Columbia Business School MBA Students » Academic Essentials » Tutoring

Tutoring

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 & 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 & Investments 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 tutoring.

The School uses TutorTrac, an online tutor booking system. Through this system, students will log on and book time with tutors. Student use their 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 be granted at the discretion of the Office of Student Affairs. Students cannot donate their hours to other students. For help with common tasks in TutorTrac, such as booking appointments, please review the How to for Tutees document.

Students who feel that they are in need of additional academic support should meet with a member of the Office of Student Affairs, and are specifically encouraged to reach out to their academic adviser. 

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).

  • If students are interested in English Language tutoring, please contact OSA to inquire further via tutor@gsb.columbia.edu.
  • The English tutor resumes will be shared with them, and the students will be added to the English tutoring list in the TutorTrac system.
  • A user guide for TutorTrac will also be shared with the interested students.
  • The students are then welcome to reach out directly to set up appointments with their chosen tutor who can help them schedule appointments. 

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, 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.