Notre Dame Mendoza College of Business Announces Robert K. Wilmouth Lecture Series
The Mendoza College of Business family lost a beloved member last month after the passing of Robert K. Wilmouth, a longtime Trustee of the University of Notre Dame and past chair of its Investment Committee. Wilmouth died on September 14. Continue reading…
Georgetown McDonough EMBA Alumni Shares His Entrepreneurial Experience at Patri
The Georgetown McDonough School of Business recently interviewed Josh Ellars, a former Executive MBA student and current entrepreneur. Ellars founded Patri, a software and consulting firm that provides solutions to help companies maximize revenue from the global public sector technology market. The company helps accelerate profitability through technology that streamlines the bid opportunity qualification process and through custom consulting engagements that simplify public sector market entry and promote sustained growth. Continue reading…
The San Francisco One-Year MBA Programs You Need to Know
One-year MBA applicants already know which industry or area of concentration they want to pursue. They are MBA candidates who want to advance their current careers, rather than change them. Others chose the one-year route because it can be difficult to leave two years of work and salary. If you’re a prospective MBA in the San Francisco metro looking to make moves within your industry, we’ll show you what One-Year MBA options are out there for you.
Who Pursues One-Year MBA Programs?
According to U.S. News & World Report, accelerated MBA programs appeal to those who want to continue working in the same industry but want to move into a higher position; those who want to save time and money; and those who may want a faster return on investment for their MBA.
One-year MBAs condense what would be a semester’s worth of core business courses in a full-time program into only a few weeks. Most incoming students enter with a strong base of business knowledge. One-year programs typically do not feature a summer internship, which means that accelerated MBAs may not offer the same career opportunities that a full-time program does.
Popular One-Year MBA Programs
One-year programs have been popular in Europe for years, but have grown in popularity stateside over the past decade. Not all business schools offer a One-Year MBA, but a handful of top schools do, including:
- The Columbia Business School – Accelerated MBA Program
- The Kellogg School of Management – One-Year MBA Program
- The Johnson School (Cornell University) – Accelerated MBA
- The Goizueta Business School (Emory University) – Full-Time MBA, One-Year Experience
One-Year MBA Offerings in San Francisco
San Francisco is the cultural, commercial, financial, and educational epicenter of Northern California and Silicon Valley. Naturally, it is also home to some of the country’s premier business schools, like UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and Stanford University Graduate School of Business. However, those schools do not offer One-Year MBA programs.
Schools in the Bay Area that offer Accelerated MBA programs are:
- San Francisco State University College of Business
- Lucas Graduate School of Business – San Jose State University
Let’s take a closer look at these school’s One-Year MBA offerings.
San Francisco State University College of Business
San Francisco State’s full-time MBA degree is known as the Fast-Track MBA. The program features both afternoon and evening classes and can be completed in 12 months.
In order to graduate, students must fulfill a Professional Development Workshop series, eight foundation courses and ten advanced requirement courses. In the first semester of the program, students complete 15 units of core coursework, along with four workshops. After completing these requirements, students select 15 units of electives from nine possible areas of specialization, such as Accounting, Operations Research, Electronic Commerce, Finance, Information Systems, International Business, Management, Marketing, and Sustainable Business.
The program ends with a case study in Strategic Management, which evaluates strategy formulation, implementation, techniques and decision-making in the context of the economic, social, political and competitive global environment.
Tuition costs for the San Francisco State Fast-Track MBA program amount to $3,540 plus $270 per unit for part-time California residents and $5,546 plus $270 per unit for full time residents. For out of state and international students, part-time tuition is $3,540 plus $666 per unit while full-time tuition is $5,546 plus $666 per unit.
Lucas Graduate School of Business
Lucas Graduate School of Business at San Jose State offers an Early Career MBA Accelerated Track, designed for individuals who are willing to follow a very intense academic pace and wish to complete their MBA degree in 12 months. The fast-paced program is made up of 2-3 courses per session with 6-8 weeks of courses per class. The program is offered once a year starting in fall, and spans 12 months.
The Early Career MBA curriculum consists of 42 semester credit units containing 11 core courses and four electives. The core courses are often prerequisites to electives, such as Business Communications, Managing in the Global Economy, Developing and Managing People, Accounting Principles, Marketing Management, Law and Ethic, Managerial Decision Analysis, and Silicon Valley Experience.
Following core coursework, students must take a minimum of four classes (12 units) of elective coursework in the disciplines of: Accounting, Finance, Marketing, Organizational Development, Global Business Development, Entrepreneurship and Venture Development, Information Systems, and Operations Management. Students may also participate in an international semester in the summer term.
Tuition costs for the Accelerated MBA program is $25,072 for in-state residents and $41,704 for out-of-state residents.
Admissions Tip: Word Limits and Character Counts
MBA candidates naturally have a good deal of information they want—and need—to convey in their materials, and getting the important ideas down under restrictive word counts is a difficult task. While it might be tempting to run a bit beyond the guidelines to slip in that one extra thought, it’s important to keep the reasons for these limits in mind.
Essay Word Limits
In addition to being a medium for explaining your goals and sharing your story, the essays and short answers also serve as a test of the applicant’s ability to communicate clearly and concisely, not to mention follow directions and answer a question. Because business schools and post-MBA employers place a premium on all of these elements, adhering to word and character counts ultimately works to the candidate’s advantage.
Another important consideration is the reader’s time. Because of high application volume and the need to give every applicant fair and thorough consideration, schools are forced to limit the amount of information in each file. If you consistently extend your answers beyond the suggested limits, you are essentially asking the reader to give you more time than they are devoting to the other applicants. In other words, if you were to ignore the limits and overshoot by 30 percent throughout, this might imply that you consider yourself to be 30 percent more interesting than everyone else who applied – which could create concerns for your own lack of self-awareness.
That being said, there can be some leeway. For the vast majority of programs, it’s generally acceptable to exceed the word limit by 5 percent. There are, of course, a few exceptions:
- Caveat #1: If a school gives you a range (e.g., 250-750 words), you should ideally stay within that range.
- Caveat #2: If a school gives you a page limit (e.g., 2 pages), you should stay within that limit – without excessive margin manipulation or font size reduction.
- Caveat #3: In the rare case that a school’s application system truncates the answer once the limit is exceeded, then it is absolutely important to remain under the limit.
In terms of the other end of the length issue, it is unwise to consistently fall more than 5 percent below the limits; this is valuable room in which to share further relevant information about your candidacy. By falling short, it might signal a lack of effort on your part for developing your best application, or a lack of experiences or accomplishments for you to share with the admissions committee. There is one exception to this, the schools’ optional essays. While some of these essays include word count limits, brevity is typically the rule when choosing to include additional information; the word limit should not be the target.
Beyond the long-form essays that most schools require, many programs also include what are commonly referred to as ‘short answer’ questions in their application data forms. These range from schools asking candidates to describe their post-MBA career plans in a sentence or two to broader queries about how a candidate first learned of a given MBA program. In these ‘short answers’ schools often use character limits instead of word count, and their online systems often truncate responses that run long. As such, we advise a more strict adherence to the word count or character limits associated with ‘short answers’
Best of luck to all those fine tuning their applications!
This article has been edited and republished with permissions from Clear Admit.
Paul Merage School of Business Full-Time MBA Earns Spot On Forbes’ Best Of List
The Paul Merage School of Business at the University of California, Irvine received some heavy honors from the recently-revealed Forbes list of the “Best Business Schools” in the U.S., which analyzes how much graduates typically earn five years after graduation. This year, the business school ended up 41st on the list overall, with a $47,000 USD five-year expected gain for full-time MBA grads.
Continue reading…
Chicago’s Best 1-Year MBA Programs
Many of the obstacles to earning an MBA can make the process worrisome for even the most eager student. Factors like cost and salary loss as a student can be prohibitive for many potential MBAs. However, one solution may be shortening the amount of time it takes to earn the degree, which can reduce both the overall cost as well as the time without a full-time salary. Through accelerated or One-Year MBA programs, students can get all the benefits of an MBA degree in half the time.
If you are looking to pursue an MBA in the Chicago metro area, one of the country’s top business and cultural hubs, you may want to opt for a one-year MBA program to keep costs low and get to graduation day even faster. Below, we’ve rounded up the best Chicago One-Year MBA programs.
Kellogg School of Management – Northwestern University
The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern is one of the top business schools in the country, taking the fourth spot in U.S. News‘ “Best Business School” ranking. The one-year accelerated MBA at Kellogg is the fastest path to earning a degree from this top-ranked school. Beginning in June, this rigorous program gives students an opportunity to immerse themselves in the Northwestern community of business professionals, build leadership experience and learn from some of the world’s top teachers. The accelerated MBA at Kellogg is one of the first One-Year MBA programs in the nation, offering students the chance to bypass core courses and choose from over 200 advanced studies courses.
Mendoza College of Business – Notre Dame University
The Mendoza College of Business at Notre Dame University is consistently rated as one of the top schools in the country, ranking 29th in U.S. News and World Report’s ranking of the “Best Business Schools.” Mendoza’s One-Year MBA offers students a strategic business education in just 12 months.
The benefits of a Notre Dame MBA are numerous, with access to a close knit community of business students and access to Notre Dame’s global alumni network including more than 270 alumni clubs. The one-year program includes 46 credit hours with the chance to also participate in an International Immersion experience. The program begins with a 10-week summer intensive, and then allows students to select from a number of possible concentration tracks, such as business analytics, consulting, corporate finance or marketing.
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Liautaud Graduate School of Business – University of Illinois at Chicago
The Liatuaud Graduate School of Business at the University of Illinois at Chicago, which consistently ranks among the top 25 percent of business schools across the country, offers students the option of earning their MBA in as little as one year through their full-time Accelerated Cohort Program. The accelerated program at Liautaud can be completed entirely on campus through daytime classes, focusing on building a strong peer network, and community of business leaders.
The Liatuaud MBA focuses on the foundations of business and management, offering a 54 credit program composed of 26 credits of core courses. The core curriculum is comprised of: corporate finance, financial accounting, marketing, microeconomics, operations management, enterprise strategy, and organizational behavior.
Northern Illinois University College of Business
The Northern Illinois University College of Business offers a One-Year MBA designed for students to enhance their skills in communication and leadership over the course of 12 months. The program focuses particularly on collaboration, encouraging teamwork by having each year’s cohort begin together and take the same courses together throughout the year. Students will also participate in the One-Year MBA Capstone Project—a live case competition that challenges students to develop a business plan for a real company and with a real business situation.
“The decision to choose NIU’s One-Year MBA program was a very simple one,” said Northern Illinois alum Jennifer Rave. “Not only is it one of the most affordable programs in the area, but the lockstep program that allows you to develop life-long relationships with your professors and peers is just as appealing.”
