A prospective student e-mailed me a list of questions about my experience in the MIT Sloan MBA program. It was clear he'd done his homework so it was my pleasure to answer them. Since I tend to get these questions all the time, I'm posting my responses here.
1. What have you benefited from most as being at Sloan? In your opinion,the program strong suits?
The program’s strong suits:
1) Entrepreneurial Ecosystem – I have friends at other schools where the business school is really siloed. At MIT, you are encouraged to interact, network and take classes outside of Sloan. I ended up running a program at the Media Lab, and starting an open source software foundation for developing world health care with engineers, computer scientists and medical doctors. I think this is a key part of innovation.
Whether you’re a social innovator, a business innovator or a double bottom liner like me, a lot of the most exciting opportunities are wrapped up in technology, or you need to pair up with a programmer. I think MIT really encourages this, and there are a huge number of events (100K, TechLink, D-Lab, NextLab, Public Service Center, etc) that encourage this.
2) Focus on Development – With the Legatum Center and specific courses in addition to the huge amount of technology innovation at MIT focused on the developing world, I genuinely feel MIT is one of, if not the best place to be to be doing developing work.
3) Action Learning - Action Learning Labs really do differentiate Sloan. Going to Tanzania, India, Philippines and Guangzhou in structured internships in teams of MBAs was the best part of my business school experience, and it doesn't seem I would have as many opportunities in other programs. There’s G-Lab, S-Lab, D-Lab, China Lab, India Lab, NextLab, MarketLab and about a billion treks. I didn’t go on too many treks because I was doing all the free travel! But the one trek I did go on was to meet Warren Buffett.
2. To date, what can you say about your experience at Sloan in terms of self growth?
I went in as someone who was focused on business goals, and came out as someone excited about the possibility of using business knowledge to make the world a better place by building sustainable business models.
3. What opportunities do you feel Sloan offers that other schools don’t?
The action learning is probably the biggest thing, along with the relative ease of interface. I like the one semester core. It leaves enough flexibility to explore as well. I came in pretty advanced in Econ, Stat and Finance so I wanted to pick and choose where I learned in those areas.
4. Do you feel the program is lacking anywhere/or something you wish was offered at the school?
While I was there, the building and facilities were horrible. But the new building opens soon at that should resolve it and then some.
Another thing I’d say is that some professors are better than others. There is always at least one professor who is really good in the subject (like ridiculously good) and then the others will disappoint in comparison. Rebecca Henderson (Strategy), Roberto Rigobon (Macro Econ), Howard Anderson (Entrepreneurship/Leadership) and John Sterman (System Dynamics) are superstars. So bidding for classes or timing the semester where you take System Dynamics or Macro makes a huge difference.
5. My research on the Entrepreneurship and Innovation (E&I) Track at Sloan seems to indicate a tech focus. Do you think it’s an appropriate track/fit for someone interested entrepreneurial start-up opportunities in non-profit/microfinance/consulting?
Yes. At the end of the day, you’ll be on the other side of the table from the entrepreneur so you need to understand the funding structure, whether the idea or technology you are funding is sustainable, etc. Make sure you take Entrepreneurial Finance with Antoinette Schoar.
6. Are there a fair amount of students interested in social enterprise centered business or do you find that students tend to show interest in another sector (finance/consulting) with shared focus on “triple bottom line” business practice?
It’s really all over the map. There are people who want to do what you want to do. There are environment people. There’s a ton of energy people. There are people who want to do sports. There are straight out cold-blooded finance and IT people. You want all of these people in your network.
7. One of the things that I like about Sloan is that the program seems very flexible and encourages students to pursue new interests. Is this accurate? I’m a career changer (just left the military) and am curious how my interest in social entrepreneurship will be perceived by the admissions committee and students alike? For example, I’d like to develop a background in finance and entrepreneurship to round out my ability – is this encouraged without previous experience? (No doubt this will be influenced by previous work experience and post-MBA plan)
That’s very accurate. I took a lot of classes outside of Sloan at MIT. You can take classes at Harvard, HST/MIT, Kennedy School, HSPH, Tufts Fletcher, etc. And your interests will change. It’s good to explore.
8. Have you had any involvement with the Sloan organizations below? If so, could you offer some feedback on the program (strengths, weaknesses, current initiatives, maybe a shift you’d like the program to take?)
• G-Lab
• S –Lab
• Net Impact
• Social Entrepreneurship for International Development (SEID)
G-Lab rocks overall. I took G-Lab GHD which was newer, and had a few kinks in the curriculum, but they’re ironing them out right now. I didn’t take S-Lab, but it has great professors (Rick Locke).
Net Impact and SEID are very active groups. I think the thing with them is that it’s easy to get caught up in your own projects. Once I got started with
Moca,
Upward Mobility and others, I didn't really have time for groups stuff.
