International Students are Go at Thunderbird: MBA News

By QS Contributor Updated Aug 27, 2019

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Introduction
Thunderbird School of Global Management known for its diverse student body

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International students enrolled on 2013’s full-time MBA program at Thunderbird School of Global Management make up a higher percentage of its overall 152 students than ever before.

Representing a share of 72% of the total student body, 2013’s newly enrolled international students have seen off Thunderbird’s previous record of 67% that dates back to 2001. The school also highlights that its selection criteria for the MBA program has been more rigorous this year than at any time since 1995, with a 65% acceptance rate.

The news comes in stark contrast to a recent report from the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS), which revealed a substantial tail-off in the rise in numbers of international students both applying to, and being offered places, at US business schools for the year 2012-13.

This year’s intake of full-time MBA students at Thunderbird hold citizenships from 34 different countries, with the largest proportion of non-US citizens hailing from Asia. Or more specifically, from India, China, Taiwan and Japan, in descending order of the percentage proportions of students enrolling from these countries.

Thunderbird School of Global Management known for its diverse student body

Thunderbird School of Global Management has something of a reputation for being internationally-inclined after coming out fifth in Bloomberg Businessweek’s look into which US business schools had the ‘most global student body’, in October 2012. The same report gave a 35.4% average share of international students on full-time MBA programs at the schools included.

In a press release for Thunderbird School of Global Management, the school draws attention to the fact that many of its students are already very globally-orientated people by personal background. One example cited is an incoming student from China who has lived and worked in Colombia and speaks Spanish as a result. It also points out that its intake includes naturalized US citizens who originally hail from overseas, meaning there is yet more diversity within its ranks than the statistics may suggest.

As a school that prides itself on its cultural global business education, it is perhaps no surprise to see the numbers of international students rise elsewhere at Thunderbird, with its MA and MSc programs also seeing an upturn in numbers for 2013’s intake.

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