The Columbia Business School Class of 2011 arrived on campus this week for an orientation to the School’s curriculum and community. There are 121 Executive MBA (EMBA) and 554 MBA students in the September-entry class. This year the School received nearly 6,000 applications to its fulltime MBA program. The incoming class is among the most accomplished in the School’s history. More than 120 members of the class graduated cum laude and 20 are members of Phi Beta Kappa. As a whole, the class holds 68 master’s degrees, two JDs and one PhD. "We are delighted by your numbers, but the excellence and diversity of this class is not measured only by your test-taking abilities" Linda Meehan, assistant dean of admissions, told the new class. "It is what each and every one of you brings to this class as an individual that makes the sum of you terrific." The class also continues the School’s tradition of representing and bringing together diverse perspectives. Collectively, the class speaks more than 50 languages, including Sanskrit, Tagalog, Yoruba and Serbian. Forty-one percent of the class was born outside of the United States. Women constitute 35 percent of the class. Members of the class have interned at the White House, managed hedge funds, published books, produced TV shows and launched entrepreneurial ventures in the United States and abroad. The class includes an army ranger and recipient of the Bronze Star, the founder of the largest organic vegetable processing factory in northwestern China, a finalist on American Idol and a three-time Grammy award–winning music producer who has worked with Kanye West and John Legend.