By the Numbers: The World’s Most Valuable MBA
There are many different ways to define “lucrative”—so when trying to find the world’s most valuable MBA degree, there are a few different metrics you can use to draw a conclusion. Lucky for us, the new Financial Times global MBA ranking manages to list the world’s top MBA programs in (almost) every way imaginable, including highest weighted salary, salary increase, and value for money. Sounds lucrative to me! Continue reading…
The Best Business Schools for a Career in Project Management
Broadly defined by the Project Management Institute, project management is “the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques … to meet a project’s requirements.”
A successful project comes to fruition only with the leadership of someone who is trained in time management, resource allocation, negotiation, conflict resolution, and budget planning. These are all skills one can acquire with a project management focused MBA. Continue reading…
7 Best Schools that Specialize in Supply Chain Management
Supply chain management delves into business at the big-picture level. It puts all the operations together to ensure that everything functions smoothly. It’s the ideal position for individuals who are interested in managing people, organizing moving parts, and analyzing global trends.
According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, supply chain management and operations is a fast-growing career field. The employment rate is expected to increase by 7 percent by 2026. It’s also an industry with high salary potential with additional earning opportunities due to commissions and bonuses.
Earning an MBA in supply chain management opens up a host of opportunities to work as an inventory control manager, purchasing manager, vendor managed inventory coordinator, warehouse operations manager, and more. And almost every company needs quality employees in the field, which means you could find yourself working in retail, healthcare, technology, and more.
If that sounds of interest to you, the key is finding the right MBA program for success. Below, we’ve outlined our top seven picks for MBA programs in supply management. Continue reading…
Supply Chains, Rankings Changes, and More – Philly News
We know it’s hard to keep up with the news while you’re enjoying your summer, so we put all the latest Philly MBA news in one place just for you!
How UD MBA Grad Lisa Weaver Saved DuPont $8 Million and Counting — UDaily
Lisa Weaver, an MBA graduate from the Delaware University Lerner College of Business and Economics, was recently named to the Institute for Supply Management’s 30 Under 30 Supply Chain Stars list. As category manager for DuPont’s sourcing and logistics department, Weaver led initiatives resulting in more than $8 million in savings.
In a recent Q&A with her alma mater, Weaver explained how her experiences at UD influenced her career in supply chain management.
“Lerner resources like the Career Services Center allowed me to find the right jobs for me at the time,” she said, adding:
“Additional programs like the Graduate Executive Mentors program allowed me to expand my network and develop a relationship with a mentor. My mentor has challenged my thinking, increased my confidence and provided alternative perspectives. Each of these experiences through Lerner have influenced my career in a different way and provided additional capabilities to be successful.”
You can read more about Weaver’s impact at DuPont and her Lerner experience here.
Faculty Quality, Other Factors Propel Penn State Smeal Executive MBA — Smeal News
The Executive MBA Program at Penn State’s Smeal College of Business was ranked as the 26th overall and 7th among programs from public institutions in The Economist’s 2018 recent list of top global EMBAs.
“What makes the Smeal Executive MBA Program truly unique and led to a successful debut in today’s rankings is our unmatched combination of faculty quality and the unique access our students have to those amazing resources,” said Managing Director Jason Stieg. “The program delivers every course in a face-to-face environment using the same renowned faculty who teach in Smeal’s full-time residential MBA program at University Park.”
Smeal’s EMBA in Philadelphia is one of the top ten public programs in the world, according to The Economist.
The Philadelphia-based Executive MBA takes place over 17 months, and is the highest-ranked Philadelphia-area program. You can learn more about the program here.
Saint Joseph’s Offers Exclusive Healthcare MBA Program for American Osteopathic Association — SJU News
According to a recent press release, Saint Joseph’s Haub School of Business has announced a healthcare-focused Executive MBA program designed exclusively for the American Osteopathic Association’s physician members.
“An executive MBA in health care expands doctors’ knowledge of industry challenges and solutions and allows them to prepare for their next steps—career shifts into administration, consultancy, or running a private practice,” said Joseph A. DiAngelo, dean of the Haub School. “We are proud to equip healthcare leaders with such valuable skills.”
The program offers participants an online, two-year MBA while also simultaneously completing medical education credits. To learn more about the executive MBA in health care program, or to learn how to apply, click here.
Temple Fox Business Dean Moshe Porat Resigns – MetroMBA
Months after Temple University’s Fox School of Business was removed from the U.S. News & World Report rankings earlier this year, Moshe Porat—the long-time dean of the business school—was officially asked to resign while the internal structure of the school goes into rebuild-mode.
No news has been released as of yet of Porat’s replacement, or which methods Fox will offer to change in the future when it comes to school rankings. You can read more about his resignation here.
Drexel Culinary Collaborations and First Place Finishes — Philly News
With so much news happening in Philly business schools, it’s understandable if you need a hand catching up. Here’s your Philly news brief.
Drexel EMBA Class Spurs Culinary Collaboration — LeBow News
Thanks to his Drexel LeBow College of Business EMBA class, chef and restaurateur Kevin Sbraga has found a way back into the kitchen. Sbraga, a chef with prior business experience in the Philadelphia area, came up with the idea for a one-day pop-up kitchen in a Business Problem Solving class taught by associate clinical professor of management Suresh Chandran.
According to a news story on the Drexel website:
“We were talking about innovation as a disrupter, and that made me start to think about how the real estate landscape is changing for retail as well as restaurants,” Sbraga says. “I reached out to a hospitality buddy of mine who has some experience in the tech field. I asked him, ‘How can we create a virtual restaurant? A restaurant experience without the brick and mortar,’ and his response was ‘delivery’.”
Sbraga was one of the first restaurateurs in the city to adopt the now-popular food delivery app Caviar, helping deliver the first batches of Nashville hot chicken to Philly for a special one-day event. “The Hot Chicken was far and away the best-selling dish from The Fat Ham’s menu on Caviar. It was widely regarded as some of the best hot chicken outside of Nashville, so featuring it was an easy choice,” a Caviar spokesperson said.
LeBow EMBA grad and chef Kevin Sbraga was one of the first in the city of Philadelphia to help introduce the now-popular food delivery app Caviar.
You can read more about Sbraga’s food and pop-up concept here.
Penn State Smeal MBAs place first in Fisher Invitational Big Ten+ MBA Case Competition — Penn State Smeal News
Four Penn State Smeal MBAs recently took first place in the Fisher Invitational Big Ten+ MBA Case Competition at Ohio State. The team of first-year students were coached by Nancy Mahon, clinical associate professor of business communication.
Teams had 24 hours to develop a comprehensive pitch outlining concrete recommendations to address the challenges facing Bob Evans restaurant chain. Competition judges included key Bob Evans senior leadership as well as executives from other corporations. The Smeal squad defeated teams from Illinois and Wisconsin in first round before beating second-place Purdue and third-place Michigan State in the finals.
“I’m extremely impressed with our team’s efforts and professionalism,” Mahon said. “I’m especially proud of our students’ representation of Smeal.”
You can read more about the recent Penn State Smeal event here.
Is It Possible to Change Bad Behavior – Permanently? – Knowledge@Wharton
The recently-created Behavior Change for Good Initiative course at The Wharton School, taught by celebrated UPenn professor Angela Duckworth and Wharton’s own Katherine Milkman, looks at the quality of daily living in a broad and curious way.
In the most recent Knowledge@Wharton podcast episode, the two discuss the program’s vast social experiment angles, asking how people can change bad or not-well-liked behavior on a permanent scale. This includes the launch of the StepUp program with fitness chain 24 Hour Fitness. “Duckworth and Milkman are hoping to recruit hundreds of thousands of current and new members of the chain to sign up for the program,” they explain “Those who do will become part of a large-scale tournament in which scientists have developed 57 different paths they hope will lead to positive behavior change.”
“We want to see which ideas truly yield the biggest changes in behavior, not just during the course of the program, which is 28 days, but also in the year following it.”
You can check out the most recent podcast episode here.
The Future of Employment at Philly Business Schools
When considering where to get your MBA, one of the first questions you should ask is, “What will my employment outlook be?” After all, the reason you get an MBA is to improve your career. But what is important when it comes to employment trends at the leading business schools in Philadelphia? There are quite a few different statistics you should look at.
Important MBA Employment Statistics
To choose an MBA program based on your future career success, there are a few questions you need to answer.
- What industry do I want to work in and does the school place a majority of their students in that industry?
- What percentage of students receive and accept job offers? The same for internships?
- Self-employed or entrepreneurship data?
- What salary can I expect?
- Where do most students end up living and work?
- Who are the top employers?
You also want to look at any trends between years. For example, the percentage of students receiving job offers should increase year-over-year. And if you see a shift from the consulting industry to financial services, you want to be aware that the school could be changing its direction.
So, what does employment look like for three of the top Philly business schools?
The Wharton School
At the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, the employment trends year-over-year are fairly consistent. While the percentage of students reporting job offers dropped from 2016 to 2017, part of that reason may be the increased number of students seeking employment (75.2 percent vs. 79.1 percent).
As for the increase in median salary, that can be attributed to inflation as well as an increase in job salary for each industry including professional services rising from $160,000 in 2016 to $180,000 in 2017. The location of jobs also changed slightly between 2016 and 2017, but that could be due to various reasons including the current state of international affairs for the U.S.
| The Wharton School | 2017 | 2016 |
|---|---|---|
| Percentage of students reporting job offers | 97.1 percent | 98.3 percent |
| Percentage of self-employed students or those starting their own business | 4.8 percent | 5.8 percent |
| Median Salary | $130,000 | $125,000 |
| Location Choices | 88.7 percent U.S. 11.3 percent International | 86.9 percent U.S. 13.1 percent International |
As for where MBA students at the Wharton School gain employment, there are a few important notes. The same top three industries—financial services, consulting, and technology—attracted students in both 2016 and 2017. However, the percentages were a little more evenly distributed in 2017. As for the companies hiring students, most of the same companies showed up each year.
| Top Three Industries | Percentage of Students (2017) | Percentage of Students (2016) | Companies Employing Two or More Students (2017) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Financial Services | 32.7 percent | 35.1 percent | Barclays, CITI, and HSBC |
| Consulting | 28.3 percent | 26.6 percent | A.T. Kearney, McKinsey & Company, and Boston Consulting Group |
| Technology | 16 percent | 12.6 percent | Adobe Systems, Amazon, and IBM |
Penn State Smeal College of Business
Pen State’s Smeal College of Business is consistent year-over-year in regards to its MBA employment trends. The percentage of student reporting and accepting job offers increased between 2016 and 2017 from 88.9 percent to 91.5 percent. However, the median salary stayed consistent at $105,000, and the hiring trend of most MBA students staying in the U.S. also remained the same.
| Penn State Smeal College of Business | 2017 | 2016 |
|---|---|---|
| Percentage of Students Reporting Job Offers | 91.5 percent | 88.9 percent |
| Median Salary | $105,000 | $105,000 |
| Location(s) | 98 percent U.S. 2 percent International | 96.5 percent U.S. 3.5 percent International |
As for where MBA students at Smeal College gain employment, there are a few important notes. While the same industries made the top four each year, where they placed changed. In 2016, the top industry was consulting (25 percent) while that changed to manufacturing in 2017 (20 percent). In 2017, retail also moved into tie consulting for the second most sought-after industry, while technology actually decreased year-over-year (23 percent vs. 15 percent).
| Top Four Industries | Percentage of Students (2017) | Percentage of Students (2016) | Companies Hiring |
|---|---|---|---|
| Consutling | 18.5 percent | 25 percent | Deloitte, EY, and PricewaterhouseCoopers |
| Technology | 15 percent | 23 percent | Amazon, Apple, and Dell |
| Manufacturing | 20 percent | 14 percent | Amphenol Corp, CHEP, International Inc. |
| Retail | 18.5 percent | 14 percent | Anheuser-Busch, Proctor & Gamble, and Johnson & Johnson |
Rutgers Business School, Camden
In 2017, the Financial Times ranked the Rutgers MBA as the best program for MBA employment across Big 10 schools. In 2016, Bloomberg Businessweek also ranked Rutgers as the best MBA program for job placement in the U.S. This indicates a relatively steady year-over-year employment trend for MBA students.
As for the median salary of a Rutgers MBA, students in 2017 could expect to earn $95,680. As for the most popular industries, they were:
- Pharmaceutical/Biotech/Healthcare: 46 percent
- Consulting: 13 percent
- Consumer Products: 13 percent
- Other: 14 percent
