Except for Businessweek, all the other reputed MBA rankings have ranked Columbia Business School in the top 10 over the past 2 years. Businessweek in fact had ranked Columbia at 9th place last year, but 2012 saw the school slide down to 14. Financial Times and the Economist both gave identical ranks during 2012 and 2011 – 5 and 7 respectively. US News saw the rise of ranking from 9 to 8 over the last one year. These results show that the Columbia MBA is on the upswing and we need to wait for next year to see if this New York based Business School can maintain the momentum.
Average Rank: 8
Columbia MBA Class Profile – Nationality
Columbia MBA Class Profile - Pre-MBA Experience 
Columbia MBA Class Profile - Undergraduate Degree
Columbia MBA Employment Profile
Columbia MBA Salary - 2011
• Overall annual median salary: $110,000
• Overall median sign-on bonus (67.6): $25,000
• Median other guaranteed compensation (16.8%): $37,000
Columbia MBA Jobs 2011 - By Function
Columbia MBA Jobs 2011 - By Sector
Columbia MBA Budget for 2013 January intake
Columbia MBA Tuition fee
• Total fall/spring 1st year - $90,698*
• Total fall/spring 2nd year, Class of 2013 - $89,243
Estimated Budget Breakup
• Tuition (0–21 points/term): $58,384
• Mandatory fees: $3,143
• Basic Health services and insurance: $2,981
• Books and supplies: $900
• Room and board: $20,700
• Personal expenses: $4,590
(Clothing, travel, loan fees, etc.)
Additional Expenses may include:
• Comprehensive medical insurance
• Medical expenses not covered by insurance
• Study Tours
• Computer replacement costs
• Optional activity fees, such as club dues and event costs
Columbia MBA GMAT
GMAT Scores (average): 715
GMAT Scores (middle 80%): 680–760
Columbia MBA Class Profile
Women: 38%
Minority of US Origin: 35%
International Citizens: 38%
Applications Received: 5409
Mean Work Experience: 5 years
Average Age: 28
Class Size: 741
• January Entry - 196
• August Entry - 545
Short Answer Question 1: What is your immediate post-MBA professional goal? (50 characters maximum)
Short Answer Question 2: How do you plan to spend the summer after the first year of the MBA? If in an internship, please include target industry(ies) and/or function(s). If you plan to work on your own venture, please indicate a focus of business. (50 characters maximum)
Essay 1: Through your resume and recommendation, we have a clear sense of your professional path to date. What are your career goals over the next three to five years and what is your long-term dream job? (500 words)
Essay 2: Please share a specific example of how you made a team more collaborative, more inclusive or fostered a greater sense of community within an organization. (250 words)
Essay 3: 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)
About the Author
I am Atul Jose, Founding Consultant of F1GMAT, an MBA admissions consultancy that has worked with applicants since 2009.
For the past 15 years I have edited the application files of admits to the M7 programs: Harvard Business School, Stanford Graduate School of Business, the Wharton School, MIT Sloan, Chicago Booth, Kellogg School of Management, and Columbia Business School, together with admits to Berkeley Haas, Yale School of Management, NYU Stern, Michigan Ross, Duke Fuqua, Darden, Tuck, IMD, London Business School, INSEAD, SDA Bocconi, IESE Business School, HEC Paris, McCombs, and Tepper, plus other programs inside the global top 30.
My work covers the full MBA application deliverable: career planning and profile evaluation, application essay editing, recommendation letter editing, mock interviews and interview preparation, scholarship and fellowship essay editing, and cover letter editing for funding applications. Full bio with credentials and admit history is here.
I am the author of the Winning MBA Essay Guide, the best-selling essay guide covering M7 MBA programs. I have written and updated the guide annually since 2013, which makes the 2026 edition the thirteenth.
The reason I still write and edit essays every cycle: a good MBA essay carries a real applicant's voice. Writing essays for F1GMAT's Books and Editing essays weekly is how I stay calibrated to what current admissions committees respond to.
Contact me for school selection, career planning, essay strategy, narrative development, essay editing, interview preparation, scholarship essay editing, or guidance documents for recommendation letters.