Academic Subject Tutoring

Each MBA student receives 20 lifetime hours of free peer academic subject tutoring for core courses and the prerequisite finance elective, Capital Markets and Investments. Tutoring for Columbia Business School courses is made available only to currently enrolled full-time MBA and EMBA students. Please note that tutoring for core and capital markets can only be used when students are enrolled in those courses. 

Any students taking Columbia Business School courses as cross-registrants/non-MBA students are generally not eligible for tutoring — check with OSA or EMBA Student Affairs if you are unsure of your eligibility to receive or offer tutoring.

The School is now using TutorTrac, an online tutor booking system. Through this system, students will log on and book time with tutors for tutoring. Use your Lifetime ID to log in. Students tutored in a group of two or more can pool their hours (i.e. one hour session that two students attend and validate will ultimately only count as 30 minutes towards the 20 hours.) Additional hours beyond the 20 allocated may be scheduled at the student's expense. Students cannot donate their hours to other students. For help with common tasks in TutorTrac, please review the How to for Tutees document.

Students facing academic issues should meet with a member of the Office of Student Affairs or EMBA Student Affairs if they are in need of additional resources. Also, a master list of tutors is posted at the beginning of the semester and is updated regularly throughout the semester.

In all other courses, students may ask the teaching assistant or professor to recommend others who have taken the course previously and done well. Students will then have to ask those recommended if they are interested in tutoring, and make arrangements regarding hours and the fee to be paid.

English Language Tutoring

In addition to the School’s established tutoring policy, international MBA students are eligible for five hours of English tutoring per semester (twenty total hours during their time here). English language tutoring is coordinated by the Office of Student Affairs. Students should contact OSA at tutor@gsb.columbia.edu for more information. Students tutored in groups of two or more students can pool their hours (i.e. one hour session that two students attend and validate will ultimately only count as 30 minutes towards the 20 hours.) Additional hours beyond the allocated twenty total hours may be scheduled at the student's expense. Students cannot donate their hours to other students.Instructions on how to validate appointments for English Language Tutoring are available here. 

Cancellation Policy and Missed Appointments

Students and tutors, please make sure if you need to cancel that you give the person you have an appointment with at least 24 hours notice. If it is an emergency situation, please contact them as soon as possible. If a student does not show up within 15 minutes of the scheduled appointment and has not contacted the tutor, the tutor may leave.

Tutors are not compensated for appointments that have not been fulfilled. If a student misses more than one scheduled appointment without notifying the tutor, the tutor should notify the Office of Student Affairs or EMBA Student Affairs, who will then issue a warning to the student. If a student continues to miss scheduled appointments without notifying the tutor, after the warning has been issued, tutoring privileges may be revoked.