The Role of MBA Programs

While MBA programs are an important part of any top business school's "product line," these programs are different from our other programs. The purpose of an MBA program is to provide a general business education to an individual who typically has a non-business background (primarily in the sciences or engineering) and has some relevant work experience beyond his or her undergraduate degree.

MBA programs are characterized by smaller class sizes (ours average around 35 students), participative classroom discussions, and team projects. MBA programs are not advanced undergraduate programs, rather require students to apply business concepts to their work experiences.

Why are MBA programs important? These programs (and their rankings) are often the most well known fact about any business school. While these rankings have their limitations, they are the single, most-used measure of the health of a business school.

For example, in the four weeks since our most recent U.S. News & World Report ranking, two honors high school students contacted our Undergraduate Programs Office. These students had previously committed to other universities and wanted to change their commitment to Mays because of the Mays MBA Program ranking. In addition, one very significant corporation has informed me that they will begin recruiting students from all of our programs (undergraduate and graduate) because of our MBA programranking.

I invite you to read the second part of "The Business of Business Schools" series in Mays Business Online. This issue focuses on our MBA program, which is quite timely given our recent success in the U.S. News & World Report rankings. @



	The Role of MBA Programs While MBA programs are an important part of any top business school's "product line," these programs are different from our other programs. The purpose of an MBA program is to provide a general business education to an individual who typically has a non-business background (primarily in the sciences or engineering) and has some relevant work experience beyond his or her undergraduate degree. MBA programs are characterized by smaller class sizes (ours average around 35 students), participative classroom discussions, and team projects. MBA programs are not advanced undergraduate programs, rather require students to apply business concepts to their work experiences. Why are MBA programs important? These programs (and their rankings) are often the most well known fact about any business school. While these rankings have their limitations, they are the single, most-used measure of the health of a business school. For example, in the four weeks since our most recent U.S. News & World Report ranking, two honors high school students contacted our Undergraduate Programs Office. These students had previously committed to other universities and wanted to change their commitment to Mays because of the Mays MBA Program ranking. In addition, one very significant corporation has informed me that they will begin recruiting students from all of our programs (undergraduate and graduate) because of our MBA programranking. I invite you to read the second part of "The Business of Business Schools" series in Mays Business Online. This issue focuses on our MBA program, which is quite timely given our recent success in the U.S. News & World Report rankings. @