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The Sloan School of
Management is not just the "top school for high-tech business," as
would be expected of a school run under the auspices of MIT. Sloan
is also a top performer in finance, management, manufacturing
operations, international business, entrepreneurship, and economics
(brags one student, "Our economics department has to be the best in
the world!"). In fact, students give Sloan top grades in all
academic disciplines here except marketing. Technology, of course,
is the bread and butter of parent institution. MIT, and students on
Sloan's information technology track benefit from the cutting-edge
research being done within the university walls. So, too, do finance
students, who have access to a $3.5 million trading floor that is
virtually identical to the ones in the world's financial capitals.
The trading floor not only allows students to gain practical trading
experience, but also provides the data for MIT's pioneering research
in financial engineering, a new field dedicated primarily to
developing the tools with which to analyze the increasingly complex
world markets. In manufacturing, the Leaders for Manufacturing
program partners the b-school, the school of engineering, and
thirteen corporations in a cooperative endeavor to develop new
methods of manufacturing and manufacturing education.
Sloan's core requirements take up only a single semester's work,
a system that yields mixed results. While students are pleased to
get requirements out of the way quickly, they also suggest that the
school "make the core courses wider, that is, make it a full year of
required courses, not just one semester. The core currently does not
require finance theory or marketing, but it should." Furthermore,
under the current system "first semester is like boot camp at the
Air Force Academy." Students note that the workload lightens
appreciably after core courses are completed. They also have the
opportunity to choose from more than 100 courses offered each
semester.
In all areas at Sloan, "Teamwork is paramount, and group and
academic projects reflect this philosophy." Students recognize that
they are privileged to study with a "first-rate faculty, second to
none." Writes one student, "We have classes with Nobel Prize winners
and even get together with them at their places for a beer." They
also report that "Administration and professors listen to student
comments and complaints, and work to improve courses and overall
course load. Professors will make changes mid-semester!' |
Undergraduate