The MBA Gatekeepers At Columbia Business School

Columbia University – Ethan Baron photo

Anne Carnahan, associate director of admissions: We have over 100 student organizations and a lot of them have their own websites, hold their own conferences.

Eileen Menis, admissions assistant: Pick their recommenders carefully. It’s just as important as every other part of their application for them to take the time to consider who they think will give them the best recommendation, who knows them the best.

Susan Sullivan, associate director of admissions: It’s the thing that holds up applications from being read – sometimes we’re waiting for the recommendations to come in.

Emily French Thomas, admissions director: Make sure the recommender has the time and is willing to take the time to make the recommendation.

What are the worst mistakes an applicant can make?

Amanda Carlson, assistant dean of admissions: I actually had one that happened this summer at an event. We had finished moderating a panel. This guy walked up to me afterwards and he’s like, ‘Is there anybody here more important that I should be talking to? Is the director of admissions here?’ I said, ‘The director of admissions is not here.’

Eileen Menis, admissions assistant (smiling): He was authentic.

Amanda Carlson, assistant dean of admissions: Yes, he was authentic. I was absolutely stunned.

Michael Robinson, senior associate director of admissions: I would add, avoid writing very generic essays that could apply to any school.

Emily French Thomas, admissions director: There’s sometimes the feeling that they’re trying to smush an essay that they wrote for somewhere else. . . into one of our essay questions. It’s just not as powerful.

Michael Robinson, senior associate director of admissions: We always have essays that end with, ‘And that’s why I want to go to . . . ‘ and then they name another school.

What would get an applicant immediately ruled out?

Robert Shea, admissions director: Bad behavior. We meet people, we make comments and we add them to their files: ‘This is a great person.’ ‘This person is rude.’ You walk into the front office and you’re not behaving the way we’d want Columbia people to behave, that’s automatic: denied.

Susan Sullivan, associate director of admissions: For most things you could cite as a bad, there’s something else on the application that could outweigh it.

Matthew Moll, associate director of admissions: I always tell candidates no one is admitted for a single reason and no one is denied for a single reason.

Robert Shea, admissions director: It’s like reading between the lines for a lot of it. Most of the people that apply, their statistics (mostly show) you could see them here.

What did an applicant do that made you want to shake them, metaphorically speaking?

Robert Shea, admissions director: How about Derek years ago? His essay was like four sentences.

Amanda Carlson, assistant dean of admissions: But we saw his resume and we’re like, ‘Wow, this kid’s terrific.’ We brought him in, asked him to rewrite them. He did, and he’s now entrepreneur in residence.

Susan Sullivan, associate director of admissions: We really do want them to succeed. We give people a lot of chances.

THE MBA GATEKEEPER SERIES:

THE MBA GATEKEEPER AT INDIANA KELLEY

THE MBA GATEKEEPER AT UNC KENAN-FLAGLER

THE MBA GATEKEEPER AT YALE SOM

THE GATEKEEPER TO GEORGETOWN MCDONOUGH

THE GATEKEEPER TO NYU STERN

THE GATEKEEPER TO CORNELL JOHNSON

THE GATEKEEPER TO DUKE FUQUA

THE GATEKEEPER TO BERKELEY HAAS

THE GATEKEEPER TO HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL

THE GATEKEEPER TO STANFORD GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS