News

Keep up with the latest events and news on MBA programs, Part-Time and Executive Programs, and rankings.

Published: September 26, 2013

London Business School Receives $40 Million Gift, Hopes to Reach $160 Million in Five Years

Billionaire Israeli industrialist Idan Ofer has given $40 million to his alma mater, London Business School (LBS), to help fund the transformation of a historic London building into a new state-of-the-art educational facility, the school announced yesterday. The gift, made through the Batia and Idan Ofer Family Foundation, is the largest in the school’s history and kicks off a fundraising campaign LBS hopes will raise $160 million over the next five years. Ofer’s gift will help transform Old Marylebone Town Hall, acquired by LBS last year, and fund construction of a new three-story building featuring six lecture theatres, a Read more

Published: September 25, 2013

UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School Debuts New MBA App for Prospective Applicants

Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina this week released a new app for iPad and iPhone designed to help prospective applicants to business school evaluate whether, when and where to pursue an MBA degree. The MBA App, available for free download in the Apple App Store, was designed to help prospective applicants navigate key “pain points” surrounding the decision to pursue an MBA, Kenan-Flagler Admissions Director Sherry Wallace said in a statement. “Our admissions team listened to the issues that prospective students pondered, and then developed useful information that helps them address those questions and provides valuable information about the process,” she continued. Read more

Published: September 24, 2013

Applicant Volume for Full-Time MBA Programs on the Rise

A majority of U.S. business schools reported year-over-year growth in full-time MBA applicant volume for the first time since 2009, according to new data from the Graduate Management Admissions Council (GMAC). For the class that started this year, the median number of applications for full-time, two-year MBA programs rose by nearly 12 percent worldwide, GMAC reports. GMAC, which administers the GMAT entrance exam, surveyed 683 graduate programs at 328 schools worldwide for its latest Application Trends Survey, the results of which were released yesterday. Application volume increased at 50 percent of two-year programs responding to the survey, up from 43 percent a year ago. Interest in one-year MBA programs also climbed, with 49 percent of programs surveyed reporting a rise in applicant volume this year over last, as compared to 47 percent last year. Read more

Published: September 22, 2013

UC Berkeley Haas School of Business to Offer New and Retooled Online Classes

Following its pilot last year of a range of new online courses for its MBA students, the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley is expanding its online offerings while also reworking some of the initial courses based on feedback from students and professors. One of the three pilots offered online last year was “Power and Politics,” a popular MBA course taught by Professor Cameron Anderson. This year, the course will be offered again, but with a revamped website and platform designed to be more intuitive to use. Faster download times are also expected to improve the student experience, allowing for conversation that “mimics the in-person experience as much as possible, with back-and-forth and even spontaneous interjections,” Anderson said as part of an article on the Haas website. He noted that he got to hear from many more people as part of the online version of the class, through online class discussions and chats. Read more

Published: September 19, 2013

UPenn’s Wharton School Teams with Sirius XM to Launch New Business Channel

The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania has partnered with Sirius XM Radio to launch a new full-time radio channel focused on business and management, the school announced earlier this week. “Business Radio Powered by the Wharton School,” as the new channel is called, will feature around-the-clock programming on a wide range of business topics, as well as a live, call-in format giving millions of listeners access to Wharton faculty, alumni and expert guests. Expected to launch in early 2014, Business Radio will broadcast from the Wharton campus and Silicon Valley via satellite on Sirius XM channel 111, through the Sirius XM Internet Radio App on smartphones and other devices and online at siriusxm.com. Programming – targeting business owners, entrepreneurs, executives and would-be entrepreneurs – will feature Wharton professors and alumni as regular weekly hosts, as well as an array of special guests, including executives, entrepreneurs, innovators and other experts. Read more

Published: September 17, 2013

NYU Stern School of Business Launches New Event Series for Prospective Applicants

New York University’s Stern School of Business this month will launch a new series of events designed to connect prospective MBA applicants with Stern faculty and provide a glimpse of the Stern MBA experience. “The Future of Business” event series will kick off on Saturday, September 28th, at 10 a.m. with a panel discussion on financial services and real estate. Three Stern professors – former investment banker Charles Murphy, Stern Center for Real Estate Finance Research Director Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, and Robert Whitelaw, chair of Stern’s finance department – will speak in a TED-talk format, after which participants will have a chance to mingle with admissions officers and students from Stern’s full-time MBA, Langone MBA for Working Professionals and Executive MBA programs. Read more

Published: September 16, 2013

Harvard Business School Admissions Continues Transparency Trend with Note to Round 1 Applicants

Applicants who submitted an application earlier this week as part of Harvard Business School (HBS)’s Round 1 received a prompt confirmation email direct from Dee Leopold, HBS director of admissions and financial aid. In it, Leopold continued HBS’s increasing trend toward transparency in the admissions process by spelling out in clear, down-to-earth terms just want applicants should expect from this point forward. A senior team will begin reviewing submitted applications within a day or so of the September 16th Round 1 deadline, Leopold wrote, and this team will make decisions about who moves forward and who doesn’t. Read more

Published: September 15, 2013

UPenn’s Wharton School Offers Free MBA Foundation Series Classes Online

The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania has added a new series of massive open online courses (MOOCs) covering many of the fundamentals of business and management that students in Wharton’s full-time MBA program learn, taught by the same professors. The first of the Wharton MBA Foundation Series, “An Introduction to Financial Accounting,” begins today. Three other courses make up the new series – introductory courses in operations management, marketing and corporate finance – and all are available via the free online platform Coursera. The new series complements five elective courses already on offer from Wharton via Coursera, including courses on sports business and healthcare. All nine are expected to draw students from around the world, and more than 695,000 students have so far enrolled in a Wharton course, Coursera reports. Read more

Published: September 12, 2013

Harvard Business School Startup HourlyNerd Raises $750,000 in Seed Funding

A startup founded by Harvard Business School (HBS) students as part of a required first-year class secured $750,000 in seed funding earlier this week, including $450,000 from angel investor and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, the Boston Business Journal reports. HourlyNerd, co-founded by Rob Biederman, Peter Maglathlin, David Connolly, Patrick Petitti and Joe Miller, is an online platform designed to connect small and mid-sized businesses with MBAs from top schools willing to provide freelance and part-time work. The idea was born as part of HBS Professor Clayton Rose’s Field Immersion Experiences for Leadership Development (FIELD) course, an experiential learning course added as a first-year requirement as part of HBS’s recent curriculum redesign. Through the HourlyNerd platform, businesses can post descriptions of the projects they need help with, and MBAs within the network can bid on work they are interested in by indicating the hourly rate they would charge and the milestones they intend to hit. Within its database, the startup boasts roughly 900 current MBA students and recent graduates from top programs including Stanford, Tuck and Wharton. Read more

Published: September 10, 2013

UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business Opens New Innovation Lab

The Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley is home to a new 2,700-square-foot Innovation Lab where students can participate in more team-based and experiential learning, primarily as part of the school’s innovative leader curriculum. The new I-Lab, located inside Berkeley’s Memorial Stadium, was made possible thanks to a gift from alumnus Michael Gallagher, BS ‘67, MBA ‘68, former Haas Board chairman and retired CEO of Playtex Products. Haas Lecturer Clark Kellogg and Senior Lecturer Sara Beckman, who teach the school’s “Problem Finding Problem Solving” course, taught the first class in the new labratory space on Read more

Published: September 9, 2013

Shifts in Global Healthcare Increase Intersection between Medicine and the MBA

Entrepreneurship, innovation and cost cutting are increasingly important amid shifts in global healthcare systems, presenting important opportunities for business schools offering healthcare-focused MBA programs, the Financial Times reports. “The healthcare system is about much more than just treating patients,” Steve Chick, head of INSEAD’s Healthcare Management Initiative, told the FT. “The coordination of care is critical and that’s where business schools can play a big role.” Read more

Published: September 8, 2013

Harvard Business School Tackles Entrenched Issues of Gender Inequity

Harvard Business School (HBS) Dean Nitin Nohria has, for the past two years, been leading a school-wide effort to foster greater success among female MBA students by making changes to the school’s curriculum, rules and social rituals, according to a recent front-page story in the New York Times. HBS for years has seen women enter the school with the same test scores and grades as their male counterparts, only to quickly fall behind. The school has also struggled to attract and retain female professors. So in 2010, the Times reports, Harvard’ first female president, Drew Gilpin Faust, appointed Dean Nohria, who pledged to address the gender relations issue head on. Two years in, the school reports remarkable gains among women, though some of the changes implemented by the administration have met with opposition and hostility. Read more

Published: September 5, 2013

Wharton Start-Up Expands to Lend to MBA Students at 20 Top Schools

A company launched last fall by students at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School experienced success in its pilot phase, during which it served as a lender to Wharton MBA students and recent graduates, and so this fall will launch nationally to lend to MBA students at 20 top MBA programs in the United States, the Financial Times reports. Wharton student David Klien is chief executive and co-founder of CommonBond, which last year lent $2.5 million to 40 MBA students and recent graduates from Wharton using funds raised primarily through crowdsourcing. Now, the start-up has raised more than $100 million through debt financing and selling equity. It will expand to offer low-interest loans to MBA students at business schools throughout the country, including Harvard Business School, Stanford Graduate School of Business, Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business, Columbia Business School and others. Read more

Published: September 3, 2013

U Michigan Alumnus Gives an Additional $200 Million to Ross School of Business, Athletics

Real estate developer and alumnus Stephen M. Ross will give $100 million to the University of Michigan business school that already bears his name and another $100 million to U-M Athletics, the university announced today. His most recent gift is the largest in the university’s history from a single donor. With lifetime giving of $313 million, he is the third-largest donor to a United States business school. Ross, who earned his bachelor of business administration in accounting from the University of Michigan School of Business, as well as two subsequent law degrees elsewhere, made an earlier gift of $100 million in 2004 toward construction of a new building and endowed operations for the business school. That building, which was named in Ross’s honor, was completed in 2009. Read more

Published: September 2, 2013

UNC Kenan-Flagler School of Business Appoints Former Dean to Serve Third Interim Dean Role

Jim Dean, former dean of UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School, was appointed in May to become UNC executive vice chancellor and provost, leaving the business school in need of a leader. Dean turned to Jack Evans (pictured), asking if he would serve as interim dean. With more than 40 years of experience at Kenan-Flagler, Evans came out of retirement to answer Dean’s call. In addition to holding the Kenan-Flagler deanship from 1979 to 1987, he served two subsequent terms as interim dean. He first came to Kenan-Flagler in 1970, as a professor of operations. Read more

Published: August 29, 2013

McDonough, ESADE, EBAPE Launch New Corporate International Master’s Program

Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, together with Spain’s ESADE Business School and Brazilian Business School EBAPE/Fundação Getulio Vargas, has launched a new year-long master’s program with an international focus for experienced business executives. The new Corporate International Master’s (CIM) Program welcomed its inaugural class of 27 students to McDonough’s Washington, DC, campus earlier this month. Designed for experienced professionals and executives who want to obtain a master’s degree while continuing to work, the CIM program includes four in-person sessions at locations around the globe augmented by online classes in between. The internationally focused curriculum was created to help students expand their understanding of business practices in the United States, Europe, Latin America and China. Read more

Published: August 26, 2013

Consortium for Graduate Study in Management to Host MBA Application Preparation Seminars

Are you an African American, Hispanic American or Native American who is considering business school? If so, mark your calendars for the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management’s MBA Application Preparation Seminars (MAPS), which will take place in cities around the country over the next month. The Consortium is a nonprofit organization committed to increasing the representation of African Americans, Hispanic Americans and Native Americans in American business schools and corporate management Through its MAPS series, the Consortium aims to provide prospective applicants with “insider” knowledge to help them navigate and excel in the admissions process for both the Consortium Fellowship and MBA programs at the Consortium’s 18 member schools. Read more

Published: August 25, 2013

Columbia Business School Hosts Two Fall Series for Prospective Applicants

Columbia Business School will launch two on-campus event series this fall for prospective MBA applicants looking to learn more about what CBS has to offer. The first series – “Why an MBA?” – will feature a panel of CBS alumni and students sharing what led them to pursue either a full-time or executive MBA. The second “Spotlight On:” series will convene professors, alumni and current students to provide a view of CBS and its opportunities in several different areas of study. The events, which will take place on CBS’s Morningside Heights campus, are free to all, but RSVP is required. Two “Why an MBA?” panels will be held as part of that series, each on Tuesday evenings at 6:30 p.m. in CBS’s Uris Hall. The first will be held on September 17th and the second on September 24th. Read more

Published: August 22, 2013

MBA Graduates from U.S. Business Schools See Rise in Wall Street Job Offers

MBA graduates from U.S. business schools this summer are landing more interviews and more job offers from Wall Street firms – particularly investment banks – than in recent years, according to the newest survey by a company that provides corporate training to Wall Street firms and business schools. As part of its latest annual MBA Employment Survey, Training the Street (TTS) interviewed 200 students over the past few months, discovering that 19 percent of students had more than 10 first-round interviews. Another 12 percent of surveyed students had more than eight interviews in the first round, 40 percent had between four and seven interviews and 23 percent had between one and three, according to the TTS survey. Read more

Published: August 22, 2013

QS World MBA Tour Commences North American Fairs on September 7 in Toronto

In case you missed our earlier post, the QS World MBA Tour is kicking off its 2013 tour of North American cities in Toronto on September 7. During each of this year’s 21 fairs, attendees have the opportunity to meet admissions directors and alumni from top business schools around the world. Additional features of the QS World MBA Tour include: $1,200,000 (USD) of exclusive scholarships available for attendees Workshops designed to help improve GMAT scores Careers panel with MBA recruiters and alumni Women & leadership forum Here is the full schedule of September event dates and locations: Read more

Published: August 20, 2013

New Online Education Company Offers Free Stanford GSB Courses for Entrepreneurs

A new online education company founded by a Stanford University professor has launched a suite of entrepreneurial-focused courses from a range of U.S. business schools – many available for free – including several from Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB), the Financial Times reports. Founded by Stanford professor of management and engineering Amin Saberi, NovoEd launched in April 2013, based on an innovative platform that supports both massive open online courses (Moocs) and collaborative, small group teaching. Between 70 and 80 percent of NovoEd’s courses are available free of charge, with the remainder offered at fees ranging from $150 to $1000. Read more

Published: August 19, 2013

Growing Number of Doctors Pursue Health-Focused MBA Degree at Fuqua School of Business

The number of doctors applying to the MBA Health Sector Management program at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business is on the rise, in part a reaction to the passage of the Affordable Care Act, the school reports. An average of 21 doctors has applied to the school’s fulltime healthcare-focused MBA program each year between 2010 and 2013, up from 13 per year, on average, in the six years before that. The number of doctors applying to the Executive MBA program has also increased, to an average of 25 per year between 2010 and 2013, compared to 17 per year between 2004 and 2009. Read more

Published: August 18, 2013

UPenn’s Wharton School Unveils New MBA Website

Earlier this month, the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania launched a redesigned MBA website, featuring a new look, streamlined content and greater interactivity designed to enhance the experience for prospective applicants. Included among the new features are updated student profiles, a new events calendar and student discussion forums. “We hope that our new website provides you with clearer understanding of the Wharton Difference and how our program may be a good fit for you,” Wharton Director of Admissions and Financial Aid Ankur Kumar wrote in a post to her Notes from the Director blog. Read more

Published: August 15, 2013

Students from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business Return from Summer Work around the Globe

More than 150 Haas MBA students will return to campus this fall having traveled the globe over the summer putting their business school skills to work addressing real-world challenges. China, Brazil, Germany, Mexico, Kenya and Israel are just a handful of the countries that played host to Haas students as part of the school’s summer international business offerings. As part of the school’s global management consulting course, International Business Development (IDB), almost 100 students in the full-time MBA program traveled overseas. Full-time students spent three weeks working in-country with 25 different clients. Projects ranged from examining potential funding models for the Brazilian Biodiversity Fund to creating a strategy for an innovation lab in Nairobi to helping a Silicon Valley tech firm develop team performance and fan engagement solutions for football leagues in England and Germany. Read more

Published: August 13, 2013

Registration Now Open for Three Fall Events for Prospective Applicants to Stanford Graduate School of Business

Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) will host three special events in October for prospective applicants to its MBA program. Participants will have an opportunity to visit the Knight Management Center, learn more about the MBA admissions process and sit in on class, among other things. Registration is open to any prospective student, although the events will be most helpful to candidates considering submitting an application in January 2014 or later, the school notes. The first event, “Many Voices: Perspectives on Diversity,” will take place on October 12th from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. It will be hosted by the Stanford MBA Admissions Office with participation from the Black Business Students Association (BBSA), Hispanic Business Students Association (HBSA) and GSB Pride, the student club for LGBT students and allies. Read more

MBA Applywire

January 21, 2025 7:55am ET

Applying: Berkeley / Haas, Duke / Fuqua, Michigan / Ross, Rochester / Simon, SMU Cox, UNC Kenan-Flagler, Washington U. / Olin

Intake Year: 2025

Pre-MBA Career: Data and Business Operations

Post-MBA Target Industry: Consulting, Technology, Investment Banking, Venture Capital, Asset Management, inc. HF, Commercial Banking, Media, Consumer Goods Companies: Bain , BCG , Deloitte , Ernst & Young , Goldman Sachs , JP Morgan Chase , Amazon , Apple , Accell Partners , Charles River , First Round Capital , Goldman Sachs , Goldman Sachs , Walt Disney , PepsiCo , Proctor & Gamble

GRE: 328

GPA: 3.0

Years of Work Experience: 4

Location: Lagos

Post MBA Location: New york

January 21, 2025 6:59am ET

Applying: Berkeley / Haas, Columbia, Harvard Business School, MIT Sloan, Oxford / Saïd, Stanford GSB, U. Washington / Foster, UCLA Anderson

Intake Year: 2025

Pre-MBA Career: Aerospace Engineering

Post-MBA Target Industry: Technology

GRE: 322

GPA: 3.15

Years of Work Experience: 4

Location: Colorado

Post MBA Location: USA

January 21, 2025 2:20am ET

Applying: Columbia, Duke / Fuqua, Harvard Business School, IESE, MIT Sloan, NYU Stern, Rochester / Simon, Stanford GSB

Intake Year: 2025

Pre-MBA Career: Entrepreneur

Post-MBA Target Industry: Consulting, Technology, Investment Banking Companies: Accenture , AT Kearney , Bain , BCG , McKinsey , Bank of America , Deutsche Bank , Goldman Sachs , Morgan Stanley , JP Morgan Chase , Wells Fargo Securities , Amazon , Apple , Facebook , Google , Hewlett Packard , LinkedIn , Microsoft , Oracle , Uber

GRE: 314

GPA: 3

Years of Work Experience: 4

Post MBA Location: New York

January 20, 2025 6:40pm ET

Applying: Dartmouth / Tuck, Duke / Fuqua, Harvard Business School, MIT Sloan, Northwestern / Kellogg, Stanford GSB, UPenn / Wharton

Intake Year: 2025

Pre-MBA Career: McKinsey & Company Consultant

Post-MBA Target Industry: Venture Capital, Media Companies: Other , Other

GMAT: 745

GPA: 3.93

Years of Work Experience: 3.5

Location: Los Angeles, California

January 20, 2025 5:53pm ET

Applying: Babson / Olin, Cornell / Johnson, Duke / Fuqua, Emory / Goizueta, Georgetown / McDonough, Illinois / Gies, Indiana / Kelley, Ohio State / Fisher, UNC Kenan-Flagler, Undecided, UVA / Darden

Intake Year: 2025

Pre-MBA Career: Military

Post-MBA Target Industry: Consulting, Technology, Other Companies: Accenture , Booz Allen Hamilton

GPA: 3.8

Years of Work Experience: 20

Post MBA Location: Florida

Notes:

Currently employed full time with a small defense contractor. I’m attached to a Flight Test squadron to advise and assist the Air Force in flight operations, long range and short range testing, resources, manning, scheduling, and collaborate with outside agencies and vendors.

Looking to stay within the Aero and Defense sector.

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MBA LiveWire

January 22, 2025 6:11am ET

Applied to Berkeley / Haas

Round: Round 2

Received via portal

GPA: 3.7

GMAT: 715

Program Type: Traditional Two-Year

Target Career: Entrepreneurship

Application Location: India

January 22, 2025 2:16am ET

Interview Invite to Rice / Jones

Round: Round 2

Received via email

Program Type: Traditional Two-Year

Application Location: US

Note:

Application submitted on January 5th, received interview invite on the 14th.

January 22, 2025 1:22am ET

Interview Invite to UCLA Anderson

Round: Round 2

Received via email January 21, 2025

GPA: 3.27

GMAT: 673

Program Type: Traditional Two-Year

Target Career: Technology

Application Location: California

January 21, 2025 11:46pm ET

Interview Invite to UNC Kenan-Flagler

Round: Round 2

Received via email January 21, 2025

GPA: 7.22

GRE: 320

Program Type: Traditional Two-Year

Target Career: Consulting

Application Location: India

January 21, 2025 11:40pm ET

Applied to Duke / Fuqua

Round: Round 2

Received via portal

GPA: 3.28

EA: 152

Program Type: Traditional Two-Year

Target Career: Entrepreneurship

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