Christina Griffith
The Lauder MA/MBA Joint Degree Program: An Interdisciplinary Approach to the MBA
For prospective students looking to enter an MBA program, the University of Pennsylvania offers a unique option that expands the traditional master’s in business into a global learning experience, preparing graduates for enterprise in a diverse and connected world. The Joseph H. Lauder Institute of Management & International Studies two-year joint degree program (Lauder MA/MBA Joint Degree) offers an MBA from the Wharton School in concert with a master’s in international studies from the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Arts & Sciences. Students pursuing a business degree receive more than the standard education in finance and management. In class and in... Read more »
Real Humans of Carnegie Mellon Tepper MBA Class of 2022
This edition of Real Humans: MBA Students takes us to Pittsburgh, PA, and the pioneer of management science, Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business. Tepper boasts access to world-class researchers, including a legacy of 9 Nobel Laureates. Their commitment to community can be seen in the energetic hub that is the Tepper Quad, and the strength of analytics and data-driven decision making in their curriculum led to their STEM designation. Tepper welcomed 141 students to their full-time MBA Class of 2022. A quarter of the new crew are women and 28 percent are international. Nineteen percent identify as a minority. The... Read more »
Real Humans of Cornell Johnson’s MBA Class of 2022
292 students comprise the Two-Year MBA Class of 2022 at the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management of Cornell University. This edition of Real Humans: MBA Students highlights some of their passions, common values and lessons from admissions. But first, let’s take a closer look at the new crop of students. Altogether, the Class of 2022 at Johnson averages an age of 28 and five years of pre-MBA work experience. Ten percent of the Johnson Class of 2022 have a background in the military. Financial services had been the most popular industry of choice, as 30 percent of MBA... Read more »
Duke Fuqua Class Profile: Team Fuqua Sees Ten Percent Bump in Applications
See the Duke Fuqua MBA Class of 2023 profile here. The Class of 2022 profile for Duke’s Fuqua School of Business reflects the hard work that the admissions team carried out this year. Despite the uncertain climate, the school experienced a 10 percent increase in applications from which to assemble its 408-member class. Shari Hubert, Associate Dean of Admissions, credits much of the success to the nearly 200 worldwide events held by the school, pre-pandemic travel to other countries for recruiting, as well as the efforts of the Team Fuqua network. Here are some key elements of the profile: Duke... Read more »
UCLA MBA Class Profile: Anderson School of Management Class of 2022
See the UCLA Anderson MBA Class of 2024 profile here. The UCLA MBA Class of 2022 profile for the UCLA Anderson School of Management has been released. The program took a firm stance on deferral options for newly admitted international students unable to secure visas to come to the U.S. Still, more than one-third of enrollees are from overseas. Here are some key elements of the profile: UCLA MBA Class Profile: Undergraduate Background Average Undergraduate GPA 3.5 Percent majoring in arts, humanities, social sciences 17% Percent majoring in science, technology, engineering, and math 32% Percent majoring in business 23% ... Read more »
Columbia MBA Class Profile: Internationals Hold Steady Despite Pandemic Punch
See the Columba MBA Class of 2023 profile here. Columbia Business School released its Class of 2022 profile. The numbers in the Columbia MBA class profile reflect 782 enrolled students—211 who matriculated in January (J-Term) and 571 who began classes in August. Columbia saw an increase in applications for the current year and no significant changes in the class profile, including international students, which for a year full of uncertainty over the pandemic and difficulties with visas is an impressive success. Director of Admissions Emily French Thomas expanded on CBS’s ability to hold steady through the pandemic, telling Clear Admit,... Read more »
Real Humans of Duke Fuqua MBA Class of 2022
Six new members of Duke Fuqua’s MBA Class of 2022 share insights into their admissions journeys and future plans in this edition of Real Humans: MBA Students. Located in Durham, North Carolina, Duke’s Fuqua School of Business is noted for its strong healthcare education, and the emphasis it places on teamwork among its MBA students. Altogether, the Daytime MBA Class of 2022 at Fuqua is comprised of 408 students. Nearly half—46 percent—are women and 38 percent are international citizens. Thirty-eight percent identify as a minority and 23 percent are underrepresented minority students. With an average age of 29, the new... Read more »
Real Humans of Harvard Business School MBA Class of 2022
The Harvard MBA Class of 2022 may be smaller than usual, but the 732 students still pack a punch when it comes to their experience, aspirations and more. We are excited to kick off our Real Humans: MBA Students series this year with insights and advice from the new HBS candidates. HBS received 9,304 applications in the 2019-2020 admissions season. The school usually aims for a class size of around 930, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, accepted applicants were given the option to defer admission. 732 ultimately chose to matriculate. A third of the Class of 2022 are international,... Read more »
Yale MBA Class Profile: Diverse Talent, Common Mission
The Yale School of Management brings together 350 talented and diverse individuals for their MBA Class of 2022. The new members began orientation in late August, followed by classes in the school’s new pandemic-inspired hybrid instruction model. Bruce DelMonico, Assistant Dean for Admissions, admires the diversity of the class, despite the challenges. “It’s been a year!” he declares. “As the season unfolded, there was a lot of speculation about what the class would look like and how much it would change from previous years. It isn’t dramatically different from previous classes.” Here are some key elements of the Yale MBA... Read more »
Stanford MBA Class Profile: Successful Efforts in Diversity
Stanford Graduate School of Business has released its profile of the MBA Class of 2022. This year, 436 students make up the largest class in the school’s history. Despite the difficulties over the course of the admissions season, Stanford GSB managed to make significant progress in its efforts to diversify the program. Wil Torres, Assistant Director of Outreach and Diversity at Stanford since 2018, has been at the forefront of programs and initiatives designed to improve representation among students of more diverse backgrounds, including the recent launch of the school’s Action Plan for Racial Equity. Regarding the school’s outreach, he says,... Read more »
USC MBA Class Profile: Domestic Diversity in the Marshall Class of 2022
The USC Marshall School of Business full-time MBA Class of 2022 profile is an example of how the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are not always apparent on the surface. While this year’s incoming students numbered 217—nearly identical to the 2019 class size—the student demographics are far different. Here are some key elements of the profile: USC MBA Class Profile: Undergraduate Background Average Undergraduate GPA 3.55 Percent majoring in arts, humanities, social sciences 29% Percent majoring in science, technology, engineering, and math 17% Percent majoring in business 33% USC Marshall Class of 2022 Student Characteristics Women 40% Average Age... Read more »
MIT Sloan Waives Standardized Testing for 2020-2021 Admissions Cycle
MIT’s Sloan School of Management has opted to waive the GMAT and GRE requirement for the 2020-2021 MBA admissions cycle. While the school maintains that standardized tests are important to the evaluation process, the challenges brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic are too numerous and widespread to justify the requirement for candidates. Some schools chose to waive the standardized testing requirements during the spring and summer rounds of 2020 due to limited testing accessibility. While the GMAT and GRE are now online for many, they are not available in all areas, nor do all users have the technology necessary to... Read more »
UC Berkeley MBA Class Profile 2022: A Cultivated Mix of Backgrounds and Aspirations
UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business Class of 2022 officially kicked off the fall semester on August 24th, 2020. This year’s incoming UC Berkeley MBA class profile reveals students coming from a wide array of professional and academic backgrounds. Here are some key elements of the profile: UC Berkeley MBA Class Profile: Undergraduate Background Average Undergraduate GPA 3.65 Percent majoring in arts, humanities, social sciences 23% Percent majoring in science, technology, engineering, and math 27% Percent majoring in business 13% Berkeley MBA Class of 2022 GMAT Statistics Average GMAT Score 727 GMAT Score Range 690 – 760 Berkeley... Read more »
NYU MBA Class Profile: Academic Achievement Highs for the Stern Class of 2022
See the NYU Stern MBA Class of 2023 here. We continue our round-up of the characteristics and highlights of new MBA classes, this time at the NYU Stern School of Business. NYU’s MBA class profile for Stern students includes some record-breaking academic highlights for the school, despite the entering class being around 10 percent smaller than usual. Here are some key elements of the MBA Class of 2022 profile: NYU MBA Class Profile: Undergraduate Background Average Undergraduate GPA 3.6 Percent majoring in arts, humanities, social sciences 34% Percent majoring in science, technology, engineering, and math 23% Percent majoring in business... Read more »
HBS Class Profile: A New Way of Looking at Harvard’s MBA Class of 2022
See the HBS MBA Class of 2023 profile here. Harvard Business School released its profile of the Class of 2022, one which is noticeably smaller than previous years. The HBS class profile statistics represent the 732 students that were admitted and also chose to enter in the Fall of 2020 rather than take a deferral, which was offered in May. The Managing Director of MBA Admissions and Financial Aid, Chad Losee, emphasized that the deferral option extended to this year’s candidates was exclusively to address COVID-19 related issues and applicants should apply for the year they wish to matriculate. Moreover,... Read more »
Wharton MBA Class Profile: The Class of 2022 Takes Shape Amid COVID-19
See the Wharton MBA Class of 2023 profile here. The Wharton School has released its MBA Class of 2022 profile. This year, the 916-member class is one of the largest in school history and came from the largest pool of applicants in a decade. Thanks in part to extended deadlines and relaxed testing requirements in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the school received 7,158 applications, a 20 percent jump over the previous year. Here are some key elements of the profile: Wharton MBA Class Profile: Undergraduate Background Average Undergraduate GPA 3.6 Percent majoring in arts, humanities, social sciences 38%... Read more »
Tuck Class Profile: A Record-Breaking Class of 2022
See the Dartmouth Tuck MBA Class of 2023 profile here. The updated Tuck class profile, reflecting the characteristics of Tuck Business School’s 289-member MBA Class of 2022, reveals an international cohort of men and women who hail from a diverse array of employers and academic backgrounds. This year’s incoming class enters at an unconventional time, and their demographics point to the global influences impacting the business world. Here are some key elements of the profile: Tuck Class Profile: Undergraduate Background Average Undergraduate GPA 3.48 Percent majoring in arts, humanities, social sciences 49% Percent majoring in science, technology, engineering, and math 28%... Read more »
Wharton MBA Program Shifts from Hybrid Model to Mostly Remote Learning for Fall 2020
In light of recent surges in Covid-19 cases in Philadelphia and around the U.S., the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton School announced on Friday, July 31st, that the planned hybrid models in place since June were no longer viable. Instead, the fall semester will be conducted remotely, with a few exceptions. Wharton MBA Class of 2022 students received the news about remote learning in a virtual town hall hosted by Dean Erika James, who officially stepped into her new role as dean on July 1st. The town hall was followed up by an email from Vice Dean Howie Kaufold... Read more »
Business Schools Taking the Initiative to Increase Diversity in MBA Programs
Business schools across the U.S. are renewing efforts to increase the racial and ethnic diversity of their MBA programs. In the wake of protests following the death of Minneapolis resident George Floyd in police custody, college campuses—much like the rest of America—are being forced to reckon with systemic racism and inequity. For schools, this means addressing recruiting and retention of people of color in their MBA programs as well as promoting anti-racism on campus and in the curriculum so that MBA grads can bring this knowledge into the workplace. It is rare nowadays that a school lacks an office of... Read more »
Business Schools Begin to Announce Fall 2020 Plans
With ongoing uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus pandemic, evolving government mandates, and public health concerns, many business schools are heading into the fall semester with contingency plans for the fluid situation they expect to face. Some MBA programs remain mum about what the fall semester might look like, but others have begun to let incoming students know what to expect. We’ve rounded up the latest communications from seven leading programs below. Flexibility and In-Person Options The Wharton School of Business has joined Harvard Business School and Chicago Booth in implementing a hybrid class model for the fall term with flexible options... Read more »