GMAC Advisor

Every year, women make immeasurable contributions to the world of business and society overall. For a number of women leaders, a graduate management education was a critical step in their professional development. In recognition of International Women’s Day, GMAC Research has produced two new research documents to share with the GME community.

Overall, recent alumni are more likely than earlier alumni to report studying abroad and traveling internationally as a part of their business school experience, according to new findings from the 2018 Alumni Perspectives Survey.

Overall, the vast majority of business school alumni are employed, whether for a company (79%) or as self-employed entrepreneurs (10%), according to new findings from the 2018 Alumni Perspectives Survey, which solicited responses from 10,882 alumni worldwide representing 274 institutions and a wide variety of program types. 

Diversity of backgrounds and perspectives adds to the business school classroom experience. In the words of Jindal School of Management professor Sheen S. Levine and David Stark of Columbia University in a December 2015 New York Times op-ed: “Diversity improves the way people think. By disrupting conformity, racial and ethnicity diversity prompts people to scrutinize facts, think more deeply and develop their own opinions.”

Pre-experience business master’s programs are an increasingly big part of global graduate management education. With each passing year, more business schools expand their program portfolios to include more of these programs, and a growing share of candidates tell GMAC Research that they are considering applying to them.

Last week GMAC Research hosted our annual Research Highlights webinar, in which we summarized our major research findings from 2017 and discussed what it all means for 2018.

Long gone are the days when the average business school offered only an MBA program, maybe in a full-time and part-time format. Today, the average business school program portfolio encompasses a wide array of program types designed for students at different stages of their career—ranging from pre-experience business master’s programs to executive MBA programs.

Overall, 4 out of 5 business school alumni consider their graduate management education an outstanding or excellent value, according to new findings from the 2018 Alumni Perspectives Survey, which solicited responses from 10,882 alumni worldwide representing 274 institutions and a wide variety of program types. Additional survey findings associated with alumni perceptions of the value of their graduate management education can be found in a new survey report published on gmac.com this week.

Join GMAC Research on Wednesday, January 31 at 12 pm ET for our annual Research Highlights webinar. We’ll summarize our major research findings from 2017 and discuss what we’ll be looking forward to in 2018. Following the 30-minute presentation webinar attendees will have the opportunity to continue the dialogue in a Q&A session with the presenters.

The results of GMAC Research’s 2017 Year-End Employer Poll indicate that this year’s business school graduates can look forward to an overall favorable job market—especially if you’re a specialist.