Another popular choice this year was the new BSc Business Administration and Digital Management program (DM). Only 90 out of 1157 applicants received a letter of acceptance, and 392 of applicants marked the program as their first choice.

This makes 4.4 first priority applicants per space, which means the program’s popularity exceeds the BSc Psychology at KU and makes it this year’s most sought-after study in relation to the number of study places.

“The high GPA requirements indicate that many very skilled students want to learn at CBS. Students are our main raw material, so it’s a huge advantage to have such motivated students,” says Wilbert van der Meer, head of deans office, and adds:

“We are lucky to have so many good students, and that is an important factor when it comes to quality education.”

Grades aren’t everything

However, there are certain factors to take into consideration when you have such a large pool of talented students.

Wilbert van der Meer explains that sometimes students who have achieved high GPAs in high school tend to focus solely on their grades, and in these situations, it becomes difficult to teach them that grades aren’t the most important aspect of university life.

“At the end of the day, grades are not the most important. There are new territories where they may be uncomfortable and we try to abstain from focusing on grades too much. They are all very bright, but we would like to see these young students try something new, something wild.”

Dive into subjects that are challenging, and that you are not sure how to solve. Do not only choose a research question that you already know the question to. These are some ways in which Wilbert van der Meer would like new students to step out of their comfort zone.

CBS and KU have both been experimenting with grade free first-year classes in an attempt to change their new student’s perspective on what is actually important during University.

“One of the most important takeaways should be to become very good at what you want to work with. Diving deep into the subjects that really interest you. That’s what we would like to teach students.”

What the future has in store

The new programs at CBS have been received very well and were popular choices for fresh applicants. However, getting the new programs approved was no easy task, says Wilbert van der Meer.

Even the BSc Business Administration and Digital Management program was not approved without any hitches.

All of the new programs need to be approved by the Ministry of Education and Research. To gain approval, CBS has to ensure that the job market will be able to receive the freshly graduated candidates. The school achieves this by speaking with HR managers about the students’ new competencies.

But even though CBS is constantly developing new programs or altering existing ones the number of students admitted cannot change.

Next year, CBS is hoping to get a revised version of the BSc Intercultural Market Communication (IMK) program, however, as with the BSc DM program, it’s been difficult to get the seal of approval from the ministry.

“A revised version of the IMK program will go to the committee because we feel that it needs a new profile and that it needs to be more focused on business,” says Wilbert van der Meer and continues:

“With IMK we see there is a labor market need, but the changes in the program are not necessarily what the market is looking for, so now we are documenting what the program can offer for the market.”