Create Your Own MBA Adventure
What can you do with a Babson MBA?
Just about anything.
By the time students sit down in their first MBA class, many have an idea of where they’d like to be by graduation. Babson students are smart and driven, with specific ideas about entrepreneurial ventures to launch and career transitions to make. The path they take throughout their MBA journey is different for each student, with countless opportunities to customize along the way.
One of the first choices for students happens long before that first day of class. The Babson MBA is offered in different formats, each with their own perks, though the degree is the same no matter which path you take.
Applicants have two full-time options, one-year and two-year. Part-time students can mix and match from online, evening, and hybrid classes. Babson has earned accolades overall and within these specific formats. For example, the Online MBA recently jumped three places to rank 31st in U.S. News & World Report’s specialty ranking of Online MBA programs, and Babson has long been ranked the No. 1 MBA for entrepreneurship by U.S. News & World Report.
The Future Outlook Is Online
As Babson students look to the future, it’s one where lifelong learning is more important than ever. “The world and workplace are rapidly evolving, and … nearly every sector is being disrupted,” Babson President Stephen Spinelli Jr, MBA’92, PhD has said.
To stay cutting edge, online master’s programs are an increasingly popular choice for students. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, more than 1.1 million graduate students in the U.S. have enrolled in at least one online course, and 80% of them are in exclusively online programs.
Moreover, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that employment in master’s level occupations is expected to increase faster than any other education level in the next five years, jumping almost 17% between 2016 and 2026.
Blazing Individual Paths
Babson’s MBA is distinct in that a full two-thirds of the courses are electives, and each student has access to one-on-one academic advising to help them track toward their goals. “We meet students wherever they are, be it by phone, WebEx, drop in, or on campus in Wellesley or Boston,” says Jessica Hose, director of Graduate Academic Services.
Yes, all students take core business fundamentals, but the real magic happens once students have a chance to specialize. This might look like multiple electives abroad in Asia and Europe for one student, launching a startup as part of the entrepreneurship intensity track for another, or pursuing one of Babson’s new STEM-designated concentrations for a third.
“Concentrations provide students with an opportunity to try something new or deepen their knowledge in a specific area while completing their degree,” says Hose. Plus, U.S. News & World Report’s online MBA ranking just listed Babson’s Business Analytics, Finance, Global Management, and Marketing concentrations in its ranking of top 10 specialty programs. In addition to an entrepreneurship concentration, Babson also offers two new STEM-designated concentrations: Business Analytics and Machine Learning, and Quantitative Finance.
According to Hose, concentrations and intensity tracks (which combine academic and experiential learning) are especially beneficial for working professionals who may be thinking about changing careers. “It’s an opportunity to try out certain aspects of that new field before making a career jump,” she says.
Students in Babson’s seven intensity tracks form close bonds with like-minded peers. Depending on the track, they may work together to manage a portion of the College’s endowment, bring their families to campus to work on family business initiatives, or sit on the board of a nonprofit to learn the ins and outs of board-level decision making.
“We know you have individual goals, which is why your advisor gets to know you, works with you, and helps you get where you want to go,” says Hose.
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