We head to New York City to greet some new members of the Columbia Business School (CBS) MBA Class of 2025 in this edition of Real Humans: MBA Students.
The CBS MBA Class of 2025 is comprised of 900 students, with 681 starting in August and 219 starting in January. Women make up 44 percent of the Class of 2025, and 43 percent of students identify as U.S. minorities. Forty-seven percent of students are international citizens.
During their undergraduate years, they earned an average GPA of 3.5. A third had majored in business, while a fifth had pursued degrees in economics. Seventeen percent studied engineering.
The new CBS students averaged five years of work experience prior to matriculating. The entire cohort had at least one year of full-time work experience. Twenty-nine percent arrived on campus with a background in financial services, making it the most represented industry. Another 21 percent had previously worked in the consulting industry.
When it came time to take the GMAT, the CBS MBA Class of 2025 landed an average score of 730.
Read on for personal insights from five new MBA students, as they share their admissions journeys, what drew them to CBS and more.