Harvard Business School Changes Its Class Profile

"Harvard Business School's incoming class will have a substantially smaller percentage of finance professionals than in previous years. Instead, a higher number of students will have manufacturing and technology backgrounds.

According to preliminary figures from Harvard's admissions department, about 25% of the 919 students in the class of 2013 are from finance industries— including private equity, banking and venture capital—compared with 32% last year."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304…

 

Not surprising at all. The top b-schools this year, especially HBS and Wharton, have drastically moved away from finance. I don't know if this trend will continue, but it's definitely a reaction to the 2008 financial crisis.

Just an anecdote. One of my best friends is heading to a top 5 MBA this fall, and during an admit reception in NYC, he said he did not meet a single white or asian male who was in finance. This confirmed his theory that getting into an elite business school with a traditional finance background is insanely difficult.

 

Wow, they finally figured out what the important part of the economy actually is - way to go Harvard. Actually MAKING something is the backbone of the economy and actually INNOVATING drives it forward?

Who would have thunk it?

Get busy living
 
UFOinsider:
Wow, they finally figured out what the important part of the economy actually is - way to go Harvard. Actually MAKING something is the backbone of the economy and actually INNOVATING drives it forward?

Who would have thunk it?

You can make and innovate however you like, but without major financial capital and sound financial advisory your products and innovations will go to waste. You think you'd be using a Mac or PC without the crazy amounts of capital Apple and Microsoft got? Or using Google Chrome without Google's IPOs? Perhaps, but it would have taken many years longer for the technology to have developed if those companies didn't have the money to hire bright minds or couldn't afford R&D.

 
Schwarzmanegger:
UFOinsider:
Wow, they finally figured out what the important part of the economy actually is - way to go Harvard. Actually MAKING something is the backbone of the economy and actually INNOVATING drives it forward?

Who would have thunk it?

You can make and innovate however you like, but without major financial capital and sound financial advisory your products and innovations will go to waste. You think you'd be using a Mac or PC without the crazy amounts of capital Apple and Microsoft got? Or using Google Chrome without Google's IPOs? Perhaps, but it would have taken many years longer for the technology to have developed if those companies didn't have the money to hire bright minds or couldn't afford R&D.

So, you're saying that bankers and traders are more important than actual businesses that actually produce something?
Get busy living
 

HBS is naive to think that recruiting candidates with a manufacturing, tech or non-profit background will make them less "Wall Street". Let's see what happens when recruiting season comes around. I'd be willing to bet that an offer from Goldman might be pretty tempting for someone from GE or Teach for America. I'm not a Wall Street fanboy - quite the contrary - just noting the reality of how compensation and prestige play a role in MBA recruiting, no matter the candidates background.

 

I met two HBS grads on an airplane recently that both went into public education on the curriculum development side. Not everyone wants to work in Manhattan and be overweight at 35.

If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses - Henry Ford
 
Best Response
Brady4MVP:
09grad:
a lot of the banks have trouble recruiting at HBS.

also, the stated percentage includes those in VC, which is disproportionately large within the group.

HBS students lean heavily towards PE and VC while wharton and booth lean towards banking, trading, hedge funds, investment management.

Just wondering what you mean when you say ibanks have trouble recruiting at HBS? Like the students arnt interested or they are not a good fit?

Also you might want to check the employment stats, 10% --> ibanking, 9% --> PE, 3% -->VC, hard to argue they "lean heavily towards PE/VC." Easier to say they lean heavily towards consulting (24%)

Time will tell if changing the incoming class profile will change the 34% that go into finance or 24% that go to consulting...I doubt it until "saving the world" starts paying $100k base

http://www.hbs.edu/recruiting/mba/data-and-statistics/employment-statis…

 

I'm in finance, but this is extraordinary news. Now if they could just address the cost of education and the role that plays into whether or not people attend b-school.

"Cut the burger into thirds, place it on the fries, roll one up homey..." - Epic Meal Time
 

Most of the "entrepreneurs" are likely ex-finance professionals who have seen what it is like to be a banker/PE professional and have no interest in going back. The tech/engineers are going to b-school for a career change, because they want to make a shit-ton of money doing banking. I realize this is a general statement and not applicable to all, but it's definitely an overarching theme. Will be interested to see where this recruiting class ends up.

 

This is nothing new. Business schools are always lagging indicators. Academia, despite what they try to portray, is always behind the curve when it comes to business. When technology does well, they jump on the tech bandwagon. When finance does well, they jump on that.

Another example of this: business schools setting up Chinese campuses. WSJ even has an article on it now. I assure you if (when IMO) China stalls and people find out a lot of these numbers are cooked, business schools will begin distancing themselves from that market as well.

Stop glorifying academia when you are in business. If you are involved in the industry YOU are at the cutting edge not professors removed from the action. This isn't the sciences. Pedigree is nice, but in this industry the $$$ speaks (and I say this coming from what is considered a "very pedigreed" institution).

 

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"Cut the burger into thirds, place it on the fries, roll one up homey..." - Epic Meal Time

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