Does being a business school graduate give you a better shot at becoming a billionaire?
One business school sees big ROI on a daring idea, MBAs are becoming more common among billionaires, and the incoming class at Michigan Ross enjoys new campus renovations. Catch all the trending stories for business leaders.
Breaking business education records
Last year, Arizona State University’s W. P. Carey School of Business put forward a radical proposal—surprising many aspiring MBAs and business education experts: The school promised to launch the nation’s first tuition-free MBA program. This was going to cost $10.5 million to pull off. One big question being asked at the time was whether the business school could expand access without lowering the caliber of applicants and students. One year later—and we have the answer: Yes. In fact, the school is breaking one record after another. Applications to its full-time MBA program rose by an astronomical 162%, up to nearly 1,200 from just 443 the previous year. Acceptance dropped to only 14%, making it the fourth most selective in the country. There is some talk that based on these stats, Carey could break into the top 25 in U.S. News & World Report’s top MBA rankings. “The class exceeds all our expectations,” says Amy Hillman, dean of the Carey School. “We are especially pleased with the diversity of the class and that was one of our main objectives. So much of this was really about getting greater diversity in the class. It was less about getting a big bump in GPA (grade point average) or GMAT.” (Poets & Quants)
The MBA billionaires’ club
From the headlines, you might think that all the uber rich startup founders are brilliant college dropouts like Mark Zuckerberg. Not so. An increasing number of billionaires in the startup world not only have bachelor’s degrees—but also their MBA. Consider this fact: 6,648 business school graduates have created 6,000 companies and raised nearly $100 billion in venture capital for them. “There has definitely been an appeal to join, create or finance the next unicorn,” said Emily Taylor, director of MBA career education at UCLA Anderson School of Management. As you may know, the term “unicorn” refers to ventures that are valued at $1 billion or more. Incidentally, UCLA’s business school graduates have collectively raised nearly $3M. Other top raising graduates were students at Harvard Business School ($22.4M), Stanford Graduate School of Business ($14.5M), the Wharton School ($10.6M), and Northwestern Kellogg. “There’s an obvious advantage to being at Stanford,” explains Tom Sabel, associate director at Stanford’s Career Management Center. “In order to get a meeting with a VC you just drive a few minutes down the road.” Stanford, of course, is located in California’s tech-heavy Silicon Valley. (BusinessBecause)
Investment in campus growth
A $135M investment in construction at top-ranked University of Michigan Ross School of Business has created a more modern environment for business education to accommodate a changing and growing student population, administration officials say. When the semester started last week, students were greeted with 104,000 square feet of new space in Jeff T. Blau Hall and another 75,000 square feet of renovated space inside the library. “We have a facility that is far more usable and functional,” says Chuck Amyx, the school’s director of operations. “What we had before was a two-story building with a lower level. What we have now is more functional and better suited for the way we teach and operate today.” Over the past decade, enrollment at the Ann Arbor-based business school has grown nearly 25 percent. The new spaces will serve both graduate and undergraduate business students. (MLive.com)
The business school fear factor
There are many good reasons to apply to business school: career expansion, higher salary, the educational experience, networking, etc. Many aspiring MBAs have this in mind when they apply, but other nagging issues prevent some from applying in the first place. Students may think they don’t have enough work experience… and conversely some may even think they have too much. “If you’re contemplating business school in your mid-30s, the key is to demonstrate confidence, how you’ve progressed professionally and what you’ve contributed on the job,” says MBA admissions consultant Stacey Blackman. Another person who may give up on business school is someone who was previously not accepted. Resist the temptation to surrender to bad memories. Keep your chin up and forge forward. Perhaps your activities over the last year have improved your chances. (U.S. News & World Report)
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