Essays for Columbia's January MBA Program

The application form and essays for Colombia’s 2007 Accelerated (January) MBA program are now available on Colombia’s website. October 11 is the final deadline for applications to the January program, which lasts 16 months and is meant for students who are staying with the same company or who run their own businesses. (The program is not a good choice for career changers because classes run straight through, without a break for internships.)

Columbia’s fall 2007 application will be published in July. Application deadlines for fall admissions to the 2-year, full-time program are October 11 for early decision and either March 1 or April 18 for regular decision (March 1 for international students and April 18 for US citizens and permanent residents).

Applicants who want to get a head start on a fall 2007 application can safely start work on questions 1 (required) and 5 (optional) from the January application form. Those questions ("What are your short-term and long-term post-MBA goals? How will Columbia Business School help you achieve these goals?" and "Is there any further information that you wish to provide to the Admissions Committee? ") appear on Columbia applications year in and year out. However, it's wiser to wait to see the fall application before doing any further work on essays. Questions 2 through 4 on the January application can give you a general idea of the kind of essays you'll be asked to write, but there's no guarantee the exact same questions will be used for fall admissions.