Buddhist Marketer

Budding Entrepreneurs Go Back To School

Three clarifications of an article in which I was recently quoted

As some of you may know, currently I am the director of marketing for GradSchools.com, the best directory of graduate programs on the planet.  As part of these duties, I was recently interviewed by Amy Byrnes of Business News Daily for an article, “Budding Entrepreneurs Go Back to School.”  Of course, journalism’s a tough gig, and the rapidity of my speech on occasion approaches hog auctioneer status.  So it’s no surprise that there are a few clarifications I’d like to offer up:

“We see two sets of people with a renewed interest in grad school: The unemployed and the underemployed,” said Anittah Patrick of Gradschools.com. In the past two years the site has seen a general uptick in traffic from those interested in going back to school, Patrick said.

Education, urban planning and pharmacology are among the most researched programs on the web site.

1.  The “unemployed and the underemployed” actually comprised, together, of one subset of graduate degree seeker that I discussed.  And it’s this subset that’s grown as a share of our audience composition, joining our perennial ranks of college upperclassmen, “business as usual” career changers, and traditional “it’s time to go to graduate school” prospective students who are researching graduate programs (and would have independent the economy).

2.  Perennial field of study favorites include Education & Teaching master’s and doctoral programs along with Business & MBA.  However, graduate programs for which there is a delta between “student interest” and “graduate program availability” include:

• Physician assistant graduate programs
• Social work MSW programs
• Speech pathology graduate programs
• PharmD programs
• Urban planning graduate programs

These are the subject areas for which enterprising graduate school deans may want to consider developing graduate programs if none yet exist at their university: the market wants these programs, but there aren’t enough programs out there to satisfy prospective graduate student interest.  As it relates specifically to urban planning:

The downside, however, is a dearth of programs to meet the demands of those interested in this specialty.

“Academia has been slow to respond to the market,” Patrick said. As an alternative, prospective students should also consider landscape architecture as well as urban affairs and planning graduate programs that are similar in nature and also earmarked for expansion in the next five years.

For what it’s worth, I also suggested forestry and environmental studies programs.  What can I say; I’m a Yalie!

One final clarification:

Increasingly, business schools are offering more specialized degrees to increase admissions. Technology and leadership MBA’s are drawing the most interest, according to Patrick.

3.  Actually, the specialized MBA programs that are recruiting the hardest are the Technology MBAs and the Leadership MBAs.  So if you’re thinking about an MBA and are being strategic about your chances for getting in, you may want to investigate these programs.

However, the MBA programs for which there is the most prospective b-school student interest include:

1. Online or hybrid MBA programs
2. Sports management MBAs
3. JD - MBA dual degree programs
4. Health care MBAs
5. Non-profit administration MBAs

If you’re the dean of a business school and you don’t have a program that specializes in these kinds of interests (or don’t actively market them) you may want to consider your strategies for taking advantage of increased demand in these areas.

And, that’s a wrap!  Thanks to Ms. Byrnes for on the whole capturing all the pertinent info correctly.

You can read “Budding Entrepreneurs Go Back to School” in its entirety by clicking here.

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