When life deals you lemons, make lemonade. Or, more precisely, open your own lemonade stand. That’s the message several top business schools are projecting to students amid the current economic crisis.
In a blog post last week entitled “One answer to a recession: start a business,” Dean Robert Bruner of the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business reminded students that “financial crises and recessions are as much about new beginnings as dreadful endings.”
Bruner cites the example of a Darden alum, J. Bryan Murphy (’86), whose aspirations as a real estate developer were dashed by the recession of 1991-2. But instead of hunkering down and settling for something safe, Murphy and his partner decided to head to Europe, where there was less competition in their specialty. The move paid off, Bruner continued.
Going on to quote playwright Tom Stoppard, who said, “Every exit is an entrance somewhere else,” Bruner challenged his students to “frame the ‘somewhere else’” using Murphy’s experience as an example.
Kellogg Speaker: Pursue a “Different Entrepreneurship Dream”
A lecture at Kellogg last week about the future of entrepreneurship carried much the same message. Michael Ferro Jr., chairman and CEO of Chicago-based holding company Merrick Ventures, spoke as part of an event hosted by the Kellogg Entrepreneurship Club on November 13th. His message to students was that in times of economic crisis they should use their skills to revive faltering ventures and make them their own.
According to Ferro, people are sitting on the sidelines with money to invest even during an economic crisis, but they generally want to put their cash into deals that will save existing businesses and jobs. “The entrepreneurship dream is different” under those circumstances, he said.
Move beyond thinking of entreprenuership as launching a brand-new venture, he advised. “You can latch onto people [with existing businesses] who need help,” he said. “They need talent and equity and if you have it, you can do a lot.”
Pursue Your Passions Now, Says Kenan-Flagler Career Development Director
John Worth, director of MBA career development at the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler School of Business, says now is the time to go after your dreams.
In his November “Career Corner” column, he shares the stories of three Kenan-Flagler alumni who made decisions to marry their passions and their careers, finding nontraditional ways to put their business educations to work. Today’s economy and job market, Worth writes, is a great time to do just that.
“With the job market resembling a very large lemon, maybe the best lemonade is … why wait?” he says. Maybe your plan was to climb the corporate ladder in finance or marketing or consulting and then pursue your dream when you retire. Instead, make that dream part of what you pursue right now.
“Whether your dream is to teach, start a business, run a nonprofit organization, perform a similar function in a different industry/environment or pursue something totally different from anything you’ve done before, include a passion or something that always has been a long-term plan into your job search activities,” he recommends.
“It will put a whole new spin on your efforts to identify your most transferable skills,” he writes, adding that networking activities will be more fun, you’ll meet more people you have things in common with, and your sincere interest will come across in interviews.
“You may find yourself smiling more than ever before,” he adds. “Isn’t that what it should be all about?”
Welcome to this week’s installment of Wiki Wednesdays, where we highlight fresh additions to the Clear Admit Wiki, an online collection of firsthand accounts of MBA applicants’ experiences with the admissions process. Before we take a closer look at some recent posts, we’d like to share an email we recently received from an appreciative Wiki user. This note sheds some light on how the Wiki can be helpful in the MBA interview process:
—– Original Message —–
From: xxxxxx
To: wiki @ clearadmit . com
Sent: Friday, November 14, 2008 5:01 PM
The interview page in the wiki section of the Clear Admit website is a godsend! The questions provided by the students were very helpful in preparing for my interviews, both on and off campus, as I was able to formulate my responses beforehand and was not stumped during the interview itself. Even if I did not write out a response, having seen the question before helped as it was not a total surprise.
I have used the wiki section for multiple interviews in the past and I will use it during my preparations for my upcoming Wharton interview.
Regards,
XXXXXXX
We’re proud to provide such a useful forum, but the site could not be as “helpful” if not for firsthand accounts from applicants! Speaking of which, over the past week, we’ve received a number of interview reports for UNC / Kenan-Flagler and Northwestern / Kellogg. Without further ado, here’s a glimpse at the questions applicants posted to the Clear Admit Wiki…
A Round 2 applicant to UNC / Kenan Flagler listed the following questions:
- Walk me through your resume?
- Why do you want to get an MBA?
- Why an MBA from Kenan Flagler?
- What qualities do you hope to develop during your MBA?
- What do you plan to do after your MBA?
Kicking the spotlight over to Kellogg, this applicant shared his encounter with the adcom, including some of the following questions:
- Can you walk me through your key leadership experiences at company X?
- Can you talk about your community experience?
- Tell me 3 things you are good at? Or 3 good characteristics.
- What would your colleagues tell me about you?
- What kind of a person are you on a team?
- What is an ideal teammate like?
- What feedback have you used to do better?
- What part of your application makes you nervous?
- What do you want the reviewer to notice?
Thanks for joining us for this week’s Wiki Wednesdays! As always, we extend our gratitude to those who have contributed content to the Clear Admit Wiki for the benefit of the MBA applicant community. If you have an interview or campus visit to describe, be sure to share your experience! Simply create an account or send your reports to wiki@clearadmit.com. Don’t forget to check out the Clear Admit Interview Guides for a little extra help as well! Best of luck with those interviews and tune in next week for another taste of the Clear Admit Wiki.
Posted by Clear Admit on November 19, 2008, at 2:30 am
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Posted by Clear Admit on November 18, 2008, at 8:19 am
Posted in: MBA News , School: Chicago , School: Stanford In a post to the Stanford Graduate School of Business Admissions blog last week, Director of Admissions Derrick Bolton shed some light on the timing of interview invitations. “Please be assured that your likelihood of admission bears no relationship to when you receive your interview invitation,” he wrote. “The timing of your invitation simply depends on when we review your file.”
And as for the order in which Stanford GSB reviews applications, there is no pattern, Bolton said. Interviews for Round 1 applicants start as soon as possible after the application deadline, which is typically early November, and continue through mid-January.
“We expect to send Round 1 interview invitations pretty regularly, every business day or so, through mid December,” he said. During the school’s winter shutdown, December 22nd through January 5th, the admissions committee is still reading applications “feverishly,” but invites get bundled and go out every few days instead of every day.
According to Bolton, he hopes to send almost all Round 1 invitations out by mid-January, but some will likely go out later. And some applicants may be asked to join the waitlist without an interview, he added. But the timing of your invite does not have any bearing on your likelihood of admission, he repeated. “No matter when you receive your invitation to interview, you have the same chance of admission as any other candidate.”
In a blog post of her own, Rose Martinelli of the Chicago Booth School of Business shared a little about interviews at that school. Not a lot of detail here – her post was devoted primarily to the school’s new name and its generous benefactor – but she did reveal that more than 250 applicants were headed to campus this week to interview and that she has been enjoying meeting them all.
That’s all we have for today, but we’ll keep the updates coming as often as we can. And don’t forget, you can share your own interview experiences with fellow anxious applicants on the Clear Admit Wiki and read what others have to say about theirs as well.
Posted by Clear Admit on November 18, 2008, at 12:30 am
Posted in: School: Duke / Fuqua , Trivia Tuesday It’s time once again for Trivia Tuesday, our regular exploration of the special programs and opportunities that differentiate the leading business schools. This week we take a look at Fuqua’s Health Sector Management program.
Duke University began offering healthcare education in 1930 alongside its opening of the Duke Hospital. In the more than three-quarters of a century since then, the Health Sector Management program (HSM) has evolved into one of the preeminent healthcare management education programs in the nation, alongside Wharton’s Health Care Systems major. Today, the HSM program enrolls over one-fifth of each Daytime MBA class, making it the largest healthcare program affiliated with a leading business school.
Fuqua’s affiliation with Duke University and location in the North Carolina Research Triangle area are major contributors to the strength of the HSM program. The Duke University Medical Center and Health System is a leader in biomedical research, education, and healthcare delivery, while the HSM program’s relationships with area biotech and pharmaceutical companies keep students and faculty connected to the rapidly changing healthcare industry.
Students enter the HSM program from a variety of backgrounds; though the program does not require prior health sector experience, it does look for a strong commitment to the healthcare field among all student participants. As with Wharton’s Health Care Systems major, application to Fuqua’s HSM program is through the MBA admissions process, with HSM applicants asked to indicate their interest in pursuing the HSM Certificate in a special section of the application.
Once enrolled, HSM students spend the first year completing the standard core curriculum before beginning the coursework that leads to the HSM Certificate. To earn the Certificate, HSM students complete three HSM core courses and three healthcare elective courses. All six HSM courses count as elective credit towards the MBA degree requirements. This is a slightly heavier course load than required by Wharton’s healthcare program, which asks students to complete two foundations courses and three healthcare electives.
In addition to providing students with the tools and skills to be successful in established health sector organizations, the HSM program also allows students to combine their health sector studies with the study of entrepreneurship and community involvement. For instance, HSM students may participate in the Engineering World Health program, using their skills to improve healthcare facilities in an impoverished community, or compete in the healthcare track of the Duke Start-Up Challenge.
For more information on Duke’s Health Sector Management program, be sure to visit the school’s website or check out the Health Sector Management section of the Clear Admit School Guide to Fuqua!
Posted by Clear Admit on November 17, 2008, at 9:40 am
Posted in: MBA News , Rankings , School: Berkeley / Haas , School: Chicago , School: Columbia , School: Georgetown , School: Harvard , School: IE , School: MIT / Sloan , School: NYU Stern , School: Oxford , School: Penn / Wharton , School: Yale Today we’ll take a closer look at how the various top programs fared in BusinessWeek’s most recent business school rankings, released last week.
Chicago Booth held firmly to the number one spot it secured in the 2006 rankings, boasting high scores in both the corporate recruiter and graduate surveys. Harvard Business School (HBS) and Wharton traded places this year, with HBS climbing to number two and Wharton slipping to number four. BW’s Louis Lavelle attributed Wharton’s slide to a poorer showing in the intellectual capital category this year than in 2006.
Columbia, meanwhile, advanced from the number 10 spot to number seven, but MIT Sloan and Berkeley’s Haas School of Business each slipped slightly. Also noteworthy was the fact that Southern Methodist University (18) and Brigham Young University (22) each cracked the top 25 this year for the first time ever. SMU, for its part, has been among the participating schools for years, but lacked sufficient response rates in the recruiter and student portions of the ranking to secure a top spot before now, according to BW’s Geoff Gloeckler.
There were also two newcomers to the Global MBA rankings, IE Business School (2) and Oxford’s Saïd Business School (10). Like SMU, IE has long been a participant but until this year had insufficient recruiter and student response rates, Gloeckler said.
Yale School of Management, meanwhile, seems to have fallen back slightly. It came in at 24 this year, down from 19 in 2006. Lavelle attributed its fall to low student survey scores.
In an article accompanying the rankings, BW takes a look at the current business school landscape, which it says is marked by surging application rates amid “wretched” recruiting prospects.
As has historically been the case in times of economic downturn, application rates to business schools are rising steadily. According to the BW report, schools are reporting double-digit increases in application volume. Chicago Booth, for example, has seen a 20 percent surge in attendance at information sessions around the globe.
But even as more students clamor to get in, job prospects upon graduation are uncertain, with some schools bracing for the toughest MBA job market since the dotcom bust. “I think next fall is going to be very, very difficult,” George Daly, dean of Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, told BW.
The article went on to cite a survey by umbrella group MBA Career Services Council, in which 70 percent of 77 participating schools reported a downturn in full-time recruiting opportunities in financial services in October.
As a result, some students are shifting their focus from investment banking to consulting and other fields. Attendance at recruiting presentations by consulting firms is standing room only, New York University’s Stern School of Business Dean Gary Fraser told BW.
A shift is also taking place in the classroom, as professors are introducing new case studies and re-writing syllabi as part of an effort to make sense of the financial crisis and market upheaval.
Risk management, meanwhile, is expected to play a much more important role in business school curriculums over the next three to five years, according to the BW report, a trend that Robert Meyer, co-director of Wharton’s Risk Management & Decision Processes Center, calls “potentially transformational.”
Posted by Clear Admit on November 16, 2008, at 11:07 pm
Posted in: Admissions Tips , General We wanted to take some time today to discuss a frequently-made mistake in the application process. In their desire to make their case to their target MBA programs, many applicants devote sentences and even paragraphs to explaining why the school in question is their “first choice” and arguing its superiority over other schools.
Though certainly understandable, this is actually not a very productive exercise. Let’s consider a few reasons why, from the schools’ point of view:
Tell me something I don’t know. A popular strategy – and not always bad one – for applicants seeking to demonstrate their fit with one school above any other is to study its website to understand the program’s self-determined selling points, and then profess an interest in those. The thing that essay writers don’t always consider is that while a school’s distinguishing characteristics might be the factors that set it apart from others, this is not necessarily what the admissions committee wants to read about in an applicant’s essays. The very admissions officer reading your file spends months every year pushing this marketing message out to prospective students. Members of Harvard’s and Darden’s admissions staff know all about the merits of the case method, Kellogg and Duke’s admissions committees are already up to their ears in team-orientation, and Stanford and Yale could not be more aware of the benefits of a small class size. This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t touch briefly on these key points (the schools highlight these for a reason), only to suggest that to put together a really compelling application, it’s important to push beyond high-level differentiators and immediate association and demonstrate that you’ve learned about the program on a deeper level. In making room for this level of detail within a restrictive word limit, cutting other schools out of the picture is a great starting point.
Enough about us, let’s talk about you. It’s not uncommon for applicants to become so engrossed in explaining how their target program differs from other business schools that they neglect to really articulate how their own interests, personality and preferences fit into the picture. Very nearly every school requires that prospective students compose an essay explaining how the MBA program will help them accomplish their goals, but there’s not a single one that adds “better than any other MBA program.” Though several schools do explicitly inquire about other target programs if an applicant advances to an interview, at this early point the adcom is much more interested in hearing about the candidate and his or her fit with the school. It’s a bit premature to assure a school that it’s your #1 when the adcom hasn’t even decided whether they’re interested. Better to use all the space at your disposal in the essays to cover your experiences and accomplishments, share your aspirations and showcase your research on the MBA program.
I bet you say that to all the girls. Seriously, though, if an applicant goes out of his way to profess that Chicago is the best school for him, is his first choice, etc., the GSB really has no assurance that this applicant hasn’t written an equally passionate love letter to regional rival Kellogg. If a strategy seems likely to work in one place, might as well use it everyplace, right? Yes, it’s generally true that schools prefer to admit students who are excited about their program and seem likely to attend, but actions speak louder than words. The details of campus visits and conversations with students and alumni are far better topics to cover in your essays. To invoke a classic essay-writing maxim, “show, don’t tell” the adcom that you care. Further, the best way to convince the adcom that you “only have eyes for their school” is to not mention any other school at all.
We hope that this offers a number of helpful “do”s to offset this big essay “don’t.” It is very important to get an in-depth understanding of your target MBA programs and engage members of the community. Taking the time to learn about the school’s curriculum, special programs and extracurricular activities – whether through a visit to campus, conversations with members of the community or reading the Clear Admit School Guides – will pay dividends here. Happy writing and researching!
Posted by Clear Admit on November 14, 2008, at 5:15 am
Posted in: Fridays from the Frontline , Uncategorized Hello and welcome to another chapter in Clear Admit’s on-going Fridays From the Frontlines series. Our look into the times, tastes and tribulations of b-schoolers continues this week with continued excitement and disappointment as many second years wrap up their recruiting season and aspirants get closer and closer to interview dates and begin to consider round two applications.
In positive news, fishee chimed in to share the news of his recent interview invitation from Wharton. Ahembeea vented his own Wharton interview frustrations with a letter and shared his Ross interview experience. Samantha was also feeling a little bummed about Wharton and wished that b-schools were more like law school. D.G. had a mixed week, the lack of an interview invitation from HBS being somewhat softened by the invitation to interview at Wharton, but not so much so that he didn’t start thinking about round two schools. Theincarnated also felt the sting of not hearing from HBS and began to doubt his ‘the best or nothing’ approach. The Coronet had a little more luck, with interviews at Ross and Cornell. TienyChesney is one of the lucky few with all of that behind him, but with a whole slew of new considerations on which to get a grip.
Thos already in school are getting used to the shorter days but don’t lack school spirit. Darden ’10 JulyDream, for example, shared a very upbeat Darden video. McCombs ’10 Metal, came back to life and had a lot to say about the beginning of his b-school experience. Darden ’10 Oren also discussed the concept of black November. Second years could feel each day pass, McDonough ’09 Hairtwirler found herself 5/8th of the way done with her MBA and with a surprising interest in marketing. Ross ’09 gltnfrpnshmt shared a few thoughts on the election and the recruiting system. Chicago ’09 MaybeMBA was also considering her future moves.
And this concludes this rendition of the news for Fridays From the Frontline. The days, at least in some parts of the world, are getting darker and colder but that can’t stop the brave hopefuls from keeping their eyes, ears and hearts on the prize. Until next week, good luck and keep on keepin’ on!
Posted by Clear Admit on November 13, 2008, at 11:13 pm
Posted in: Rankings , School: Chicago BusinessWeek today released its 2008 rankings of the world’s top business schools as part of a live chat event moderated by editors Louis Lavelle, Geoff Gloeckler and Francesca Di Meglio. The chat format was designed both to build excitement around the rankings’ release and provide readers with an opportunity to ask questions about everything from the rankings methodology to the suprises the BW team encountered while compiling the list.
Kicking things off, Gloeckler began by revealing the top 10 international schools, counting down to the top spot. They were
10. Oxford (Said)
9. IESE
8. Toronto (Rotman)
7. IMD
6. ESADE
5. London Business School
4. Western Ontario
3. INSEAD
2. IE Business School
1. Queens
Queens holds the top spot in the global MBA rankings for the third consecutive year. But at number two, IE is a newcomer to the rankings. Number three INSEAD, meanwhile, advanced from the number six spot it held last year.
Lavelle then took the reins, doling out the top 30 U.S. full-time MBA programs one by one. We won’t list all 30 here – for that you can check the BW site – but we will give you the top 15. Drumroll please:
15. Indiana (Kelley)
14. UCLA (Anderson)
13. NYU (Stern)
12. Dartmouth (Tuck)
11. Cornell (Johnson)
10. UC Berkeley (Haas)
9. MIT (Sloan)
8. Duke (Fuqua)
7. Columbia
6. Stanford
5. Michigan (Ross)
4. Penn (Wharton)
3. Kellogg (Northwestern)
2. Harvard
And for the second year in a row…though sporting a new name…BW’s top-ranked U.S. MBA program is the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business.
As always, we encourage you to use these rankings as one of several tools for researching which MBA program promises to best fit your individual needs and goals.
While not yet live on the BW site at the time of this posting, the full rankings will no doubt be available there soon, and we will provide analysis of this year’s shifts among those jockeying for the top spots in upcoming posts. But for now, we wanted you to have the information as soon as it was released.
Posted by Clear Admit on November 12, 2008, at 10:39 pm
Posted in: Campus Chronicles , General This week in Campus Chronicles, let’s take a look at what is happening on NYU Stern’s campus through its publication, Opportunity.
The latest edition of Opportunity alerts students to the recent activities of the Community Service @ Stern program and encourages all to get involved. Aiming to provide numerous opportunities to positively contribute to the community, the program organized a group of students to participate in the Alzheimer’s Association Memory Walk on October 26th and is in the midst of planning the Food Fight this month, which will benefit America’s Second Harvest Food Bank Network. The annual Charity Poker event is in the works for February, and the organizing committee hopes to hold two to three additional major events as well as offer regular opportunities for students to become engaged with the community. Not only do these events offer a chance for students to give back, but they also present the opportunity to get to know fellow full-time and part-time students as well as alumni, partners, and friends – a great bonding and networking experience.
Women at Stern found time for both networking and fashion at the annual Stern-J.Crew Cocktails Mixer event, designed to help first-year students navigate the recruiting season in style. Organized by Stern Women in Business (SWIB), the event took place at the J.Crew store on 5th Avenue, and over one hundred women took part in the festivities, which included hors d’oeuvres, wine, and of course some shopping. The J.Crew CEO, Millard Drexler, hosted the event and mingled with students as they enjoyed private access to the store, which was closed to the public for this occasion. Representatives from J. Crew presented their new fall suit line to students while also offering tips for how to make one’s suits more versatile. Students also had the opportunity to participate in a similar event hosted by Moi-même, a suiting company specializing in custom suits for women. The founder and CEO of Moi-même, Dawn Verbrigghe, gave SWIB members valuable advice for preparing for corporate presentations and interviews. NYU women will certainly be stepping out in style during recruitment events!
That wraps up this week’s edition of Campus Chronicles! Stay tuned for next week’s edition as we turn our eyes to the happenings on yet another leading MBA program campus…
Welcome to this admissions season’s first edition of Wiki Wednesdays, where we highlight new and informative reports in the Clear Admit Wiki, an online repository of information learned by applicants throughout the admissions process. With several schools now conducting Round 1 interviews and HBS having just distributed a large number of Round 1 interview invitations, the roller coaster ride of questions and answers has begun. Several applicants have recently shared their interview experiences in the Wiki for such schools as Northwestern / Kellogg, Michigan / Ross and Columbia Business School. Let’s take a look at some of the queries these applicants faced!
One Kellogg applicant shared a “conversational” interview with a local alumnus:
- [Describe your] leadership experiences.
- [Explain] conflicts at the work place.
- [Describe] tough decisions at work place.
- [Explain a] situation during work when, you could see a solution that others could not.
- What clubs will you get involved at Kellogg and why?
- What unique traits will you bring to Kellogg?
Another Round 1 Kellogg candidate noted the following questions from his/her interview:
- How do you find it beneficial working in a team?
- [What do you] like about working in a team?
- [What do you] dislike about working in a team?
- [Identify] one situation where you made a difference as a leader.
- [Explain] one decision that you are proud of.
Moving on to Michigan, a recent Ross applicant faced the following queries from an alumnus:
- Tell me about your most significant leadership experience.
- Tell me about a time you worked in a tough group setting.
- What will you add to the Ross student body?
- What extra-curricular activities would you join at Ross?
An admitted Early Decision candidate at Columbia summarized the alumna’s series of inquiries, “The questions were broadly why this [undergrad] school, why this company, why this switch, why MBA, why Columbia and a lot of discussion of my goals…I was also asked the standard ‘ethical dilemma’ question which I was prepared for.”
That just about wraps up this week’s edition of Wiki Wednesdays! Be sure to tune in next week for a glimpse at the latest posts to the Clear Admit Wiki. In the meantime, check out our Clear Admit Interview Guides, which provide school-specific insight and strategic advice to help applicants with their admissions interviews. Also, if you would like to add your interview experience to the Clear Admit Wiki, simply create an account or send your reports to wiki@clearadmit.com.
Thanks to all the applicants who have submitted their interview reports! Best of luck to those in the midst of interview season!
Posted by Clear Admit on November 12, 2008, at 5:01 am
Posted in: Interview Guides , MBA News , School: Harvard In a post to her blog, Harvard Business School (HBS) Director of Admissions and Financial Aid Dee Leopold informed anxious Round One applicants that 750 invitations to interview went out yesterday. Her office will extend a total of around 850 invitations by the January 21st notification date for Round One, she continued.
“I can’t predict when this additional 100 invitations will go out nor to whom,” she wrote. Candidates who receive later invitations may not have extensive options to interview in hub cities, she noted, but HBS will do all it can to try to schedule convenient interviews.
Review of written applications will continue up through the January notification date, and the Admissions Board will continue to discuss cases throughout that period. Leopold anticipates that an additional 100 Round One candidates who have not received invitations to interview will be offered places on the wait list in January. These candidates may be invited to interview as their cases undergo further consideration.
“We are trying to be as transparent as possible about this anxiety-producing process,” Leopold wrote. “I hope I am clear in my continued message that this is a ‘selection’ process designed to bring a talented and diverse mix of students into the classroom,” she continued, adding that HBS receives many more qualified candidates than it can admit.
This year’s approach differs rather dramatically from prior years at HBS. First, the school is being a lot more transparent about the number of invites and overall timing/mechanics of the process. Second, the fact that HBS has released the bulk of the invites on a single day is a departure from its past approach of letting the invites trickle out in smaller batches. From where we sit, both of these developments are extremely positive, since Clear Admit has long been a major advocate of transparency in MBA admissions.
Our congratulations to the lucky 750 applicants who received interview invitations yesterday. Don’t forget that you can share your experiences on the Clear Admit Wiki – and learn from those who have gone before you. You also may want to check out the Clear Admit Interview Guide for Harvard, which provides HBS-specific insight and strategic advice for how to prepare.
For those still waiting to hear, stay positive! Best of luck!
Posted by Clear Admit on November 12, 2008, at 3:14 am
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Posted by Clear Admit on November 11, 2008, at 6:35 pm
Posted in: General , MBA News , School: Yale As reported here last month, Joel Podolny has left his post as dean of the Yale School of Management (SOM) to head up Apple’s own university program. According to a report in Apple Insider, the new program, which will kick off early next year, may serve as an internal MBA program of sorts. Tapping a business school dean to head it would seem to make perfect sense.
Quoting an unnamed source claiming to be familiar with the matter, Apple Insider reports that Apple University is “intended broadly as an HR type function for developing leadership and other required skills and knowledge within the organization” and will fold in Apple’s existing learning and development organization.
Apple is not the first large company to establish an internal MBA program, the report continues. Pixar, a company founded by Apple Chariman and CEO Steve Jobs and later sold to Disney, developed a similar program for employee education and training.
“Obviously Steve Jobs knows about this concept,” a former Pixar intern told Apple Insider. “I wonder if he finally decided to tie together and probably expand a lot of separate parts of employee enrichment at Apple much like they have at Pixar under the University banner with a dean,” the intern continued.
Creating a connection between the new school and Apple’s existing iTunes University, which peddles educational content to the public, could “be a case study for selling the concept if it is used extensively internally,” Apple Insider speculates.
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