Columbia Business School

Columbia Business School has a lot of strengths that make it utterly unique. Its location, and therefore access to many industry leaders and career opportunities. And they are not just big name, conventional companies - students at Columbia have access to entrepreneurs in the space as well as leaders from established firms. The school's extensive network also brings in some of the best speakers and adjunct professors. And because of these strengths, the school attracts an equally interesting mix of students, which really enhances the student body and alumnae network. In essence, the school is diverse - in every aspect.

I thought the academics were good, but more can always be done to improve the quality of instruction. Professors are always going to have that conflict between research and teaching, but teaching ability should be factored more heavily in tenure decisions. After my first year, Columbia lost my single favorite CBS professor to Stanford - I'm not sure if tenure was the issue, but this shouldn't be happening. The other area is career services - I think they do a pretty good job, but I still think they could do more, especially in terms of bringing a wider variety of firms to campus. My impression is that if you come to CBS and want to do banking or consulting, your two years should be a cakewalk - chances are you are going to land a great job and be worry-free for most of your time there. If you're trying to do something a bit more off the beaten path, there are going to be fewer options and you're going to have to do a lot of work on your own.

Columbia MBA is unique due to a combination of great curriculum, faculty, alum, and location. Moreover, the school offers a great workload, leaving you with time to dedicate yourself to clubs, volunteering activities, extra / side projects led by the school and its alum, not to mention male friends and connections for life.

The school needs to improve its 1st year/core program. It could be better taught, especially for a school that is ranked so high on every ranking list.

We have incredible speakers every day due to the NYC location. The finance program is unparalleled. Team-work is emphasized over personal achievement creating a fantastic, collaborative environment. Finally, the approach to teaching is practical and hands on, teaching us real on-the-job skills.

I think an improvement could be made to the quality of teaching in the core courses. On top of that, sometimes I did not feel that overlapping topics and lessons across different courses were connected well. Maybe there should be more collaboration/communication between the departments and the professors.

Many alumni who are the world's best in their fields like Warren Buffett, Henry Kravis, and Vikram Pandit remain very active and involved in the CBS community. We were given a lot of access to successful alumni through speeches, cocktail hours, and other events. Also, many CBS professors are not from the ivory tower. They were accomplished professionals in their previous lives. As a result, they are great at teaching lessons that prove helpful in the real world.

Columbia really needs to invest more resources in the Business School. Part of that will be handled with a new campus, but I sense a disconnect between the priorities of the administration and the students. It has always been a battle for resources at Columbia. Luckily, I think the students themselves have made great strides in the last two years to make it a community that people really want to be part of. Columbia's fratty culture isn't for everyone, but I feel that there are more options of ways to get involved than there were when I first arrived.

Columbia really caters to each students individual career path and goals. I came in with a non traditional background and was interested in a non traditional career path (long term). Columbia helped me hone in on the best experiences to propel me along this path and really focus on how to get these experiences. In addition, Columbia is the only school with a volunteer peer advisor program. Students are so passionate about incoming students that they volunteer their time to lead new students through orientation and be available throughout their time here. This program allowed me to connect quickly with 2nd years and gain several mentors from day 1. This program really feeds the genuine excitement that students have about Columbia and how cohesive being a member of this community is.

Less emphasis on finance would help recruit more mature and more interesting students. Career services should also expand its outreach to companies other than consulting and banking. Too many students are "sons-of". They are plain dumb but they got in because dad/mom wrote a big check to the School. This is not acceptable.

The quality of the international student body is unparalleled, the value investing program and ethics in business are inserted in every way in the school and provide am approach to business that is truly unique. The closeness of faculty and their quality is what you would expect of a top school such as Columbia. NY from uptown and its speakers is what makes this school outstanding.

I think the career office is doing a good job, but I wish that they could be working harder to assist candidates in the off campus recruiting process.

The single greatest attribute of Columbia is its location in New York and the proximity it affords students to industry professionals. Additionally, I love that they've focused their teachings on practical knowledge and intuition building versus theoretical learnings.

The school has a very strong investing curriculum, and it was one of the main deciding factors in my choice to attend. However, there is a tension. The program that draws most investing students - the Value Investing Program - is not one that students are accepted into at the time of their acceptance to the school more generally. Instead they must apply in their second year. It is such a huge draw that people who turned down other schools to come to Columbia to become value investors can find themselves rejected from the program because it is artificially small. Thus, people who would have otherwise gone elsewhere, end up in a poor situation because of the program's policies. In addition, this makes recruitment more challenging as students who are rejected from the program must compete against those who were accepted for the same jobs.

There is such a strong and supportive network of current students and alumni. This is especially important because of the access and frequency of contact as a result of being in New York City.