| Wisconsin School of Business | |
|---|---|
| Established | 1900 |
| Type | Public |
| Dean | Joan Schmit |
| Undergraduates | 1,716 [1] |
| Postgraduates | 540 [1] |
| Location | Madison, Wisconsin, USA |
| Nickname | WSOB |
| Mascot | Bucky Badger |
| Website | bus.wisc.edu |
The Wisconsin School of Business is the business school of University of Wisconsin–Madison, located in Grainger Hall. Founded in 1900, it has more than 35,000 alumni. The undergraduate program prepares students for business careers, while its Master of Business Administration (MBA) program is based on focused career specializations. The school offers many student services, such as Undergraduate Advising Services, The Business Career Center, and International Programs.
Fourteen CEOs of S&P 500 companies hold undergraduate degrees from the University of Wisconsin, putting it in a tie with Harvard for first place.[2]
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In 2005 the Wisconsin School of Business Dean Michael Knetter began approaching alumni with the idea for the naming grant. He asked them to donate $5 million each in the interest of maintaining the school's name as the Wisconsin School of Business for the next 20 years. On October 27, 2007 the Wisconsin School of Business announced the receipt of an $85 million naming gift. A group of 13 alumni known as the "Wisconsin Naming Partnership" donated a minimum of $5 million each. Usually a school changes its name after receiving a large donation from a single donor or a small group. The agreement made with the Wisconsin Naming Partnership was that the business school would keep its name for the next 20 years, after which the school could change its name if it received another sufficient donation.
In the 2011 U.S. News & World Report rankings, the Wisconsin School of Business's undergraduate program was ranked 13th overall among business schools,[3] 7th among public institutions, and third among Big Ten business schools. Both the real estate and risk management programs retained their previous rankings as second and fourth in the nation, respectively. The school's marketing program was ranked ninth, with quantitative analysis, finance, accounting, and management programs all ranking in the top 20 nationally.[3] The school's MBA program was ranked 29th.[4] The Financial Times ranked Wisconsin's Executive Education programs 14th in the U.S. and 28th in the world. Business Week ranked the Wisconsin MBA 4th fastest in the U.S. for the return on investment.[4] In 2009, Business Week ranked the Wisconsin MBA finance specializations 26th in the nation.[5] "Aspen Institute" created a list of the top 100 business schools for environmental, social, and ethical management education called the Beyond Grey Pinstripes list, in which The Wisconsin MBA was ranked 17th worldwide and 15th in the U.S.[6]
The University of Wisconsin–Madison as a whole was ranked 35th in the U.S., seventh among public universities, and third among Big Ten schools. The rankings are based solely on the judgments of deans and senior faculty who responded to an invitation to nominate peer institutions on a scale of 1 (marginal) to 5 (distinguished). A total of 38 percent of those surveyed responded. Specialty areas were ranked based on the number of nominations received from respondents.[7]
The School of Business has traditionally been a junior-senior program. However, beginning in the fall semester of 2009, sophomores were also accepted into the program. The program is small, with approximately 1,300 students. The number of students the School of Business admits each semester varies with each admission period and is proportional to the number of students who graduated in the previous semester. The Fall 2010 semester had admission rates of 66.8% for students applying under the new Sophomore admission standards and 49.2% for students applying under the old Junior admission standards.[8]
The integrated master's of accountancy program (IMacc) has traditionally an admission rate of 90%. Application process does not involve GMAT test scores, which only needs to be submitted for formality after a student is offered admission.
The full-time Wisconsin MBA is designed around career specializations, instead of general academic majors, and many of the specializations are linked to a Center of Expertise. Applicants to the program apply for admission to these specializations in order to be admitted to the Wisconsin School of Business.
In 2011, a new tradition was launched by the BBA Student Government[9] Students, faculty, and staff were encouraged to wear their "I am Wisconsin School of Business" shirts on the first of every month. [10] The tradition has since been modified to wear t-shirts the first Tuesday of every month to ensure t-shirt days happen when students are on campus during the week. [11]
The UW-Madison Executive Education program offers over 70 open enrollment courses in a variety of business and financial topics. In 2009, Executive Education introduced the Professional Development Certificate and the Master Practitioner designation.
Wisconsin's Twist on the Name Game