Update: This article was originally posted on April 3, 2019. It has been updated with new information and tips below.
Though business school is traditionally thought of as a place where students learn to maximize shareholder results and help companies become more profitable, they are increasingly places where young professionals prepare themselves to engage in more purpose-driven careers that allow them to do good and do well.
One of the greatest advantages you can give yourself when it comes to breaking into social impact is to attend an MBA program. Designed to help career switchers and prestige seekers alike land their dream jobs, an MBA is a powerful tool you can leverage to reach the next level of career impact.
However, if you’re focused on working in social impact, not all MBA programs are created equal. Though many MBAs offer a few social impact electives, certain programs have a much stronger track record when it comes to earning their graduates the most coveted social impact jobs.
That’s why we’ve put together this list of the best MBAs for social impact, as well as our best tips and tricks to ensure your dream of working in this field becomes a reality.
Why attend an MBA to work with social impact?
Though MBAs are designed to include courses on numerous business-related topics ranging from leadership to innovation, the fact is that certain programs are known for their strengths in certain areas.
For example, MIT Sloan’s long track record of excellence in operations consistently attracts many of our candidates who seek careers in this field. More interested in entrepreneurship? Stanford GSB might be just the program for you.
However, young professionals are increasingly seeking more purpose-driven careers, and the demand for social impact-focused MBAs has similarly risen.
This is because ESG and corporate responsibility are becoming not just topics of interest for more and more students but central to business. This is because people are increasingly starting to question who businesses really serve and the accountability that they must take to fix many of the problems that they have caused in the past decades.
Even if you are not currently specialized in social impact, it is entirely possible for you to change your career focus. According to GMAC, 43% of enrolled MBA students use the program to switch careers, and 89% of graduates who wanted to switch careers state they were satisfied with their investment in the MBA to do so.
That’s because MBA programs offer you a combination of specialized curriculum, outstanding faculty, unparalleled alumni networks to help you make the connections that will open doors for your career, and, importantly, the support of a dedicated career services department whose key objective is landing you a job.
Though there are many programs that offer social impact-focused specializations, the programs below are the best of the best.
The Top MBAs for Social Impact
There are multiple lists that detail the best social impact MBAs, all of which use different metrics. Some focus heavily on sustainability, others on the amount of social impact research a particular university undertakes.
As such, the following is an unranked list of MBA programs with strong track records in social impact. Since there are multiple types of social impact you may consider when planning out your future career goals, make sure to deep dive into programs you find interesting to ensure the curriculum is aligned with your needs.
Berkeley Haas
Source: @berkeleyhaas on Instagram
Berkeley Haas is committed to preparing students to generate greater social impact in their communities. This is demonstrated by the program’s many courses and opportunities focused on social impact, such as “Social Investing,” Berkeley Board Fellows, and the Net Impact Club.
According to the executive director of Haas’ Center for Responsible Business, Robert Strand, “We live and breathe social impact at Berkeley. Berkeley-Haas is a pioneer innovating social impact solutions, from our longstanding Global Social Venture Competition (GSVC) to our expansive curricular opportunities, which include our Social Lean Launchpad course and our hosting of the annual Patagonia Case Competition.”
Oxford Said Business School
Source: @oxfordsbs on Instagram
Oxford Said’s community has a reputation for having many students from the social impact sector, and, thus, is a great place to meet other outstanding individuals invested in creating positive change.
The school also offers many opportunities to specialize in social impact, such as the practice-focused Impact Lab, Skoll Center for Social Entrepreneurship, and dedicated social impact industry support staff.
Chicago Booth
Photo courtesy of @chicagobooth on Instagram
With its Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation, Chicago Booth is a hub for social impact. The Center’s numerous initiatives seek to “increase our community’s odds of solving complex social and environmental problems.”
Outside of the Center, Booth also offers courses like the Chicago Booth Global Social Impact Practicum, which allows MBA students to consult on real social impact projects in emerging markets. Clubs like Booth Social Impact give students the opportunity to network with other social-impact-minded individuals and work together on local projects and gather resources for maximizing future impact.
MIT Sloan
Source: @mitsloan on Instagram
With a dedicated Social Impact Fellowship and a Sustainability Initiative, social impact is ingrained in the MIT Sloan culture. This, combined with the school’s focus on practicality, make MIT Sloan grads some of the best prepared for careers in social impact.
xAccording to Jason Jay, director of MIT Sloan’s Sustainability Initiative, “every student who comes to MIT Sloan gets some exposure to thinking about the big social and environmental issues, 80% of them take at least one elective in sustainability, and more than 1/3 of MIT Sloan students take three or more electives in sustainability.”
As such, if social impact is your main focus, you may want to include MIT Sloan on your list of target MBA programs.
INSEAD
Source: @inseadalumni on Instagram
As one of the best and most innovative business schools in the world, INSEAD prides itself on being at the forefront of the most important changes in business. This is why the school places immense value on knowledge and practice that promote positive social and environmental change.
With a number of courses, initiatives, clubs, and events that focus on social impact, INSEAD students have many different options to choose from when integrating social impact into their MBA experience and careers. For example, the Social Entrepreneurship Program allows you to develop your leadership skills, understand your past impact, and develop social impact-related tools through real-life cases alongside your peers. And within the MBA, electives such as “Income Inequality & the Future of Business” and “Ethical Decision-making in Business” give both knowledge and skills on current problems in business and how to lead positive change.
Northwestern Kellogg
Source: @kelloggschool on Instagram
“Kellogg’s approach to teaching and preparing students to lead with impact is centered around robust and cutting-edge coursework and teaching from faculty who are leaders in the space; an experiential perspective including lab courses, trips, projects, student clubs and activities, speakers and competitions; and unparalleled career development paired with a supportive alumni network,” said Megan Kashner, Director of Social Impact at Kellogg.
In offering a dedicated Social Impact Pathway, Kellogg provides robust support for students planning to enter the world of social impact. In addition to numerous labs and other experiential learning opportunities, Kellogg also offers numerous social impact clubs.
According to the school, “Kellogg graduates in recent years have gone on to work for impact consulting firms, in social start-ups, international development, impact investing, nonprofit leadership, educational innovation, corporate sustainability and more.”
As such, it should be little surprise that Kellogg also recently launched a pathway specifically focused on energy and sustainability. With a wide range of courses focused on positive change at the intersection of business and multiple industries and sectors, such as “Education Consulting Lab” and “Public Economics for Business Leaders: Federal Policy,” students are likely to find ways to develop in their areas of focus.
Stanford GSB
Source: @stanfordgsb on Instagram
According to Bernadette Clavier, the Director of Stanford’s Center for Social Innovation, “As millennials take business schools by storm, it is important for us to prepare future business leaders to take an active role in society and to design socially innovative solutions that change the world.”
Long one of the top schools for social impact, Stanford GSB offers numerous opportunities to pursue an interest in social impact, including numerous social innovation electives, a Certificate in Public Management and Social Innovation within the MBA, and numerous social impact-focused courses.
Yale SOM
Source: @yalesom on Instagram
Since its founding, Yale SOM has had a single mission: educating leaders for business and society. Though Yale does offer all the advantages of a traditional, top-ranked MBA program, social impact has always been part of the school’s DNA.
First, SOM offers a unique dual degree program, the MBA/Masters of Environmental Management that allows students to focus on themes related to social and environmental impact.
For those pursuing non-environmental social impact careers, SOM offers more than 50 electives on social impact courses, such as the Global Social Entrepreneurship course. In this class, students spend one semester working as consultants for a social enterprise in a foreign country. SOM also offers its students the chance to take courses at any school on the Yale campus.
Outside of the classroom, Yale offers a number of interesting hands-on courses that allow you to really get a feel for what your career in social impact will be like post-MBA. One of the most popular offerings is the Social Impact Lab, a weekly lunch in which students and industry professionals discuss challenges and opportunities in the social impact space. The school also offers clubs like Net Impact, the Business and the Environment Club, and the Global Social Enterprise Club to ensure you have the network and skills you need to pursue your dream job.
The University of Pennsylvania Wharton
Source: @whartonschool on Instagram
Though many applicants often think Wharton is only good at finance, this couldn’t be further from the truth. The school offers a wide range of resources for young professionals looking to build careers in the social impact space. First, Wharton offers two impact-oriented majors, “Environmental, Social and Governance Factors for Business” (ESGB) and “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” (DEI). Through these majors, students can drill down into their specific areas of focus within the social impact world through highly specialized courses with world-class faculty.
Additionally, Wharton’s Social Impact Initiative aggregates a wealth of opportunities that all social impact-oriented students can take advantage of. Some of their most notable programs include Turner MIINT, which focuses on impact investing, and the Turner Environmental, Social and Governmental Fellows program, which prepares students for leadership roles in ESG.
Finally, through the John M. Bendheim Loan Forgiveness Fund, students who go to work in the social impact field can receive up to $20,000 per year to help pay back any student loans.
NYU Stern
Source: @nyustern on Instagram
NYU Stern often tops the list when it comes to social impact-focused MBAs given the school’s Social Enterprise Area of Interest (similar to a major). With courses like “International Social Impact Strategies” and “Examining the Nonprofit Capital Market,” the specialization caters to a wide range of career interests within the social impact sphere.
Additionally, Stern offers students a wide range of experiential learning opportunities. Stern Signature Projects, for example, pairs students with research centers and global companies to pursue independent studies on some of the most complex social issues of today. If investing is more your speed, Stern offers the NYU Impact Investing Fund, through which students gain gain real-world experience investing in social enterprises in the NYC area. Finally, through the NYU Stern Board Fellows Program, students get the chance to act as real board members of local non-profits.
Get into a top social impact MBA
During the MBA application process, you will need to make thousands of decisions that will impact your life for decades to come.
One of the most important decisions is where you choose to apply. If you’re interested specifically in top social impact MBAs, you’ll have even tougher decisions to make.
Though you may be tempted just to work your way down the rankings, having a trusted ally who can use their deep knowledge of your profile and what different business schools offer can be the difference between loving your MBA program and wishing you’d done everything differently.
Many of our clients come to us with a general idea of what they want to do with their careers after they complete an MBA but lack specifics. Our career coaches step in at this point to help you define what you want out of your career, create concrete short-term and long-term goals to make sure your transition to social impact is as successful as possible, and identify which business schools can best help you turn these dreams into reality.
Not only does our personalized approach help 98.9% of our clients get into their top-choice schools, but we also find it helps them take greater advantage of their MBAs.
If you’d like to start putting the Ellin Lolis Advantage to work for you right from the very start, apply to work with us today!
Real MBA Essays That Got People In
School-specific sample essays that got our clients accepted
