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MBA News: 2012 Financial Times MBA Program Rankings

mbaMission — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:25:10 +0000

The Financial Times published its 2012 ranking of MBA programs over the weekend, with some notable changes in the lineup. For one, the Stanford Graduate School of Business, which tied for fourth place with INSEAD last year, came out on top for the first time. Harvard Business School was ranked second, while last year’s joint number one, the Wharton School, came in third. These rankings are based on information gathered through two surveys—one of 2008 MBA graduates and one of 150 participating business schools—that look at salary, diversity of teaching staff, board members and students, international reach and the relative number of articles published by full-time faculty in academic and practitioner journals. A key difference in the Financial Times ranking versus other popular rankings, such as those by U.S. News & World Report or BloombergBusinessweek, is that the FT ranks U.S. and international business schools together, giving a more global perspective.

As we always mention when reporting on MBA rankings, business school applicants should take any ranking system with a grain of salt. Rankings simplify that which cannot be simplified and assign a numeric value to that which cannot be quantified. Rather than focusing on a school’s ranking (or change in ranking from year to year or from publication to publication), you should take time to determine the factors that are most important to you in an MBA program (e.g., pedagogy, academic/professional specializations, location, class size), and then do your research to identify the schools that best meet your needs by fulfilling these factors…not arbitrary ones like rankings.

For more information about how to assess rankings within the context of choosing the right business school for you, download our free Selecting Your Target MBA Program E-Book.

MBA News: Cornell’s Johnson School Names New Dean

mbaMission — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 17:58:28 +0000

The Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University has named Soumitra Dutta its 11th dean, effective July 1, 2012. Dutta comes to Johnson after a 22-year tenure at INSEAD, during which he held the roles of dean of external relations, dean of technology and e-learning, and most recently, founder and academic director of the eLab. Dutta has also served as a visiting professor at the Haas School of Business at UC-Berkeley and the University of Cambridge Judge Business School. This appointment makes Dutta the first dean from a non-U.S. business school to be hired by a major U.S. business school.

Dutta is considered an expert on the impact of new technology, like social media and networking, on the business world. “Professor Dutta’s appointment is a natural fit with Johnson’s increasingly global outlook,” said Cornell President David J. Skorton, in a press release this morning. CEO and chairman of S.C. Johnson, H. Fisk Johnson, believes Dutta’s “global focus and outstanding research in the areas of innovation and technology position him well to lead the school today and in the future.”

MBA News: MBA Facilitates Improbable Income Leap?

mbaMission — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 17:24:51 +0000

According to an article in the New York Times today, Americans are having an increasingly difficult time moving from one quintile of income earners to another (“Harder for Americans to Rise From Lower Rungs”). Maybe the enduring popularity of the MBA can be explained by the fact that the average MBA from a top school makes the leap from the second highest quintile to the highest quintile in two years (or less). Take the average Kellogg student, for example, who made roughly $72,000 going into the program, meaning that this person was already in the top 25% of earners. Upon graduation, if this average student earned an average $110,000 salary, he or she would leap into the top 10% overall.

The article explains that mobility and lack of mobility can unsurprisingly be linked to education levels:

“One reason for the mobility gap may be … the unusually large premiums that American employers pay for college degrees. Since children generally follow their parents’ educational trajectory, that premium increases the importance of family background and stymies people with less schooling.”

We never cheerlead for the MBA, but in this case, score a point for those who feel the degree is a worthwhile investment…

MBA News: Darden Dean Robert Bruner Named Dean of the Year

mbaMission — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 17:00:29 +0000

Good news for the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business: Dean Robert “Bob” Bruner has been named Dean of the Year by the MBA-community Web site Poets and Quants. Bruner beat out deans from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, Harvard Business School, the Indian School of Business and other top programs. He received this honor for his leadership of one of the leading business schools in the country, as well as for his role in the globalization of management education, his engagement in social media and for being “one of the best case study teachers of finance in the world.” Congratulations to Dean Bruner and the entire Darden community!

MBA “News”: mbaMission Releases Indian School of Business Insider’s Guide

mbaMission — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 20:59:34 +0000

Since 2008, we at mbaMission have been literally writing the book on the top business schools with our Insider’s Guide series. Now we’re going where no other admissions consulting firm has gone, breaking new ground with the release of our Insider’s Guide to the Indian School of Business (ISB). To bring you this insightful look into all that makes the ISB a vibrant community and an up-and-coming b-school power, we traveled to India twice and interviewed the school’s students, administrators, professors and alumni. Through our guide, you will learn about the ISB’s curriculum and pedagogy, facilities, star faculty, alumni base, social events and more. We take you through the school’s academic offerings in numerous academic and professional disciplines, including finance, marketing, entrepreneurship, consulting, real estate and health care.

The 2011–2012 ISB Insider’s Guide, along with 15 other updated guides on such schools as Harvard Business School, the Stanford Graduate School of Business, Chicago Booth and the Kellogg School of Management, are available now for purchase in our store. We hope they will help you pinpoint the right MBA program for you.

MBA News: More Companies to Hire MBAs in 2012

mbaMission — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 19:53:30 +0000

According to the Graduate Management Admission Council’s (GMAC’s) 2011 Year-End Poll of Employers, more companies plan to hire MBA grads in the coming year. Last year, 58% of employers planned to hire MBAs, whereas this year, 74% intend to hire them. Not only will more companies take on MBAs, but each plans to employ more MBAs than before, and 32% of companies polled plan to increase annual salaries for these new MBA hires. And for those still attending business school, 69% of companies plan to offer paid internships in 2012. Is the light at the end of the tunnel appearing?

MBA News: Michigan Ross EMBA to Be Offered in LA

mbaMission — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 21:04:57 +0000

Starting in August 2012, the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan will begin offering its 20-month Executive MBA Program in Los Angeles to attract even more West Coast candidates and to further expand global access to the school, according to Dean Alison Davis-Blake. Students in the program will meet once a month for weekend-long programming that replicates the Ann Arbor campus curriculum. Davis-Blake hopes the expansion will build a strong alumni base on the West Coast and will appeal to busy executives who want “more time learning, less time commuting.” (Applications will be accepted in January.) We should note that this is the continuation of a trend, wherein EMBA programs are developed outside the parent schools’ traditional campuses. Kellogg has its EMBA in Chicago and Miami; Chicago Booth has an EMBA program in Chicago, Singapore and London; Wharton has one in Philadelphia and San Francisco; and so on.

MBA News: MBA Grads Take For-Profit Social Responsibility Roles

mbaMission — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 17:57:50 +0000

According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, more MBA graduates are going on to do “good” work, but just not in traditional nonprofit arenas. Although fewer than 5% of graduates from top business schools work for nonprofit organizations straight out of school, many students are taking positions in social responsibility at Fortune 500 companies or working for companies that address environmental concerns, global poverty or energy access. So while MBA grads understand the importance of charity and social entrepreneurship, they also seek the financial security that does not necessarily come with nonprofit work. According to the article, salaries at nonprofits can be as much as 33% below salaries at for-profit companies. For the 9% of the Class of 2011 at the Yale School of Management who accepted nonprofit jobs, the average starting salary was $80,000, compared with $120,000 for those graduates who went into consulting. Not only do these socially minded MBAs benefit financially from working at larger, multinational, for-profit companies in a social responsibility role, but also, many feel they can make a greater impact with that broader scope.

MBA News: Darden Announces New Joint MBA/MEd Degree

mbaMission — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 20:46:23 +0000

The University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business and Curry School of Education have teamed up to offer a brand new joint MBA/MEd degree. The full-time program, to be completed in just two years, is designed to train future leaders in American education. Interested applicants must apply and be accepted to both Darden and Curry, and accepted students will start in the summer with a ten-day seminar at Curry, which will teach students the context for applying business approaches to the educational field. The first academic year will consist of Darden’s first-year curriculum, followed by an internship in a district, charter, nonprofit or for-profit educational organization and two to three Curry courses in the summer. The program concludes with the completion of Curry’s required courses and Darden and Curry electives (such as “School Law” and “Developing Organizational Capacity”).

MBA News: Tuck Views Educational Advisors as Great Resource

mbaMission — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 17:48:05 +0000

When asked recently about Dartmouth Tuck’s position on applicants’ use of educational advisors, Dawna Clarke, the school’s director of admissions, clearly stated that Tuck views these advisors as “a wonderful resource for prospective students.” Clarke touted advisors’ skills at asking probing questions, serving as a sounding board to provide advice on program fit, challenging applicants to reflect on their background and skills, and helping identify what to maximize in the application and interview process. Clarke emphasized that applicants should only use educational advisors who offer these appropriate services and cautioned against using advisors to actually write essays for applicants (Note: mbaMission of course falls in the first category of appropriate use). Tuck’s stance on educational advisors is so favorable that the school has held conferences in previous years to help familiarize these consultants with Tuck’s MBA program.

To learn more about Tuck, check out mbaMission’s exclusive interview with Dawna Clarke or our mbaMission Insider’s Guide to the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.