Research MBA Programs

That question is abstract. Would you want to elucidate your question please?

If you're talking about the best MBA programs with Information Systems tracks, the US News rankings have the following in the top 10:

1. MIT
2. Carnegie Mellon (Tepper)
3. University of Minnesota - Twin Cities (Carlson)
4. University of Texas - Austin (McCombs)
5. University of Arizona (Eller)
6. University of Maryland - College Park (Smith)
7. University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)
8. Stanford University
9. Georgia State University (Robinson)
10. NYU (Stern)

Granted, this is only from one source, and I'm not sure if you were referring to IT. Hope this helps!

Stanford and MIT/Sloan are easily the top choices. Little further down is CMU/Tepper, followed by Texas/McCombs and Maryland/Smith.

Categorical rankings are a little fuzzy though, because if you want to focus on IT, but you get into Wharton and Tepper, you're probably going to go to Wharton anyway. I know most people on this forum would too. You'll have to find your own balance between the best possible school you can get into and what you want to study. It may not make a difference

I'd have to agree voiceofsticks. Even if you are planning to pursue an MBA in such a concentrated discipline, I would still think that going to Wharton over Carlson is a good move just because of the weight the school carries overall.

Hi

I am also looking for some input on the best MBA programs with IT concentration.Also can anyone give me feedback on the ranking of Robert.H.Smith school?It seems like the rankings for this school vary with each surveyor?


Thanks

Hey sillybirdie,

Welcome, I can offer my take...

The rankings for MBA programs purely based on their strength in IT hasn't changed from what I posted above. First tier would be schools like Stanford GSB, Wharton and MIT/Sloan, second tier would be CMU/Tepper and Texas/McCombs and 3rd tier would include Maryland/Smith.

Now I am a current Smith student, but I'll try to offer an objective take on their rankings. First of all, take rankings with a grain of salt. Don't sweat a difference of a few spots, rather look at them in tiers (1-25, 26-50, etc.). Beyond that, you will have a much better time picking a school based on reputation, specific programs and geographic area, to name a few traits. If you choose a school solely based on ranking, you could end up at Tuck when you really wish you were in a big city, or attend Stanford when you wish you had stayed on the East Coast. Sorry if that's not clear, just trying to provide an illustration.

As to Smith specifically, my take is that we were once a relatively well ranked school (about 30 across the board) until Georgetown came into prominence (G-town is a much younger b-school) and stole some of our applicant base. This has affected a gradual decline in rankings over the past few years. In just the past 12 months, this trend has started to reverse. We looked great in the last Businessweek ranking a few months ago (actually above Georgetown), and in the last week the Financial Times ranking had us up several spots as well.

Now beyond rankings... My personal take is this: Maryland has been good to me so far and I'm glad I chose Smith! The DC area has a lot to offer, the Smith school seems to really be trying to up their academic game and their career services have pipelines into all of the major firms in this region. If your goal is IT, this would be a fine school to attend. For something like Finance or top Management Consulting firms the story is the same as lots of other "30ish" schools. It's tough, but not impossible if you ace your courses and work your tail off in getting an interview. Anecdotally, I know of at least one student that's already made the jump from IT project management to investment banking since starting here (we're part-time Smith students).

Hope that helps, please let me know if I can offer any other info!

EDIT: I wanted to add that I don't think Smith is going to take back everything it lost in prominence to Georgetown. G-town is far too strong of a brand name for that to happen. Rather, I think things will equalize a bit, and I am hopeful that in time Smith and McDonough will trade shots in rankings. I sort of have the view that Maryland IS a top 30 school, they just forgot it for a little while. In this market, our closest highly ranked programs are all fairly far away (other than UVA, which doesn't have a part-time program), so I think there's room for two great schools in DC.