P&Q’s Must Reads: 10 Business Schools To Watch In 2023

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: 10 Business Schools To Watch In 2023

Poets&Quants’ “10 Business Schools To Watch” honors the MBA programs that aren’t just adapting to the marketplace – they’re disrupting it. These schools have closely monitored trends, recognized ripples, and tailored programming that makes employers more competitive and graduates more agile. In the process, they’ve acted as roadmaps as much as inspirations.

Now entering its eighth year, the feature showcases schools that act like real businesses. 

Dive into the full story to find out why we’re watching The Wharton School, Washington University’s Olin School, Georgetown McDonough and seven other inspiring schools in 2023.

It’s up now on our homepage.

No. 2: P&Q’s MBA Professor Of The Year: Jeffrey Sonnenfeld

A couple of months ago, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld walked out of his home to see a large Z painted on his driveway. The Russian military symbol, affixed to tanks and other vehicles used in the war against Ukraine, had to be interpreted as a warning. 

The longtime Yale School of Management professor has been tracking companies that had claimed to pull out of Russia in protest of the invasion. At first, there were little more than a few dozen corporations in the boycott. Within days, there were a couple hundred. Now there are more than 1,000.

For his courage to make a real difference on an issue of utmost importance, Sonnenfeld is Poets&Quants’ sixth professor to earn our Professor of the Year honor. 

Take a minute to read about Sonnenfeld’s career and important work at Poets&Quants.com.

 No. 3: Average Stanford MBA Pay Now Exceeds A Quarter Of A Million Dollars

They started their MBA journeys in a pandemic. By the time they were finished, Stanford Graduate School of Business Class of 2022 MBAs had set new school records for starting salary, expected performance bonus, and total compensation.

What’s more, they largely eluded another crisis: the great tech bubble burst of the last 18 months. More Stanford MBAs went into tech in 2022 than in previous years, making more money — and many more started their own tech ventures. In fact, the average total first-year compensation for Stanford’s 2022 MBA grads is now a whopping $257,563. 

Get all the eye-popping stats from Stanford’s 2022 employment report in our MBA Jobs tab.

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 an aspiring entrepreneur with a great idea, take the time to watch this interview with the founders of PedalCell, the winners of last year’s $50,000 pitch competition,  the Big IdeaBounce. The competition is a partnership between Poets&Quants and WashU Olin, and the CEOs have a lot of inspiring advice. You can find it in our news tab. 

Next: For MBA hopefuls preparing for upcoming interviews, here’s an article you can’t afford to miss: 2023 MBA Interview Questions, a School-by-School List. You’ll find it on our homepage.

Finally: If you’re looking for an MBA program to help secure that lucrative job at the other end, check out our story on how executives at top companies rank the best programs.  CEOWORLD, a magazine aimed at C-suite executives, asked its in-the-know readers to evaluate schools that help respondents land the job. You can find the story in our news tab.

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, where you’ll get front-row seats to leaders of some of the top MBA programs. Our next event is February 7-8, and is the must-attend event for any serious MBA candidate. Register now for free.

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!