andrea served as the Associate Director of MBA Admissions at Harvard Business School (HBS) for over five years. In this role, she provided strategic direction for student yield-management activities and also served as a full member of the admissions committee. In 2007, Andrea launched the new 2+2 Program at Harvard Business School – a program targeted at college junior applicants to Harvard Business School. Andrea has also served as a Career Coach for Harvard Business School for both cu ...
×Jennifer
Jennifer served as Admissions Officer at the Stanford (GSB) for five years. She holds an MBA from Stanford (GSB) and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Jennifer has over 15 years experience in guiding applicants through the increasingly competitive admissions process into top MBA programs. Having read thousands and thousands of essays and applications while at Stanford (GSB) Admiss ...
×Erin K.
Erin served in key roles in MBA Admissions--as Director at Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley and Assistant Director at Stanford's Graduate School of Business (GSB). Erin served on the admissions committee at each school and has read thousands of applications in her career. At Haas, she served for seven years in roles that encompassed evaluation, outreach, and diversity and inclusion. During her tenure in Admissions at GSB, she was responsible for candidate evaluation, applicant outreach, ...
×Susie
Susie comes from the Admissions Office of the Stanford Graduate School of Business where she reviewed and evaluated hundreds of prospective students’ applications. She holds an MBA from Stanford’s GSB and a BA from Stanford in Economics. Prior to advising MBA applicants, Susie held a variety of roles over a 15-year period in capital markets, finance, and real estate, including as partner in one of the nation’s most innovative finance and real estate investment organizations. In that r ...
×Dione
Dione holds an MBA degree from Stanford Business School (GSB) and a BA degree from Stanford University, where she double majored in Economics and Communication with concentrations in journalism and sociology. Dione has served as an Admissions reader and member of the Minority Admissions Advisory Committee at Stanford. Dione is an accomplished and respected advocate and thought leader on education and diversity. She is ...
×Anthony
Anthony served as the Associate Director of MBA Admissions at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where he dedicated over 10 years of expertise. During his time as a Wharton Admissions Officer, he read and reviewed thousands of applications and helped bring in a class of 800+ students a year. Anthony has traveled both domestically and internationally to recruit a ...
×Meghan
Meghan served as the Associate Director of Admissions and Marketing at the Wharton MBA’s Lauder Institute, a joint degree program combining the Wharton MBA with an MA in International Studies. In her role on the Wharton MBA admissions committee, Meghan advised domestic and international applicants; conducted interviews and information sessions domestically and overseas in Asia, Central and South America, and Europe; and evaluated applicants for admission to the program. Meghan also managed ...
×Amy
Amy comes from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania where she was Associate Director. Amy devoted 12 years at the Wharton School, working closely with MBA students and supporting the admissions team. During her tenure at Wharton, Amy served as a trusted adviser to prospective applicants as well as admitted and matriculated students. She conducted admissions chats with applicants early in the admissions ...
×Ally
Ally brings six years of admissions experience to the SBC team, most recently as an Assistant Director of Admission for the full-time MBA program at Columbia Business School (CBS). During her time at Columbia, Ally was responsible for reviewing applications, planning recruitment events, and interviewing candidates for both the full-time MBA program and the Executive MBA program. She traveled both internationally and dome ...
×Erin B.
Erin has over seven years of experience working across major institutions, including University of Pennsylvania, Columbia Business School, and NYU's Stern School of Business. At Columbia Business School, Erin was an Assistant Director of Admissions where she evaluated applications for both the full time and executive MBA programs, sat on the admissions and merit scholarship committees and advised applicants on which program might be the best fit for them based on their work experience and pro ...
×Emma
Emma comes from the MBA Admissions Office at Columbia Business School (CBS), where she was Associate Director. Emma conducted dozens of interviews each cycle for the MBA and EMBA programs, as well as coordinating the alumni ambassador interview program. She read and evaluated hundreds of applications each cycle, delivered information sessions to audiences across the globe, and advised countless waitlisted applicants. ×
For insight on your candidacy for CBS’s MBA program, contact Stacy Blackman Consulting to learn how we can help.
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Stacy Blackman Consulting offers multiple services to meet your MBA application needs, from our All-In Partnership and Interview Prep to hourly help with essay editing, resume review, and much more! Contact us today for a free 15-minute advising session to talk strategy with a Principal SBC consultant.
