May, 11, 2025
The most important thing I can tell you about gaining admission to Columbia Business School, aside from my essay analysis below, is to apply in Round 1 for either January (Deadline: June 17) or August (Deadline September 3). Based on what has occurred in prior years, Round 1 is best to maximize admission because the […]
Aug, 09, 2023
My clients frequently ask me how much time they have to invest in learning about the MBA programs they will be applying to. That is, how many live or online information sessions, how many alumni and/or current students do they need to contact, and how much do they need to master the school’s curriculum and […]
Jan, 31, 2020
For my overall suggestions on Chicago Booth MBA interviews, please see here. For my Class of 2022 Booth essay analysis, see here. The interview essay R1 and R2 questions are not the same. For the current admissions cycle, Booth started asking for essays for those who receive interviews.In addition to the essays required for applying to […]
Oct, 21, 2019
The following post is based on a workshop I did in Tokyo in September 2019. I needed to analyze and explain the essays for the M7 (HBS, Stanford, Booth, Columbia Business School, Wharton, Kellogg, MIT Sloan) in 3 hours. To do so, I structured key teaching points related to each school, which are often applicable […]
Feb, 16, 2017
IF YOU ARE INVITED FOR AN MBA INTERVIEW AT MIT SLOAN Those invited to interview will be asked to answer the following question: The mission of the MIT Sloan School of Management is to develop principled, innovative leaders who improve the world and to generate ideas that advance management practice. Please share with us something […]
Jul, 21, 2016
Here I discuss INSEAD’s essays for September 2017 Entry (Class of July 2018). The application has been updated and now there is a video component. As the details of what the video component is are not fully available at this time, I will update this post soon (July 21, 2016). Since 2001, when I began doing […]
Apr, 22, 2016
Chances are extremely high that when you initially write any application essay and even when you have a good working version of it going, it is likely to be over the word count. If it is not over the word count, especially at the initial stage that itself is actually a problem. In another blog post, […]
Apr, 22, 2016
For my main post on Columbia Business School MBA application for 2017 admission (January and August Early Decision and Regular Decision), see here. Based on my experience working with CBS reapplicants, Columbia is one of the most reapplicant friendly schools both in terms of the reapplication process for those who reapply within one year of their initial application […]
Nov, 19, 2015
As an MBA admissions consultant, I help clients with their B-school applications. I advise on essays. I sometimes edit essays. I don’t write essays. I believe in helping applicants use their own own voice. I always thought this was the right thing to do and that ghostwritten essays were not only unethical, but highly risky […]
Nov, 15, 2015
Every year I have clients who get rejected from HBS and get admitted to other top MBA programs. This year has been no different. One of those who was rejected in R1 and offered an interview at another Top 10 business school asked me if it had been a waste of time to apply to […]
