Friday News – Georgetown Executive Program Earns Top 10 Ranking, UVA Darden Launches Online Career Development Tool, and More

Let’s take a look at some of the biggest stories from this week, including the Georgetown Executive Education program earning some heady praise from the Financial Times.

Financial Times Ranks Executive Custom Programs #10 in U.S. – Georgetown McDonough School of Business News

Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business has been recognized by the Financial Times as one of the top ten best executive education programs in the country.

On the news, Charles Skuba, Senior Associate Dean for Executive Custom Programs, says, “Our client-centered approach to executive education at Georgetown McDonough ensures every program is tailored to the specific needs of each organization … We’re proud of our ranking and the results we deliver for our loyal and growing number of clients.”

McDonough’s Executive Custom Programs are tailored to the needs of each individual and their organizations. Advisors consult with students to build a curriculum that will best meet their unique goals. Among the areas covered by custom programs are market strategy and non-market strategy, global leadership and operations; corporate responsibility, communications, project management, and finance.

You can learn more about the Georgetown Executive Education Custom programs here.

UVA Darden Launches Summer Program Offering Admitted Students Early Preparation for MBA Recruiting Success – UVA Darden School of Business News

The University of Virginia Darden School of Business has announced the launch of a new tool to assist incoming MBA students in preparing for internships and their future careers.

The program, Career Development WhyFinding, was developed by Darden’s Career Development Center. It features videos, interactive modules, and curated resources that are designed to guide students through the early stages of professional development. One of the main features of CDWhy is its ability to assist in preparation for the rigorous recruiting process.

Inside the UVA Darden Career Development Center / Photo via news.darden.virginia.edu

“Year after year, we hear from Darden students that they wish they had begun preparing for MBA recruiting in the summer before their First Year,” says Jeff McNish of the Career Development Center. “We are thrilled to now offer this service to Darden’s career-driven students so that they can gain a head-start in the competitive MBA recruiting process.”

CDWhy was developed with input from a diverse group of Darden students and alumni. The Career Development Center has planned to implement versions of CDWhy that are tailored to both Executive MBA and Business Analytics students. Learn more about the Center and about CDWhy here.

Tuck Makes Applicant-Friendly Changes for the 2019-2020 Admissions Cycle – Tuck School of Business News

With the goal of streamlining the admissions process, Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business has made some changes to its application process.

The application deadline for round one will be October 1, with decisions released in early December. November 1 is the cutoff for applicant-initiated interviews. Luke Anthony Peña, Executive Director of Admissions and Financial Aid, says:

“We pledge to listen and to be responsive to our applicants. Moving our round one deadline back two weeks provides several additional days for aspiring Tuck students to visit campus and interview before finalizing round one applications … And once again, we are committing to a shorter wait time for decisions.”

In the new application, there will be three 300-word essay questions, and the short answer portion has been omitted. In addition, Tuck has adopted the GMAC’s Common Letter of Recommendation questions. Both the essay and the recommendation questions can be found here.

Another Successful Showcase for the UCLA Anderson Venture Accelerator – UCLA Anderson News

At last month’s UCLA Anderson School of Management Venture Accelerator Showcase, ten companies presented their startups to an audience of venture capitalists and potential investors.

Among the presenters were a skin care company and a ready to drink cocktail, in addition to a product that uses WiFi to charge mobile devices. Created by a father and son team, this product has already received funding. Trish Halamandaris, Director of the Anderson accelerator, says of the showcase, “This year’s companies were further along in their product development, which resulted in some better funding … Much of that success can be attributed to the increased number of Anderson alumni who served as advisors and were instrumental in helping these companies accelerate their growth.”

Members of the 10 teams competing at this year’s UCLA Anderson School of Management Venture Accelerator Showcase / Photo via anderson.ucla.edu

The competitors were U-Defi, an anti-aging skin care product; Indarra, a fast-casual Indian restaurant; Bluprint, a presentation tool; Creative Propulsion Laboratory, a production company for children’s content; VoiceLife, a wireless charging product; Elenita, the ready-to-drink mescal cocktail; and Nutopia, a blockchain service for the film and television industry. You can read more on the competitors and the showcase here.

EMBA Students’ Alabama Road Trip: Reflections on Racial Injustice – Berkeley Haas News

A group of EMBA students from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business traveled to Selma and Montgomery, Alabama over Memorial Day to experience the history of the civil rights movement with the hope of informing their studies and their careers.

The trip held special significance for Lisa Rawlings (EMBA 19) whose grandmother was born in Alabama and moved to Memphis as a teenager. “Putting myself in my grandparents’ shoes, I realized that courage was not always resistance, but sometimes it was simply endurance, which often required unthinkable compromises to their dignity to save their lives and those of their loved ones,” she says of the visit.

Rawlings was joined by her EMBA classmates, touring the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, along with Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. served as pastor. They also crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, where law enforcement and protesters for voting rights had a standoff in 1965.

You can learn more about the Berkeley Haas students’ journey to Alabama here.