Deadlines:
January 2026 Intake
Round 1: June 17, 2025
Round 2: August 13, 2025
All deadlines are at 12 PM Eastern Time
August 2026 Intake
Round 1: September 3, 2025
Round 2: January 6, 2026
Round 3: March 26, 2026
All deadlines are at 12.00 PM Eastern Time
Essays
Columbia requires answers for 2 short essays and 3 longer essays:
Questions for August Intake
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)
Questions for January Intake
Short Answer Question 1: What is your immediate post-MBA professional goal? (50 characters maximum)
Examples of possible responses:
“Work in business development for a media company.”
“Join a strategy consulting firm.”
“Launch a data-management start-up.”
Short Answer Question 2: Why do you prefer the January-entry term? (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)
Optional Essay
If you wish to provide further information or additional context around your application to the Admissions Committee, please upload a brief explanation of any areas of concern in your academic record or personal history. This does not need to be a formal essay. You may submit bullet points. (Maximum 500 Words)
Other Application components:
Recommendations:
First-time applicants require one recommendation. Reapplicants are required to submit one new recommendation. If you have been working full-time for at least six months, your recommendation should ideally be from your current supervisor. If you are unable to secure a recommendation from your direct supervisor, please submit a statement of explanation in the Employment section of your application. Beyond your direct supervisor, other recommender options include: a former direct supervisor or another professional associate, senior to you, who can share their insights on your candidacy.
If you have worked full-time for fewer than six months, your recommendation should be from a person who can comment on your managerial abilities. You may ask a summer employer or another person whom you feel can objectively assess your professional promise. If you are a college senior, we encourage you to apply for the Deferred Enrollment Program.
Please note that Columbia Business School and several of our peer institutions use similar, if not identical, recommendation questions. This is an effort on our part to make the process easier for your recommender. We expect that you, the applicant, will not participate in the drafting of your recommendation. When entering contact information for recommenders, please use their institutional or professional email address. We ask that the recommender upload their recommendation on letterhead, whenever possible. References submitted from personal or anonymous email accounts (e.g. Gmail, Yahoo, 123.com, 163.com, qq.com etc.) will be subject to your admission being rescinded if significant discrepancies are found. Applications are not considered complete until all required information is submitted; this includes your recommendation.
We ask the recommender to consider the following guidelines when writing their recommendation (recommended limit – 1000 words):
- How do the candidate’s performance, potential, background, or personal qualities compare to those of other well-qualified individuals in similar roles? Please provide specific examples.
- Please describe the most important piece of constructive feedback you have given the applicant. Please detail the circumstances and the applicant’s response.
Interviews:
Interviews are by invitation only and cannot be requested. The Admissions Office will contact you if you are selected for an interview.
Reapplications:
Columbia considers you a reapplicant if you are applying within a year of your initial term of entry. Otherwise you are considered a new applicant and have to submit a new application.
The reapplicant essay is:
- How have you enhanced your candidacy since your previous application? Please detail your progress since you last applied and reiterate how you plan to achieve your immediate and long term post-MBA professional goals. (Maximum 500 words).
Please submit the following to the Admissions Committee for your reapplication.
- Reapplication fee: US$250.
- One new recommendation letter, preferably from your current employer. If you have already used your current employer for a recommendation they will need to submit a new letter.
- Please update the following sections “Application,” “Personal,” “Family,” “Employment,” “Education,” and “Extracurricular Activities.”
- How will you finance your MBA?
- Submit transcripts of any additional courses you have taken since your previous application.
- Please remember to indicate the dates and self-reported scores of the standardized tests that you wish to be considered in your admissions decision.