Although not quite as well known as the other business school in Boston, MIT's Sloan School of Management has combined the quantitative strengths of its parent school with a focus on entrepreneurship to establish itself as one of the most highly regarded programs in the technology and manufacturing industries, The school is also well-regarded on Wall Street, where Sloan grads are known for their quantitative abilities.
Sloan has traditionally been better known for turning out stronger analysts than business leaders, so the school is making a push to emphasize leadership in it curriculum. The school has appointed a Director of Leadership to create and run leadership programs at the school, as well as to coach Sloan student on their own leadership development. The school even encourages student to fill out a "Leadership Feedback Form" whenever they observe a fellow student in a leadership role. The school also encourages teamwork, and all first year students must complete a core project in teams. Sloan’s stated goal is to turn out "leaders who innovate".
As expected, the school's curriculum emphasizes the quantitative side of business. Courses such as Finance and Statistics are as quantitative as you would expect, but Sloan also encourages students to apply the skills that they learn in these classes to nearly all of their coursework. Graduates speak highly of the hard skills that they learned at Sloan, so make sure that this is what you want out of your MBA experience. To get in, you will have to demonstrate that you are comfortable utilizing numbers, through your GMAT score, previous coursework, or job experience.
Sloan's curriculum is also notable for its emphasis of "management tracks", instead of traditional majors. The idea behind these tracks is to provide students with a broad study approach to certain functional area, such as Financial Engineering, Operations Management, and New Product and Venture Development. The tracks' broad approach requires students to complete eight to ten classes per track. Students can also create their own tracks after their first semester at Sloan. Demonstrating your understanding of Sloan's track system will help you show your enthusiasm for the program.
Entrepreneurship is big at Sloan, as characterized by students'participation in MIT's annual "$50K" entrepreneurship competition. The competition gives Sloan students the chance to develop a business plan and compete against students from other MIT programs for a chance to win the $30,000 grand prize. Successful tech companies such as Akamai got their start through the $50K competition, and student teams that get far in the program are often able to attract interest from potential investors and advisors.
One example of Sloan's close ties to the manufacturing sector is its Leaders for Manufacturing program, a two ear joint degree program offered in conjunction with MIT's School of Engineering, and operations management through a variety of in-class and on-the-job experiences, Students spend six-and-a-half months on-site as an intern with a sponsor company, culminating in a thesis. The best part of the program is that students receive a scholarship covering the full cost of tuition, thanks to sponsor companies including Boeing, Dell, Harley0Davidson, Intel, and P & G. The bad news is that the program is very exclusive – just 5 0students participate each year – but give it a look if you a re considering working in manufacturing after business school.
Sloan has a higher percentage of international student all of its peer schools – 40 percent of the class of 2003 came from abroad, Sloan students therefore tend to be surrounded by international classmates wherever they go. If you are looking to gain international experience, or just want to meet people from new cultures, this is an aspect of the program that may appeal to you. Make sure you demonstrate your enthusiasm for the schools’ diverse culture in your application, and make your case for why this matters to you, whether you are an American or an international applicant.