Most of us are going to school hoping that an education will help us successfully compete in the workforce upon graduation. The stress and pressure of making good grades, studying late into the night to ace a test and developing lifelong friendships is all part of the college experience.
Often, we measure ourselves, our classmates and our school based on external benchmarks such as the winner of a Saturday football game, the number of national food chains on campus or magazine reviews and rankings.
Although it’s reassuring to know that BusinessWeek magazine named, for the first time, the U’s Professional Master’s in Business Administration Program as one of the best in the nation for people returning to college, it doesn’t shift a student’s responsibility to continue striving for excellence.
Things such as this are not only good for the business school, but also for the university as a whole. National recognition will bring in more alumni dollars and more competition among students. That will cause the best students competing for spots in the U’s classrooms and better job prospects for graduates since future employers will know they are hiring the best possible candidate.
Most master’s students work full-time and have families. Juggling the obligations of work, school and family is definitely a challenge, but BusinessWeek showed that students at the U are succeeding in these efforts. More than anything, it’s reassuring and a great pat on the back to be acknowledged by a publication read by more than 4.7 million people every week.
The BusinessWeek ratings are based on the quality of the academics, the students’ prospects and achievement after graduation and the overall satisfaction of graduates. Students reported seeing a 25 percent increase in average salary after they graduated. It placed the U’s Professional MBA Program sixth in the nation for its graduation rate and 11th for the number of tenured faculty.
Ninety-nine schools are evaluated every two years when the list is created. The U’s Professional MBA Program went from no mention at all to halfway up the list. Although the truth is that the program probably hired a good public relations person who made sure it met the specifications to be considered on the list, the business school has also done a fabulous job building an effective program that empowers students and prepares them for their careers.
A hearty congratulations is in order to the students, professors and administrators of the David Eccles School of Business, specifically the Professional MBA Program.
