b. If you were given a free day and could spend it anywhere, in any way you choose, what would you do?
This is another way of asking what you are passionate about or how you would spend your valuable time. Mentioning a leisure activity is not what is expected here. Impact is hinted with the phrase “if you were given a free day.”
The admission team knows that if you have the caliber of being a Columbia MBA, your calendar will be filled with meetings, presentations and consulting engagements. What would you do if you can get away from work?
For this question, you don’t have to conclude with impact, but incorporate a secondary skill, a hobby, and deconstruct how it has helped you develop a perspective or a world view or defined you as a person.
Hobby --> How it defined you as a person
We had an Entrepreneurial applicant who had a small exit ($3 mn) from his first start-up, but wanted to scale his ambition with an MBA from Columbia. The applicant was obsessed with Chess.
He might sound like a Gamer with no social life, but he applies a lot of the strategies from Chess while dominating the market with his start-up.
“If I get a free day, I would combine two of my favorite hobbies – hiking and playing chess. Every month, a close group of friends and I choose one of the trails from our top 10 list – a secret ranking of some of the best peaks in the US. The rules require that at the end our trekking, we play a game of speed chess. Nothing tests a character more than using strategic play and outsmarting the opponent’s moves when each of us are exhausted, and depleted our willpower to continue. The experience was similar to my first start-up. When the competitor had expected us to burn our cash on marketing, we ...
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Testimonial - Columbia MBA Essay Guide
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The bulk of the initial chapter is about using evidence-based case that before randomly writing about the short-term and long-term goals, begin with the curriculum and employment trends. Skillfully weaving post-MBA placement data with narrative creativity, the author captures the techniques that successful MBA applicants use to leave a memorable first impression. " - Verified Purchase
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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.