An MBA at the Harvard School of Business is a two-year intensive program. The MBA curriculum at Harvard is a combination of required and elective classes, ranging from basic analytical skills to leadership and organizational behavior in finance. At the end of a two-year MBA finance program at Harvard, the diligent student will have mastered the analytical and mathematical aspects of finance while simultaneously gaining leadership skills and an understanding of the behavioral aspects of running a business. Beyond the MBA, a student can choose to continue into a third and fourth year with a special area of focus, such as marketing, international business or real estate.
Columbia Business School in New York City boasts a flexible curriculum within what is often seen as a static or boring field of study. Columbia recognizes a rapidly changing business world and believes its students should have access to classes that change accordingly with real world events. During your MBA at Columbia, you are expected to apply what you learn to projects and internships. Columbia Business School recently launched a program called CaseWorks in which students take advantage of the experience and field work of their professors. Students are expected to analyze and debate finance and business decisions their professors have made in their fields.
An MBA in business at Chicago can be as flexible or as rigid as you would like it to be. While many students choose an area of concentration, others choose three or four to achieve a more general understanding of business. Regardless of concentration, the MBA in business at Chicago takes approximately 21 months with three or four courses per semester. Students at Chicago can choose to concentrate in accounting, analytic finance, analytic management, economics, entrepreneurship, human resource management and international business among others.
The Tuck School of Business was ranked fourth in Forbes magazine. Tuck boasts an impressive faculty of pioneering finance researchers who also teach full-time, a claim that few colleges can make presently with the drop in teacher salaries. Just under 50 full-time faculty members specialize in an area of business, such as finance, marketing or strategy and management, overseeing the curriculum for their areas. Whether you specialize in finance or another field of business, Tuck grants only one type of degree, a Master of Business Administration. This school is in a rural setting, suitable for students who prefer quiet isolation during the semester.