An Acceptance From Columbia Business School

My Columbia Interview went fantastic.  I really liked my interviewer and the conversation was very casual and I had a great time.  The best part of the interview was that I got to hear all about his experience before, during and after his MBA.  All in all, it lasted about an hour and a half and I never got nervous or tripped up on any of his questions.  He took a little while to submit the interview feedback, which made me super nervous, but that is okay.  I think Clear Admit’s section on Columbia interview questions ended up being all I needed to prepare.  I highly recommend checking it out if you have an upcoming Columbia interview.

Acceptance at Columbia!

Three long days after my interviewer submitted his feedback, I got the call welcoming me into CBS’s class of 2016!  As many of you know, I wrestled with whether to apply Early Decision or not and finally determined that Columbia was the place for me and that the ED route made sense.  I begrudgingly sent a note to Wharton’s admissions and let them know that I would be withdrawing my application and declining my invitation to interview.  This was such a tough email to send.  After months of working on the Wharton application, I was essentially rejecting them…and it felt really strange after all the hard work.  I also will have to withdraw my application to HBS as well, where my application is under “deferred consideration” (essentially wait listed).  All this being said, I am beyond happy and excited to be a part of CBS’s incoming class.  I even joined the Facebook group already and began reading some of my future classmate’s profiles (by the way…WOW, these people are impressive)!

Next Steps

Next steps are a little scary to think about…I have lots of time on my hands and will need to save much more aggressively for my MBA.  I have really put savings on the back-burner and will need to buckle down, save a lot and start applying to scholarships like a mad woman.  Also, I will have to come to terms with the fact that I will be MOVING TO NYC in LESS than a YEAR!  This is really huge for me as I have been living with my boyfriend for four years in the same place and have lived in the same city for over 10 years.  This will be a really, really big change for me and there are so many uncertainties – roommate/no roommate? On campus/near campus/not-so-near campus?  If anyone else has been accepted into CBS already and shares my fears, please let me know!

Columbia here I come!

MBAGirlJourney offers the perspective of a highly thoughtful young professional woman who hopes to land a seat at a top ten MBA program for the Class of 2016. She has two goals: to gain acceptance to at least two of the top ten business schools and to finance her MBA without taking on heavy debt. She blogs at MBAGirlJourney. Previous posts on Poets&Quants:

My Goal: To Get Into Two of the Top Ten MBA Programs

How To Finance Your MBA Degree In A Responsible Way

Handicapping My Own Chances of Admission to Harvard, Wharton, Chicago Booth, et al

An Ideal Routine For Your GMAT Test Day

Narrowing Down & Strategizing My Target Business Schools

The Real Cost of An MBA: $345K — So Is It Really Worth It?

Making Progress On Those Round One Applications

Glad Those Round One Applications Are Over & Done