Wharton and WorkingNation Discuss Closing the Data Analytics Gap
What’s the next step for employers and educators who want to move the data analytics field forward? That’s the question that top industry leaders and educators discussed during a Wharton School town hall titled, “The Future is Now: Closing the Data Analytics Skills Gap.”
Put together by the Wharton Customer Analytics Initiative (WCAI) and nonprofit WorkingNation, the event kicked off with a keynote address by LinkedIn co-founder Allen Blue. He spoke about why it’s so important to fill the analytics skills gap before handing off the talk to further panelists from Comcast, PwC, the Gates Foundation, Penn Health, Morgan Stanley, and more. In the end, they all came to the same conclusion; data analytics job opportunities will continue to grow, so the need for data analytics skills will increase in proportion.
Panelists on stage (left to right): Ravi Kavikonda, Bhushan Sethi, Steve Kern, Kevin Mahoney (Penn Health) and Tsvi Gal.
The good news is that a valuable data skillset can come from different backgrounds. According to Blue, “Data scientists who came from physics or biology discover and invent new things, whereas somebody who came from a data science program would use a tool they already knew about.” Even history and English majors have the creativity, critical thinking, and high EQ to work in the data analytics field.
However, opening up data analytics positions to a broader range of backgrounds is only the first step. There’s also a need to close the gender gap and to enrich data analytics education, which means building it into core curricula as early as possible. Melanie Harris, the Chief Information Officer of the Philadelphia School District, spoke about the K-8 digital literacy program, and how it’s introducing the gamification of coding by the second grade.
But what needs to be at the forefront of all this change is employers hiring people based on skills over pedigree. According to Jake Schwartz, the Co-Founder and CEO of General Assembly, “I think in the future, we’re going to find really creative ways of putting together talent needs with potential alternative pools of talent, and figuring out how to use education as a bridge to get people [where] they want to be and where the companies really need them.”
Read the full report and watch clips from the panelists here.
This article has been edited and republished with permissions from its original source, Clear Admit.
The Wharton School Debuts New Full-Time MBA Deadlines
Hopeful applicants to the full-time MBA Class of 2022 at the Wharton School have some new deadlines to remember. In addition, the school revealed its next rounds of MBA/MA–Lauder and JD/MBA deadlines.
Wharton Full-Time MBA Deadlines
Round One
Application Deadline: Sep. 17, 2019
Interview Decision: Oct. 27, 2019
Decision Release: Dec. 18, 2019
Round Two
Application Deadline: Jan. 7, 2020
Interview Decision: Feb. 13, 2020
Decision Release: March 26, 2020
Round Three
Application Deadline: April 1, 2020
Interview Decision: April 16, 2020
Decision Release: May 8, 2020
Wharton MBA/MA–Lauder and JD/MBA Deadlines
Round One
Application Deadline: Sep. 17, 2019
Decision Release: Dec. 18, 2019
Round Two
Application Deadline: Jan. 7, 2020
Decision Release: March 26, 2020
Best Real Estate MBAs in the Northeast
While a career in real estate is not one of the most popular options for MBA graduates, it is a solid choice. The U.S. real estate industry pulls in over $166 billion in revenue each year, and markets in India, China, and other emerging economies are poised to expand. So, the question is, if you’re looking to go to school in the Northeast, where are the best MBA programs to help build a career in the industry? We’ve highlighted five of our favorite Northeast real estate programs below.
The Best Northeast Real Estate MBA Programs
The NYU Stern School of Business offers full-time MBA students a chance to specialize in real estate. According to the school, it “provides rigorous training in the development, investment, and financing of real estate projects.” Students who choose the specializing are taught to think strategically about real estate in primary and secondary markets including the legal, taxation, and regulatory environments they’ll encounter.
Real estate MBA curriculum includes classes such as:
- Real Estate Development and Entrepreneurship
- Real Estate Transactions
- Real Estate Investment Strategies
- Urban Systems
Real Estate Outside the Classroom:
- Center of Real Estate Finance: Established in 2012, the Center is dedicated to expanding the School’s course offerings and career services in real estate. It’s open to both MBAs and undergraduates alike and offers monthly events, research and more.
- MBA Real Estate Club: The Stern Real Estate Club (SREC) offers guest lectures, panel discussions, mixers, site visits, and case competitions for MBA students interested in expanding their real estate experience and insight.
The Georgetown University McDonough School of Business also offers a specialization in real estate for MBA students, which can include an intensive learning experience (ILE) in real estate development. ILEs are elective courses that offer client-centered work and experiential learning opportunity off campus in a concentrated time format.
MBA students interested in real estate can take courses in:
- Real Estate Private/Public Equity
- Real Estate Private/Public Debt
- Negotiations
- Fixed Income Analysis
Real Estate Outside the Classroom
- Steer Center for Global Real Estate: The Steers Center “offers students unparalleled access to the real estate industry at a global level.” Students gain hands-on experience with the D.C. real estate market through a range of activities from alumni mentoring to internships, job contacts, and more.
- Real Estate Industry Career Coach: Georgetown offers a career coach with specific industry knowledge and relationships in real estate. This career coach will help MBA students with their resume, cover letter, mock interviews, and networking strategy.
At The Wharton School, MBA students can major in real estate. This major includes two required courses in real estate investment and real estate development. The goal of the major is to “prepare students to be leaders in the real estate industry” and provide the necessary quantitative and qualitative tools to be successful. Offered since 1985, the major has grown in scope and size over the years.
Additional courses in real estate that Wharton MBA students can enjoy:
- Global Real Estate: Risk, Politics, and Culture
- Urban Real Estate Economics
- Real Estate Law
- Real Estate Entrepreneurship
Real Estate Outside the Classroom
- Samuel Zell & Robert Lurie Real Estate Center: Each year, the Real Estate Center sponsors conferences, seminars, and special programs for students and faculty interested in real estate. Established in 1983, it promotes excellence in real estate education and research.
- Wharton Real Estate Club: The Wharton Real Estate Club provides career development, mentorship, and networking opportunities for students at Wharton. Of particular note are the treks and tours that allow students to meet prospective employers, visit project sites, and gain first-hand experience.
The Columbia Business School’s MBA Real Estate program “provides students an unparalleled opportunity to expand their entrepreneurial skills while focusing on real estate finance and investment management.”
The program encourages students to view real estate as both a physical and financial product by emphasizing a blend of theory and practice. Throughout the curriculum, students work on 65-plus proprietary real estate business cases taught by real estate professionals.
The real estate curriculum differs every term, but it includes courses such as:
- Real Estate Finance
- Real Estate Transactions
- Real Estate Portfolio Management
- Social Impact Real Estate Investing and Development
Real Estate Outside the Classroom
- Paul Milstein Center for Real Estate: The Center for Real Estate integrates the theoretical and practical knowledge of real estate. It offers regularly hosted events including panel discussions, conferences, alumni career breakfasts, and symposiums
- Fellowships & Scholarships: Uniquely, Columbia offers multiple fellowships and scholarships for MBA students interested in real estate. Awards can be as much as $50,000 a year and are both merit-based and need-based.
Full-time MBA students at the Rutgers Business School can customize their education with a real estate concentration. In total, students who choose this path will take six courses in real estate including strategic management. They can also pursue a dual concentration in finance and real estate, which requires them to take a course in aggregate economic analysis.
Other potential real estate courses that MBA students can take, include:
- Real Estate Finance
- Real Estate Capital Markets
- Market Analysis and Valuation
- Property Management and Real Estate Investment Management
Real Estate Outside the Classroom
- Center for Real Estate: The Rutgers Center for Real Estate is a dynamic hub for students, academics, and professionals. It aims to educate, research, and exchange ideas on real estate. Currently, more than 95 real estate professionals lend their influence to the Center.
- Rutgers Real Estate Club: The Club is a “place for people interested in real estate, internships, and everything business. It brings together experienced speakers for a variety of events and opportunities.
Penn Wharton Entrepreneurship Startup Challenge Winner Revealed
The 2018-19 Penn Wharton Entrepreneurship Startup Challenge took place on May 3 with 27 teams from across Penn to compete for a chance to win $135,000 in cash and prizes. Eliot Ingram, who has more than 21 years of experience in MBA admissions and is the founder of Clear Admit, headed out to Wharton’s Huntsman’s Hall to experience the event first hand.
Here’s what his experience was like.
Choosing the Finalists
The morning was taken up by 27 semi-finalist teams presenting in front of a panel of judges. From there, the teams were narrowed down to eight finalists who would present in the afternoon. When Ingram arrived at 1:30 p.m., he was just in time to hear the final pitches. Each team was given about six minutes to present and then had about 12 minutes to answer questions from four judges, all of whom had experience as venture capitalists.
Team Presentations
According to Ingram, the teams gave high-quality presentations. Compared to other early-stage investor conferences, Igram felt these teams were competitive, and it was clear Penn Startup venture did a great job coaching each team through the process.
“They each did a great job of conveying the key parts of an investor pitch,” he said. “In addition, the management teams seemed to be a good fit for the business ideas they were presenting. Furthermore, each of the teams did a good job of answering the questions posed by the judges.”
The results were especially impressive given the tight time restriction for each pitch. The teams had to choose what to focus on and make a good argument all in six minutes. Most teams focused on the market size, problem, their solution, and why their team had a competitive advantage rather than financial projection or exit strategies, which must have been a deliberate decision.
The Eight Competitors
- Aerate: Aerate is an innovative air conditioning unit that is 20 times more efficient than current air conditioners. Given the vast market for air conditioning, the rising middle class in India, and the harm that current air conditioners do to the environment, they offered a compelling, scalable tech solution that met a broad market while limiting the environmental impact (team members: Spencer Collins, Jake Fine, Ashwin Kishen, Yann Pfitzer, Conner Sendel, Sam Weintraub).
- Strella Biotech: Strella Biotech offers an innovative and patented way to help fruit packers minimize food waste and maximize produce quality. They do this by using biosensors that measure the ethylene in fruit in order to determine which fruit is ripe and needs to be taken out of the warehouse and sold in the market (team members: Katherine Sizov, Malika Shukurova, Reginald Lamaute, Zuyang Liu).
- Minimize: Minimize is a wearable device that counteracts hand tremors using the same technology that allows buildings to survive earthquakes. It can reduce tremors by up to 95 percent for Essential Tremor and Parkinson Disease patients (team member: Maanav Narula).
- Halo: Halo is a digital monitor attached to taxis or Uber/Lyft cars, which allows advertisers to offer location-enabled digital ads while providing the driver with incremental revenue (team members: Kenan Saleh, Faizan Bhatty, Nabeel Farooqi, Ryanne Fadel).
- Clove: Clove is a shoe design company that creates a shoe customized for health care professionals who spend a lot of time on their feet walking around. Their idea is to build a brand in the health care industry and have brand devotion be the key barrier to entry (team members: Joe Ammon, Jordyn Amoroso, Paula Belatti).
- #PeriodPainFree: #PeriodPainFree offers a women’s health solution based on Chinese herbal medicine and modern technology. It’s a personalized solution to help the 80 percent of women who experience period pains (team members: Lulu Ge, Nicole Glathe).
- Aavrani: Aavrani offers a premium skincare product line inspired by India’s ancient beauty rituals. One of the team members had experience growing a skin care product line from $3 million to $50 million, so they had the expertise needed to deliver clean, non-toxic products. (Team members: Rooshy Roychoudhury, Justin Silver, Nina Davuluri)
- Sigo Insurance: Sigo Insurance offers an auto insurance product tailored for non-traditional or high-risk customers. The company brings the insurance process online to reduce operating costs and remove predatory fees (team members: Nestor Hugo Solari, Julio Erdos).
Long Day
Eight pitches over 2.5 hours is a lot of information over a long time, which was challenging to handle and remain engaged.
“To be honest, while all of the presentations were quite good, after about an hour of listening to three pitches, my mind was getting fatigued with the amount of information being presented,” Ingram remembers. “In fact, I think that the first three teams had a decided advantage in terms of maintaining audience interest, particularly since the first team that presented won first place and the second team that presented won 2nd place.”
The Winners
Seniors Ashwin Kishen, Connor Sendel, and the rest of the Aerate team #Penn19
After all the finalists presented, the judges met for about an hour to decide on the conference winners. During this time, the presenters and the attendees enjoyed booths in the conference hall, a few speeches, as well as a people’s choice voting on the eight finalists. As part of this process, the same eight teams each gave a one-minute elevator pitch in front of the audience.
The winners were:
- Aerate: Grand Prize, Blank Award Winner, Gloeckner Undergraduate Award Winner, & People’s Choice Award Winner
- Strella Biotech: Runner-Up
- Minimize: Innovation Award
- Halo: Launch Award
Overall, Ingram was quite impressed with the high quality of the teams and their presentations.
“There are clearly some talented innovators within the Penn student community,” Ingram says. “In addition, it’s clear that the Penn Start Up Business Plan competition did a good job of helping these teams refine their pitches and getting them ready to meet with investors.”
This Penn entrepreneurship article has been edited and republished with permissions from its original source, Clear Admit.
New Jobs at the Biggest Players in Telecom
Telecommunications firms help keep people connected. Did you know that 781 billion text messages are sent every month in the United States? That means that, on average, Americans send and receive about 94 text messages per day. More importantly, did you know that an estimated 240 million calls are made to 9-1-1 in the U.S. each year? In many areas, 80 percent of these calls are from mobile devices. These numbers put into perspective the importance of telecommunications, and the need for continued innovation in those fields. Continue reading…
Top MBA Recruiters: Merck
Global health care is one of the fastest growing sectors in 2019, with Deloitte expecting spending to reach $10.059 trillion by 2022. Thanks to aging and growing populations, you can expect a greater prevalence of chronic diseases, ultimately translating to exponential advances in innovative technologies, medicines, and care.
For MBA graduates, this translates into a huge potential for job opportunities in the health care sector. In particular, there are opportunities for:
- New innovative technologies and personalized programs to engage with consumers.
- Better data security and ownership.
- Increased health care delivery and mobility.
One of the companies at the leading edge of this sector is Merck. Continue reading…
