What’s The Value Of A STEM-Designated MBA In The Modern Workplace?

People cite a wide variety of reasons for enrolling in MBA programs. Embracing a new challenge, enhancing knowledge, and improving career prospects are just some of the key motivations for students currently navigating the business school journey. 

But tying all of this together are the knowledge and skills that MBAs develop during the various sessions that take place both inside and outside the classroom. 

It’s this combination that makes MBA students so desirable to employers—more than 90% of top global corporate recruiters said they had plans to hire from MBA cohorts in 2023. 

It’s also this combination that helps students grow both personally and professionally throughout their studies. Meaning, that by the time it comes to graduation, MBA students are ready to enter the corporate environment with the confidence to manage cross-functional teams and tackle cross-industry problems. 

But within an increasingly uncertain environment, more than ever employers are placing emphasis on skills-based hiring, looking for applicants who can show they’re ready to make an instant impact upon entering the workplace. 

Enrolling in an MBA program that emphasizes technical expertise, alongside broad management and business fundamentals, can therefore provide a strong platform for career success. 

The STEM-Designated MBA: An overview 

The MBA is a generalist degree, teaching across an array of core business areas including marketing, finance, human resources, accounting, and strategy. 

Those MBA programs that are awarded STEM-designation bolster their teaching with a focus on technical skills—STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and math. 

For example, the MBA program at American University’s Kogod School of Business emphasizes cutting-edge areas such as big data and business analytics within the curriculum. Students on the program learn how to master analytical tools and develop an understanding of how highly technical expertise can be used to inform business decisions. 

When Kensey Johnson enrolled in the Kogod Full-time MBA in 2020, she found the program’s unique focus on hard skills a particular draw when considering where to study. She says that she loved having professors with real-life, interesting data and analytics backgrounds, such as one who worked in central intelligence for the CIA.

Evidencing how well this technical skills-based education is regarded: the United States offers all international students who study a STEM-designated degree in the US the opportunity to apply for a 24-month extension to their Optional Practical Training period after graduation. 

This ensures that graduating international students can stay and work in the US for a possible three years, with the government valuing the boost that their knowledge of subjects such as data, technology, and analytics can bring to the workforce. 

How a STEM MBA can prepare you for the modern workplace 

Whether it’s economic challenges, geopolitical tensions, or rapidly occurring technological evolutions, today’s employers are increasingly having to navigate a wave of uncertainty. 

Recruiters are therefore keen to hire professionals who have skills that are relevant in the modern workplace. Technical expertise in areas such as big data, artificial intelligence, or data science can help new recruits hit the ground running from their first day. 

Moving forward, many of the skills that corporate recruiters identify as being the most important over the next five years are technical in nature, such as data analysis and interpretation, and technology, software, and programming. 

For Kensey, possessing an array of technical skills as well as a holistic understanding of business was a differentiator when it came to job hunting as she approached the end of her MBA in 2022. 

Shortly after graduating Valedictorian from her class, she joined Amazon in a marketing role, working on audience strategy across the company’s video and music streaming services. 

Today, almost two years into the role, she feels the STEM nature of her degree has been invaluable in her development within the company so far. Because of the data modelling and predictive analytics skills she gained with her STEM MBA from Kogod, Kensey says she can act as a liaison between the marketing and data science teams.

Your career prospects after a STEM MBA

Kensey, like many STEM graduates, has been able to make use of the demand that employers have for hard, technical skills. In the US, the number of STEM jobs are expected to rise by 15% between 2021 and 2031. 

At Kogod, the program’s STEM-designation prepares students to make the most of their opportunities after graduation—in total, 94% of graduates land jobs within six months. 

The school's location helps. Washington D.C. ranks among the top five US cities when it comes to growth of STEM jobs, meaning many of these grads land jobs in the local area, including in public sector roles with the like of the Treasury Department hiring from the cohort. 

Significant numbers of students also find opportunities further afield with recruiting companies across various industries. Recent employers include Raytheon, Deloitte Consulting, Booz Allen Hamilton, AstraZeneca, and Capital One. 

When it comes to the question of what value a STEM-designated MBA can provide in your career, it’s therefore clear that graduating from a STEM degree can improve your prospects. 

Though, of course, it’s important to remember that, with the addition of rigorously learned knowledge and skills to the already challenging MBA curriculum, unlocking these benefits will require hard work.