Columbia MBA - School visit

I am targetting the MBA program at Columbia as one of the places where I will apply. I visited Columbia roughly 10 days ago to attend an info session, see the school campus, and sit in a class.

Here is the brief summary of my visit:
-I had heard from another potential applicant that Columbia comes off as being very standoffish during their info session. It was anything but! The lady who gave the presentation was cordial and to the point and yet friendly. The professor whose class I sat in (he had a economics PhD from MIT) was also quite friendly.

-Very impressed by the program. The Finance concentration is sufficiently broad and yet narrow if one wants to pursue a particular line. Private Equity, Investment Banking, Capital Markets are some of the sub-concentrations available. I was impressed that these are so well defined.

-I liked that there are numerous student activity clubs available which organize business and social events that suit all tastes and types.

-What is impressive is that Columbia MBA students can access the resources of a large number of special centers including the language center (Chazen) to brush up their language skills and the Enterpreneurship center.

-Glitterring Alumni. Did not know that one of the KKR guys went to Columbia.

-New York City location seems to be a huge advantage compared to Wharton.

-The class I sat in was "Global Economic Environment". I sat in for about 45 min and was sufficiently impressed. Liked how the Prof started the class by asking the students about recent financial events and briefly summarized their impact on the economy. The class started by showing a bunch of curves: Interest rate Vs Salary; Inflation Vs Interest rates; etc. I followed the first few slides after which it got too technical for me. Scooted out of there!

-The only negative that I came off with was when I talked to the admissions office lady about how many PhDs they took last year. She did not have an exact number but seemed to think it was less than 1% (which makes it 8 at most). But she did say that the pool of candidates who apply with PhDs is very small, so I would have the same chance as a non-PhD applicant. She told me to make sure that my essays are good.

-Columbia has an early admission deadline which means that if one has decided that a Columbia MBA is for them, they should apply by August 15. Decisions are given out in less than 8 weeks. And if you get in, you have to pay $5000 to accept.

-I decided that I will apply for the early round at Columbia.