Iowa State’s MBA program is ranked second on the “Overperfomers” list from Poets & Quants. Overperformers are schools with good programs not recognized for their success in the Master of Business Administration Program.

The MBA program is ranked second on this list because it does not have a strong perception and is not as established as some of the east and west coast MBA programs that have been around a while said Qing Hu, associate dean for graduate programs and research.

“The thing is that Iowa State’s MBA program hasn’t been around long. We have only been around since 1984. In some ways a lot of people across the country … are not familiar with our program,” said Ron Ackerman, director of graduate admissions and student services.      

While Iowa State’s MBA program is not recognized for its strength, it and the undergraduate programs are top notch programs, Hu said. The test results for the MBA placement exam has been in the 96-98 percentile for years. It was also ranked as a top ten MBA program in the country by US World News and Reports.

“ISU has a very good MBA program. We are good in terms of faculty. We are very good because of our services to our students, and we are strong in terms of placement,” Hu said.

There are many factors to the success of the program, Hu said. The most important is a strong faculty that is dedicated to the education of the students.

“Their dedication to teaching and great research, we have a very strong faculty that is always working very hard to serve our students,” Hu said.

Hu said the program is not recognized throughout the country, so they are working to have people to see the success. They are going to start marketing campaigns and joining social media to get attention to the MBA program.

Iowa State has a team-based program. When students begin the program, they put each one into a team, Ackerman said. Students will stay with the same team as they progress throughout the three semesters of core classes.

The program consists of 10 required core classes and six elective classes. During those classes the students build team skills. Ackerman said it is important to have well-developed team skills when a student graduates.

Ackerman loves his career and working with the graduate business students. He said he loves seeing them grow and develop personally and professionally while here at Iowa State.

“I have been working in the graduate area with MBA students since 1992. I got my master’s degree here at Iowa State in business and then worked in the dean’s office in the 1980s. What can I say, I’ve been at Iowa State forever working with students,” Ackerman said.