Inside NYU Stern’s Unique Offer To Laid-Off Tech Workers

Since launching in 2018, applications to NYU Stern’s Andre Koo Tech MBA have been steadily on the rise, doubling in a five-year period. File photo

A handful of the leading U.S. business schools have extended offers to the tens of thousands of tech industry workers who have been laid off in the last six to 12 months. Most of these overtures have involved making it easier to apply to the B-schools’ two-year, residential MBA programs. NYU Stern School of Business has a different offer for techies to consider.

The Stern School is encouraging potential applicants to consider applying to its one-year Andre Koo Technology and Entrepreneurship MBA — an option that would immerse tech workers in a program with built-in access to industry and give them a quicker turnaround in returning to the workforce with new skills and credentials. Just before Thanksgiving, the school announced that it will waive entrance exams for the Andre Koo program’s May 2023 start date; the third-round application deadline is January 15 and the final, fourth-round deadline is February 15.

ANDRE KOO’S 2022 CLASS HAD 100% EMPLOYMENT RATE

One website that tracks tech firings estimates that since the start of 2022, nearly 140,000 have lost their jobs in the sector in more than 870 layoffs; another, looking at tech firms from December 2021 through November 2022, counts more than 205,000 firings in more than 1,260 layoffs.

“In the current climate of change and uncertainty in the tech sector, Stern is here to support tech professionals and entrepreneurs,” says JP Eggers, NYU Stern’s academic director of the Andre Koo Tech MBA and vice dean for MBA programs. “The school offers the most relevant and efficient MBA option to learn quickly, engage with industry while riding out the storm, and emerge ready to reenter the workforce in 12 short months.”

The Andre Koo Tech MBA is a STEM-designated program that runs May-to-May; since launching in 2018, applications to the program have doubled. The most recent graduating Class of 2022 achieved a 100% employment rate after graduation. Two of three Andre Koo classes, in fact, have achieved total employment.

'TIME OUT OF THE WORKFORCE IS MINIMIZED'

Average base salaries for Andre Koo graduates have risen from $129,458 to $152,601 over the program’s first five years, while average bonuses have gone from $26,345 to $43,712.

The program features a customized curriculum with four major components: the Business Core, the Technology Core, Stern Solutions experiential learning projects with companies, and Electives. In their first summer, students participate in a New York City Immersion which this year included corporate projects with KPMG and Pfizer Health. In January, students embark on the West Coast Immersion to engage with companies in Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The program "was explicitly designed for people in the tech and entrepreneurial space who want to strengthen their business foundation while gaining technical and business knowledge to accelerate their careers," Eggers says. "And students earn the MBA in just one year, so time out of the workforce is minimized.”

Interested applicants can apply by the January 15 or February 15, 2023 deadlines to be considered for the May 2023 start date. More information is available by clicking here.

DON'T MISS: 2 TECH-HEAVY B-SCHOOLS JOIN THOSE WOOING LAID-OFF TECH WORKERS or NYU STERN'S ONE-YEAR TECH MBA: 55% WOMEN, 100% EMPLOYMENT