Babson College Rankings by Salary Score™

Babson College is a great place and has a great MBA program, but as many people said, it's specific enough and may leave you unsatisfied if you're coming with wrong expectations. I'll do the pros/cons thing, which is, certainly, highly subjective. A byline for international students to follow in the end. Pros: - Beautiful suburban campus. Might feel detached from the outside world at first, but walking around beautifully appointed grounds is a huge relief, given the intensity of the learning process - They... Read More DO take you out of comfort zone, from day one. Group placements, ambiguous tasks, unpredictable dynamics of groupwork and classwork. Crazy pace. It's a full-time, 100immersion, especially in the first semester. And it's GOOD! - Focus on entrepreneurship. It doesn't mean they expect you to build a startup by the end of the first month (although the first half-semester project is essentially startup prototyping), it's more about the mindset Babson actively promotes. Push boundaries, fail fast, 'neither failure, nor success is final', etc. That's pretty cool! - Many will disagree, but career services. It's all about relationship. They won't find you jobs right away. But if you build the right relationship with your advisor (don't lock yourself to the one who is assigned to you based on industry preference - explore others) you have a priceless career coaching experience. Cons: - Cost. Yes, the program is expensive, about 110K. They do give out scholarships, but the process is very selective. It's not need-based. They do give out scholarships to students who align with their value prop, usually those who are already entrepreneurs, have aspiring business ideas, or belong to protected minority groups. Add more costs for coursepacks, software, and textbooks. But you won't usually need the textbooks. - Peers. The people makeup is very specific. Given the high international component, students tend to form diasporas. This is also true for domestic students. It was hard to make genuine connections, although there were some great individuals at the program. Seems like that at least 50of people got their MBAs for the matter of family business prestige, and many others just won scholarships and took a break to reconsider their lives. Little to no corporate-minded crowd. - Group work. I met a few people who gave up Babson because of group dynamics. First semester puts people of different backgrounds into mini-groups. There's no individual homework. There's no individual time. After the classes are over, and it's about 12:30 pm, you're bound with your group, and it's usually up until 8 pm. or until midnight. The efficiency of group work is very low. Hours are wasted to find common language. I heard of physical conflicts - never experienced it myself though... - Value? This is the biggest con. I can clearly say only good things about the BCAP - capstone consulting project, and Marketing Analytics course by prof. Abdul Ali (passed away in late 2018). Other than that - not so much. Yes, I've got a job. Career services were very helpful. But, just as all other job-searching students, I got my job because of my previous experience and qualifications. Babson brand is an icing on the cake, but the cake itself is what I did before Babson. I don't know people for whom Babson was a career changer. I also know a lot of brilliant people who are still jobless. Finally. For international students: Please, seriously reconsider coming to the US for a degree. The immigration climate leaves a lot to be desired. The OPT work authorizations are universally delayed ( taking up to 5 months or more instead of 3). H1B visa success rate is very low, and rejection rate for those who passed the lottery increased to 30 Most of the visas are annually taken by outsourcing companies. And something nobody will tell you - usually, companies don't sponsor H1B visas for non-tech professions. Check the official USCIS stats. If you're in marketing, sales, project management, and you're international, your chances to get the offer and then get sponsored are very low. Some companies to openly sponsor, but only in tech occupations. There are always exceptions, but the risk level is high. Consider countries that have a pipeline to retain international talent.

The Babson MBA program is a wonderful place to come to if you already have a very good sense of what you want to do but not for serious career changers. Lacking in students of color and/or LGBT students. In terms of career services, the office is helpful but the graduate school does not have much clout with employers. In the 1 year MBA program core, some professors are terrible but others are wonderful- it could well be that good professors dont work during the summer. During the normal course of the semester,... Read More the classes are fun and relaxed. Nothing too heavy duty!