Finance and consulting remain leading industries for MBAs, but more emphasis is being placed on tech.
Are business schools ignoring the tech revolution? How are Stern graduates faring in the job market? What does the real estate rebound mean for MBAs? Here are the top stories in the world of business education.
Business schools falling behind
Are business schools doing a disservice to their students and to the business world in general by not incorporating tech management skills into their curriculum? That’s what one successful tech entrepreneur fears, in what he describes as a “crisis” among executives. “Business schools are partly to blame for this complete lack of technology management skills at the most senior levels,” says Pat Chapman-Pincher, who has created and run many companies. Things may be changing though. MBA programs are increasingly offering students courses in big data and machine learning. (BusinessBecause)
Salary up at Stern
It’s a good time to be a graduate of New York University’s Stern School of Business. The top-ranked MBA program just released numbers showing salary for its most recently graduated class is up almost five percent, reaching a new record of nearly $145,000 (compared to $137,600 in 2014). The MBA program also reports that 83% of its graduating class had job offers at graduation, up from 81% in 2014. A full 93% reported job offers three months after commencement, slightly down from the previous year, but still impressive. The number one career of choice for Stern graduates: finance. Additionally, the tech industry attracted 9% of the school’s 2015 graduates, up from 6% in 2014. (Poets & Quants)
Whites MBAs fare better
New data from Bloomberg Businessweek shows something troubling: It pays more to be of white or Asian ancestry if you have an MBA. African-American, Latino, and Native American MBAs who earned their degree six to eight years ago earned the same as their white and Asian peers right after graduating, but by 2014, these same underrepresented groups earned $22,000 less than their white and Asian-American counterparts ($150,000 compared to $172,000.) Harvard Business School is pushing back on the findings, calling the sample size “limited” and saying, “We have no statistical data or other information to support this finding.” (Bloomberg Businessweek)
Real estate boom
Gone are the dark, dark days of 2008, 2009, and 2010, when foreclosures seemed to be everywhere you looked and home prices dropped through the floor. Once again, home ownership is on the rise, and so is the value of a home. Jobs in the industry are back too. Never a group to ignore an opportunity, business schools are building on this boom by incorporating more classes on real estate into their curricula. There is “huge” interest from students in real state, says Nancy Wallace, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. “They’re fleeing banking…real estate is cyclical, and MBAs follow cycles really closely.” (The Financial Times)
Go Midwest, young MBAs
While many of the top-ranked business schools in the United States are located in the Northeast, don’t turn your nose up at other parts of the country, especially if you are outcomes-focused and want a job quickly after graduation. MBA programs located in states like Illinois and Missouri boast some of the highest job placement rates in the world. Kellogg stands at 94%, while Washington University’s Olin stands at an amazing 97%. (ChicagoInno)
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