Georgetown University: McDonough

The McDonough School of Business (MSB), established in 1957, is one of the 10 undergraduate and graduate schools of Georgetown University in Washington DC.

Starting as the School of Business, an outgrowth of the School of Foreign Service, MSB gained its current name after a $30 million donation from alumnus Robert Emmett McDonough.

MSB has a special focus on themes such as international and intercultural dimensions of the marketplace, the importance of written and oral communication, and interpersonal effectiveness in organisations.

The Undergraduate Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (BSBA) combines business and liberal arts courses, such as economics, government, history, philosophy, English, calculus and theology. Core business modules include the traditional disciplines such as accounting, finance, marketing and management. About one third of undergraduates choose a double major.

Some well-known student groups include the Financial Management Association, Georgetown Accounting Society, the Hilltop Consultants, and the Alpha Kappa Psi Professional Business Fraternity.

The school offers six-week, tailored summer study-abroad programmes at institutions such as the University of Oxford, Fudan University in Shanghai, and the ESADE Business School in Barcelona.

Academic research centres at MSB include the Georgetown Institute for Consumer Research.

The largest employers of MSB alumni include Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte, IBM, Bank of America, Citigroup and Credit Suisse.

Although it has always been independent of the Catholic Church, Georgetown’s Jesuit heritage continues to be influential, with education at the university emphasising service to others, particularly the vulnerable and disadvantaged.