Report: N.C. A&T Tops Harvard, Stanford in MBA Post-Graduation Employment

EAST GREENSBORO, N.C. (May 28, 2021) – North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University’s MBA program in Willie A. Deese College of Business and Economics is featured in a report about business schools and colleges with better employment rates than Harvard Business School and Stanford  Graduate School of Business.

The report in Poets & Quants, a publication focused on the graduate business education market, noted the success of North Carolina A&T’s MBA program in placing at least 90% of its graduates into jobs within three months of graduation in 2020. The report's analysis was based upon data drawn from U.S. News & World Report's 2022 Best Business Schools listings within its Graduate School Rankings.

Of the 19 MBA programs highlighted in a chart, A&T boasts 94% of its graduates employed both at graduation and three months after graduation, with an average starting salary and bonus of $77,857. No other North Carolina institutions or historically Black college or universities are included on the chart.

“Being featured in this report recognizes the tremendous work and excellence of our faculty, staff, students and alumni,” said Eric Gladney, Ph.D., Deese College associate dean and MBA director. “Prospective students who have been thinking about returning to graduate school to pursue an MBA will not only receive a cutting-edge curriculum here at the Deese College but they will also earn an MBA that pays off.  No matter what life our students carve out for themselves, our MBA is designed to propel them into the future with the transferrable skills and passion to excel in their chosen career.”

The Poets & Quants report comes on the heels of the Deese College’s ranking in U.S. News & World Report as the nation’s No. 1 graduate business school at a public HBCU and a top 100 full-time MBA program. College Consensus also rated A&T’s MBA program among the top 10 in the country for best value in 2021.

The Deese College offers N.C. A&T’s MBA program in one of four concentrations – accounting, human resource management, supply chain management and general MBA. The latter three also are offered through the university’s online MBA program.

Students in the MBA program participate in experiential methodologies that connect the classroom to the workplace and challenge students to solve real-life problems. Using a student- and business-mentored model, the program also brings corporate partners into each classroom to interact and connect with students in real, meaningful ways.

The Deese College graduate and undergraduate degrees are all accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) International. The business programs were first accredited in 1979, when A&T became the first university in the Piedmont-Triad area to earn the organization’s prestigious stamp of quality.

A&T continues to be one of only 189 business schools worldwide to have its entire business program AACSB accredited as well as separate AACSB accreditation for its accounting program.