University of Pittsburgh - Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business

The Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business at the University Pittsburgh attracts students that seek to find “academic rigor, stellar professors, a gifted peer group, an above-par post-MBA income, access to industry leaders, opportunities to prove one’s mettle in case competitions, hackathons and start-up weekends, and above all . . . lifelong relationships with individuals.” The school offers One-Year, Two-Year, Executive, and Part-time MBAs (as well as joint and dual degrees), focusing on giving students a core set of business skills and helping them customize their skill sets to their desired positions. Each program fosters “a cooperatively competitive attitude rather than an aggressively competitive attitude in the students.” Katz also offers a specialized Masters in Accounting, Customer Insights, Supply Chain Management, Finance, and Management Information Systems.

The faculty makes the program “seamless”; they “manage class work, class discussions and assignments to maximize the value to the students.” Accessibility of faculty members is high. Students say professors are “flexible with our work schedules,” and they “easily relate real world problems into teachings.” Most classes require team projects and exercises (in and out of class) to build interpersonal and communication skills, which is not a problem given the “driven, data-oriented, communicative” nature of the student body. Cross-cultural dimensions and global business themes run throughout the curriculum, and students in the Executive MBA program travel between the program’s locations in Pittsburgh and Sao Paulo, Brazil for global executive forums in which they can “learn about global economies [and] cultural business differences and network with incredible business professionals.” The other MBA programs include a Global Research Practicum, which is a short-term international immersion experience with a business project component.

Katz is “tied into the entrepreneurship community in Pittsburgh and offers many expe- rience-based fellowships and projects,” and there is “no pressure to pursue top tier con- sulting and investment banking, but rather to give you the skills to get the position with your target company.” The companies that recruit on campus “do have a manufacturing heavy tilt” as they are based on the surrounding area, but there “has been a shift toward medical, consulting, and IT industries as the economy of Pittsburgh has reinvented itself.” The Career Services office “works tirelessly to connect students with corporate recruiters and the resources needed to fulfill our career goals,” and the Executives in Residence (EIR) program (a mentorship setup that gives students access to top corporate executives with decades of experience) is “integral in interview preparation.” EIRs are “deeply imbedded in many of the academic courses that require real-world, experi- enced-based learning such as our Consulting Field Project.” Recent employers of Katz grads include Amazon, Crane Co, Deloitte, SDLC Partners, IBM, Nationwide Insurance, McKinsey, and PNC Financial Services.

Pittsburgh is “a hidden gem with low cost of living and great employment and social opportunities.” People routinely study together, chat socially, and network at all levels (from students to faculty to alumni). “My fellow students are very intelligent, have great experiences to add to class discussions, and overall, offer nothing but encouragement in the program,” says a student. A large portion of the student body is international— around a third—which contributes to the overall melting pot feel; the Katz student body truly feels as if it “is a family” and there are “lots of fun activities organized for students to network with folks from other programs,” with one such session planned for every semester. Many activities involve other colleges at the university, including “theater tickets, Project Bundle Up, and happy hours (all on a regular basis).”