Carnegie Mellon University - Tepper School of Business

Academics

The Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University offers a highly selective, well-respected MBA program that emphasizes both leadership and strategic analytics through experiential learning, communication-oriented projects and presentations, and a “quantitative approach to content frequently seen as qualitative.” The three mini-semesters of the first year are devoted to the fundamentals such as finance and quantitative analysis, while the second year allows students to choose electives. The Tepper School administration always takes students’ opinions into account regarding professors and workshops, and “actively works to include programming that we want” while removing undesired programming. “Given the small size, if you want to start or change something about the school, it’s pretty easy to do,” says a student. Carnegie Mellon overall is very involved in new technology (such as artificial learning and autonomous vehicles), and “that passion for innovation can be found in the business school as well.” The Tepper School MBA is “famous for its analytics approach,” and the data-driven approach to course material is possibly “the greatest strength of the school.” The school is “always trying to be at the vanguard of the constantly evolving business world” and classes include “a good mix of theory, cases, and hands-on experience.” Professors “have both industrial and research backgrounds” that they regularly work into the course material. They try to incorporate recent trends into their course materials, and students feel they are “setting the state of the technology, not talking about it.” “The academic experience has been challenging but there were so many resources available to enable my success,” sums up a student.