UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Penn State Smeal MBA Program is No. 25 in the 2017 Bloomberg Businessweek Best Business Schools rankings released Thursday. Smeal improved 12 places over its previous Businessweek ranking, one of the biggest gains by any business school on the list.
The residential MBA Program — among three MBA formats offered by the college along with an Executive MBA and the Smeal-led Online MBA — ranks ninth among public business schools and third among Big Ten institutions.
A key aspect of the Businessweek ranking, the employer survey, measures how well MBA programs equip graduates with relevant skills. Smeal ranks No. 12 in this category.
“We have cultivated deep and lasting relationships with the top companies that turn to Smeal for talent,” said MBA Managing Director Carrie Marcinkevage. “It is rewarding to know that employers recognize that our students are highly prepared with the skills they need to make a difference.”
Graduate education at Smeal has been changing rapidly in recent years with significant curriculum and structural changes to the college’s MBA and EMBA programs and the addition of several new programs, including the one-year Master of Professional Studies in Organizational Leadership (MOL).
The MBA Program remains a critical component of Smeal’s graduate portfolio of offerings.
“So much of what we are doing in graduate education connects through the residential MBA,” said Charles H. Whiteman, the John and Becky Surma Dean of Smeal. “Our MOL students are immersed in the same curriculum as our first-year MBAs. Our Executive MBAs are taught by residential MBA faculty. We are excited about the future in this space and how we can continue to serve the needs of graduate students in business.”
More information about the Bloomberg Businessweek rankings is available online.