Columbia Business School - Fall Semester 2002: Day 0

Administrative day today. Picked up my Columbia student ID card. Paid off my accommodation for the semester. Met with some of the staff in the Columbia Business School admin offices. And also attended an careers information session.

Adrian's 60-second summary of the careers situation at Columbia
Columbia seem to have had more success in placing their 2002 graduates than back home at MBS. Roughly 80% of the graduating class are now employed, compared to the undisclosed (but significantly lower) figure back home. The Columbia Careers Office's way of explaining this was a 'flight to quality': recruiters are focussing their search on top schools, since they're not looking to hire so many people over all, and cannot justify the expense of visiting so many schools.

Several major employers have chosen NOT to recruit/present on campus at Columbia this year, including two of the biggest investment banks. Goldman Sachs employed the largest number of CBS grads (roughly 30 of the 600 or so students).

The I.T. systems in place for managing the whole careers process at Columbia Business School are very impressive. Interviews are scheduled automatically to avoid conflicts with class times, and we even get the opportunity to bid for interview slots with some companies (just like bidding for classes).

My GSB

The b-school also has a fairly impressive portal set up for students, which includes personalised course material, summarised reading lists for each week, and face-books for each class. More details on this system later, after I've had a better chance to use it.

Bring on the study

Despite the fact that classes haven't even started yet, I already have 'homework' to do. For my first (and every) class for Introduction to Venturing, I have to prepare a Harvard case, and submit my short answers to the case questions online the night before the class. The Professor collates all the answers and cold calls students in class, asking them to ellaborate on their answers. Awesome.

It's going to be a sensational semester.