The COVID-19 pandemic continues to make travelling and obtaining visas more complicated. Over the past couple years, the top 25 MBA programs have all been working to certify their programs (or portions of them) as STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math). A STEM designation for an MBA program allows international students with F1 visas the eligibility to extend the optional practical training period to work in the United States from 12 months to 36 months. This in turn helps graduates of qualifying programs to be more attractive to US employers and gain additional work experience in the States before having to go through a visa lottery or be sponsored.
The University of Wisconsin–Madison began offering its Operation and Technology Management certificate in 2016. In 2018, the Simon Business School at the University of Rochester was the first to have its entire MBA program receive STEM designation. As of Winter 2022, all top schools have built STEM-qualifying components into their program.
Currently, 11 leading business schools offer a STEM designation for their overall MBA program:
- Carnegie Mellon Tepper: Full-time MBA
- Chicago Booth: Full-time MBA, Evening MBA, Weekend MBA, and Executive MBA
- Columbia Business School: Full-time and Executive MBA, MS Financial Economics, MS Accounting and Fundamental Analysis, MS Marketing Science
- MIT Sloan: Full-time MBA, Fellows, and Executive MBA
- Cornell Johnson: One-year and two-year MBAs, Cornell Tech MBA, MPS in Management, MPS in Management − Accounting Specialization
- MIT Sloan: Full-time MBA, Fellows, and Executive MBA
- NYU Stern: Full-time MBA, one-year Andre Koo Technology and Entrepreneurship MBA
- Stanford GSB: Full-time MBA and MSx degrees
- Rice Jones: Full-time MBA and all master’s programs
- UC Berkeley Haas: Full-time MBA, EWMBA, and Executive MBA
- UCLA Anderson: Full-time MBA, FEMBA, and Executive MBA
- UNC Kenan-Flagler: Full-Time MBA, Evening MBA, Weekend Executive MBA and online [email protected]
In addition, 14 schools have a subset of their MBA program (e.g., a track, concentration, major) that qualifies for the STEM designation:
- UVA Darden: Management Science specialization
- Duke Fuqua: Management Science and Technology Management (MSTeM) track credential
- Dartmouth Tuck: Management Science and Quantitative Methods option
- Emory Goizueta: MBA Business Analysis concentration, MS in Business Analytics
- Georgetown McDonough: Management Science major in full-time and Flex MBA program
- Harvard Business School: Management Science track or dual-degree MS/MBA, Engineering Sciences program
- Indiana Kelley: Strategic Analysis of Accounting Information, Business Analytics, Finance, Marketing, or Supply Chain and Operations majors
- Northwestern Kellogg: Management Science major or MMM degree, which includes an MBA from Kellogg and an MS in Design Innovation from Northwestern University’s Segal Design Institute
- Michigan Ross: Management Science specialization
- Texas-Austin McCombs: 14 of 22 concentrations that fall into Management Science & Quantitative Methods or Financial Mathematics.
- UNC Kenan-Flagler: Business Analytics and Management Science concentration
- USC Marshall: Management Science specialization
- Washington Foster: MBA Management Science option, Technology Management MBA, MS in Business Analytics
- UPenn Wharton: Business Analytics; Business Economics and Public Policy; Business, Energy, Environment and Sustainability; Operations, Information and Decisions; Quantitative Finance; and Statistics majors
- Yale School of Management: Management Science concentration in MBA, Master of Advanced Management, MS Asset Management
Employers continue to seek graduates with strong data analytics experience, and a STEM designation can help provide these skills, along with increased eligibility to work in the United States after graduation.