MBA schools for technology sector

What are the best schools to get into to pursue strategic planning at Tech companies? How friendly are these schools with sponsoring H1B for international students?

Best tech programs:

http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/grad/mba/info_sys

Stanford, MIT, Berkeley

Tepper ?

Spidey,

The schools have nothing do with H1B sponsoring. It depends only on which companies recruit and whether they sponsor intl students.

SV

I don't think this ranking applies to tech management or all roles within technology. For e.g., Haas is not even in the top 10 here, since the focus is on Information Systems alone. For tech sector and GM roles within it, I would probably look at Haas, UCLA, Michigan and Tuck besides Stanford/MIT.

My bad! I meant to ask how friendly are companies recruiting in technology sector for international students? coz, somewhere else on gmatclub i read that only IB and consulting recruiters are H1 friendly to a large extent.

I think if you come from a top MBA most companies will recruit international students, regardless of industry. At this point, when salaries are +100K, the extra couple thousand dollars spent for a visa are not that much of an issue for a company.

As to MBAs with good ties to tech firms, agree you could look at Stanford, Haas, MIT.

It is not the salary which decides whether a company would sponsor or not but demonstrating that they cannot find an equivalent US citizen/permanent resident for that role which does. And it so happens that IB & MC are the largest recruiters of MBAs and hence, they are able to demonstrate such a need for qualified people.

Spidey,
My impression is that, in general, tech companies are as friendly as IB & MC but I would also venture that it depends on the size of the company. For e.g., a startup in Bay Area might not be willing to go the extra step and deal with the visa paperwork while a company such as MS or Apple with an in-house immigration dept. or lawyers, are more willing to hire the right international candidate.

I think the basic rule is that if the business school has a strong engineering school; then it will probably be pretty good at technology management.

Kellogg is pretty strong in tech, esp with product management.

I think what area you want to go into also plays a factor. Microsoft actually said that they have more MBA's from Kellogg than any other school. Its probably a function of their business and that lots of them work in the product marketing and strategy areas. Google, Facebook, Apple, expedia, amazon, dell, and all sorts of companies come here too. Mainly for marketing and strategy positions...not sure what you want actually practice in.

I would also bet those companies go to other top companies for marketing, strategy/business development, and finance jobs.

MG & RR
I agree - Kellogg should definitely be in that list. You have a strong focus on Tech Management (Prof. Sawhney).

My point is still that while many big firms require that only US citizens can apply for entry level positions (e.g. Accenture), when you get to post-MBA positions with high salaries your citizenship in general plays less of a role.

But agree that companies need to demonstrate the need for qualified people, and MBAs from top schools are such scarce qualified people. Small companies (or start-ups) might actually put in the extra effort and hire internationals, because they often can't compete with large companies for top US citizens. I know a couple of international MIT grads who worked in small tech companies in MA post MBA.

MBAs from top schools are just too coveted, regardless of industry, to be denied a top job simply on grounds of getting a visa. Post undergrad maybe yes, but not post-MBA.

I don't know if by top schools, you are talking only about H/W/S, but I've talked to current international students and alumni at Ross, Cornell, Darden and Duke, who all reiterated that some jobs and industries are just out of contention due to visa requirement. So, it does happen, maybe not in IB or MC but in GM roles in large companies and even in some technology companies (for e.g. IBM).

Thats what I think too! So I am wondering in a market like this...

I don't know if by top schools, you are talking only about H/W/S, but I've talked to current international students and alumni at Ross, Cornell, Darden and Duke, who all reiterated that some jobs and industries are just out of contention due to visa requirement. So, it does happen, maybe not in IB or MC but in GM roles in large companies and even in some technology companies (for e.g. IBM).[/quote]

wrong big time...lots of companies (small to very large) wont recruit international students. I think a lot of people have been surprised by that. Some of it might be a factor of lack of understanding US culture...so some CPGs wont want someone who doesnt understand american consumers trying to market their stuff. Others may hire a small number of people a year and if one ends up not getting a visa its a big issue because they would not know until it is too late to hire someone to replace them.

The reason tech companies like Microsoft will recruit is because they put in for so many visa's (for their programmers and IT types), that they know they will have a visa for you. However, a company that doesnt hire internationals in large numbers, thus applying for lots of visas, will not want to deal with that. While a visa application may not be that expensive, if you havent done lots of them and have to get lawyers or something on it then it quickly becomes a huge hassle.

In all honesty, if you are an international recruiting is going to be a lot harder if you dont want a traditional MBA job like at big banks or MC, or if you dont want a job in the tech area.

Examples of those that wont hire internationals:
Coca-Cola, Exxon, Johnson & Johnson, Chevron, Blackstone, Accenture, Boston Scientific, Procter & Gamble, Target, Walmart, Danaher, Baxter Health, Kraft, Diageo, Pepsi, and Kellogg...along with a lot of smaller ones.

Examples of those that do hire internationals:
Booz, AT Kearney, Merrill Lynch, Citi, BCG, Coach, Goldman, Credit Suisse, Deloitte, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Genentech, Apple, nvidia, Becton Dickenson, Cargill, Microsoft, Nike, Facebook, Amazon, Sony, Google...you get the trend that almost all are IB, MC, or Tech

RR thanks for your reply, +1 to you.
I want to get into Technology sector; I want to be able to use my MS in EE to some extent in a strategic role. For me to be able to do that, do I need to go full time or is part-time sufficient.

Definitely schools in the west coast where all the tech VCs, sillicon valley companies and other tech startups dominate.

usually if the undergrad prog or PHD prog attracts top tech companies, chances are - they will come for MBA as well.....