Editor's Note: BusinessWeek collected graduate comments in 2000 during its ranking of full-time MBA programs. The next ranking is scheduled for fall, 2002.
I will always count the two years at Terry College of Business among the best experiences of my life. The friendships I formed, the things I learned, and the personal and professional growth resulting from such an intense leadership-oriented program, with constant interaction with bright people from around the world, are invaluable. I know I will miss Athens, Ga., my classmates, and the University of Georgia a great deal. It's hard to find a more beautiful campus and a more pleasant and friendly city than Athens, and the people at Terry made me feel at home from day one (even though I was thousands of miles from where I grew up and lived all my life).
The program does an outstanding job of forming a truly collaborative team atmosphere, and teachers are committed to helping you learn. I walked into Brooks Hall on my first day at the school and a professor who happened to walk by, greeted me by name!!! It turned out he had all our pictures and profiles sent to him before the start of the program so that he would know every one of us! This experience was symptomatic of my time at Terry. --Marketing
Overall a very positive experience...I sacrificed the brand name of some other institutions for the ROI that the Terry school provided...indeed, it looks as if it (my decision) will pay off.
--Marketing
I truly enjoyed my experience at the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia. I believe the faculty a second to none. --Finance
Terry College of Business is an up-and-coming institution. The students here are of the same caliber as those at any of the top schools. Now that our recently installed dean has developed a strategic plan for the college, real changes are occurring. We have just added a talented new career services director, and the students have already benefited from her. The types of jobs that the graduating students are getting are more geographically dispersed than ever before. The momentum is here for making a top-25 program. The best aspect of the program here is that the students, staff, faculty, and administration all work together in a collegial, cooperative way. This has added tremendously to the value of my degree. --Marketing
I more than doubled my salary while getting paid $10,000 per year to go to school. The program lacks in some areas, but I would challenge you to find a program that is perfect in all areas. From an ROI perspective, you can not beat the Terry MBA. --Operations
The school has excellent students and is only held back by its career services office. The administration has recently hired a new director who has already made a noticeable difference in the quality of help given to the students. With the new director the program will attract more firms and improve its reputation among recruiters. The MBA students from this program are among the best the in the nation and deserve more respect from recruiters. --Consulting
The only weak point of this school in the past has been career services, which is clearly turning around at this point. We've recently hired the former director of career services at Purdue. I'm certain that this improvement in career services makes us one of the best programs in the country. This is only further enhanced by the fact that well over 50% of the students are on graduate assistantships, which reduces our tuition to $335 a semester and pays us an addition $450 a month. This means that we get paid to go to a great MBA program. UNBELIEVABLE!! --Marketing
Georgia has an incredible MBA program, which will only get better as more people learn about it nationwide. --Finance
With in-state tuition and 2 scholarships, I paid LESS THAN $1,500 for 2 years (combined) of B-School tuition. My salary is 150% higher than my pre-MBA salary...not a bad ROI. --Consulting
Athens is a wonderful and relatively inexpensive city, and the state of Georgia is a rising star with plenty of opportunities. Terry's faculty do a poor job of reaching out to the business community to take advantage of these opportunities and in staying current with topics from the business world. The career services office was largely atrocious. However, at the end of the year, new people were brought in, and there will certainly be a huge improvement. The people (fellow students) in the program were top notch and contributed more value than anything else in the MBA experience. This university has a lot going for it, and there is almost no way that the business school can't ride on it's coattails and become a top-30 program in the next few years until the dean drops the ball (that is still to be debated). --Anonymous
A few positive points about the University of Georgia Terry MBA Program: 1) Best program for the money: almost all of the students receive in-state tuition, graduate assistantships, and/or scholarships. 2) Teamwork is highly encouraged. The students develop great relationships and learn a lot from each other. Students challenge themselves instead of feeling competitive with their classmates. 3) We are far from perfect -- but the professors, aadministration, and students realize this weakness. There is constant change, and effort for improvement on behalf of the students and faculty. This year, we struggled in the career services department but by the end of the year, we had brought on two new, outstanding directors. I think next year's class will greatly benefit from these changes. --Consulting
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