Years ago, I would not have spoken in glowing terms about the Columbia EMBA program. Today, I do speak about it with great enthusiasm. In recent years, I believe Columbia has done a fabulous job of developing its EMBA program and of attractive highly qualified candidates.
Columbia Business School’s Executive MBA Program bridges the academic and professional divide through coursework that combines theory with application and faculty renowned in both academia and industry. Columbia’s EMBA program is flexible to meet the needs of professionals seeking to balance their academic endeavors with their workplace responsibilities.
The main EMBA program is based in New York City on Columbia University’s campus. Students gain access to over 500 guest lectures each year and proximity to alumni who are business leaders in the greater New York community. Students can either take five terms of Friday and Saturday classes or six terms of Saturday classes. Classes during the first year follow a core curriculum that provides a broad overview of key business disciplines followed a second year of electives. During the first year, students are divided into clusters of 60 to 70 students and learning teams comprising five to six students foster an environment of learning and development. In the second year, students can take electives of their choosing and enroll in classes offered through the full-time MBA program as well as other graduate programs at Columbia University. Many second year EMBAs also choose to enroll in a one week international seminar. Led by the business school’s faculty and administration, students spend a week meeting with global business leaders and government officials while strengthening their international business network. Recent seminars have taken place in Mumbai, Paris, and Rio de Janeiro. EMBAs have access to the same network of over 40,000 CBS alumni in more than 100 countries.
Additionally, CBS has also developed three partner programs specific to EMBA students: EMBA-Global Americas and Europe; EMBA-Global Asia; and the Berkeley-Columbia Executive MBA. I can highlight those programs separately.
Application deadlines for Columbia’s EMBA programs vary depending on start date. Applications are due in November for the January class; February for the May class; and June for the August class.