A Columbia Business School (CBS) admissions officer devoted a recent post on Voices — a blog co-written by current CBS students and admissions officers to help provide a student perspective — to debunking some of the myths prospective applicants often seem to believe about the CBS admissions process.
For starters, CBS Admissions Officer Matthew Moll encourages prospective applicants to let go of the idea that they must seek out a recommender with the highest possible title. Instead, urges Moll, choose recommenders who know you best. “It is tempting to seek a recommender with a senior title, but if the CEO of your organization doesn’t work with you directly, he/she will not necessarily be able to speak to the recommendation questions asked by the admissions committee,” Moll advises. “It is in your best interest to find those business professionals who are invested in your career and want to see you succeed.”
Moll also quickly dispelled the myth that applicants are admitted to CBS for a single reason. There is no magic formula that the Admissions Committee follows and weight is not assigned to any part of the application, he says. “The review process is holistic and the Admissions Committee takes into consideration all aspects of the application,” he writes. “We admit students for a variety of reasons, but an applicant will never be admitted or denied for only one reason.” For example, an applicant’s GMAT/GRE scores, while certainly part of the application process, do not singularly determine whether an applicant gets in, he adds.
If you think CBS is looking for a specific type of candidate, think again, Moll says. His team is looking to bring in a diverse class with a range of backgrounds and interests. “We do not have a cookie cutter applicant we are hoping to admit to the class. We are not admitting resumes, algorithms, or test scores. We admit individuals with their own unique stories and journeys,” Moss states.
So there you have it. For more admissions insights from CBS, follow Voices.
