In a city like New York, it’s no wonder a Full-time MBA at the NYU Stern School of Business requires an estimated expense of $231,440 to attend, which is more expensive than its uptown neighbor, Columbia Business School. But a wide array of program specializations and the promise of big total starting compensation packages are just two of the many reasons Stern is a worthy investment.
NYU Stern’s full-time MBA program accepted 919 of 3,518 applicants last cycle, closing in on an admission rate of 26%. The school, in New York’s Greenwich Village, has recently introduced a new co-curricular program focused on motivating change. The “Dare it. Dream it. Drive it” curriculum has come to fruition since Stern implemented their Change:Studio program for two-year, full-time MBA students.
“Change:Studio is our latest example to help MBAs become adept at understanding, impacting and driving change, building on three foundational pillars — Leadership, Experiential, and Entrepreneurship programming,” writes Rabia Ahmed, Stern’s executive director of MBA Admissions. “The objective of this program is to prepare students for careers where change is the only constant by developing confidence and skills to thrive in a world of constant change & ambiguity now and throughout their professional careers.”
To ensure that students have a solid foundation in all areas of business, the majority of the first year is comprised of Stern’s core courses: Financial Accounting & Reporting, Statistics & Data Analysis, and a flex core made up of seven course options. Core course waivers may be given to students who completed an undergraduate major in a core course area or who hold a CPA. Students may also waive a course by passing a proficiency exam. Student’s second year at Stern is focused on electives and specializations. They are able to choose up to three specializations from more than 20 options, and pick elective courses from an impressive 200+ selection.
MANY NEW PROGRAMS, FORMATS, STUDENT EXPERIENCES IN RECENT YEARS
“At Stern,” Ahmed says, “we are always looking for people who are passionate about being part of our community. We’re a school that’s unbound by tradition, allowing us to innovate and attract students who want to be innovative, edgy. At Stern, we are preparing students to be ready to embrace —and drive — the change happening all around them.
“Over the last few years, we have rolled out many new programs, formats, geographies, student experiences, lifelong learning for alumni and more and we do this because the business world is rapidly changing and we’re at the forefront.
“For our students, this means there are new demands on graduates to be nimble, comfortable with ambiguity and accustomed to navigating change while remaining grounded in business fundamentals and ethics. We place the same expectations on ourselves as the business world places on our students. It is this need for agile leaders that sparked our era of innovation at Stern.
“There are three things that set Stern apart from other business schools: our location, our attitude and our people. Our location allows us to use the city as our classroom, from bringing in cutting edge problems to be solved by our experiential learning programs, to having adjunct faculty who are industry leaders and experts teaching in our programs. Our attitude is that we are unbound by tradition and we can experiment, take some calculated risks that open up opportunities for new ideas, new ways to get at new problems. And lastly, at Stern, it’s about the people. We’re one of the largest business schools — with a faculty that has expertise from finance to sustainability; human rights to z-scores. And we have a dedicated team of administrators who ensure our students have an exceptional experience while at Stern and for our alumni, we offer life-long learning benefits allowing our alums to continue to develop and grow.”
