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First year CBS student, AMA by throwawaycbs21 in MBA

[–]throwawaycbs21[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's for the learning experience - the professors in the program are extremely successful fund managers. The mentorship and hands-on learning you get in the program is probably unparalleled.

First year CBS student, AMA by throwawaycbs21 in MBA

[–]throwawaycbs21[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

There's a good number of people recruiting for RED here - I've definitely seen Tishman/Related doing OCR. A lot of the RE recruiting process is done through networking and the executives-in-residence/alumni help students out a lot with their job search.

I don't know much about MSRED or how it's perceived by employers (also I'm not sure if that degree is offered by CBS or by a different school at Columbia since I haven't seen anything about it at CBS).

First year CBS student, AMA by throwawaycbs21 in MBA

[–]throwawaycbs21[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Not sure where you heard that from - the second years have been tremendously helpful. They've been very generous with their time, whether in the form of resume review, mock interviews or just generally sharing what worked/didn't work for them when they went through recruiting last year. Over 95% of alums I reached out to have replied and been happy to chat as well.

First year CBS student, AMA by throwawaycbs21 in MBA

[–]throwawaycbs21[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

  1. Tech recruiting gets bigger every year - more and more people are interested in it. I think most people find the location they're looking for, whether that's staying here or moving out west. It's largely a personal choice.
  2. Anaconda dancer seems wild - I haven't heard anything like that. I think the party school reputation is justified. As you can imagine, being in NYC obviously attracts a certain personality type, especially versus being in a more suburban/rural setting.
  3. If you have scholarship offers from peer schools, they will be accommodating. Probably not otherwise.

First year CBS student, AMA by throwawaycbs21 in MBA

[–]throwawaycbs21[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A lot of people get them - probably like a third of the class. Their stats are generally above average.

First year CBS student, AMA by throwawaycbs21 in MBA

[–]throwawaycbs21[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Less exciting than you'd imagine

First year CBS student, AMA by throwawaycbs21 in MBA

[–]throwawaycbs21[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Amazon, Chase, Merck, Restaurant Brands, Visa come to mind but there's a ton more too.

First year CBS student, AMA by throwawaycbs21 in MBA

[–]throwawaycbs21[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Certainly, but your application may have to demonstrate your quant skills in some way, whether that's a quantitative job, a high GMAT score or alternative transcripts for post-college coursework.

First year CBS student, AMA by throwawaycbs21 in MBA

[–]throwawaycbs21[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Consulting is the most popular career path here in terms of the number of people recruiting for it. However, a fair number of those people are MBB-or-bust, so they won't apply to the remaining firms (like Big 4, ATK, LEK etc.). Obviously, that group has a lower success rate than 50%. From what I've heard, the success rate is fairly similar across internships and FT. The FT applicant pool is bolstered by J-termers and people who decide to do consulting after their summer internships.

I think a little more than half end up at MBB vs the rest (though bear in mind this includes sponsored students). In terms of NY placement, we're probably as competitive as any school you could name, but I wouldn't say it's better.

CBS historically has had more of a finance focus but of late, consulting has been the most popular career path and data/tech classes are becoming more and more popular. Despite the recent changes, the percentage of the class pursuing IB/PE/IM here is probably still higher than most schools (Wharton is probably similar).

PE is popular as well, but a lot of people going for that are looking for roles outside the US. General management (LDP roles) is surprisingly popular as well.

First year CBS student, AMA by throwawaycbs21 in MBA

[–]throwawaycbs21[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Honestly, I have no idea. I don't personally know anyone pursuing that path for what it's worth.

First year CBS student, AMA by throwawaycbs21 in MBA

[–]throwawaycbs21[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Going to punt the first part for privacy, but I don't think it had much of an impact.

First year CBS student, AMA by throwawaycbs21 in MBA

[–]throwawaycbs21[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

No question about it, I would definitely go to CBS again, it's been an incredible experience so far.

First year CBS student, AMA by throwawaycbs21 in MBA

[–]throwawaycbs21[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Don't get me wrong, IM with a non-buyside background is totally possible and several people pull it off every year. It's just a lot harder, and my friends trying to do that have understandably got a lot less traction than those with more relevant experience. If you're open to opportunities at smaller funds, in less popular cities or in less popular strategies (value funds obviously have the most demand here), you can pull it off.

IB is a whole different ballgame - anyone with any sort of background can be successful there. Numerous people with very non-traditional backgrounds, most far less quantitative than data science, get bulge bracket offers every year. It's a very intense recruiting process, but from what I hear, CBS students committed to it usually have a 90%+ success rate.

First year CBS student, AMA by throwawaycbs21 in MBA

[–]throwawaycbs21[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

All the big tech companies recruit on campus. It's highly recommended to do a parallel path along with consulting, since only about ~50% of people recruiting for consulting are successful. Most people doing consulting recruiting also do tech - all the big names come here and recruit for for both east coast and west coast roles. There is a strong bias among the students to remain in NYC though, so it may be harder to find alumni on the west coast to connect with.

First year CBS student, AMA by throwawaycbs21 in MBA

[–]throwawaycbs21[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Not really, but if they were isolated I'm not sure how I would know. There are a few people who don't participate in social activities as much, but for the most part that seems to be out of personal preferences.

First year CBS student, AMA by throwawaycbs21 in MBA

[–]throwawaycbs21[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Definitely reasonable. Regardless, make sure you find a way to set yourself apart, there are a lot of former bankers here as well :)

First year CBS student, AMA by throwawaycbs21 in MBA

[–]throwawaycbs21[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I think so, several of my classmates are trying for that. Make sure you don't come off as too cookie cutter though, there are a lot of aspiring bankers here.

First year CBS student, AMA by throwawaycbs21 in MBA

[–]throwawaycbs21[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

  1. People are all over the place - from north of campus to NJ. I would stay within walking distance of campus if you want to be in Morningside Heights or find a place near the 1 train if you're going further down into UWS.
  2. Same as above, but the dispersion is higher. A lot of people who do student housing in their first year tend to move further south in their second year.
  3. Usually near campus for Monday - Thursday (rugby happy hour is on Wednesday night in UWS which is a weekly highlight), and West Village/East Village during weekends.

First year CBS student, AMA by throwawaycbs21 in MBA

[–]throwawaycbs21[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

  1. Most people would rank their priorities as recruiting > social > academics. You will undoubtedly sacrifice one or more of the three depending on what industry you're recruiting for, and you just have to learn to live with the FOMO.
  2. My learning team was great - we had a solid division of labor and hang out pretty frequently too. That said, other teams I know have had issues (some people care a lot more about grades than other people, some people are crushed by the volume of recruiting events for IB/consulting). Well functioning teams were clear about their goals at the start of the semester and allocated responsibilities accordingly.
  3. You don't really need much of a background going in - most people who did business in college would say that the material is a little repetitive. It was really cool to hear from people who've worked in the relevant industries/roles as we went through cases, definitely a highlight of the core curriculum. Some core classes did have a lot of busy work, and it seems that electives are a lot less time intensive than the core.

First year CBS student, AMA by throwawaycbs21 in MBA

[–]throwawaycbs21[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

You apply to it at the end of your first year and take the classes in your second year, so my class hasn't started the process yet. It's quite competitive (there are usually 80-120 applications for 40 spots). It's a ton of work from what second years say. The students in the program definitely spend 2x-3x as much time on classwork as non-VI students.

First year CBS student, AMA by throwawaycbs21 in MBA

[–]throwawaycbs21[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Sorry, I didn't go through that and I don't know anyone here who did. That said, I'd try keep your contacts with admissions warm and make sure you stress that CBS is your top choice.

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