Columbia University, Columbia Business School Admission
Columbia University, Columbia Business School Undergraduate Program
Columbia University, Columbia Business School Application

The Facts

Columbia University is a rather large, private institution located in the city of New York, and has a combined graduate and undergraduate enrollment of over 23,422 students. The university's graduate Business School, however, is significantly smaller, and is home to about 1,388 graduate business students. Approximately 97% of the currently enrolled students have had an average of 4 years of full-time professional experience, a factor taken into serious consideration by the admissions committee when reviewing applications. Perhaps as a result of this fact, the average age of enrollment is around 27, however, ages range from 22 to 42. Approximately 3% of currently enrolled students enter directly from undergraduate students, while about 5% of the students already have a graduate degree of some sort. The graduate business school is perhaps best known for its strong ties to the Manhattan business community, enabling students to have a large amount of hands-on experience in one of the capitals of the business world. The school offers graduate business degrees in the Master of Business Administration (MBA), Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA), as well as doctoral programs in accounting, finance and economics, management, science of decision, risk and operations, and marketing, as well as joint degrees in industrial engineering (MBA/MS), journalism (MBA/MS), mining engineering (MBA/MS), nursing (MBA/MS), operations research (MBA/MS), social work (MBA/MS), urban planning (MBA/MS), education leadership and management (MBA/EdD), public health (MBA/MPH), international affairs (MBA/MIA), general studies (MBA/BA or BS), medicine (MBA/MD), dental and oral surgery (MBA/DDS), as well as law (MBA/JD). Some of the most popular programs at the school include courses in the areas of finance, marketing, international business, management, as well as entrepreneurship.

Admission to Columbia University's graduate Columbia Business School is incredibly competitive among those who apply; last year, over 6,660 students applied for admission to the school and approximately 710 of those students were accepted. Eventually however, only about 500 of the admitted students actually enrolled for the coming semester. The admitted students had an average undergraduate GPA of about a 3.5, as well as an average GMAT score of about 711. The admissions committee requires all applicants to have a minimum undergraduate GPA of at least a 3.0, as well as a minimum GMAT score of at least 500. Students are able to begin graduate course work in either the fall or the spring, and are notified of their admissions status on a rolling basis.

The graduate business school has 122 full-time faculty members, of whom 97% hold doctorate degrees. The school is also home to 93 part time faculty members. The average graduate business class numbers around 60 students, and most faculty members teach an average of 3 courses at any given time.

Placement Services

The school has very extensive placement services available to both current students and alumni for an unlimited amount of time after receiving their degrees. Some of these services include an online job database, a Career Resource Center, as well as the online Business Alumni Network Community. Last year, an impressive 410 companies were actively recruiting on campus, many of which were national and even international corporations. The majors most in demand by these companies include finance, marketing, as well as real estate. The average starting salary of the most recent graduating class was around $157,000, and approximately 84% of the same class were able to find jobs within three months of obtaining their degrees.

What's Good

"There are a ridiculous number of amazing companies recruiting here all the time. Just the name "Columbia" can get you fairly far in the business world."

"The school has a great amount of important connections with various companies throughout the city, making internships very possible."

"I really love all the joint degrees they offer. It's nice if you're like me and can't choose between law or business school. You can basically do them both in one shot."

What's Bad

"It is a very intense, pressure-cooker environment here. People tend to get quite competitive."

"I think some of the classes are too large. It makes it rather difficult to have any terribly fruitful discussions."

"I have had some professors who seem to dematerialize after class, and are pretty much impossible to get a hold of once class is over."

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