Meet the Babson Olin MBA Class of 2018

Babson College's Olin Hall - Ethan Baron photo

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, Chileā€™s 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. ā€œWhen the winter of 2014 ceased all bike sales in the east-coast,ā€ he explains, ā€œI packed my backpack with samples of my companyā€™s anti-theft bike lights and sold them ā€œdoor-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!)

Thatā€™s just the start. Kohnstamm was chosen, at just 23 years old, to lead the overhaul of his companyā€™s flagship product. Mariana Gonzalez, a travel lover from Mexico, graduated at the top of her class in General Electricā€™s two-year Financial Management Program. Kvaratskhelia even got an early start on business school by helping to produce ā€œHarvard Business School-likeā€ cases on businesses in her native Georgia.

Students outside Babson Collegeā€™s Olin Hall - Ethan Baron photo

Students outside Babson Collegeā€™s 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 ā€œlaugh, golf, and talk about data viz.ā€ Iā€™ve 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, Babsonā€™s entrepreneurial prowess was the marquee attraction for the incoming class. However, the program offers several other benefits. RamĆ­rez de Arellano trumpets the programā€™s ā€œculture of collaboration,ā€ while Sthuthi Jebaraj lauds the small class sizes and the more personalized approach to teaching. ā€œAt Babson, the professor knows your name and you canā€™t really hide,ā€ she observes. Barza also points to the faculty as a differentiator. ā€œThe 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. ā€œThey have the Design Zone which can be used for design thinking workshops or creative brainstorming sessions with your teams,ā€ Perlis notes. ā€œThey 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 ā€œManaging 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. ā€œWe have been creating and collaborating since day one, which is a true testament to Entrepreneurial Thought and Action,ā€ says Perlis. ā€œOur Entrepreneurship class challenged us to make a profit with only $5 of ā€œseedā€ money while focusing on making our product or service socially, environmentally, and economically sustainable.ā€

Babson College - Ethan Baron photo

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. Thatā€™s true for Chanowski, who knows the outcome she wants. She just needs the right idea to make it happen. ā€œI 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. ā€œMy 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. ā€œMy 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. ā€œAs 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 Babsonā€™s social mission, Jebaraj discovered her dream ā€” operating a cost-cutting for-profit in the health care space ā€” during her medical school internship. ā€œI 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: ā€œMariana came to Babson with an ambitious idea and left with an exciting project.ā€

DONā€™T 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

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