The Class of 2018 at Columbia Business School (CBS) comes from diverse backgrounds and professions including a Naval Officer and NAACP Attorney having majored in disciplines like architecture, gender studies, philosophy and even anthropology.
CBS saw the highest number of applications at 6,008 since 2013 for the for its January and August entries. Last year it had received 5,829 applications.
The number of candidates who secured admission stood at 1025 while the acceptance rate dipped to 17.1% from 18% for the Class of 2017.
Among the students, Coree Mahoney had served as an Intelligence Officer in the US Navy. About her career in the Navy, she says she earned enough trust from her subordinates to re-enlist under her command.
Similarly, Natasha Korgaonkar, after completing a Joint Degree at Columbia Law in 2007 had worked for five years as an assistant counsel with the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund. She also was stint an adjunct professor at NYU Law.
Mike Kirwan was involved in non-profit fund-raising for children raising $38 million dollars. Anna Aagenes launched the organisation, GO! Athletes, that provides mentorship and support to LGBT student athletes.
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Jill Wang says she found the 15 years she spent in dance lessons, including ballet, tap, and jazz, great preparation for business school. She says much of what she knows about teamwork was learnt on the dance floor.
GMAT Scores Rise
The GMATs scores maintained a rising trend, with the average touching a 717 average up two points from the previous class. Overall, GMATs ranged from 550-780, with the scores going from 680-760 in the middle 80% range.
Student undergraduate GPAs averaged 3.5, identical to the previous five graduating classes, as incoming GPAs ranged from 3.1 to 3.9.
Female representation registered a marginal rise at 38%., up from the 36% average for the 2015-2017 batch. International student representation also went up from 42% to 48%. However, the percentage of U.S. minority students dipped to 35% from the previous year’s 31%.
While 34% of the class had majored in social sciences, 31% were from business followed by engineering (8%), humanities (6%), and sciences (3%).
Students with financial services background account for 25% of the class, followed by consulting (20%), marketing and media (13%), private equity (7%), technology (7%), military and government (5%), non-profit (5%) and real estate (5%).(Image Source:Google.com)
