Boston University - Questrom School of Business

Innovation dictates the MBA program at the Boston University Questrom School of Business, which is continuously adapting and expanding program offerings to accommodate student input, industry trends, and rising business sectors. The school sees health and life sciences, digital technology, and social enterprise and sustainability as the linchpins of the global economy, and the curriculum reflects as such. Questrom offers three MBA programs (Full-Time, Executive, and an extremely popular Part-Time program), as well as cutting-edge centers and institutes, including the Susilo Institute for Ethics in the Global Economy; the BUzz Lab, BU’s startup incubator and hub for entrepreneurship; and the Institute for Sustainable Energy. The Questrom MBA centers around the cohort, which “the school works hard to turn into a small community within the larger Boston University.” The quarter system on which the Full-Time program is run is designed to get the required courses through to students as quickly as possible, but “with 3-hour course blocks the schedule can be rough on some days.” There is a “heavy focus on teamwork and collaborative work” and students must complete three projects (one at the end of each core-quarter); these are “extremely engaging educational experiences that integrate course concepts that we have learned throughout that quarter.”

Life here is “intense with academic work but there is great amount of classmate camaraderie and support.” Professors are “business professionals first, which makes the content applicable,” and are “great at fostering meaningful discussions on the curriculum.” “It is not enough to just be smart you need to actively engage in class discussions,” says a student. They are “always accessible” and “our strongest advocates”: “When one person is struggling the whole class pitches in to help.” The administration “clearly cares about the student experience and constantly improving the quality of the program,” and a focus on analytics and several specialized programs (non-profit, health, energy) show the evolving nature of the storied school. It’s also worth noting that BU has lots of evening classes available in the second year for its large Part-Time/professional MBA student population.

Networking in a major East Coast business center like Boston is a prime benefit of attending an urban business school, and the “extremely friendly” students at Questrom “are very willing to connect you with people they know to help you with your internship and job search,” particularly for the Part-Time program (which is specifically for working professionals). The location in the heart of Boston “affords access to a rich amount of local business resources.” A “wide array of concentrations” helps students customize their resume and “the Career Center’s website is super helpful for interviews, resumes, and cover letters.” Companies also find Questrom students’ “practical experiences with in-demand software” to be “immediately valuable in the job market.” Recent employers of Questrom MBA students are PricewaterhouseCoopers, Cognizant, Liberty Mutual, AT&T, and Deloitte.

Questrom’s convenient location “makes it very easy to meet up with fellow students and socialize before/after class”; Additionally, the school “does a tremendous job of hosting events to bring students together” and has several student organizations and Graduate Council that are “great with [the] organization of events during the week, evenings, and the weekends.” Most Full-Time students are “single and live near campus,” but even among the evening Part-Time program “students interact and socialize outside of class.” Students are “very willing to help each other” and there is “a lot of the ‘rising tide raises all boats’ mentality.” There is a “strong international presence” at Questrom, and everyone is “well-connected in their field and eager to share their experiences with their peers.”