Pondering whether some extra certification or credentials might help land me the next opportune gig, I perused through some of the Top 10 Marketing Departments (according to US News 2009) to see what they had to offer. Given they are the "BEST Marketing programs in the nation," you would think they would have a clue about the Internet being an important medium, if not the most efficient and most powerful marketing medium in history. However, they amaze me how little they've dedicated to their programs to teach our future Marketing leaders that the Internet IS and will highly impact their careers. I suggest they should have more classes and curricula focused on Internet, Mobile and other new Technology media and how to leverage it marketing for all businesses large and small.

On the same token, I've already posted recently about Chief Marketing Officers not really having online/Internet marketing common sense (which, ironically, comes from one of these strong marketing programs: Northwestern). The leaders of these departments which "supposedly" connect consumers with the products and services of the same top companies still don't realize that consumers are purchasing, planning, and doing a lot of intelligence gathering before buying their products & services via the Internet.

Here are my criticisms of the current "Top Marketing Programs" in the United States:

What I noticed for the most part at most of the websites of the Top 10 College Marketing Programs:

• Most failed to offer concentrations/focuses on e-Marketing or Internet forms of marketing. If I were a part of their decision making committee for curriculum development, I would definitely create the possibility to specialize in Online Marketing. With the advent of Mobile advertising and the entrenchment of online forms of marketing gathering a larger piece of the overall marketing pie annually, there needs to be colleges willing to risk developing programs catering to this need. (In my mind, it's not even a risk - it's here & NOW.)
• On the same note, most of the offerings are stuck in the traditional forms of marketing. It does make sense to build a "general set of marketing core requirements," but to neglect this medium that has taken over the world over the past two decades is like us standing in front of an 18 wheeler coming straight at us while we stand in the middle of the (information) highway & act like it's going to just drive around us. 
• Marketing professors are stuck in the dark ages, probably because it took them forever to get tenure as is. They like to focus on theory, psychology and consumer behavior.  It would take them a lifetime probably to learn about this "new fangled Internet stuff," and why do that when you have no risk of being fired?  Again, this is all nice & should be learned by marketing students, but how about applying that to the new media?

A more program by program analysis of the Top 10 Marketing Programs:

1. University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business

• The website has a quote on the right boasting about its programs: "How the world's largest, most published and most cited marketing department has strengthened and changed the world of business..." -- key words here are "published, cited, strengthened, changed..." Know why? It's because they all end in '-ed' -- the PAST tense! Let's focus on the present & the future!
• They did succeed in being the #1 result in the SERPs for "UPenn Marketing" -- a test I applied to all the Marketing programs. I wanted to see if at least the universities had the intelligence to hire the right people to keep their programs in a "findable" place when people search for their programs.
• You're allowed to concentrate in another "general" discipline like Psychology or Communication as an undergrad & also as an MBA student. However, how about letting students concentrate on Search Engine Marketing? Mobile Platform Advertising?

2. University of Michigan's Ross School of Business

• Out of 8 Bachelor level classes and 24 Graduate or higher level classes, not a single class focuses on the new media for Marketing.
• They are the #2 result in the SERPs on Google.com, but a web development team that appears to help university departments outdoes them for the phrase "U Michigan Marketing"; the power of online marketers outdoing their traditional counterparts really peeks through here.
• No online marketing emphasis options - they focus on the traditional curriculum options.

3. University of Texas - McCombs School of Business

• The typical Business School propaganda here.
• Study tracks for undergrads are only Retail Management, Sales, Marketing Communications, Marketing Management, Consulting & High Tech, and Customer Insight -- the traditional paths of marketing students.
• I guess the Consulting & High Tech focus would be the closest, but the way it's described, it almost seems like the Internet is something "new" that can be used in consulting vs. something that is "now." Well, it just continues to buttress the notion that it's still slowly being accepted as a larger piece of the traditional marketing pie.
• The department is the #2 result in Google for "U Texas." The #1 result in the SERP is a site used by the dept.

4. U of North Carolina - Kenan-Flagler School of Business

• UNC's Business School is just like most business schools bragging about their programs.
  
• As an undergrad in the business school, you can only major in Marketing Consulting & Marketing Management.
• It was the #1 result in the SERP for "U of North Carolina marketing".
• A great find here though. A result in the SERPs led me to the University of North Carolina Online, which allows you to select from one of 16 North Carolina Universities that you can learn from on the Internet. I was able to click off the Communications Programs link to the UNC's School of Journalism and Mass Communications, which offered a program which allows you to learn topics close to what I'm advocating. The program is called the "Certificate in Technology and Communication."

5. U of California Berkeley - Haas Business School

• Looking through the papers the professors have published, I only found one that related to the Internet revolution: "The Marketing Information Revolution" by Rashi Glazer, but in 1994 (uhhhh, predicting the marketing changes of today?).
• The work done by the professors felt like a bunch of behavioral studies and pricing impact surveys (shouldn't this be in the Psychology department?).
• Only the general "Business Admin" degree is available as undergrads. Specialties as an MBA student are still in the general disciplines.
• They're successful in being #1 in the SERPs when searching for "UC berkeley Marketing".

6. Indiana University Bloomington - Kelley Business School

• With one of the most attractive websites viewed in the top 6 programs, the marketing department still does a lot of self promotion and still feels like the old guard still runs the show.
• There are no academic focuses of study really available that are specific to Internet Marketing.
• It's #1 for "Indiana University Marketing" in the SERPs (on Google).

7. (Tie) New York University (NYU) - Stern Business School

• Even though the department has a smart enough web development team or paid some smart SEO folks to help them be the #1 result when searching for "nyu marketing", there isn't a single focus in the majors that emphasizes Marketing's new media.

7. (Tie) U of Florida - Warrington College

• Students appear forced to learn the general marketing discipline.
• However, the site is successful in getting the #1 slot for the Google search "U Florida Marketing".

9. University of Virginia (UVA)

• While it was the only program which failed to be #1 for "uva marketing," "university of virginia marketing," or "u virgina marketing," the University does have the only program I've been able to find online, which appears to be an online/internet marketing focus called Certificate in eMarketing.
• The Certificate appeared to cost about $5,100 or so, but also may be discontinued. I could only find one of the classes available in the Spring. The rest of the requirements didn't seem to be available, s I'm not sure about the active status of the program.
• Also, it had a seminar that seemed to help executives who manage the online marketing initiatives of their companies. It was called "Online Marketing Update @ Darden." There may have been other similar seminars at other universities, but none came up on the immediate radar.
• While the Marketing department still rates #9 in US News' ranking, you can't even find it, so I'm not sure their own staff know the details of the eMarketing program. There will be many confused people outside the state who won't even be able to find the program, which I think I found here. Perhaps they're testing their future students' dexterity and their ability to be persistent & diligent in finding info (like me?).

10. University of Wisconsin Madison

• Very similar to many of the the previous 9 Marketing programs, undergraduates must study the discipline in general. If you do go for the MBA, you can concentrate in marketing research or in product management. Students can also earn an MBA degree in supply chain management.
• The Business School does come up #1for the search "U of Wisconsin Madison marketing," though the Marketing department has a relatively weak presence.

No wonder some of the best SEO experts and Online Marketing gurus have little or no college education dedicated to their discipline -- a lot of this was learned on their own (even empirical evidence points to this little-known fact).