Pick Your City: Should You Get an MBA in Seattle or Vancouver?
The U.S. vs. Canada? No, we’re not talking about hockey (this time)—we’re discussing MBA programs. Where should you earn your MBA if you have to choose between Seattle and Vancouver? What are the benefits of each city, how much will each location cost, what can you expect in terms of job opportunities, and what MBA programs are available in each city?
While at a glance, Seattle and Vancouver seem very comparable—offering similar big-city experiences for residents—when you dig a little deeper, the differences are striking.
In our “Pick Your City” series, we break down two similar locations to help you choose your best MBA program. Continue reading…
Finding the Best MBA Internship Destinations in the Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest MBA job market has been rapidly expanding for years. The region is packed full of corporate giants, technology startups, and many more lucrative companies MBAs know fully-well, such as Starbucks, Amazon, Boeing, and Microsoft. Continue reading…
Deciding Which Seattle Marketing MBA Is Right for You
Seattle is, easily, one of America’s fastest growing cities. Just in one year, from 2015 to 2016, the city’s population increased by 21,000 people, according to The Seattle Times. That’s 57 people a day, on average.
It’s no surprise people are flocking to Seattle. Amazon, Nordstrom, and Starbucks have headquarters there—and Amazon has been busy hiring like crazy. Companies like Microsoft and Boeing are only contributing to this growth too. But beyond the economic and population growth, Seattle is beautiful. Famous for its lush mountains, Seattle provides a view of Mount Rainier from just about any point in the city.
Its progressive policies—like providing a $15 minimum wage and legalizing the use and sale of cannabis—also make the city appealing for young people who are curious about where to start their family or career.
It’s the perfect place to build a life—after that MBA you’ve been thinking about. Three programs, in particular, offer competitive marketing MBA programs. Perhaps they’ll land candidates a job in the tech industry where Seattle employees are the “second-best paid techies,” in the U.S, according to The Seattle Times.
Seattle MBA Programs with a Focus in Marketing
Albers School of Business and Economics — Seattle University
The Albers School of Business and Economics dates back to 1976 when the school was renamed to honor the contribution of Eva and George Albers. Since then, it’s garnered a number of accolades. Most recently, The Princeton Review included the school in its 2017 “Best Business Schools” publication. Albers offers different MBA programs, including an Early Career MBA, a Professional MBA, and a Leadership Executive MBA.
The Professional MBA program can be customized to meet a student’s needs. Two thirds of the required 54 credits consist of electives, so candidates can choose the classes they need to meet their career goals. Candidates can make marketing their discipline. The school offers 12 marketing electives. This program allows students to take two of the school’s 10 graduate certificates as part of their electives. Marketing is on that list.
The business school also gives specialized master degrees for accounting, business analytics, and finance. Its Master of Science in Business Analytics (MSBA) can give marketing candidates a competitive edge in learning data skills.
Foster School of Business — University of Washington
The Foster School of Business at the University of Washington has been around for 100 years. Yep, since 1917. In 2007, it took up the Foster name in honor of Michael G. Foster, who donated $36.5 million through his foundation.
This money went toward building the campus’ state-of-the-art facilities, a major perk for a public university. And this devotion the school has for its students has proven successful: Nearly 3,000 alumni have founded companies. U.S. News World & Report ranked its full-time MBA program number one overall in the Northwest and number nine overall among public universities.
The curriculum ensures candidates understand every facet to business: accounting, finance, strategy, and, of course, marketing. But the second year of the full-time program allows students to hone in on their chosen skill. For marketing MBAs, the program offers 12 electives, including one exclusively on data.
Seattle Pacific University School of Business, Government and Economics
The Seattle Pacific University School of Business, Government and Economics started teaching business in 1977. Its Christian background influences the way the school teaches business. Ethics and service are major themes.
The MBA program features seven emphases: cybersecurity, data analytics, finance, human resources management, information systems management, management, and social and sustainable enterprise. Marketing is a required skill in the curriculum. Marketing is included in the pre-MBA courses required to obtain the degree. For advanced courses, marketing analysis is required. The data analytics emphasis is a good place for those interested in marketing to look into. Data is key in marketing. Numbers tell a bigger story than one might imagine.
Meet GeekWire’s Geek of the Week: A Seattle University IT MBA Alum
After graduating from Seattle University’s Albers School of Business and Economics with an MBA in information systems, Joe Hueffed went on to work at some of the most iconic companies in the Pacific Northwest region. It was for this reason that GeekWire recently named Hueffed the “Geek of the Week.” Continue reading…
Seattle Named Among Nation’s Most Innovative Cities
Innovation is key to doing business. It’s how new ideas and products are created; it’s how companies improve. In fact, regardless of the sector of geography, executives agree that “innovation today is a key driver of organic growth for all companies,” according to a PWC survey.
So, the question becomes, is there someplace that’s best for innovation? Based on a city ranking developed by Innovation Leader, a magazine and website focused on innovation in large companies, Seattle is the fifth most innovative city in North America. Continue reading…
Foster Ranks 1st in MBA Job Placement
How do you choose an MBA program? You might look at faculty, research, course work and alumni just to name a few. But what about job placement? Why attend an MBA program and spend all that time and money if you can’t improve your job situation afterward? Well, there’s great news for MBAs at University of Washington’s Foster School of Business. BusinessWeek recently named Foster as the number one school in job placement for the ‘Top 20 Full-Time MBAs in the U.S.’ Continue reading…
