Kellogg School of Management

The Kellogg Graduate School of Management offers an "innovative generalist's approach" to business education. It is an approach that appeals to the 1,200+ full-timers at Northwestern's b-school. "Kellogg is great in every respect - it's the balance that makes it special," explained one satisfied student. Kellogg offers students a Master's of Management (MM) rather than an MBA, explaining that the MM degree serves as a better umbrella for its many areas of professional specialization, which include health services, public and nonprofit, transportation and real estate as well as traditional management disciplines.
Kellogg students have several scheduling options. A traditional two-year program is available, but so are two accelerated options (one takes one year to complete, the other takes one-and-a-half years). Kellogg's quarterly academic schedule affords students increased flexibility but also eliminates any hope of slack time; the quarters just fly by too quickly for that. First year at Kellogg consists of nine required courses and three electives. Students may place out of some core requirements - in fact, about one-half of the students in the accelerated programs do - but must replace each with an advanced course in the same field. Once students have completed core requirements, their options are numerous (one of the fringe benefits of attending a large school). Electives are available in six academic departments: Accounting and Information Systems; Finance; Management and Strategy; Managerial Economics and Decision Sciences; Marketing; and Organization Behavior. International Business and Entrepreneurship are also potions, available through interdisciplinary study. Writes one student, "Kellogg really offers a program' 'a la carte." This, combined with the availability of the faculty allows the school to meet all kinds of expectations." Our survey shows that "overall, professors are very good. Teaching quality ranges from excellent to good, and teachers are surprisingly engaged in your learning process. It's very personal." However, the survey also confirms that "it is sometimes very tough to get the best professors."

Kellogg has a strong reputation as a marketing school, although more students enroll for classes in finance (another power subject) than in any other department. The program has many other strong suits, notably: transportation management, real estate management, public and nonprofit management, and manufacturing. Tons of international business course, a global focus in the core, and nine foreign study programs in Europe and Thailand make Kellogg a player in international business study as well. Students speak highly of the Master in Manufacturing Program (MMM), designed primarily for engineers who are in manufacturing/operations. Reports one, "The MMM program is positioning itself as a leading national operations/manufacturing program and is recognized among leading companies as a feeder to management training programs. Professors teaching the core courses are excellent."