McDonough School of Business Impact Report Spring 2020

Dear Alumni and Friends,

I hope this letter finds you and your families safe and healthy. During these times of incredible concern about both our health and racial injustice, I am grateful for the strength of our Hoya community. Please accept my sincerest gratitude for your support of Georgetown McDonough’s MBA programs and students.

As the world continues to change, our commitment to preparing our students to lead across borders in uncertain times and be innovative in their approach to problem solving is more important than ever. Hopefully, you have seen that Bloomberg Businessweek recently listed the Georgetown McDonough MBA Program as #1 in the world for producing the most innovative and creative graduates, according to their survey of nearly 3,000 recruiters as part of their MBA rankings. Bloomberg also listed McDonough’s MBA #1 in the United States and #4 in the world for providing a diverse pool of candidates and #5 in the world for having graduates who show exceptional entrepreneurial skills and drive. All these are important qualities for those leading in today’s time of crisis.

Our MBAs, undeterred, have adapted to a virtual learning environment. In true Hoya fashion, they’ve also risen to address the impact of COVID-19 on their McDonough and D.C. communities. Unable to gather and volunteer at a local food bank, they instead launched a fundraising drive providing over 7,000 meals to the community. We came together virtually last month to honor this year’s graduates and their contributions as women and men for others. And we continue to host virtual panels available to students and alumni on diverse topics like sustainable investments, financial technology, and corporate responsibility in the time of coronavirus.

And, as our students continue to learn in a virtual environment over the summer, I am confident in the abilities of our world-class faculty and dedicated tech support staff to deliver the promise of a McDonough education. I continue to be proud of the agility with which our programs have transitioned online and the steadfast quality of services provided by our program office and career center.

Thank you for your generosity and support as we build upon the excellence of a Georgetown MBA and continue to educate the best in the world, and the best for the world. We are deeply grateful.

Sincerely,

Prashant Malaviya
Senior Associate Dean of MBA Programs

Recruiters Rate Georgetown MBAs the Most Innovative and Creative in the World

U.S. News Ranks Georgetown MBA Top-5 for International Business, Nonprofit Careers

Professors Agrawal and Jose Named to Poets & Quants 40 Under 40 List

Georgetown MBA Launches STEM-Designated Management Science Major

With Gratitude

Growing up outside Memphis, Tenn., I always thought I would become a brain surgeon. However, while studying neuroscience at Vanderbilt University, my interests started shifting towards the liberal arts and business. After graduating in 2013, I worked for a few years at a public technology company focused on nonprofits and education in a client-facing role and, later, leading strategic initiatives internally like international operations and expansion. It was in this role that I first began interacting with the C-suite and experiencing how strategy was created, implemented, and measured. My mentor and manager at the time began recommending an MBA, and I started thinking about returning to school and bolstering my skillsets.

When my husband and I decided to relocate to D.C. a couple of years ago, the Georgetown MBA program was already on my mind. I wanted a school that would push me intellectually, create a sense of community, and provide great career outcomes. I didn’t take the decision lightly—I had to feel certain that I would graduate with a career that would put me ahead of where I already was in my career and make my commitment worth it.

I have not been disappointed. Academically, the McDonough MBA has pushed me farther than I expected I would be pushed. The case interview preparation organized through the Consulting Club has helped me hone my thinking and problem-solving in ways I didn’t know I could. My classmates have become my best friends, and I’ve received multiple summer internship offers across a range of consulting and technology companies and am confident in my career prospects. McDonough has opened doors for me.

Growing up with limited financial resources, I was extremely honored to receive the MBA Alumni Advisory Council Scholarship award. It reduced the amount of focus I needed to put on financial planning and helped me focus more on getting the most out of McDonough. As VP of Admissions for Georgetown Women in Business, one of the key strategic initiatives I’m involved with at Georgetown is to achieve gender parity in student enrollment. So many prospective women are still hesitant to come to business school due to financial limitations, and I am grateful that alumni support helped make coming to Georgetown the easy choice for me.

Kirby Horvitz (MBA’21)