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 feel that SMU offered me a great MBA experience. The main weak spot was the career placement office. I just didn't feel they were able to help me get in contact with the right people a lot of the time. The school has addressed this problem and hired a new director for the placement office. -- Finance
Top rate experience in a collegial environment. I cannot imagine a better professor lineup anywhere. The teaching was awesome! Interpersonal and leadership skills are strongly developed throughout curriculum and BLC seminars. There are many opportunities for leadership roles. Through recruiting events and other offsite activities with other MBA school students, I found the student quality level at Cox as high as any Top 10 school. -- Operations
The Cox School has done a wonderful job of reacting to student needs and is gaining in value everyday. The program truly lacked a competent career management office. This situation has been corrected as of May. I am very satisfied with my investment and I believe that my degree will become more valuable as the years pass. -- Entrepreneurship
I felt that the greatest benefit of attending SMU was its small class size. Having gone to one of the largest undergraduate institutions, UT Austin, I didn't think I would like such a small class. However, some of the key advantages Cox yields over its larger B-school counterparts are: quick responsiveness to student requests, students can make significant differences, and increased interaction with not only professors but also other students. The most serious drawbacks of attending SMU are its ineffective career management office and a good chance you will have one poor professor each semester. However, in all fairness, the school is making some major changes in these areas. Most recently, the former career services director at Duke was hired to head Cox's career management office. Although my B-school experience was not everything I had planned for, I seriously doubt any school would have exceeded my expectations in all areas. I am confident in saying that Cox exceeded my expectations in breadth and quality of students and faculty; and therefore, I would definitely recommend Cox to other students considering an MBA. -- Marketing
Every school has growing pains and being a small institution, SMU has grown since the time I joined the program. I believe that student feedback has been taken seriously and improvements will be made. Since this school is not at the level of Harvard or Stanford, it is standing well in its own category of B-schools within this region. I think it is important that the school market itself outside of the South and make its name known in the business school community. One of the assets of the school is its small size and personal interaction with professors. I still believe that the tuition is high given its rankings and it should be made more affordable. Overall, I enjoyed my MBA experience and am glad that I decided to pursue this degree along with my technical background. I believe that my credentials are strong and my career will prosper. -- Marketing
The MBA program at SMU greatly exceeded my expectations. I feel that the program contributed to my ability to think analytically and also enhanced my decision-making skills. At first, I felt that I was just going to get a piece of paper that said I received an MBA. However, I now feel that I have gained the necessary skills to be successful in today's competitive business environment. I was truly impressed with the school. -- Investment Banking
It has been a wonderful experience. Understanding people from different backgrounds, cultures, and business areas has been unforgettable and worthy. As an international student, now I can understand and have real empathy with the American way to do business, and it WORKS! -- Information Technology
My MBA experience is simply defined: Over the past two years, I mastered a tremendous amount of information and am now entering my chosen career field -- all because of the Cox MBA program. -- Consulting
I am disappointed that the school recruited very few minorities outside of the international students. I am further disappointed that [though] the school continues to [say it offersw] help and support [to] the students, there is no action taken upon their words. -- Consulting
Student Services at Cox were unsurpassed. The staff and faculty are extremely responsive to the needs of the students and every effort was made to encourage us to take ownership of the program. Leadership opportunities for students were also abundant, which I think is important for an MBA program. I appreciated the fact that my classmates had work experience -- nobody came straight through from undergraduate [programs]. Likewise, I see the dean taking a proactive stance with respect to e-commerce initiatives, the new CMO director, and the Global Leadership Program that give me confidence that the value of my degree will only increase with the passage of time. -- Anonymous
Cox is an extremely responsive, student-driven school. The students are so empowered and take such ownership of the program it is truly amazing. The Business Leadership Center is the only one of its kind in the world, and the amount of incredible mentoring I received from industry leaders is really rare. I am not a traditional MBA, if there is such a thing, I took a job in a town of 700 people in Alaska upon graduation. My experience was still excellent, and there are very rich resources for each candidate to make a personally fulfilling experience of their time at Cox. -- Entrepreneurship
The Cox school makes an extraordinary effort to personalize the MBA experience. Not only were professors readily available, but the administration even completely reworked class offerings and schedules to meet the needs of the majority of the students. -- Finance
One of the things I really enjoyed about my experience at Cox was the camaraderie our class had. With only about 120 students, you literally got to know everyone on a first-name basis. I think this is one of the factors that enabled us to raise pledges totaling $221,000 for an endowment in our class's name. Apparently, this is unheard of, particularly for a class the size of ours. -- Information Technology
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Copyright 2001, Bloomberg L.P.
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