Sneak Peek At HBS’ Class of 2017

Zeroing in on the new MBA application for Harvard Business School

STEM UNDERGRADUATES DOWN BY THREE PERCENTAGE POINTS TO 36% OF CLASS

Another somewhat significant change occurred in the undergraduate educational backgrounds of enrolled students. The increasing number of first years who had been STEM majors finally fell this year by three percentage points to 36% from 39%. That decline was offset by an equivalent increase in the percentage of students with economics and business backgrounds, now 45%, up from 42% a year earlier. Students who majored in the humanities and social sciences remained at 19% of the class.

Besides the fall in the representation of consultants in the entering class, the work experience of the incoming students remained relatively stable with a few exceptions. First-year students with financial service backgrounds, other than venture capital and private equity, fell by three percentage points to 11% from 14% last year. Meantime, enrolled students from the military, high tech, consumer products, the government, education and non-profit sectors, manufacturing and energy all slightly rose by one percentage point this year. Those increases made up for the falls in consulting and financial services.

How Harvard’s Class Makeup Is Changing

Source: HBS preliminary class profiles

Note: These are preliminary numbers subject to change

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