The Best MBA Programs In Marketing

Here are some benefits that prospective marketing students will enjoy at other schools:

Wharton School of Business

Wharton School of Business

2) The Wharton School: Wharton describes its marketing professors as “the largest, most cited, and most published faculty in the world.” Their mission is to “translate their state-of-the-art research into practical tools that managers can use to make better decisions.” However, their impact goes far beyond academia, as professors like J. Scott Armstrong and Cass Mogilner are often cited on marketing-related topics in outlets like the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, NPR, and Forbes. Wharton also manages several research centers to connect students and faculty to leading firms in areas like retailing, global marketing, and customer analytics.

Stanford

3) Stanford Graduate School of Business: Stanford is ranked among the top three programs in entrepreneurship, management, and nonprofits according to U.S. News. With such strong synergies – and alumni CEOs in companies ranging from Nike to Wells Fargo – it’s not surprising that they also maintain a robust marketing program. With its close proximity to Silicon Valley, the curriculum carries a startup flavor, paying special attention to strategy, innovation, modeling, and business development. Like Kellogg, Stanford embraces a multi-disciplinary approach, incorporating research from areas like behavioral psychology and economics into their curriculum.

Harvard Business School

Harvard Business School

4) Harvard Business School: Some academics trace the origins of modern marketing to Professor Theodore Levitt, whose “Marketing Myopia” paper in the Harvard Business Review challenged companies to identify customer needs before developing and advertising products. From there, HBS has built a rich tradition of innovative research in areas from globalization to digital marketing. With courses taught by award-winning researchers and teachers like Anita Elberse and Anat Keinan, HBS marketing students are exposed to pioneering and relevant concepts in the field. The marketing faculty is especially renowned for its scholarship. In 2014 alone, it published 40 papers (including 14 in major academic journals). At the same time, it produced 50 new cases, with Harvard business cases sometimes comprising nearly 80 percent of cases in use.

Chicago Booth

Chicago Booth

5) University of Chicago Booth School of Business: Booth prides itself on its quantitative approach to problem-solving that prepares students for c-suite roles. And this philosophy is also the bedrock of its renowned marketing program. This is exemplified by its Kilts Center for Marketing, a partnership with Nielsen that gives researchers access to consumer data, facilitating original research and unprecedented consumer insights. The Center also sponsors conferences and workshops, along with programs and events to connect students with marketing alumni. Aside from its empirical bent, Booth’s curriculum integrates a multi-disciplinary approach, with some courses taught be experts in areas like economics and psychology. It also focuses heavily on experiential learning, to give students the opportunity to apply what they’ve learned to real problems from real clients.

Inside the Ross School of Business

Inside the Ross School of Business

6) University of Michigan Ross School of Business: Describing itself as a “broad” program with a “full service” course offering, Ross provides core marketing courses that “links material directly to student recruitment needs.” And its scholarship is second to none, with Richard Baggozi, a behavioral science in management professor, ranked as the second-most cited marketing scholar in the world in 2013 according to the University of Minnesota. Ross’ course content is supplemented by the school’s Yaffe Center for Persuasive Communication, which sponsors conferences, speakers, and workshops on topics like social and digital marketing. These events have attracted marketing executives from leading firms like Leo Burnett, Procter & Gamble, Pepsi, and Google. The student marketing club also sponsors an annual Marketing Symposium, which recently drew chief marketing officers from Dell and Kimberly-Clark.

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