MBA Essay Guidance 2025-26: Columbia Business School

Columbia Business School’s 2025-2026 MBA essays offer a direct path into one of the world’s premier business programs. Positioned in Manhattanville with unparalleled access to New York’s business ecosystem, Columbia attracts candidates who thrive under pressure and drive results from day one. This year’s application cuts to what matters most: your professional vision, leadership experience, and fit with Columbia’s intense, opportunity-rich environment. Each prompt serves a strategic purpose in building your candidacy narrative. Whether pursuing J-Term or traditional entry, these essays are your primary chance to prove you possess the intellectual rigor and entrepreneurial drive that distinguish successful Columbia MBAs.

Short Answer Question 1

What is your immediate post-MBA professional goal? (50 characters maximum)

Admitify Guidance

Find a way to include as much specificity and differentiation as possible in the goal statement given the character limit. Don’t just settle for a lazy/short/generic goal statement like ‘management consulting at M/B/B’.

Short Answer Question 2 – January Entry

Why do you prefer the January-entry term? (50 characters maximum)

Admitify Guidance 

Fifty characters forces you to cut to the chase. Most responses will focus on why you don’t need a summer internship, for example, because you will be returning to your employer, joining your family’s business etc. State that specific reason as concisely as possible.

Short Answer Question 2 – August Entry

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 functions(s). If you plan to work on your own venture, please indicate a focus of business. (50 characters maximum)

Admitify Guidance 

This is a test of your due diligence on your stated goals. In fifty characters (not words) you’ll have just enough space to state 1-2 to functions (roles/titles) and 1-2 industries. Be sure you vet that the functions you name are indeed relevant to an MBA entering the industry(ies) you name, and if space allows drill down on the industry: don’t just say “health care” or “technology”; state a niche within that sector.

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)

Admitify Guidance 

Columbia is unusual in that, for eight years, it has separated its goals essay from its Why Our School? Essay. That means you have potentially up to 500 words to describe your goals. However, Admitify doesn’t recommend that for most clients. Do focus 50-74% of your word count on your post-MBA goals (long-term end-game goal including potential job titles and org names and short-term Plan A and Plan B goals– Columbia loves to hear about backup plans). But then use the rest of the essay for relevant value-adding content. For example, the experiences that led you to these goals whether those experiences are personal or professional. Alternatively (or in addition, depending on how much word count you used to describe your goals) you could describe accomplishments that are relevant to your goals (you could frame these accomplishments as having helped you identify or refine your goals.

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)

Admitify Guidance 

This new prompt obviously shows Columbia’s interest in the same diversity and inclusion values that motivate the Phillips Pathway but allows it to step away from the DEI terminology now under assault in Washington. Because this prompt is stated more generally it also avoids the awkward category-choosing (‘Is my story Systemic Inequity or Understanding Identity?’)  that made the Phillips prompt so stilted. Here you need your best, most impactful accomplishment that shows you community-building in an organization (whether or not that accomplishment has a specific DEI focus). It must benefit an organization (though not necessarily an employer) and will hopefully feature you as the main driver of a change that benefits as many people as possible. If those people belong to groups that are marginalized, all the better. Use the standard accomplishment structure: briefly state the situation/context—>focus more of your word count on your actions/EQ/problem-solving—>briefly state the happy ending and if space permits your lessons learned. 

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)

Admitify Guidance 

Columbia is signaling very clearly what it wants applicants to emphasize in this essay: collaboration, belonging, and partnership. The words ‘agency’ and ‘co-create’ tell you that Columbia wants to see student initiative/proaction in helping to create these values of collaboration, belonging, and partnership.  So, identify the Columbia resources in each of the three buckets that Columbia offers — academics (e.g., courses, etc.), ‘culture’ (e.g., extracurriculars, etc.), professional resources (e.g., internships, etc.) – that resonate most with your own unique differentiators and goals as a person/applicant. Describe how you will leverage these resources to create collaboration, belonging and partnership in the specific areas where you will engage with Columbia.

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)

Admitify Guidance 

Columbia is not restricting you to only extenuating circumstance (grades, GMAT, etc.) discussions here, but they are limiting you somewhat to ‘areas of concern.’ But many things – such as your age, leadership or extracurriculars – could be framed as areas of concern. Feel free to discuss multiple areas of concern but separate them into separate paragraphs with headers/titles.

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