Virginia: Mother of Presidents and Home of the MBA
Virginia: The Old Dominion, The Mother of Presidents, The Holy Land of MBA programs. But why Virginia? From the first English settlement in 1607 in Jamestown to the prosperous Washington, DC economy, the state has such a vast history of entrepreneurship.
Virginia tops the Forbes’ 2013 list of “The Best States for Business, ” ranking among the top two during each of the eight years of the annual Best States for Business study. Most importantly, where there is good business, there are always good jobs.
The Small Business Economy assessed the states on a number of criteria, including entrepreneurship and innovation, with Virginia coming in the top ten “new economy” states. These states tended to do well in generating high-tech employment, patents and venture capital.
Virginia is also home to major industries including technology, defense, and finance. Twenty-three Fortune 500 companies—including powerhouses like Freddie Mac, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, Capital One, SAIC, and CarMax—are based in the state, with an additional seven Fortune 500 companies located in nearby Washington, DC, and Maryland.
DC alone is home to more than 1,000 international firms from 50 countries. According to Inc Magazine’s Best of the Inc 5000 list published in 2012, Washington, DC, has the second largest number of companies in America.
All of these reason reflection the opportunities that students attending business schools in Virginia have. As classic as the Old Dominion nickname is, maybe it’s time to consider a name change to reflect the quality of an MBA earned in Virginia.
