Purdue University’s Krannert School of Management

The Krannert School of Management MBA: What You Need To Know

Purdue University’s Krannert School of Management full-time MBA is a two-year program that includes an array of core courses and optional specializations. Going back in time, the program expanded beyond a year in 1973 as the Master of Science in Management, and was formally renamed an MBA in 2001. 

Dean of the Krannert School of Management David Hummels has the utmost confidence and pride in the school’s community, describing it as a perfect fit for himself as well as for many others like him.

“I think that from a faculty perspective at Purdue it really was apparent to me from the beginning that the environment here really made me feel that I could be more productive than I had been in the past,” Hummels said. “There’s a real sense here that people want to help you succeed. They want to help you overcome each other’s obstacles and simultaneously provide positive encouragement, which are both so helpful in a program like this.”

In June 2020, Dean David Hummels announced that the school was pausing its recruiting efforts for the residential MBA program due to national application trends, particularly among domestic students, and instead would pivot efforts to online programs and specialty residential programs.

Recent classes have been in the range of 40-50, with the last class admitted in fall 2020. In addition to Krannert’s core curriculum, most students choose to gain additional expertise through completion of one or two “option areas” of focused study. There are seven functional option areas and five inter-disciplinary option areas offered. With a requirement to complete 25 credit hours of electives before graduation, students can usually complete one or two option areas successfully.

The coursework was designed to give students the ability to harness the power of business and economic information by building a “data to decisions” model of education and research. The school emphasizes learning through in-class market simulations, management decision-making scenarios, and case competitions.

The Krannert MBA offers functional or interdisciplinary options in accounting, finance, marketing, technology innovation, entrepreneurship and many more. All add depth to the broad quantitative base of management knowledge covered in the core curriculum.

Experiential opportunities are a large part of the program. “The program hopes to admit students who would work well into this system,” says Hummels. Students can hone leadership skills through a number of student clubs, as well as the Launching Global Leaders class, which gives them the opportunity to learn from leaders in a variety of fields.

Most students in the program take an internship between the first and second year, giving them an opportunity to prove themselves to potential employers while deploying their classroom learning. Many also participate in case conferences and consulting projects, providing valuable direct access to key corporate contacts.

The Krannert Management Volunteer Program, which gives students the ability to act as servant leaders through volunteer and charity events, has received accolades at the local and national levels. Several Krannert teams have won national case competitions.

Students have access to guest speakers who periodically make appearances on campus, a mentoring program that provides opportunities to work individually with current alumni, resume critiques, and mock interviews. The alumni network also provides students further opportunities in corporate participation, where students are connected with possible internship, job and potential consulting opportunities. “Our alumni are eager to come onto campus and help educate, work with and eventually hire students,” Hummels says. “We really want to continue to grow this network.”

Purdue’s alumni network also has a built-in relocation program where alumni can connect with other alumni in their geographic area, domestic or internationally.

Krannert MBA Rankings Data

Krannert MBA Employment Stats

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