申请人目标金融

詹叔哥大，一个纽约金融校的自白

CBS喜欢目标明确的人。—— 詹叔...

听说HBS公布了今年的essay题目和application deadline，搞不懂作为排名第一的学校干嘛这么着急，5个月后才能收到第一批申请人的材料，难道是怕明年Chicago Booth变成唯一排名第一的学校吗？（调侃一下~偷笑）

而其实，每年最早收到申请材料的学校是Columbia Business School（CBS），最早告诉申请人录取结果的是CBS，作为一个连续12年徘徊在10名左右的M7商学院，CBS们对于排名一点都不在意。（惊讶）

▲哥大已出本年度申请deadline

大家选择其他商学院的理由很多，但是选择CBS的理由往往只有一条：CBS在纽约，the very center of business。这一条理由就足够了，还需要其他理由吗？不需要！

经常有人抱怨CBS是一所金融学校，有必要澄清一下：CBS的确是金融强校。很多人认为21世纪是科技驱动世界发展。这是表象，支撑科技不断向前发展的是金融。没有强大的金融体系，科技只能停滞在实验室或车库里。没有资本运作，“万众创新大众创业”只能是中国梦。2017年，CBS有34.4%的毕业生进入金融行业，其中投行和券商占比最大（13.7%）。同时，CBS有33.1%的毕业生进入咨询行业，远高于NYU Stern（28.5%）和Wharton（15.6%）。就工作职能而言，9.2%的毕业生从事管理职能，8.1%从事marketing。这是典型金融学校的就业分布。想清楚你是否喜欢在这样的环境生活两年，是否在意有这样的校友和圈子。不要做模棱两可的选择，CBS喜欢目标明确的人。

是的，CBS喜欢目标明确的人。

CBS是极少数把early decision（ED）和rolling admission结合起来的商学院，M7中的唯一一家。ED的截止时间一般在10月初，但是如果你以为提交材料的时间是10月，就大错特错了。由于rolling admission采取“先到先审”（first come, first serve），从5月开放申请到10月截止之间的任何一个时间都可以提交申请，学校一旦收到材料就马上审核，通常从开始审核材料到申请人拿到录取结果大约6个星期左右。当你陷在GMAT的泥潭里的时候，有人已经提交了CBS的申请材料；当你抓耳挠死地写essay的时候，有人已经拿到了CBS的录取。一个目标明确的申请人，很早就开始为申请做准备。申请CBS不应该匆匆忙忙地完成，也不应该是一个临时的决定。这里需要很强的commitment，所以很多reapplicants和consultants选择申请ED。

连续5年CBS的essay主体部分都是关于职业目标：

What is your immediate post-MBA professional goal (50 charactersmaximum)
What are your career goals over the next 3-5 years and what, in yourimagination, would be your long-term dream job (500 words)

很少有学校如此具体地按阶段细分职业目标。你不能临时编一个职业目标，不能随便挑一个职业目标。你不仅需要调查和研究目标职业的发展路径，而且要有清晰的自我认识，要讲清楚为什么走这条路你能成功。因为学校明确地说Through your resume and recommendations, we have a clear sense ofyour professional path to date，所以学校要看你的认识，不要把职业经历重新讲一遍。

有人问，申请CBS是不是职业目标必须写成金融。看看CBS的就业报告，你就知道哪些职业目标在CBS实现的可能性比较大。一个秘诀是与其生硬地编造一个金融的职业目标，不如做自己，坦诚地写自己想做的事情。但是一定要说明金融知识和资源对实现你的职业目标有什么价值，在你未来的发展中起到什么作用。金融是一个管理者不能忽视的部分，你总能发现你的未来和金融之间的关系。

CBS喜欢目标明确的人，还体现在学校期望申请人清楚如何利用纽约的资源。最初CBS要求申请人回答How will you take advantage of being “at the very center of business”？，我认为这是CBS对国际学生的歧视，特别是那些从来没有去过纽约的申请人。但是在愤怒之后，我发现与其说这个题目是验证申请人对纽约的熟悉，不如说是在考验申请人对职业目标的commitment。一个有明确职业目标的人，不会只关注自己公司和团队发生的事情，更应该关注这个行业或领域的全球动态，纽约作为 the very center of business自然是不能错过的地方。一个申请人可能没有机会去纽约，但是他可以认识CBS的校友，了解他们利用了纽约的哪些资源，认识到the very center of business对一个人的影响具体是什么。一个申请人可能身边完全没有校友资源，但是他可以通过网络认识CBS和Columbia的校友、在读学生和教授，用他们的眼睛来观察和体验这个商业中心。这个过程肯定不容易，肯定充满各种尬聊。目标游离不定的人很快就放弃了，但是目标明确的人却自得其乐，因为这本来就是他们想做的事情，申请让这件事更有目标性而已。

有人问“我的目标不明确，怎么办？”这个问题有点像问“我考不出GMAT怎么办”。该怎么办就怎么办。谁逼你申请MBA了？谁逼你申请CBS了？

最后，让我们用CBS学生的眼睛来认识一下CBS的一天。摘录自businessinsider.com。

8:00am– Before class, my learning team meets for a status update on the “Littlefield”simulation. For now, our factory’s performance is about average. It’s too earlyin the morning to be bothered by this.

9:00am– Corporate Governance panel – I’m not a big coffee drinker, but when you’repretending to be venture capitalist Tom Perkins during a heated, dysfunctionalHP board meeting, you need all the energy you can muster. This class hasprovided great exposure to the many colorful ways corporate boards can destroyshareholder value

10:30am– Swing by Watson Library in Uris Hall to give my Marketing write-up a finalread through, and confirm my afternoon meetings. Watson is the hub of activity, where peoplecan get their work done and catch up with fellow students. Part library, part social hall, it’s wheremost students end up at some point during their day.

10:45am– I thought Marketing would be a “soft-skills” class, but this core seminar isa heavily analytical approach to customer acquisition, market segmentation, andperformance optimization. I’m pleasantlysurprised, and find a number of ways that this might apply to a few start-upideas I’ve been considering.

Lunch:On many days, I’d typically pick up a quick lunch between classes in thebusiness school cafeteria (Uris Deli) or a local sandwich shop, but…

12:30pm– Lunch with fellow board members of Columbia’s Entrepreneurship Organization(CEO) to plan a few inter-school networking events, to discuss our social mediastrategy (@CBSCEO), and to continue outlining our EntrepreneurshipConference. I’m given the go-ahead tostart planning “Start-Up Crawls” as a way to meet interesting technologybusinesses around NYC.

2:00pm– As part of an annual initiative withthe Technology Business Group (TBG), January’s Silicon Valley Trek includescompany visits to technology companies including Google and Dropbox, as well asitineraries for Private Equity/Venture Capital, Green, and Healthcare. Today, we continue to confirm companymeetings and brainstorm outreach options for those companies which have beenless responsive.

2:30pm– Presentation by David S. Rose, serial entrepreneur and angel investor. This is what I love about going to school inNYC: the city is the business epicenter of the world, providing CBS studentsthe unique opportunity to meet with prominent investors and entrepreneurs. Today’s topic: How to Present to VCs/Angels.

4:00pm– Group work on a Capital Markets problem set. It’s hard to think about portfolio optimization strategies when all Iwanted to do was pepper David Rose with questions about starting a business.

4:30pm– I have about an hour in the late afternoon, so I settle into the quiet floorof Watson Library. Not enough time to goback down to Chelsea, so I might as well get some work done. It’s a great opportunity to plow throughemails and start working on an upcoming Corporate Finance case.

5:30pm– It’s time for “CBS Matters”, an initiative whereby students give 10-15 minutepresentations to their peers on matters most important to them. These range from hilarious to heartbreaking,but are consistently worthwhile and build tremendous class unity. Tonight, Kat talks about her experience as a German international student, and shares incredible stories from her lifeliving all around Europe.

6:00pm– Innovate or Die. Tonight we discuss the story of Grameen Bank, and what ittook for Muhammad Yunus to launch such an ambitious venture. This is my favorite class so far. How can you not like spending 3 hoursdiscussing the storied histories of wildly successful businesses like Apple,FedEx, & Starbucks?

9:00pm– Walk through campus en route to the subway home, passing by the esteemed LowLibrary. There’s a quintessentialuniversity feel here, and I begin to forget that I’m in the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

9:30pm– After grabbing take-out from Spice (my neighborhood Thai spot), I compose severalfollow-up emails to the tech start-ups I met at last Friday’s Silicon AlleyTalent Fair. My course load is lightertomorrow, so I’ll have a chance to make progress on a report I’m working on fora local early stage venture capital fund. Until then, time to finish up these emails and get to sleep before mynext morning lecture.后记：这篇文章读完，觉得实在太不像詹叔曾经写的犀利文章了（如下），他一定是拿他另一个人格写了这篇活泼的文章...

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