Last week, the Wall Street Journal published an article, with quotes from mbaMission Founder, Jeremy Shinewald, about the changing composition of HBS’s class and included the chart below to illustrate its new stripes. MBA aspirants are highly attuned to every little twitch at HBS, but what does this change really mean and does it matter? Those in finance are no doubt a little bit concerned that HBS is “down on bankers,” but the finance community should take a step back and consider the fact that its industry is still the best represented of any industry.
Amid the hubbub, an important question may have been lost – what is the purpose of this “rebalancing” of the class? Is this HBS’s way of apologizing for graduating so many bankers, who have endured so much criticism over the past few years? And, if it is a quasi-apology, the question that is really begged is… will this produce any fewer bankers or will this just result in opening the field of finance to more individuals with manufacturing and tech experience? The true test for HBS, if they want to change their output, is not the incoming class make-up, but the data in the outgoing jobs report. Unfortunately, we will need to wait a few years to see if HBS graduates more individuals who pursue industry and more fewer who enter financial services.
Read the full article: MBA News Commentary: Does Changing the Composition of HBS’s Class Matter?