As a prospective applicant to an MBA program or a prospective student about to join an MBA program, you might have wondered what would your fellow MBA classmates be like. Today, we will take a look at examples of the kind of classmates you can hope to meet.
Media & Entertainment
Meet Naomi. Prior to business-school, Naomi worked as a special reporter at The Wall Street Journal covering The Arab Spring that got triggered off at the Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt. A little known fact about Naomi is that she is also a certified yoga instructor and whenever she is in New York, she teaches yoga at YogaWorks in NYC.
Finance Professional
Meet Andrew. Andrew worked at Goldman Sachs in Investment Banking as an Analyst and thereafter worked with Blackstone Private Equity before coming to b-school. Andrew is a wine connoisseur and his wine tours include Napa Valley, Finger Lakes, Tuscany, Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne and Matakana regions. 
Management Consultant
Meet Stacy. Stacy worked at Ernst & Young in management consulting before business school and her work and personal travels have taken her to 30 countries in the past 4 years. Stacy’s ability to converse in 10 different languages (English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Mandarin, Portuguese, Danish, Irish and Dutch) has helped her win many clients’ hearts.
Government / Military / Non-Profit
Meet Rick. Rick worked as part of President Bush’s administrative staff and has bragging rights about something that only a few handful of people on this earth have. Rick loves the outdoors and has achieved the notable feat of scaling the Mt. Everest.
Technology / Internet / E-commerce / Techpreneur
Meet Gaurav. Gaurav is an Engineer from India who worked at Infosys for 2 years before starting a community portal that has over 1 million registered users. At this juncture, Gaurav is looking to gain a strong network and foundation in business fundamentals to be able to take his venture forward. If you run into Gaurav, do ask him about his grandfather who was a freedom fighter and played a role in India’s Independence.
Entrepreneur / Family Business Owner
Meet Barry. Barry is a third-generation scion and shareholder of The Hermès Group of Paris. Post-graduation, he already knows that he will be managing a multi-million dollar division of Hermès. His vacation home on Cote d’Azur (French Riviera) would make for an amazing vacation during the MBA! 
Healthcare Professional
Meet Kishore. Kishore is a dentist who hopes to get sound business fundamentals through his MBA and combine his skills as a dentist and skills from his MBA in establishing a flourishing practice. Kishore is a trained vocalist in Indian Classical (Hindustani) music and has performed in solo concerts in India.
Non-Traditional
These candidates do not fit into one of the pools mentioned above and hence are often known as the non-traditional candidates. Some examples of really non-traditional backgrounds that I have seen and heard about are: Former Olympic Athlete, Sniper (yes, I know this woman and yes, it is a “she”), Ballerina, Actor, Professional DJ, Chef and Politician.
Economic Times recently did an interesting piece on some people with unique profiles studying at ISB, S.P. Jain Institute of Management and IIM-Trichy. As an example, ISB’s class of 2012-13 includes Arun Narendranath, Research Secretary to BJP President Nitin Gadkari.
Wonder if Naomi was in Egypt watching history being made at the start of the Arab Spring? Yes, she was and indeed it was a scary time. Wonder if Rick traveled as part of the entourage on Air Force One? You bet. Wonder if…..wait a minute, don’t take our word for it. Ask your classmates for yourself when you get to school!
Do note that this list is not an all-encompassing list of your classmates and is only meant to give you an overview of the backgrounds some of your classmates may have.
We would love to hear from you. Leave a comment telling us about some other interesting classmates you’ve come across.
