Columbia Business School

Columbia University

Columbia Business School

1125 Amsterdam Avenue

Warren Hall, Room 404

New York, NY 10025

Admissions: 212-854-1961

Email: apply@gsb.columbia.edu

Website: http://www4.gsb.columbia.edu/emba

Apply Online: http://www4.gsb.columbia.edu/emba/admissions/

Application Deadline: Rolling admissions

When it comes to Executive MBA programs, Columbia Business School is one of the biggest players in the world.

In New York, the school offers two paths: a traditional EMBA schedule of Friday/Saturday as well as a new Saturday only program launched this year. Depending on their program, students are required to complete 22 courses (11 core and 11 electives) totaling 60 credits over either five or six consecutive terms.

Columbia’s portfolio of partner programs also includes EMBA-Global Americas and Europe, EMBA-Global Asia, and the Berkeley-Columbia Executive MBA. These programs divide class time between Columbia Business School and partner institutions and provide students with an education that spans institutions and perspectives. PoetsandQuants ranks the Columbia/Berkeley partnership as the 16th best EMBA program in the world (it would be even higher if not for the fact that BusinessWeek, which makes up a quarter of our composite ranking, allowed partnership programs in its ranking).

The Executive MBA curriculum at Columbia Business School balances cross-disciplinary skills and strategies with specialized topics relevant to students’ specific interests. Much of the first year of study is devoted to the core curriculum, courses designed to offer students a holistic understanding of business from the perspective of senior leadership. Students take core classes with the same cluster of 60 to 70 students, and complete most assignments with their learning teams — five- to six-person groups. The second year consists mainly of electives.

Latest Up-to-Date Executive MBA Rankings:

2012 Poets&Quants: 4

2011 BusinessWeek: 2

2011 U.S. News & World Report: 5

2010 The Wall Street Journal: 9

2011 Financial Times: 25

Rankings Analysis: Columbia Business School maintained its rank of fourth place in the 2012 PoetsandQuants’ analysis of the world’s best EMBA programs despite some underlying movement in two major rankings. BusinessWeek, which measures EMBA programs on the basis of a graduate satisfaction survey and a reputation poll among EMBA directors, awarded Columbia a second place finish, up two spots from fourth in 2009.

But Columbia did less well with The Financial Times which ranked the program 25th in the world, down 10 places from its tenth place showing in 2011. Readers unfamiliar with these rankings may have concern over the relatively low FT ranking, but the newspaper’s methodology for ranking EMBA programs is more flawed than most so we don’t believe it is a legitimate reason not to go to Columbia’s excellent program.