Overview - Babson
College is a private business college with a focus on entrepreneurship in
Wellesley, MA, only 10 minutes from Boston. The college has 2300 undergraduates
with an average class size of between 20 and 25 students and no TAs teaching. Classes
are capped at 40 students.
Academics – The following
makes Babson different:
- Everyone is involved in entrepreneurship
- There is a focus on thinking globally (30% of students are international) and innovatively
- Students need to be willing to be creative, take risks and be able to fail
- There is an emphasis hands-on learning.
There are required business and liberal arts classes
including rhetoric, quantitative classes and a business foundation in finance,
accounting and marketing.
Everyone takes a yearlong foundations of entrepreneurship
where they start a company to solve a problem, they pitch an idea to get
funding for their idea and launch the business. At the end of the year,
students liquidate the business and donate the profits to a local charity.
Students can have 0, 1 or 2 concentrations (like majors at
other colleges).
All freshman get a laptop with needed software loaded.
There are no classes on Fridays.
Babson has partnerships with Olin College (which is their
next door neighbor) and Wellesley College. Students can take 1 class per year
at these 2 other colleges. The three schools also have a shared makerspace.
Study abroad -
Over 50% of students have a global abroad experience that is over a break or a
semester in length. There is also a yearlong partnership with the London School
of Economics.
Post-Graduation -
Students can work with the center for career development from day 1. Over 500
employers come to campus to recruit. Most students have at least one
internship, although an internship is not required. 99% of graduates are placed
in a job or a graduate program.
Housing - 85% of
students live on campus all four years. Students can choose to live in a Living
and Learning Community or Greek Housing if they like.
Extracurricular
activities - There are 22 NCAA Division III athletic teams, as well as
intramural and club sports. Babson has Greek life and lots of clubs for
students to join (or students can start a new club).
Applying –
Students can apply Early Action, Early Decision or Regular Decision. Admissions
are holistic with an average SAT score of 1360 or ACT score of 31. All
applicant must have pre-Calculus in high school, although Calculus or AP
Statistics are encouraged.
