Winning Ideas for the Future of B-Schools

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January 27, 2011
MBA Express

NEWS  THIS WEEK'S TOP STORY INNOVATION Winning Ideas for the Future of B-Schools GMAC solicited ideas for transforming management education and got more than 650, including 20 winning entries. Now comes the hard part: implementing them   MORE TOP STORIES Twenty Top Ideas for a Better MBA Twenty Top Ideas for a Better MBA Horseplay: B-School Takes Students to the Barn Anybody who has worked in an office knows that co-workers can sometimes seem less like colleagues and more like, well, barnyard animals. 2011 MBA Job Outlook Bright The summer internship hiring season is just beginning at many business schools and already things are looking up for first-year MBA students, according to the latest survey from the MBA Career Services Council. BEST BUSINESS SCHOOLS 2010 Business School, Explained Is business school on your horizion? If so, get answers to all your questions on admissions, careers, and B-school life from the experts  B-SCHOOL FORUMS Visit BW Online's interactive forums for wide-ranging discussions about management education. Search through over 1,359,000 posts for topics that interest you. Join in today! Here are a few samples of recent messages: Getting into B-School — Matured Grad Transit to IB Life Stories From: SincereMBA2010 To: All Hi, I am hoping to get some good feedback and real stories from you folks out there who potentially have been through the same thinking process I am in right now. I am struggling to figure out if an MBA is the right path for me at this stage and here are some of my facts - age 32, applying to the programs this year - did not have a stellar GPA but did a 720 GMAT - have great career achievements till date, been the youngest leader in my organization and now moving on to bigger portfolio I have visited many schools and I am excited by people that I have met in the top bschools part of my plan for a good MBA is potentially transition to IB why IB? because that would probably be the only field that would justify payback in terms of $ over time (nevermind the long hard hours, I do the same long hours with regional traveling right now, probably longer hours than IB/MC guys :( Question, I know it is extremely hard for someone of my profile, current age and with no prior finance background to transit to IB even with a top MBA (let's put aside H/S/W since my low GPA and age would probably not get pass the admission commitee despite great references and career achievements till date). And I know how tough it is to get into IB even with prior finance background, the networking, the cold calling and stuff. Guess what I am hoping to hear from you folks out there is, has anyone out there ever went through the same struggle as I am right now and have successfully made it to IB eventually. I welcome all feedbacks and comments as I desperately need advice to move forth. Thanks in advance From: WernerGunther To: SincereMBA2010 Hi, i think your age will definitely be an obstacle for HBS as they like young folks but for GSB and especially Wharton it is not that bad. At Wharton they have many 35+ students, i personally know two of them so don't hesitate to apply there, you might well be accepted. Actually given you background you will really need to go to a top school in my view if you want to get int IB but to be honest i'm not sure it will get you to IB anyway because you will have to start as an analyst and standard analysts will be less than 25 so at 34 with no experience, it will be difficult to compete, given that at 34 you will find people with a MBA and nearly 10 years of experience... The trick is that when they say "HBS place graduates into elite PE" they never add "off course these people were working in PE / IB / M&A before so it is logical they got the job" Obviously people who were working in non-profit could not get such a job regardless of their degree, and this applies for IM, IB AND SO ON... Sorry to be pessimistic mate, but it is better for you to know it before paying the tuition: it will be very difficult for IB. But is it that important? There are plenty of different paths than IB (and you might not be aware of that but compensation in IB is going down, and will go down) and many which are MUCH more interesting! My advice would be to look for INSEAD or London Business School: with a 1 year programs you will spare one year, it might be quite important when you are a bit "older". Good luck! From: SincereMBA2010 To: WernerGunther thanks mate, great advice, appreciate it you are right, IB is not the only path and I do explore alternate paths as well thanks again and hope to hear more good feedback/advice/comments From: LTP To: WernerGunther WernerGunther has some good advice, but you will not start as an Analyst if you have an MBA. You would be an Associate (one rung up). Some might argue that Associate is just glorified Analyst, but regardless, you would still be a little older. I don't work in that sector, but I imagine your prospects at a BB wouldn't be that great. If you had a specific niche you wanted to focus on and found a boutique then you might have a better chance. Good luck. From: SincereMBA2010 To: LTP thanks Guys, appreciate the feedback Question, anyone have a good idea about the $ disparity between bulge bracket banks and boutiques? Is it really a doom career move starting out with boutiques? Getting into B-School — Biotech Focused Business Schools From: Cali_waves To: All Hi all, I am currently working in biotech company R&D department and planning to apply to Business Schools. I have a PhD in molecular biology and interested in staying close to biotech and pharma. My question is: are there Business Schools that would fit my interests better? Meaning are there B. schools that have biotech/pharma management course and are known for such focus? Thanks. From: BosMBAasap To: Cali_waves There are a couple of programs with well known health focuses including MIT, HBS and Duke. Although the other two MBA programs are typically ranked higher than Duke generally, Duke likely has the best health concertration specifically. http://www.fuqua.duke.edu/programs/duke_mba/health_sector_management/ From: Cazari To: Cali_waves The top Bschools with strong biotech and pharma focus plus placement are: HBS, Wharton, Kellogg and Duke. They have accepted professionals with your profile. Newer programmes with biotech focus. Johns Hopkins and UC San Diego From: Cali_waves To: Cazari Thank you for the prompt replies. Do any of Top European business schools have biotech/pharma focus? Thanks again. From: Cazari To: Cali_waves In Europe: Judge as Cambridge is a hothouse for biotech research and the uni's department has produced a number of biotech spinoffs nurtured by VCs. Some other student in the FT (female biochem PHD) chose Judge for this reason. IMD has strong ties with Pharma firms in recruitment. 1 year programmes may suit you better and both schools have slightly older age profile. From: Cali_waves To: Cazari Thanks Cazari ! I can apply both to US and to European programs. But, because I am doing a career switch from R&D to business, don't you think 1-year European programmes will be too short. (no sufficient time to network and no internship). On the other hand US programs have 2 year time to explore career opportunities in business. I am 34 by the way, so your argument about higher average age in European programs is well taken. From: sacred To: Cali_waves Harvard and MIT both have the Health Sciences Technology option, though the program format is currently undergoing a change. As previously mentioned, UCSD and Johns Hopkins have up and coming MBA programs at parent universities that are world renown for biotechnology, but know that their MBA programs are not yet well established. Stanford is another school to consider, especially given its proximity to silicon valley. There may be more out there as well. Getting into B-School — Rankings Move Very Little From: BizDegree To: All Over the past 20 years, BW's rankings have moved very little. http://www.businessweek.com/interactive_reports/rankings_history_us_10.html?chan=bschools_special+report+--+best+b-schools+2010_special+report+--+best+b-schools+2010 From: moneyhoney To: BizDegree It's not just BW's rankings that move very little, it's all rankings That's why its so comical how people continue to insist on saying things like "Ross got a new building, soon it will be top 5!", or "Yale is getting a new dean, soon it will be top 10!" The last time a school truly moved up a tier and cracked the top ranks was Columbia and that was about 20 years ago. And before that, it was Kellogg, 30+ years ago. From: fluidian To: moneyhoney Most recently, Berkeley has been improving relative to peers while Michigan's been on the decline, but agreed - generally very little movement. A new facility, new dean, or whatever, is only going to have a mild impact, as it's performance on a decade scale that is going to really have an impact. From: dardess To: fluidian You say Berkeley's been improving while Michigan's been on the decline, but taking a step back both schools have been for a long time, and remain, in the #8-12 rankings range. Really, not much has changed there. From: fluidian To: dardess It depends on how you bucket Berkeley and Michigan and which ranking you look at. Regardless, the movement has been slow - your point is well taken... From: mossy695 To: moneyhoney I averaged the full set of data for all years and here are the results: School (U.S.) Average Northwestern 2.00 Pennsylvania 2.58 Harvard 3.42 Chicago 4.00 Michigan 5.58 Stanford 6.42 Columbia 8.25 Duke 9.33 MIT 9.83 Dartmouth 10.08 Virginia 11.25 Cornell 11.58 UCLA 13.33 California Berkeley 14.67 New York University 14.92 Carnegie Mellon 15.17 North Carolina 15.42 Indiana 15.67 Southern Methodist 17.67 Texas Austin 19.60 Yale 20.00 Washington University 22.25 Emory 23.00 Wisconsin 23.00 Purdue 23.33 Southern California 23.57 Rochester 24.17 Brigham Young 24.50 Notre Dame 24.60 Thunderbird 25.00 Michigan State 25.25 Maryland 25.50 Georgetown 25.75 Babson 26.00 Vanderbilt 26.14 U. of Washington 27.00 Georgia Tech 27.33 Minnesota 28.00 Rice 29.00 Texas A&M 30.00 From: MDB To: mossy695 Taking your BW composite one step further, take a look at Poets&Quants' blended rankings, which pools the data from the top five MBA rankings: Poets&Quants' Top 100 MBA Programs in the US Poets&Quants' Top 50 MBA Programs outside the US Best, Mica Bevington From: sanjay6789 To: MDB mica, outside of usnews and bweek, the other rankings are questionable at best. i think it's safe to assume nobody takes Forbes, etc. seriously... From: aspenblu To: sanjay6789 I have yet to talk to anyone that's a couple years out of school that cares about the rankings...no matter what the source. Well, thats not quite true...its fun to needle your co-workes when your stuck in some snowbound aitportl but in general, nobody really gives a hoot. From: manggg To: aspenblu Just going by BW and USN rankings, averaging them out: 1. HBS 2. Stanford 2. Booth 4. Kellogg 4. Wharton 6. Sloan 7. Haas 8. CBS 9. Ross 10. Fuqua 11. Tuck 12. Darden 13. Stern 14. Cornell 14. Tepper From: TwoShotsDone To: BizDegree Business Week's rankings may move very little, but no one cares when their methodology is so backward. Neither Harvard nor Stanford has ever been ranked #1. That means they have never gotten it right. Consistently wrong is nothing to brag about. From: TwoShotsDone To: manggg Why would anyone average US News and Business Week? One is a decent ranking, one is stupid. This newsletter is a FREE service provided by BusinessWeek.com. 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B-School Insider Dear Reader: In the wake of the financial crisis there was no shortage of ideas about how to improve management education. Sadly, most of them were of the "off with their heads" variety. But when GMAC posed that question back in July, it was inundated with more than 650 ideas—many as radical, in their way, as those proposed by the "off with their heads" crowd, but far more viable. As Alison Damast writes, GMAC offered $50,000 for the best idea, and the bounty went to Alice Stewart of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. Her idea—for "stackable knowledge units" in business, engineering, and the sciences that could be combined by students into individualized courses of study—would bring a degree of flexibility to the standard b-school curriculum that it doesn't currently have, not to mention a healthy dose of non-business knowledge sure to light the fires of entrepreneurship in a new generation of students. But Stewart's idea isn't the only winner—there were 20 winning entries in all. Check out the complete list and tell us what you think. Louis Lavelle Business Schools Editor Bloomberg Businessweek E-MAIL A FRIEND  |  GET RSS  |  NEWSLETTERS B-SCHOOLS NEW ON MBA INSIDER >> UCLA Anderson: Admissions Q&A MBA Admissions Director Mae Jennifer Shores explains what UCLA's Anderson school has to offer and what it takes to get in MBA Insider Subscribers Only B-SCHOOLS MULTIMEDIA MBA >> Warwick Business School Leaders Series Lessons in leadership from sport What’s Your Problem? Trouble at the office? In surveys, blogs, polls, and social media, BusinessWeek collaborated with readers to identify problems at work. Together we found answers.  IN YOUR FACE: THE FASTER, CHEAPER MBA Reader Dorothy Beach Writes: " People are losing patience with an MBA system that is too linear, not relevant so get it done as quickly as possible to get on with what is real. " Tell Us: Leery of Year-Long MBA Programs?     Tools & Features MBA Insider Check out this feature-rich area for advice and tools that will help you choose the right B-school -- and develop a strategy for getting accepted Full-Time MBA Rankings & Profiles BusinessWeek's Top 30 U.S. programs and Top 10 international programs. Plus, scan in-depth profiles of more than 300 full-time programs around the world The Best Undergraduate B-Schools Undergrad business programs are getting MBA-like respect, and competition to get into them is hotter than ever. Here's how the top schools stack up B-School Calendar BusinessWeek.com's scheduling tool will give you an idea of upcoming events at B-schools in the U.S. and around the world. You'll find information on admissions receptions, application deadlines, networking events, alumni events, conferences, and much more. EMBA Rankings & Profiles BusinessWeek's biennial Executive MBA rankings grade 25 programs worldwide. Plus, you'll find profiles of nearly 200 programs Exec Ed Rankings & Profiles Here are BusinessWeek's top 20 Executive Education programs. Plus, profiles of more than 100 programs worldwide   FEATURED SPECIAL REPORT >> Perfecting Your Business School Application Slide Shows Slide Show: Best U.S. Business Schools Video Video: How to Choose Recommendation Writers GMAT Test Prep: A User's Guide Not all GMAT test-preparation services are created equal. Use this guide to find out which one is right for you How to Write an MBA Admissions Essay Be clear about your career goals and how business school can help you achieve them. But most of all be yourself Make Your Leadership Case for Business School Extracurriculars: The Extras That Count The College Visit 101 Chat: MBA Admissions Tips READER COMMENTS > MORE SPECIAL REPORTS >  BW MALL  SPONSORED LINKS Buy a link now!