Online MBA programs offer students unparalleled freedom to travel and work anywhere while pursuing their degrees. That's why many move to prominent financial centers that offer long-term career stability.
Top-Five Promising Locations for Business School Grads
by Gabby Hyman
People with MBA degrees are going places. They're certainly going where the jobs are. And the unsung advantage of pursuing an online MBA degree is that these accelerated, self-paced programs allow students to locate themselves in the top-five most-promising cities for business school grads without having to travel to campus.
In this digital age, business practices have gone global, while financial centers continue to coalesce around historically energetic metropolitan areas that serve as consulting, governmental, and marketing hubs.
Here's where the shakers have moved:
New York City
The Big Apple, home to America's major stock markets, international trading centers, and financial corporate headquarters, is currently under management by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a self-made multimillionaire who received his MBA from the Harvard Business School.
New York, with its estimated $952.6 billion gross national product, remains the hub of international commerce and is host to the world headquarters of nearly 50 of the Fortune 500 companies. The New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ are the top two largest stock trading institutions in the world.
The city is an MBA degree holder's paradise, host to established and pioneering giants in print and broadcast media, online advertising, fashion, biochemistry, manufacturing, and real estate. Nearly ten percent of all private sector jobs in the city economy are with foreign companies.
Silicon Valley
The dot-com boom and bust, regeneration, fresh investment, and renewal have conspired to make Silicon Valley a prime choice for work while pursuing your online MBA degree. When one tree falls on the Peninsula, ten start-ups rise to take its place.
For anyone in an online business degree program, the Valley offers unparalleled access to mentors and lifelong contacts in venture capital, best business practices, and digital entrepreneurship. Original Valley economic foundations in aerospace (NASA), electrical engineering, and semiconductor business have outlived the downturn and are in high rebound for newly minted MBAs seeking careers. Look for work with financial titans like Stanford University, Hewlett Packard, Xerox, Intuit, Sun Microsystems, Oracle, Symantec, Cisco Systems, and Apple.
Boston
There's nothing like old money combined with a digital-age spin that works so well as it does in Boston, home to one of the hottest employers of MBA degree-wielding experts. The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) was ranked first in smaller companies by Fortune Magazine's 2007 survey of "100 Best US Companies to Work For." BCG has offices in 38 countries.
For new MBA holders, the Boston area is host to a wealth of front-running biotechnology firms, top insurance companies, and mutual funds services, sparked by the success of Fidelity Investments. The city is second only to New York in publishing, with corporate giants Houghton Mifflin, and Little, Brown and Company operating from the city center.
Chicago
America's "Second City" doesn't like playing second fiddle to anyone. Chicago-based MBA holders enjoy working in a city with a $442 billion gross national product, the third highest in the nation. Headquarters to the Seventh District of the Federal Reserve, Chicago spreads its big financial shoulders to host the nation's greatest futures exchanges, the Chicago Stock Exchange, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the Chicago Board of Trade, and the Chicago Board Options Exchange. It placed fourth in the 2007 MasterCard Worldwide Centers of Commerce survey.
Historic home to global giants like Sears and Armour, Chicago scored a remarkable coup in landing the corporate headquarters for The Boeing Company (originally located in Seattle). The city is home to the headquarters of eleven Fortune 500 companies.
Hong Kong
Hong Kong beat out Chicago for third spot on the MasterCard Worldwide Centers of Commerce survey. No wonder graduates of online MBA degree programs are heading East. MBA grads are finding opportunity for rapid advancement in Asia, particularly in the exponential growth in China's energy management sector.
The services sector has outstripped Hong Kong's traditional manufacturing economy. The city's gross domestic product has been estimated at levels exceeding European stalwart Switzerland and Asian titan Japan. Hong Kong is the 11th largest global trading economy, host to the second-largest Asian stock market, and sixth largest among the world's trade markets.
Washington DC
After George W. Bush -- the first MBA graduate to be elected President -- took office, Washington, DC officially discovered the talents of graduate business students. According to the Princeton Review, government agency recruiters from the FBI, Treasury, Commerce, Labor, and other departments continue the practice of seeking business school grads to fill open posts.
The District is also home to the World Bank, which is why MBA students interested in finance consider living along the Potomac.
Sources
Boston Consulting Group
Fortune Magazine
Hong Kong
Keeping the Economy Growing
MasterCard
MBAs Target Asia
Princeton Review
About the Author
Gabby Hyman has created online strategies and written content for Fortune 500 companies including eToys, GoTo.com, Siebel Systems, Microsoft Encarta, Avaya, and Nissan UK.