Northwestern Kellogg Reveals New MBA Deadlines
Hopeful applicants to the next MBA class at the Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management have a new batch of deadlines to keep tabs on.
New Northwestern MBA Deadlines
Round One
Application Deadline: Sep. 18, 2019
Decision Deadline: Dec. 11, 2019
Round Two
Application Deadline: Jan. 8, 2020
Decision Deadline: March 25, 2020
Round Three
Application Deadline: April 8, 2020
Decision Deadline: May 13, 2020
Learn more about the Northwestern Univeristy full-time MBA program here.
Where Should You Go? The Benefits of a Mid-Tier MBA
You have an MBA acceptance letter from both Harvard Business School and Cornell SC Johnson. Which do you choose?
Your gut reaction might be to choose Harvard’s top-ranked MBA program without a second’s pause. After all, aren’t business school rankings—like those compiled by the Financial Times and U.S. News & World Report—the most important consideration when choosing your MBA program?
In some cases, you might be right. If you’re most interested in reputation, then ranking is all important. However, there are many times when rankings should be taken with a grain of salt. They tell a story, but not the whole story, especially when it comes to you as an individual candidate.
Just because a specific school is top-ranked, does not mean it should be the top rank for you. Many mid-level MBA programs are just as impressive and could be a better fit for you depending on your needs.
In this article, we’ll take an in-depth look at when and why you should choose a mid-ranked MBA program over a top-ranked program. Continue reading…
Top 5 Part-Time MBA Programs in the Midwest
Balancing a job and graduate school isn’t easy. You have to make a lot of sacrifices when it comes to how you spend your time. Hanging out with friends will be replaced with studying, and staying late at work or working on weekends will be replaced with heading to class. It’s a difficult path through the results should be well worth the effort if you choose a quality part-time MBA program.
For those living in the Midwest, choosing the right part-time MBA program is not easy. Many of the highest ranked part-time MBA programs (according to the U.S. News & World Report) call the Midwest home. So, what’s the best program for you and why?
We’re taking a look at the top five part-time MBA programs in the Midwest and telling you how they rank and why you should consider them. Continue reading…
Wharton Takes Over Top Spot on New U.S. News MBA Ranking
Harvard loses its crown, Wharton ranks first, and Purdue stumbles in new U.S. News & World Report “Best Business Schools” ranking.
The annual U.S. News & World Report Best Business Schools ranking, largely regarded as the most prominent MBA ranking system in the United States, debuted its newest annual listing, with The University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School taking the top mantle.
The Philadelphia metro business school ascends past Harvard Business School and the University of Chicago Booth School of Business—both tying for first last year. Both schools took a minor tumble to the third overall spot, sitting in a three-way tie with the MIT Sloan School of Management. Stanford’s Graduate School of Business lept into the second overall spot, which comes just a few months after the Silicon Valley school maintained its status as the best in the world according to the Financial Times.
U.S. News & World Report Top 10 Business Schools
| School | This Year's Ranking | Last Year's Ranking |
|---|---|---|
| Wharton (University of Pennsylvania) | 1 | 3 |
| Stanford Graduate School of Business | 2 | 4 |
| Harvard Business School | 3 (tie) | 1 (tie) |
| Booth (University of Chicago) | 3 (tie) | 1 (tie) |
| Sloan (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) | 3 (tie) | 5 |
| Columbia Business School | 6 (tie) | 9 |
| Kellogg (Northwestern University) | 6 (tie) | 6 |
| Haas (UC Berkeley) | 6 (tie) | 7 (tie) |
| Yale School of Management | 9 | 11 (tie) |
| Fuqua (Duke University) | 10 | 11 (tie) |
Within the top 50 business schools, this year’s ranking largely resembles last year’s. In fact, only three business schools—the University of Pittsburgh Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business, the Iowa State University Ivy College of Business, and the The Manderson Graduate School of Business at the University of Alabama—moved into the top 50 since last year. The three business schools to fall out of the top 50 were Rutgers Business School, the Haslam College of Business at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and the University of Utah David Eccles School of Business. All three moved down the ranking by at least 10 spots each.
U.S. News Ranking Rising Business Schools
No school saw a better year-end turnaround than the aforementioned Iowa State University Ivy College of Business. The Midwest business school moves from the 79th spot last year to 47th this year; a 32-spot increase. On the news of the new ranking, Dean David Spalding says in a press release, “This significant rise in the ranking is a direct result of the quality work our faculty do every day in the classroom. At a time when some universities are dropping their full-time MBA programs, the Ivy MBA continues to excel. Our internationally known faculty provide a top-notch MBA experience that helps our MBA graduates advance their careers to the next level.”
Iowa State University’s Ivy College of Business earns the biggest ranking bump from U.S. News this year, moving up 32 spots from last year.
Ten schools in the top 100 saw double-digit rankings jumps, with Iowa State accruing the greatest increase. The University of Kentucky Gatton College of Business and Economics, the Oklahoma State University Spears School of Business, and the Babson College F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business all saw a rise of at least 20 spots this year as well.
Purdue, Case Western Stumble
On the opposite end of this year’s ranking is Purdue University’s Krannert School of Management, falling a total of 21 spots from 53rd last year to 74th this year. The University of Kansas School of Business and the Saunders College of Business at RIT join Krannert as this year’s three biggest falling schools, each dropping at least 20 spots respectively. Like most of the annual U.S. News rankings, the placement fluctuation is much more apparent the further and further down the list you go, with schools in the top 50 largely remaining stable.
U.S. News 2020 Ranking Methodology
To formulate its ranking, U.S. News & World Report analyzed “475 MBA programs accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International.” A total of 367 schools responded to its surveys, but only 131 schools made the final ranking “because they provided enough of the required data on their full-time MBA program that were needed to calculate the full-time MBA rankings, based on a weighted average of the indicators.” Those indicators, with the weighted values, are as follows:
Quality Assessment (0.40)
• Peer assessment score (0.25)
• Recruiter assessment score (0.15)
Placement Success (0.35)
• Mean starting salary and bonus (0.14)
• Employment rates for full-time MBA program graduates
Student Selectivity (0.25)
• Mean GMAT and GRE scores (0.1625)
• Mean undergraduate GPA (0.075)
• Acceptance rate (0.0125)
Did The Methodology Changes Affect This Year’s U.S. News Ranking?
Last September, calls for changes in the MBA ranking methodology seemed to be answered by several large publications, including U.S. News. The company’s Chief Data Strategist, Robert Morse, noted, “There is an active and ongoing debate about how to best measure quality in education, and we pay close attention to that debate. Over time, our ranking model has put more emphasis on outcomes measures … As part of this evolving process, we’ve wanted to measure whether schools were successful at serving all of their students, regardless of economic status.”
The overarching issue seemed to lie within a framework that continually rewarded students and business schools that actively enrolled more and more students from affluent families. In response, U.S. News decreased its ranking value of acceptance rates, which previously rewarded schools that were more selective. Now, as seen above, the weighted value of acceptance rates is less than 1 percent.
However, the changes in the formula did not seem to bare much tenable change in the outcomes. The top 50 schools were largely unchanged, with only minor variances. Several schools, such as Iowa State and Oklahoma State were handsomely rewarded in the new ranking, moving up at least 20 spots each. However, schools rising and falling by 10, 20, even 30 spots in a given year isn’t a new occurrence. In fact, last year, nine schools in the top 100 rose at least 10 rankings from the previous year.
Stay tuned to MetroMBA for more information and analysis of this year’s MBA rankings.
MBA Jobs: Investor Relations Manager
Between roles in data analytics and public relations, the position of Investor Relations Manager is essential.
Investor Relations Managers are responsible for managing communication between a company’s corporate side and its investors. Due to the increased demands of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, major companies, such as Amazon and Microsoft, are hiring people for these positions to help meet their financial reporting demands.
What is an Investor Relations Manager?
An Investor Relations Manager serves as an intermediary between the public and the company’s senior management. The manager provides the public and company stakeholders with both quantitative and qualitative data, ranging from annual reports to a company’s strategic direction. It also provides management with information from stakeholders and helps deal with crises.
This position has many responsibilities varying from firm to firm. However, the following duties are among the most consistent:
- Data analysis
- Data visualization
- Financial modeling
- Information collection and preparation
- Interacting with the financial department
Investor Relations Manager Salaries
According to Paysa, the average pay for an Investor Relations Manager is $101,349. Salaries range from $88,443 to $112,501. Top earners can make over $125,000.
Career experience plays a significant role in how much one can make. According to Payscale, salaries for mid-career professionals is typically 11 percent higher than average. However, those with no experience make 24 percent less than the average.
Where Do You Start?
Investor Relations Manager candidates usually possess a bachelor’s degree in finance, accounting, communications, or economics. Businesses generally require candidates to have years of experience in investor relations, public relations, financial investment, accounting, and legal contracts
Ideal candidates for this position need excellent quantitative data analysis and interpersonal skills. Those who can build relationships and make complicated data easily digestible will excel in this position.
One way to gain these skills is to get a MBA from a top-notch program. The following business schools offer the skills necessary to excel as an Investment Relations Manager:
Northwestern University – Kellogg School of Management
Northwestern University’s top-ranked Kellogg School of Management helps students develop both their management and data analysis skills. Here, students will have the ability to expand upon their interpersonal skills and develop relationships with other businesses. These elements are typically critical to their future career.
Johns Hopkins – Carey School of Business
Johns Hopkins’ Carey School of Business offers future investment relations managers a Master of Arts in communication/MBA dual-degree program. Designed for managers in investment relations, media relations, and risk communication, students will be prepared for a career in business and communication.
New York University – Stern School of Business
Located in the heart of global finance, NYU’s Stern School of Business provides students with a program that focuses on management communication. The school’s MBA program covers a wide variety of communication forms and prepares future leaders to find and keep a seat at the table.
Northwestern Kellogg Faculty Offer Career Development Advice
To develop your career, you have to take steps to make it happen—strategic ones. To help, Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management faculty got together, offering five pieces of advice for career development, no matter where you are professionally.
1. Build Influence in Your Organization
You don’t need to be a manager or team leader to influence your organization. Power in the workplace isn’t about coercing people. Instead, it’s about “mobilizing political support,” says Management and Organizations Professor William Ocasio.
To build this type of political capital, he recommends seeking out assignments that are likely to succeed to build your good reputation early and quickly. He also recommends understanding your organization’s culture, so that you advertise yourself appropriately.
2. Learn to Negotiate
According to Victoria Medvec, Professor of Management and Organizations, you need to learn to negotiate if you want the best assignments and promotions. She recommends thinking through what the other side needs and then presenting your skills and experience in such a way that you fill in the blanks. She also says that you need to lead the discussion by making the first offer.
“You will gain an advantage by creating the starting point, putting the right issues on the table, and being the one who frames the rationale,” Medvec says.
3. Become a Mentor
You can learn a lot by becoming a mentor. It offers many benefits, providing insight into both an organization’s political environment as well as the effectiveness of your organization’s communication strategy. According to Senior Fellow and adjunct professor Diane Brink, mentors learn to understand their organization better, and they learn new skills. Sometimes, just by talking with another person, you can figure out new tools, techniques, and applications essential to your own role.
4. Look for a Second Act
If you’ve climbed as high as you can in your given career, it’s not the end of the road. Clinical assistant professor Ellen Taaffe recommends looking for a potential “second act”—a new professional phase where you apply your skills and talents in a social or educational arena. The key is to find confidence in your story and create a larger narrative that explains who you are.
Just make sure that when you leave your current professional arena that you don’t drop all your contacts there. Instead, continue to cultivate your network and look for new doors that you can walk through.
5. Take Time for Self-Reflection
There’s always room for growth. One way to continue growing is to go through daily self-reflection, according to Clinical Professor of Strategy Harry Kraemer. He commends that you take time every night to define your priorities and hold yourself accountable. This is how leaders ward off disaster, plan for every outcome, and build stronger teams.
Some prompts for self-reflection:
- What am I proud of? What am I not proud of?
- How did I lead people? How did I follow?
- What did I do today? What would I do differently?
Read the full article, “Take 5: How to Take Charge of Your Professional Development”
