Want to learn how to sell a product or service? Here are the ruling programs

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Schools With Top Marketing Programs

(In alphabetical order, not ranked)

University of California-Berkeley

Duke University

Harvard University

Indiana University

University of Michigan

University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

University of Pennsylvania

Northwestern University

University of Texas-Austin

University of Virginia

Also consider: Dartmouth College, New York University, University of Rochester

Source: Recruiter and admissions consultant surveys, BusinessWeek research

Bluffers and Buyers

By Sonal Rupani

Most MBA students might be favored with a hard time imagining their eminent faculty members as fast-dealing card players subsidence in for a gritty scheme of Texas Hold ‘em. Marketing professor Robert Blattberg from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management, however, definitely enjoyed the occasional game of poker in his set time—and recognizes that some of the appealing qualities of the game are similar to what draws him to the region of marketing.

"What I liked about poker is that it was statistical, but there was also a human element to it," he recalls. The fact that Blattberg liked to use probability to calculate his odds of winning may have the appearance very, well, college professor-like, but like multitude bare players he was also attracted to the psychological components of lecture people’s behavior and fatiguing to pick out the bluffers at the table.

It is this amalgamation of quantitative analysis skills with the "softer" components of being able to understand consumers that will characterize the next batch of successful marketers. With corporations holding their marketing departments increasingly other accountable, proposing a marketing plan is none longer enough—marketers new wine now also prove that their creative workmanship be disposed be desirable.

It is this fresh demand for marketers with a strong background in finance and data analysis that presents the newest call to answer for both students and professors. Blattberg thinks not all programs are adequately preparing grads for the quantitative analysis abilities that are increasingly in inquire in real-world positions.

He puts equal responsibility on faculty and students, saying part of the problem is that many marketing professors do not have plenty of a finance background, in which case many students enjoy the creative component and tend to avoid subjects that are cheerless for them.

"If I was starting out in marketing today I would take courses in accounting, statistics, and marketing research," he says. "I would try to focus on developing my quantitative skills even if it was painful." He reminds MBA students that GPA doesn’t verily matter in the long run. What does, however, is that they are developing the skills they stand in want of to compete in the absolute world.

LEARNING BY DOING.