Meet the Babson Olin MBA Class of 2018 by: Jeff Schmitt on November 18, 2016 | | 15,122 Views November 18, 2016 Copy Link Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email Share on LinkedIn Share on WhatsApp Share on Reddit Babson College’s Olin Hall– Ethan Baron photo CLASS FEATURES 74% INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS Accomplished is another apt label for this class. During her nine year tenure at the Swim Across America nonprofit, Chanowski tripled their revenue. At Carolina Wine Brands, Chileās Martin Barros launched a new wine that generated a million dollars in sales in just the first six months. Looking for a natural-born salesman? Alexander Barza is definitely your man. āWhen the winter of 2014 ceased all bike sales in the east-coast,ā he explains, āI packed my backpack with samples of my companyās anti-theft bike lights and sold them ādoor-to-doorā along the west coast. When I returned a month later, we had more than doubled our number of retail partners.ā (Top that, Zig Ziglar!) Thatās just the start. Kohnstamm was chosen, at just 23 years old, to lead the overhaul of his companyās flagship product. Mariana Gonzalez, a travel lover from Mexico, graduated at the top of her class in General Electricās two-year Financial Management Program. Kvaratskhelia even got an early start on business school by helping to produce āHarvard Business School-likeā cases on businesses in her native Georgia. Students outside Babson Collegeās Olin Hall – Ethan Baron photo In the 2015-2016 cycle, Babson received 577 applications and ultimately enrolled 128 students for its 2018 Class. The class rolls into Wellesley with 632 average GMATs, with 34% of the class consisting of women and another 24% being American minorities. Looking for a true international cohort in the states? Babson is probably your best option, as 74% of the class hails from overseas. That has been a big benefit for Michael Perlis, a Deloitte vet who loves to ālaugh, golf, and talk about data viz.ā Iāve been able to hear perspectives from all over the world,ā he says. Overall, nearly two-thirds of the class majored in either business (33%) or engineering (30%) as undergrads. In addition, computer sciences, humanities, social sciences, economics, and science and mathematics majors comprise roughly 5% of the class each. Looking at their professional backgrounds, the largest percentage of the 2018 class ā 14% ā comes out of technology. Consumer products, manufacturing, financial services, and consulting also constitute other large blocs of the class. EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING IS THE LINCHPIN OF THE PROGRAM Obviously, Babsonās entrepreneurial prowess was the marquee attraction for the incoming class. However, the program offers several other benefits. RamĆrez de Arellano trumpets the programās āculture of collaboration,ā while Sthuthi Jebaraj lauds the small class sizes and the more personalized approach to teaching. āAt Babson, the professor knows your name and you canāt really hide,ā she observes. Barza also points to the faculty as a differentiator. āThe professors encourage us enthusiastically to engage with them outside of class because they love teaching,ā he says. The program also boasts vast resources that belie its small school stature. That includes an endowment of nearly $350 million dollars, which has enabled the program to finance an array of ventures. āThey have the Design Zone which can be used for design thinking workshops or creative brainstorming sessions with your teams,ā Perlis notes. āThey also have the Blank Center for Entrepreneurship, which offers a Venture Accelerator program, and the Lewis Institute for Social Innovation. All of these are great resources to have at your disposal.ā Even more, the program devotes significant time and resources to experiential learning. Notably, every student takes the core āManaging Talent: Your Own and Othersā (MTYOO) course, where students work together to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses and develop long-term growth plans. They also complete consulting projects, partnering with 4-6 peers over two months to complete field work for firms ranging from AT&T to LaunchRockit. In addition, the curriculum includes Signature Learning Experiences (SLE), where students practice entrepreneurial decision-making in a real world venture. āWe have been creating and collaborating since day one, which is a true testament to Entrepreneurial Thought and Action,ā says Perlis. āOur Entrepreneurship class challenged us to make a profit with only $5 of āseedā money while focusing on making our product or service socially, environmentally, and economically sustainable.ā Babson College – Ethan Baron photo COME WITH AN IDEA AND LEAVE WITH A BUSINESS The Class of 2018 may be rebels with causes, but not necessarily paths to make them real. Thatās true for Chanowski, who knows the outcome she wants. She just needs the right idea to make it happen. āI came to Babson with the value proposition that I want my business to provide, but without the actual business idea, which seems strange to say,ā she admits. āMy dream is to provide instantaneous joy at an affordable price. I want to share a product or service that causes an immediate and apparent change in mood.ā Perhaps she could join forces with Kvaratskhelia, who plans to launch several startups to do just that. āMy business profile will focus mostly in the fashion industry and I will strive to empower other female entrepreneurs to start their own businesses,ā she says. āAs a working mother, I know how difficult it is to balance motherhood with career ambition. I aspire to build a support network for creative, capable and well-prepared moms who are applying to MBA programs or struggling to start their own businesses.ā True to Babsonās social mission, Jebaraj discovered her dream ā operating a cost-cutting for-profit in the health care space ā during her medical school internship. āI moved to a small town in rural India to work as a resident medical doctor. Often I was the only doctor on call. While this was very challenging, it taught me a great deal about myself and the world around me. I learnt how difficult it was for the majority of Indians to access quality healthcare and it set me on the path to getting a public health degree.ā When it comes to how they want to look back at their two years at Babson, Gonzalez probably sums it up best: āMariana came to Babson with an ambitious idea and left with an exciting project.ā DONāT MISS: THE STEREOTYPE-DEFYING MBAS IN THE CLASS OF 2018 To read profiles of incoming Babson students ā along with their advice on tackling the GMAT, applications, and interviews ā click on the links below. Martin Barros / Santiago, ChileĀ Alexander Barza / Newton, MA Blake Chanowski / Newton, MA Manuel L. Corcuera RamĆrez de Arellano / Mexico City, Mexico Ali Eldessouky / Rochester Hills, MI Mariana Gonzalez / Aguascalientes, Mexico Sthuthi Jebaraj / Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India Simon KohnstammĀ / Saint Paul, MN Tamara Kvaratskhelia / Tbilisi, Georgia Ashutosh Pandit / Mumbai, India Michael Perlis / Framingham, MA Reed Snyderman / Boston, MA Previous Page Continue ReadingPage 2 of 14 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Questions about this article? Email us or leave a comment below. Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.