We’ve been waiting on Kellogg for awhile. They’ve seemed somehow a little bit stalled out for a few years. Yet now we’re feeling hopeful that there are glimmers of new things happening there.
We heard about their recent Trust initiative: The Trust Project (this video library highlights the different angles they’re tackling this from). We haven’t seen a lot of emphasis around the Trust project coming from the school publicly (yet?) but when we stumbled across it on the Kellogg website, we were obviously interested. We’ll be on the lookout for whether this becomes more prominent in the school’s marketing.
You may also have heard that they’re Growth-Minded. This tagline was announced in 2014 as they pivoted away from the original “Think Bravely” line. Apparently they’re now putting more focus on this in the curriculum and have a dedicated Growth and Scaling Pathway (what other schools might call a “concentration” or an “area of study”). Here you get some video snippets from their recent Growth conference where successful alum talk about what they learned about “growth” at Kellogg (all they really emphasize is “collaboration” which is understandable, since all of them attended Kellogg in a different era, and we already know that whole “teamwork” thing has been a key branding element for this school for ages).
Both of these topics – “growth” and “trust” – are certainly unique aspects of the bschool landscape. There are no other schools that we have noticed tackling either niche, at least not in these terms.
Mostly we get “leadership” and “innovation” and maybe some “social enterprise” thrown in for good measure.
And oh yeah, “entrepreneurship.” Lots of “entrepreneurship.”
Obviously the “growth” element at Kellogg has a lot of overlap with entrepreneurship; here’s their Growth and Scaling Pathway from the entrepreneurship side specifically, through Kellogg’s Levy Institute. There’s a lot of obvious need for such resources for many students pursuing a family business, too. Definitely applicable to many parts of the current MBA student population.
These two angles are not necessarily the things that you’ll be able to sink your teeth into when determining if Kellogg is the right school for you. It’s unlikely that someone chooses a school based specifically on these types of elements; they’re a little bit minor (not insignificant, but not weighty enough, probably, to sway your bschool decision-making, unless perhaps you’re in the family business category in which case the Growth curriculum may be more compelling). However, we’re very interested to get any reports from the trenches, if anyone is currently at Kellogg, or has been accepted this season and has attended DAK (Day at Kellogg – admit student weekend), in terms of what you’re hearing the school emphasize to its students and recent admits. What themes are they emphasizing? What matters most – to Kellogg? Anyone who has any firsthand insights, please share in the comments!
It’s inescapable that Kellogg continues to attract very high-calber students – at least, when measured by GMAT score. The Kellogg brand name has significant weight, regardless of where (or not) the school is improving. It’s kinda what we’re seeing at Wharton; these two schools have, in our honest opinion, been kinda coasting. For awhile now. Wharton sadly seems to be continuing to do so.
Kellogg, we’re happy to report, is showing glimmers of life. We’re looking forward to being impressed by this school again. We welcome any comments or observations from you folks close to the action!
More thoughts on growth if you’re interested.
levieillard says
This is good news. Kellogg is one of the nicest school I met, and their executive program is near the top of the FT’s ranking. It would be terrific to see their MBA program pull ahead, too. The certainly have the potential.