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(4.8) |
Wisconsin's bread and butter is CPG. The school has a lot of opportunities if you are willing to go that front. A lot of my classmates got placed in CPG without too much hassle. But CPG doesn't hire internationals. Real estate also has a good program where they get to manage an investment fund.
STEM-designated specs are Supply Chain and Tech. Intuit is a big company that comes to campus to recruit PMs and PMMs but it stops there for internationals since COVID.
WSB doesn't market itself good enough. First of all, the school hands out very generous scholarship packages combined with TA opportunities that waive tuition fees. But they do not market this enough to attract better talent. ROI is out of the sky because of this. People graduate none-to-little debts. Secondly, there was an incident a couple of years back when Dean tried to shut down the FT MBA program. The alumni and company backlash prevented this from happening but this hurt school too much as you can still see the remnants of this event when you google Wisconsin MBA. I think the school is well-connected with industry with great recruiting outcomes so I don't see this happening in near future.
The cohort size is close to 100 and it's a very tight-knit community. The location is a downside because of the size of the city. But Madison is a fun, safe and progressive little city for its size. The winters are cold and long but the weather is not so dreary. You will have plenty of cold, crisp weather with blue skies.
Internationals, you might get good scholarships because you increase the stats of the incoming class. But be aware that you might need to do most of the work on your own. Domestics, if you are fixed with CPG, then you are in good hands. If you want to diversify out of it, again you need to do your own work. Still, I'd say school definitely punches above its ranking in terms of base salary averages and ROI is one of the best in the whole country.
Overall BSchool experience (5.0)
Schools contribution (4.0)
Classmates rating (4.0)
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The University of Wisconsin's Full Time MBA Program is by far the best bang for your buck. The cost of tuition at Wisconsin is a fraction of what you would pay at any other top school and you will still receive a great experience. In particular, the Real Estate MBA program offers the best education and network for anyone trying to get themselves into the commercial real estate industry. I was able to transition from a corporate finance career into the commercial real estate industry with ease and one of the biggest reasons why I was able to do that was because of the history of the program and the large real estate alumni network. The current curriculum and faculty is going through some change as other schools are starting up real estate programs to compete with Wisconsin. However, nothing will beat Wisconsin's Real Estate Alumni Association and new applicants should heavily factor this into their decisions because overall business school rankings will not factor this in.
Overall BSchool experience (5.0)
Schools contribution (5.0)
Classmates rating (4.0)
Alumni Network
Specialization in a particular area (e.g. Finance, Consulting, Healthcare, etc)
Real Estate
Real Estate
Curriculum, Classes, Professors
Location
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The Wisconsin School of Business was good, but not great.
It is an an awesome town; vibrant, decent restaurants, lots of outdoor activities and young professionals. (You just have to deal with the cold, but that is obvious).
The program is a great size, with a class of 100 - all of your professors know who you are, you know all of your classmates, plus some in the year above and below. You have a lot of opportunity to lead in extra curriculars, and you don't have to "compete" too much to get interviews on campus. The specializations are great for people who know what they want to do. The program offers a lot of opportunities to network in specific industries: Brand, Market Research, and Real Estate. There is a lot of alumni presence and good companies come to recruit.
It met my needs (found a great job from a company that recruited on campus), it exceeded my goals/ expectations and it is a great deal financially! I have much less debt than my MBA coworkers
I would suggest the program to applicants who 1. Know exactly what they want to do when they graduate (especially Marketing or Real Estate) 2. Want a smaller program
Unfortunately, the curriculum needs a face lift. Many of the classes used the same material as undergrad classes, cases weren't always current, and only a few professors were rock stars.
One great thing about the curriculum are the Applied Learning classes.
Look at companies that hired previous students. If a company is on the site, go to WsoB! You won't have to fight to get the interview or compete against hundreds of others!
Overall BSchool experience (4.0)
Schools contribution (4.0)
Classmates rating (3.0)
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Value
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Here are four somewhat disjointed thoughts on WSB for potential applicants:
WSB's greatest strength may just be its willingness to try. There was a significant emphasis on improvement and experimentation with students provide feedback and admins making further adjustments for the next classes.
The school has capacity for about 120 students per class but has been operating around 100 for several years. They are under compromising on perceived quality/readiness, but, like any program, do misjudge from time to time. With only ~99 classmates, WSB is not a program in which on can simply hide and go along for the ride.
If you're thinking about applying, think carefully about how closely you align with WSB on values (pretty broad as a public university).
Our financial outcomes are masked somewhat by the geography of our placement. $100k has more buying power in Minneapolis or Chicago than $120k in Boston or NYC.
Very strong faculty for core courses, Operations Research, Marketing, Strategy, Accounting, Negotiation, and perhaps more.
Remember: small program = smaller number of strong recruiting relationships. Check our recruiting companies list for higher likelihood employers against your desired firm or industry.
Overall BSchool experience (5.0)
Schools contribution (5.0)
Classmates rating (4.0)
Curriculum, Classes, Professors
Career opportunities provided by school
Specialization in a particular area (e.g. Finance, Consulting, Healthcare, etc)
Financial Return
Finance
Marketing
Investment Banking
Management
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