NEW ORLEANS – U.S. News and World Report has ranked the Loyola University New Orleans graduate entrepreneurship program in the nation’s top 20. Other graduate business programs named to the annual list include those at Stanford, MIT, Cal-Berkeley, Harvard, Penn, Michigan and Babson.
The ranking recognizes the curricular and extracurricular programs run in concert by the Office of Graduate Programs of the College of Business and the Loyola Center for Entrepreneurship and Community Development.
Loyola’s program tends to be more affordable than its counterparts, the class schedules more accommodating of students with full-time jobs (courses take place in the evenings) and the class sizes are smaller. Furthermore, students pursuing the entrepreneurship specialization in Loyola New Orleans’ MBA program are able to develop close ties with their peers, a network of mentors from local investment funds and incubator programs, as well as founders from across the region.
“I’m very proud of the faculty and staff who have worked diligently to create a program that genuinely challenges students and exposes them to entrepreneurship and innovation across many different domains,” said Felipe G. Massa, Ph.D., faculty director of the Loyola New Orleans Center for Entrepreneurship and Community Development. “I am also proud of the students who have done so incredibly well after graduation. We designed the kind of program we would have liked to attend as students, and I’m delighted it has been recognized for its quality.”
U.S. News and World Report computes rankings based on several factors. First, business school deans rate each college based on a peer assessment score, and then corporate recruiters and company contacts assess each college. The ranking also considers placement success for their recent graduates, considering mean starting salary and employment rates for full-time MBA program graduates. Finally, the U.S. News and World Report takes the average GMAT/GRE scores along with GPA. Overall, the two heaviest weighted factors are the program’s employment rate and the peer assessment score from other deans.
“Loyola’s MBA students truly benefit from the New Orleans entrepreneurial scene as they are able to apply the concepts learned in our classrooms immediately in the field while enrolled in our program,” said Christina Morales, director of the Loyola MBA program. “Taking the Jesuit value of experiential learning to heart, our faculty coach our students as they become consultants for real entrepreneurs within our community. It is a real treat to not only witness our students’ growth and progression as they advance through the curriculum, but also to see local entrepreneurs succeed with our students by their sides.”
