Finding a graduate program that's not a traditional MBA

June 5, 2007 8:16 AM

I was thinking going back for an MBA, but realize I may be looking for something different. My background is in Internet, technology and media, and I have a degree in computer science. I'm also good at design. I've started technology businesses on my own, but I want to make a change and open up new directions. My interests lie more in the area of innovation, new product development/design, consulting and entrepreneurship. From the research I've done, most of the MBA programs are pretty similar, and geared to people who want to work on Wall Street or in large corporations. While I'm not particularly interested in these areas, I definitely want to learn about business as pertains to my areas of interest, and make new connections. Are there any graduate programs (MBA or otherwise) more tailored more toward my interests?
posted by lsemel to Work & Money (12 answers total)

There are tech and entrepreneurship-oriented MBAs. Look at Sloan or the MBET program at the University of Waterloo in Canada. Stanford's MBA program would probably also be a good fit.
posted by GuyZero at 8:17 AM on June 5, 2007

Answer this: How are you at math?
posted by parmanparman at 8:21 AM on June 5, 2007

Sloan looks really good to me. After you do a semester of core classes you choose your specialization area. They have an entire department devoted to "Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship" that looks like exactly what you'd be interested in.
posted by jourman2 at 8:25 AM on June 5, 2007

Babson College (just outside of Boston) is well noted for its program in entrepreneurship. They are located next to a separate (undergrad) engineering college and some good and very profitable partnerships have come out of it; they also will sometimes put MBA students from Babson on teams at the engineering school for the market/business perspective. Students at the engineering school are also very happy to work with MBA students with engineering backgrounds.

(Disclaimer: I am a graduate of that engineering school. And I hired a Babson MBA intern this summer and have worked for a Babson MBA in a startup company in the past. My current company is also owned by a Babson MBA. I'm a little biased.)
posted by olinerd at 8:29 AM on June 5, 2007

IIT has a Master's in Design (many do a dual-MBA). It's a three year program, and one track focuses on product design. Northwestern, U Chicago also have entrepreneurship programs/focuses of different natures. (I'm located in Chicago, so am more aware of schools around here.) Bentley College near Boston also seemed to have at tech focus since it offered many dual degrees MBA/HCI.
posted by ejaned8 at 8:38 AM on June 5, 2007

You may want to look for an MBA in Technology Management - it would certainly cover your areas of interest, as well as address standard MBA fare such as strategy, entrepreneurial finance, marketing, supply chain management, etc
posted by seawallrunner at 8:52 AM on June 5, 2007

Having done the sloan mba, I would ask: do you want to write about innovation or do it? If you want to do write about it, great, sloan is your school. If you want to do it, do a joint thesis at sloan and the media lab or sloan and the materials department or sloan and the cs department. Another option is a program in product innovation and design - you'll end up working at someplace like Frogdesign or Ideo. Which sort of career do you want?
posted by zia at 9:17 AM on June 5, 2007

Boy, I'll be watching this thread with great interest - I'm curious to see if anything actually exists or is local to me on the West Coast. There's the Stanford DSchool, which seems to really emphasize more of the product design aspect, but it's still fairly new and co-run by the MechEng and Fine Arts Dept - take of that what you will.

parmanparman, how much math are we talking here? ;)
posted by rmm at 9:57 AM on June 5, 2007

As a recent MBA grad, I disagree with your statement that "MBA programs are pretty similar, and geared to people who want to work on Wall Street or in large corporations." MBA programs have changed significantly in the last 20 years and are now more geared towards the student's interests. Sure, there are more corporate-type programs or concentrations (finance, anyone?) but overall you'll find most programs are willing to work with your career interests or goals. For example, many many many programs offer entrepreneurship or consulting concentrations. Just to get you started, Stern (NYU) has an entrepreneurship and innovation MBA that might be right for you.
posted by ml98tu at 10:03 AM on June 5, 2007

P.S. A reason some of them appear to focus on corporate/Wall Street employees is because when the schools are advertising where their grads were hired (which is a major competitive point in b-school marketing/recruiting), it looks a lot more impressive to publicize that students obtained jobs at places like Citibank, Goldman Sachs, GE, McKinsey, etc. than to name smaller companies that no one's ever heard of, including family and self-owned businesses.
posted by ml98tu at 10:10 AM on June 5, 2007

Boston College has an MBA program with a focus on some of the areas you are interested in.
posted by UMDirector at 12:30 PM on June 5, 2007

While not a prestigious name, the NC State MBA program offers exactly what you are looking for. Concentrations include:
- Entrepreneurship and Technology Commercialization Concentration
(which means "I want to take some obscure laboratory research and turn it into a viable start-up company with VC funding")
- Information Technology Management
(which means "I want to manage a company's IT department, worrying about data, privacy, and security")
- Innovation Management
(which means "I want to work to work for an existing company and help manage their new product creation process")

Not clear from your question which track would appeal to you the most. I'm Class of 2006 with the Innovation Management concentration. My undergrad was computer engineering and I wanted to get into marketing. I worked with an outside organization to develop a plan to productize something that was barely to the "good idea" stage.

The Entrepreneurship concentration involves taking a core technology and over two semesters creating a viable business plan. The end result is pitching it to angel investors. The program is very practical and focused on real world results.

I don't recommend this program to just anyone wanting an MBA, but it is very tailored at taking tech people and "grooming" them for the business world.

FYI, if you're talking start-ups, in the RTP area of North Carolina, biotech, pharma, and software are the hot items. You will probably find CED (Council for Entrepreneurial Development) interesting. I volunteered at several of their events to get free admission. Everyone at CED was very open to talking with the local MBA students and sharing their advice. They were great venues to establish your business network.
posted by Sasquatch at 1:45 PM on June 5, 2007 [1 favorite]