Columbia MBA Essay Question

We believe Columbia Business School is a special place with a collaborative learning environment in which students feel a sense of belonging, agency, and partnership--academically, culturally, and professionally.

How would you co-create your optimal MBA experience at CBS? Please be specific. (250 words) (Common for both January and August entering class)

Background Information: A Male South African working as an independent consultant in Clean Tech narrates the harsh contrast between the poor working conditions of marble miners and his luxurious energy-efficient life in Johannesburg.

Theme: Mentorship, Strategy

Theme (Explained): Mentorship can take many forms from personal to professional to career guidance. In this example, I have focused on professional mentorship that drove the applicant to choose a different funding path – bringing international banks, and organizations into filling the gap in funding clean energy in South Africa.

Profile: Consultant

Industry: Clean Energy

MBA Essay Strategy: The work-from-home dynamics and the collapse of the government-run energy infrastructure is a problem statement that the applicant highlights in the first half of the narrative. The role of an advisor from Google that encouraged him to change directions is used to demonstrate the importance of timely and strategic advice that has contributed to opening up the funding ecosystem from a state-run project to an international collaboration. With a 1.5 trillion rand funding gap, the applicant reiterates the importance of learning from diverse investment vehicles in NY and strategy from Columbia MBA peers to steer him toward a new strategic direction.

Opener: Starting the essay with an applicant’s motivation to join a non-traditional career path is one way to hook the reader to a larger problem statement. 

Sample Columbia MBA Optimal Experience: Strategy in Investments and Practical Perspective(245 Words)

Watching workers dripping in the dirt in our family's marble mining plants while we lived in the comforts of a solar-powered residence in Johannesburg motivated me to pursue a career in non-profit. The energy independence we aim to achieve became part of public consciousness when hybrid work crumbled ..

Download the Complete Sample Essay with F1GMAT's Columbia MBA Essay Guide