Poets&Quants | Fordham's Gabelli School of Business

The Gabelli School of Business MBA: What You Need To Know

Located in Midtown Manhattan, Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business offers a Jesuit business education in the epicenter of the financial capital of the world. Gabelli prepares each of its students to succeed in their pursuit of management and leadership experience. Their 24-month, full-time MBA program boasts features other MBA programs don’t, particularly as students begin their journey before the start of courses in what is termed a month-long “Gabelli Launch.”

Guilherme Zim Zaniol, president of the Fordham Management Consulting Association, shares that this month-long orientation is “comprised of an interesting agenda, such as leadership, power and influence sessions; a data analytics bootcamp; career planning workshops; and capped off with a week-long consulting project for NGOs in Argentina, highlighting the idea of ‘business with purpose.’ It’s been more than a year, and I’m still in touch with my client in Buenos Aires. In the second semester, we worked closely with companies such as MarkLogic and Fidelity Investments on our London campus, helping them with business issues in a business-client environment.”

Gabelli’s flagship features don’t end there. Second-year MBA students are entered into a mandatory convergence week where they will apply their knowledge and skills in a simulated business environment. However, they are faced with disorienting challenges that force students to think critically and re-evaluate how they handle themselves and apply what they know.

Being in the center of New York City offers students the ability to engage with a plethora of successful entrepreneurs and corporations. Zim Zaniol made mention of the opportunities given to students every Wednesday as a part of “the Gabelli Enrichment Lab, which includes experienced professionals, TedX speakers, and invited faculty, to teach [students] more about leadership, communication, and confidence.”

Gabelli’s school clubs also open a door for students to connect with Alumni and Advisory Board members as well as the ability to produce new opportunities within these organizations. Students can make impactful changes that can sustain constant growth in one’s professional knowledge, networking, and business acumen.

Overall, Gabelli is a school that cultivates an open and inclusive environment that prioritizes its students while holding to its Jesuit roots. Gabelli maintains a focus on ethics and sustainability. In today’s growing market, which is quickly moving towards providing more sustainable solutions to environmental and ethical problems, such a center point is necessary.

The impact of Gabelli has not been lost on its students. As Zim Zaniol proudly states, “I have met countless alumni that were interested in donating their time and efforts to help me with my career. One could say “you get out what you put in”, as a Gabelli student, but I have received much more than I’ve put in, and in the near future, I hope I can give back as much as I’ve received to the future generations with time, knowledge, and scholarship opportunities. I’m thankful for everything that came with my admission letter and I’m really proud of being part of the Fordham family.” How can you sum it up better than that?

More From Guilherme Zim Zaniol, MBA Candidate Class of 2020

Being part of a small MBA Program, in a big graduate student community allows MBA students to take advantage of a wide range of electives, from business analytics to quantitative finance to market intelligence and many others. Here, because of the smaller MBA cohort, you are known by the name by colleagues, professors, and high-level faculty and receive individualized support and career counseling. On the other hand, Fordham’s large graduate student community also offers leadership opportunities. For example, I was chosen as a VP for the Management Consulting club last academic year and am now President. It’s a great opportunity to network closely with Alumni and even Advisory Board Members.

The clubs and the Career Development Center put a lot of effort into leveraging the New York City advantage. Throughout these three terms, we visited many companies, such as Bloomberg, Facebook, LinkedIn, AB InBev, AMC Networks, and many others. In addition to that, NYC hosts the largest portion of our extremely friendly alumni network. MBAs are encouraged to take advantage of that, have coffee chats, discuss resumes, and take part in career conversations across the city.

When thinking about how Gabelli benefited my career goals, I believe it impacted in many different ways. I had the chance to show my leadership and initiative skills on different projects and tasks. But, most importantly, my experiences here led me to my Summer Internship, working at the biggest fast-fashion retailer of Latin America in Brazil, where I had the chance to meet with the CFO every week, and present my final project to the entire C-suite board. I had over 10 years of working experience when I joined Gabelli, ranging from big-4 to entrepreneurship, and I’m confident that my journey as an MBA student gave me a better understanding of my past experiences, and transformed me into a much better professional, with more hard skills, business acumen, confidence, and will.

Mean GMAT, MBA program: 622

Mean GMAT, MS programs: 658

Total graduate population: 1,813 (including non-degree students)

Number of degree programs: 21 (7 MBA options, 14 MS programs)

Average class size: 26

Average years of work experience, MBA students: 5.3

Number of full-time faculty: 123

Percent with terminal degrees: 89%

Student-faculty ratio: 15:1