MBA Class of 2019: diverse, talented & 39% female

Global, diverse, and talented are just a few of the adjectives that describe the full-time MBA Class of 2019. They hail from 20 different countries and have a wide range of experience from teacher to NASA researcher, US Navy pilot to K-Pop star. Women represent 39% of the class where the median age is 28.

“We identified several common themes among the class,” said Jason A. Brown,
Assistant Director of Graduate Admissions. “Many of the first year MBAs desire to start their own business, they share the thrill of traveling and playing musical instruments. Several have participated in Teach for America, the Peace Corps, and Americorps.”

Brown highlighted unique skills and backgrounds of a few members of the class

• Emily Francis is the third-highest rated female chess player in the state of Georgia
• Before joining the Marines, Ryan Harbison served his undergraduate community as a volunteer firefighter
• Seongjoon Hong is a wilderness responder
• Kyuil Lee considers himself a “first-generation K-pop singer” and is a former member of Honey Family, a K-pop singing and dancing group; he is also a recipient of the Technical Grammy Award from Lexicon
• Jesus Bandres is a professional tennis player and has represented his home country of Venezuela in the Davis Cup and Wimbledon tournaments. He contributes his talents here as an Assistant Men’s Tennis Coach at WashU, so you may see him on the Tao Tennis Center courts in between classes.

Another member of Olin’s MBA class of 2019, Gheremey Edwards (pictured above), is profiled on the website Poets & Quants in an article that features first year MBAs from top business schools around the country. Here’s an excerpt from Edwards’ interview:

I chose Olin because Olin chose me. When Dean Taylor described the community as “elite but never elitist; confident but never arrogant,” I knew I had found my home.

—Gheremey Edwards, MBA '19, when asked what the key factor was in choosing this program for his Full-Time MBA

More stats on the Olin full-time MBA Class of 2019:

145 students

39% women

19% Under-represented minorities

13 US military veterans

11 pursuing dual degrees

4.8 years average work experience

Undergraduate background: students come from three general areas of study including Business/Economics; Engineering/Science; and Humanities/Social Sciences

Country of birth:

AZERBAIJAN 1
CANADA 1
CHINA 5
INDIA 26
INDONESIA 1
ISRAEL 2
JAPAN 4
KENYA 1
S.KOREA 8
NEW ZEALAND 1
NIGERIA 4
PAKISTAN 2
PERU 1
ROMANIA 1
SAUDI ARABIA 1
SOUTH AFRICA 1
TAIWAN 1
UNITED STATES 82
VENEZUELA 1
ZAMBIA 1