Furthering Your Career

Degrees

How to Apply

Our Typical Student

Furthering Your Career

The MS-MBA’s practical education philosophy causes almost immediate positive change in students, and graduates continue to cite their degrees as the reason for salary increases and promotions. Employers notice how this difference adds value to their companies, and reward students with promotions.

Want proof? 94 percent of the center’s graduates who work for John Deere have been promoted.

Students in our MS-MBA program are food and agricultural business firm managers or managers-to-be who want to earn a graduate degree as they continue working. They are on average, 29–35 years old and have a minimum of three years’ work experience in positions of increasing professional responsibility. Three core groups are represented in the program:

Agribusiness Managers

These individuals have management responsibilities in firms that provide inputs to production agriculture. This includes companies providing agronomic, animal nutrition, capital, and service inputs to the production agriculture sector, among others.

Food Firm Managers

These individuals have management responsibilities with food manufacturing and distribution firms. This includes individuals working at processing organizations, branded food manufacturers, and food retailers and distributors, to name a few.

Commercial Farmers, Growers, Ranchers

These individuals work for growing farms, ranches, or other agricultural production organizations who recognize the need to develop their business management expertise to be viable in a rapidly changing agricultural market.

I began sending out résumés and was surprised to find that my work history combined with the MS-MBA garnered so much attention from interested employers. Soon my phone began to ring off the hook with potential employers that were impressed with the graduate education I was getting and what a strong set of business tools that I could bring to their organizations.

Carli McKelvey

SENIOR INVENTORY ANALYST - CATERPILLAR LOGISTICS SERVICES, INC., MS-MBA CLASS OF 2009-2011

Companies Represented in the MS-MBA

MS-MBA students come from many different industries, countries and backgrounds. One of the strengths of this program is the breadth and depth of industry knowledge that is contributed by the students. When you take into consideration the average years of experience for the group (10-12) you can see why students gain not only from the professors, but also from each other.

MS-MBA graduates take great pride in this program, and most will be willing to share their experiences with you. If you have an interest in speaking with a graduate or current student, contact the program manager to arrange it.

The MS-MBA alumni represent more than 250 companies. Below is just the beginning of the list of companies that have sponsored MS-MBA students.