Sloan School of Management

The Sloan School of Management is not just the "top school for high-tech business," as would be expected of a school run under the auspices of MIT. Sloan is also a top performer in finance, management, manufacturing operations, international business, entrepreneurship, and economics (brags one student, "Our economics department has to be the best in the world!"). In fact, students give Sloan top grades in all academic disciplines here except marketing.
Technology, of course, is the bread and butter of parent institution. MIT, and students on Sloan's information technology track benefit from the cutting-edge research being done within the university walls. So, too, do finance students, who have access to a $3.5 million trading floor that is virtually identical to the ones in the world's financial capitals. The trading floor not only allows students to gain practical trading experience, but also provides the data for MIT's pioneering research in financial engineering, a new field dedicated primarily to developing the tools with which to analyze the increasingly complex world markets. In manufacturing, the Leaders for Manufacturing program partners the b-school, the school of engineering, and thirteen corporations in a cooperative endeavor to develop new methods of manufacturing and manufacturing education.

Sloan's core requirements take up only a single semester's work, a system that yields mixed results. While students are pleased to get requirements out of the way quickly, they also suggest that the school "make the core courses wider, that is, make it a full year of required courses, not just one semester. The core currently does not require finance theory or marketing, but it should." Furthermore, under the current system "first semester is like boot camp at the Air Force Academy." Students note that the workload lightens appreciably after core courses are completed. They also have the opportunity to choose from more than 100 courses offered each semester.

In all areas at Sloan, "Teamwork is paramount, and group and academic projects reflect this philosophy." Students recognize that they are privileged to study with a "first-rate faculty, second to none." Writes one student, "We have classes with Nobel Prize winners and even get together with them at their places for a beer." They also report that "Administration and professors listen to student comments and complaints, and work to improve courses and overall course load. Professors will make changes mid-semester!'