Program Basics

• • The Smith Executive MBA
  • Robert H. Smith School of Business
  • 2419 Van Munching Hall
  • MD
  • College Park, 20742, Maryland
  • United States
  • Status:
    • Public
  • Length of program (months): 19

• Classes meet:

  • • Alternate weekends
    • Occasional week-long sessions

• Tuition and fees for entire EMBA program:

  • Resident: $98,500.00
  • Non Resident: $98,500.00

• Graduate business school is accredited by:

  • • Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)

SCHOOL BASICS

• Graduate business school enrollment:

  • Total: 1,746
  • Full-Time MBA: 261
  • Part-Time MBA: 949
  • Executive MBA: 40
  • PhD Program: 100
• • Undergraduate business school enrollment: 2,749
  • Other graduate degree programs: Master of Accounting, Master of Finance, Other

ADMISSIONS

• • Rolling admissions? Yes
  • GMAT Required? No
  • Are applicants allowed to submit the GRE? No
  • If applicants are not required to take the GMAT, how are EMBA applicants' quantitative abilities checked before enrollment? Enrolled students receive software packages prior to the start of classes. The packages include self-paced tutorials on accounting, finance, statistics, and economics. The tutorials test the quantitative skills in each subject. The test scores are reviewed the academic director prior to the start of each course. A passing grade is required.
• • Is the TOEFL required for non-English speakers? Yes
  • Application fee: $75.00
  • Number of applications to the newest class: 65
  • Applicants accepted: 83 %
  • Admitted applicants enrolled: 74 %
  • Applicants wait-listed during the last admissions cycle: 4
  • Wait-listed applicants admitted for the semester to which they applied: 0
  • Applicant interviews are: Required
  • Applicants (admitted and denied) who were interviewed: 100 %
  • Admitted applicants who were interviewed: 100 %

CLASS PROFILE

• EMBA students in newest entering class who are:

  • Female: 23 %
  • International: 8 %

• Entering students are from the following regions:

  • Africa: 2 %
  • Asia: 2 %
  • Europe: 0 %
  • North America: 96 %
  • Oceania: 0 %
  • Latin America and the Caribbean: 0 %
  • Dual citizenship: 8 %

• Entering U.S. citizens are from the following regions:

  • West: 0 %
  • Midwest: 0 %
  • Southwest: 0 %
  • South: 0 %
  • Mid-Atlantic: 97 %
  • Northeast: 3 %
  • Possessions and territories: 0 %

• U.S. students in newest entering class who are:

  • African American: 28 %
  • Asian American: 10 %
  • Hispanic or Latino American: 0 %
  • Multiethnic/Multiracial : 0 %
  • Native American: 2 %
  • White (Non-Hispanic): 56 %
  • Chose not to report: 4 %
  • Other: 0 %
• • Average months of work experience: 157

• Middle 80% range work experience in months:

  • From: 102
  • To: 258
• • Average age: 39

• Middle 80% age range:

  • From: 34
  • To: 45

• Work background:

  • Have advanced degrees: 27 %
  • Work in the nonprofit sector: 17 %
  • Work at an organization with 100 or fewer employees: 22 %
  • Have title of president, CEO, or chairman: 5 %
• • EMBA students living within 45 miles of campus: 82 %
  • Average base salary for new EMBA entrant: $125,508.00

• Middle 80% base salary range:

  • Low: $87,000.00
  • High: $185,937.00

• Students work in these functional categories:

  • Consulting: 7 %
  • Finance/Accounting 12 %
  • General Management : 11 %
  • Human Resources: 0 %
  • Marketing/Sales: 15 %
  • Management Information Systems : 18 %
  • Operations/Logistics: 25 %
  • Other: 12 %

• Students work in these industries:

  • Consulting: 15 %
  • Consumer Products: 0 %
  • Financial Services: 15 %
  • Government: 22 %
  • Manufacturing: 0 %
  • Media/Entertainment: 12 %
  • Non-Profit: 5 %
  • Petroleum/Energy: 5 %
  • Pharmaceutical/Biotechnology/Health Care: 8 %
  • Real Estate: 0 %
  • Technology: 13 %
  • Other: 5 %

• Top organizations sending students:

  • US Government
  • University of Maryland
  • Fannie Mae
  • Constellation Energy Group
  • Marriott International

FINANCIAL AID

• • EMBAs receiving financial aid through school: 67 %
  • EMBA scholarships are awarded based on: Merit
  • Full-tuition scholarships awarded in past 12 months: 0
  • Does the school offer a guaranteed loan to EMBAs, regardless of nationality? Only to domestic students
  • Maximum loan amount: $65,995.00

FACULTY

• • Faculty employed by the B-school: 207

• Full-time faculty:

  • Tenured: 77
  • Non-Tenured: 70

• Adjunct/Visiting Faculty:

  • Tenured: 0
  • Non-Tenured: 60

• Women on Faculty:

  • Tenured: 20
  • Non-Tenured: 34

• Minority Faculty:

  • Tenured: 30
  • Non-Tenured: 41

• International Faculty:

  • Tenured: 7
  • Non-Tenured: 32

• Faculty with PhDs:

  • Tenured: 77
  • Non-Tenured: 89

STUDENT LIFE

• • Does the program include a mandatory international trip or project? No
  • Does the school offer pre-program orientation for all EMBA participants? Yes
  • Does the school offer temporary housing/accommodations for EMBA participants? Yes
  • Description: Hotel Accomidations for Friday Night
  • Do EMBAs have access to a health club or gym? Yes
  • Special student/home/work/life initiatives: Coaching, sessions on work/life balance
  • How far away from a major airport are most EMBA classes held? (miles) 14

TEACHING/ACADEMICS

• Teaching methods:

  • Case Study: 25 %
  • Distance Learning: 0 %
  • Experiential Learning: 10 %
  • Lectures: 35 %
  • Simulations: 5 %
  • Team Projects: 25 %
  • Other: 0 %
• • Faculty also teaching in full-time program: 32 %
  • Tenured/tenure-track EMBA faculty: 52 %
  • Average class size, core EMBA class: 40
  • Average class size, EMBA electives: 40
  • Elective courses: 9

• New electives added in past 12 months:

  • China: Manufacturing & the Impact of Yuan Appreciation
  • India: Comp. Adv through India Strategy
  • Israel: Examining the Start up Nation
  • Singapore and Malaysia: Islamic Finance
  • South Africa: So. Africa as entry strategy for Africa
  • Costa Rica: Social Entrepreneurship
  • Dubai: Mega Project Management
  • Australia: Resource Management

• Estimated hours per week in class and outside classwork:

  • Hours per week in class: 9
  • Hours per week outside of class spent on classwork: 10
• • Last revision of core EMBA curriculum: 2010
  • Distance-learning EMBA via the Internet, videoconferencing, or some other medium? No
  • Joint degree programs: MBA/JD (Law), Other, MBA/MS (Science), MBA/MSN (Nursing)
  • Leading areas of study: Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Strategy, Human Resource Management, Other
  • Description: Systems Thinking

• Graduation Requirements:

  • • Students must have attended a minimum number of classes
    • Students must have earned a pre-determined GPA/Letter grade average
    • Class participation accounts for some percentage of students' grades
    • Write a complete business plan
    • Present final company-specific project results to relevant parties
• • Significant recent changes to EMBA program: 2010

• Domestic partnerships or in-house EMBA programs:

  • SAIC Corp.

• TECHNOLOGY

  • Technology improvements in the last three academic years: Recent technology upgrades include the addition of video cameras, instructor touch panels, AV controls, and HD projection units to all classrooms, a new Mac Lab; enhancements to the Supply Chain Lab Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) technology, Finance Lab and Behavioral Lab (Tobii eye tracker); new space at the Baltimore Bio Park and a new North Wing addition to Van Munching Hall; upgraded online community for MBAs, refreshed website and new alumni network.

B-SCHOOL ALUMNI

• • Living MBA alumni: 10,023
  • Active MBA alumni clubs: 5
  • Countries in which MBA clubs exist: 2
  • Does the main university offer career placement services for alumni? Yes
  • Does the main university have an alumni networking Web site? Yes
  • University alumni networking site: http://www.alumni.umd.edu
  • Does the B-School have an alumni networking Web site? Yes
  • Business school alumni networking site: http://www.smithconnector.com
  • Does the B-school offer career services for alumni? Yes
  • Do current MBA students have access to an alumni database? Yes

CAREER SERVICES

• • Do EMBAs have access to career services? Yes
  • Does the school allow its EMBA students to interview on campus with corporate recruiters targeting executives for full-time jobs? Yes
  • School's policy regarding recruiters targeting EMBAs: While many of our recruiters work with our FT MBA students, we work closely with them to determine the most appropriate audience for their positions which also includes our EMBAs. EMBAs have access to all of the Office of Career Services’ resources.

• • -If your goal in obtaining an EMBA is to improve your leadership skills Smith is the school for you. Upon completion of the program you will have great insight on what makes you act, lead, and solve problems the way you do.
    
    -I would like to see more class periods on strategy, negotiations, finance, accounting, marketing, economics, and operations management
    
    -The University of Maryland does an amazing job with its EMBA program. We had a cohort full of top-notch professionals, first class professors and best in class assistants. The entire program was challenging, exciting and will be missed. The tools, education and confidence I am leaving with was well worth the money invested.
    
    -Career services at Smith is mostly geared towards the full-time MBA program. In reality, many of the EMBA students also are considering career transitions. The coaching was very helpful for this, however the career services was not as well equipped to help with this as it might have been. It is being addressed better now than it was at the beginning of our cohort experience.
    
    -One of the differentiators of the Smith School is it provided us with personal executive coaches. This was an extremely valuable part of the program as my coach helped me to sort through my personality assessments and better align myself to my goals.
    
    -The cohort style learning was a great experience! The background makeup and personalities was perfectly selected by the administrative staff. The nineteen months that I spent in the Smith EMBA program was a very rewarding and enriching experience. And while initially, I thought the price was a bit on the high side, in hindsight it was $95k well spent. Not just because of the curriculum, but because of the overall learning experience I received from the faculty, staff and classmates
    
    -The experience was phenomenal. The administrators took feedback from the prior nine cohorts and tailored the curriculum according to feedback. This made for an amazing experience.
    
    -I felt that our EMBA program was isolated from the rest of the school. I think that there could have been a better way of helping us integrate with others in the Smith School
    
    -The support staff at Smith goes out their way to provide executives with any logistical support needed. They respond quickly with support and solutions. I experienced their attention to detail on my study aboard trip to Hong Kong every thing ran smoothly all I did was get on and off the air plane.
    
    -Given all the class work that need to be accomplished, there has been too little time to discuss current events that not directly related to the curriculum - e.g. latest political development, BP oil spill, middle east crises, etc, - and the impact it might have on us as managers. That said, we have been in the program as the world is coming off a global economic crises and there has been plenty of good and relevant discussions on that topic.
    
    -We had a very engaging class, and we were always asking questions, sometimes at the expense of the length of class period. One improvement would be to control the curriculum or amount of in class discussion to enable the full agenda to be covered in class.
    
    -There should perhaps be more emphasis on student presentations. While we did this in many classes, some opportunities for student - student learning were missed.