P&Q’s Must Reads: Kellogg Made Big Changes To Its Part-Time MBA. Not Everyone Is Happy About It

Hello everyone  –- Welcome back to Poets&Quants’ Must Reads, a quick, digestible recap of the top business school news, sponsored by CentreCourt, P&Q’s virtual admission events.

I’m your host, Kristy Bleizeffer, and I’ll be highlighting the most important P&Q stories you might have missed. So, let’s get to it. 

No. 1: Kellogg Made Big Changes To Its Part-Time MBA. Not Everyone Is Happy About It

This month, Northwestern Kellogg School of Management announced major changes to its Evening & Weekend MBA program. Among them:

• Allow students to gain admission via the Executive Assessment and other exams instead of the GMAT or GRE
• Offer permanent GMAT waivers based on certain undergraduate qualifications;
• Offer a select amount of online classes for each quarter.

Not all students are excited. As one current student tells us: “One of the reasons why I chose this school over NYU Stern, CMU Tepper, and Indiana Kelley was the effect the high standards had on the overall Kellogg brand. This latest announcement is a move in the wrong direction.”

Read the full story now, on our homepage. 

No. 2: Penn State’s Smeal College of Business To Shutter Its 2-Year MBA

Penn State’s Smeal College of Business also announced a major shake up to its MBA programs this week, publicizing its intentions to close its two-year residential MBA program in 2024. 

Instead, the business school will transition to a one-year MBA with a STEM designation beginning in fall of 2023. The new program will also replace Smeal’s one-year master’s degree in management and organizational leadership.

It is the latest prominent school to shutter its two-year, residential MBA program in the last several years, throwing more fuel to the speculation fire that the traditional MBA at mid-tier schools are facing major headwinds in the current market. 

You can read the full story on our homepage. 

 No. 3: Seeking The Best Undergraduate B-School Professors Of 2022

Nominations for Poets&Quants For Undergrads’ annual Best Undergraduate Business School Professors are now open. Between now and September 26, 2002, you can nominate professors who have  a remarkable impact on students, noteworthy influence on business, and unique and innovative teaching styles.

This is the biggest honor P&Q bestows on outstanding undergraduate faculty, so get those nominations in before the deadline. Learn more at Poets&Quants For Undergrads.

 

No. 4: Our Weekly Round Up of  News You Can Use

No matter where you are in your MBA journey, we bring several helpful stories for you this week.

First up: If you’re looking for the program that best suits you, we’re getting early looks at the MBA Class of 2024 Profiles. Two schools on separate coasts — Cornell Johnson Graduate School of Management and UCLA Anderson School of Management — are among the first to release complete class profiles following the Wharton School and the University of  Virginia’s Darden School of Business.  

Next: For some helpful advice on those pesky recommendation letters, check out this story: Managing Recommenders Is Just As Important As Choosing The Right One. You can find it in our admissions hub. 

Finally, if you’re ready to start visiting MBA campuses, Fortuna Admissions offers several helpful tips to help you get the most out of your time on campus. This story is also featured in our admissions hub, where you’ll find other strategies for getting the acceptance letters from your dream schools.

And, that’s it for this week’s Must Reads recap. 

I also want to alert all the school seekers out there to CentreCourt’s upcoming MBA Festival events. Our next series, The MBA & Your Career, is happening October 4-5, and you can register for free on our events tab. 

Again, I’m Kristy Bleizeffer, and you can join me next week, right here, for a recap of what’s important in the world of business education. Thanks for listening and, as always, stay informed!