Program Basics

• • Executive MBA in Global Management
  • Thunderbird School of Global Management
  • 1 Global Place
  • AZ
  • Glendale, 85306, Arizona
  • United States
  • Status:
    • Private
  • Length of program (months): 20

• Classes meet:

  • • Alternate weekends
    • Occasional week-long sessions

• Tuition and fees for entire EMBA program:

  • Resident: $88,700.00
  • Non Resident: $88,700.00

• Graduate business school is accredited by:

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

SCHOOL BASICS

• Graduate business school enrollment:

  • Total: 1,234
  • Full-Time MBA: 509
  • Executive MBA: 112
  • PhD Program: 0
• • Undergraduate business school enrollment: 0
  • Other graduate degree programs: Master of Finance, Master of Marketing, Master of International Management/Business

ADMISSIONS

• • Rolling admissions? Yes
  • GMAT Required? No
  • If applicants are not required to take the GMAT, how are EMBA applicants' quantitative abilities checked before enrollment? All applicants conduct admissions interviews with the program's Academic Director and other faculty members. Transcripts from all previous academic work is required.
• • Is the TOEFL required for non-English speakers? No
  • Application fee: $125.00
  • Number of applications to the newest class: 61
  • Applicants accepted: 98 %
  • Admitted applicants enrolled: 77 %
  • Applicants wait-listed during the last admissions cycle: 0
  • 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: 18 %
  • International: 23 %

• Entering students are from the following regions:

  • Africa: 2 %
  • Asia: 9 %
  • Europe: 0 %
  • North America: 77 %
  • Oceania: 0 %
  • Latin America and the Caribbean: 6 %
  • Dual citizenship: 6 %

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

  • West: 14 %
  • Southwest: 84 %
  • Mid-Atlantic: 2 %

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

  • African American: 3 %
  • Asian American: 16 %
  • Hispanic or Latino American: 14 %
  • Native American: 3 %
  • White (Non-Hispanic): 59 %
  • Other: 5 %
• • Average months of work experience: 178

• Middle 80% range work experience in months:

  • From: 96
  • To: 264
• • Average age: 39

• Middle 80% age range:

  • From: 31
  • To: 46

• Work background:

  • Have advanced degrees: 28 %
  • Work in the nonprofit sector: 9 %
  • Work at an organization with 100 or fewer employees: 42 %
  • Have title of president, CEO, or chairman: 20 %
• • EMBA students living within 45 miles of campus: 81 %
  • Average base salary for new EMBA entrant: $130,000.00

• Middle 80% base salary range:

  • Low: $100,000.00
  • High: $249,000.00

• Students work in these functional categories:

  • Consulting: 11 %
  • Finance/Accounting 9 %
  • General Management : 13 %
  • Human Resources: 0 %
  • Marketing/Sales: 19 %
  • Management Information Systems : 6 %
  • Operations/Logistics: 22 %
  • Other: 10 %

• Students work in these industries:

  • Consulting: 8 %
  • Consumer Products: 8 %
  • Financial Services: 28 %
  • Government: 0 %
  • Manufacturing: 0 %
  • Media/Entertainment: 2 %
  • Non-Profit: 9 %
  • Petroleum/Energy: 6 %
  • Pharmaceutical/Biotechnology/Health Care: 6 %
  • Real Estate: 6 %
  • Technology: 15 %
  • Other: 12 %

• Top organizations sending students:

  • American Express
  • Intel Corporation
  • AAA
  • Raytheon
  • Wells Fargo

FINANCIAL AID

• • EMBAs receiving financial aid through school: 71 %
  • EMBA scholarships are awarded based on: Merit, Need
  • Full-tuition scholarships awarded in past 12 months: 0
  • Does the school offer a guaranteed loan to EMBAs, regardless of nationality? No

FACULTY

• • Faculty employed by the B-school: 80

• Full-time faculty:

  • Tenured: 27
  • Non-Tenured: 21

• Adjunct/Visiting Faculty:

  • Tenured: 0
  • Non-Tenured: 32

• Women on Faculty:

  • Tenured: 8
  • Non-Tenured: 17

• Minority Faculty:

  • Tenured: 8
  • Non-Tenured: 9

• International Faculty:

  • Tenured: 4
  • Non-Tenured: 7

• Faculty with PhDs:

  • Tenured: 37
  • Non-Tenured: 7

STUDENT LIFE

• • Does the program include a mandatory international trip or project? Yes
  • Description: 3 overseas trips are required. The 8-day study tours include cultural learning, industry visits, guest speakers, and course content. Combined with classroom sessions to augment what is learned. 1.5 credits earned per trip.
  • Does the school offer pre-program orientation for all EMBA participants? No
  • Does the school offer temporary housing/accommodations for EMBA participants? Yes
  • Description: On campus housing includes 2 levels of executive accommodations, hotel and dorm, that are offered for a discounted fee to EMBA students. They also have access to lounges, study rooms and business centers.
  • Do EMBAs have access to a health club or gym? Yes
  • Special student/home/work/life initiatives: We work with our students to offer services such as recording classes they miss due to work obligations, providing TA help for quantitative sessions, and having regular class rep forums to solicit feedback.
  • How far away from a major airport are most EMBA classes held? (miles) 24

TEACHING/ACADEMICS

• Teaching methods:

  • Case Study: 45 %
  • Distance Learning: 3 %
  • Experiential Learning: 9 %
  • Lectures: 15 %
  • Simulations: 3 %
  • Team Projects: 15 %
  • Other: 10 %
• • Faculty also teaching in full-time program: 100 %
  • Tenured/tenure-track EMBA faculty: 87 %
  • Average class size, core EMBA class: 46
  • Average class size, EMBA electives: 5
  • Elective courses: 2

• New electives added in past 12 months:

  • Chinese Language
  • Spanish Language

• Estimated hours per week in class and outside classwork:

  • Hours per week in class: 8
  • Hours per week outside of class spent on classwork: 15
• • Last revision of core EMBA curriculum: 2007
  • Distance-learning EMBA via the Internet, videoconferencing, or some other medium? No
  • Joint degree programs: MBA/JD (Law)
  • Leading areas of study: International Business, Leadership, Marketing, Strategy, Other
  • Description: Global Political Economy, Regional Studies

• 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
    • Other
  • Complete a second language requirement
• • Significant recent changes to EMBA program: 2007

• TECHNOLOGY

  • Technology improvements in the last three academic years: High Availability to Virtualization environment; Wireless network connected to classrooms and auditoriums; Wireless network to new Wireless-N technologies; Rolled-out of Windows 7 on desktop clients; Piloted of iPad usage in instruction and course material delivery; Portal project (initial testing phase); SharePoint pilot project; New ‘temporary TAC replacement’ project
  • Amount spent: $1,000,000.00

B-SCHOOL ALUMNI

• • Living MBA alumni: 38,953
  • Active MBA alumni clubs: 170
  • Countries in which MBA clubs exist: 76
  • Living MBA alumni who gave in past year: 9
  • Mean gift from MBA alumni: $679.00
  • Median gift from MBA alumni: $100.00
  • Did school receive an individual gift in exess of $10 million in the past academic year? No
  • Business school endowment $14,790,000.00
  • 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://my.thunderbird.edu
  • Does the B-School have an alumni networking Web site? Yes
  • Business school alumni networking site: http://my.thunderbird.edu
  • 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: We encourage recruiters to consider EMBA students for full time jobs and open positions.

SCHOOL COMMENTS

• • Additional school comments: The Executive MBA program runs a tandem program with cohorts in Glendale, Arizona and Geneva, Switzerland. The two EMBA cohorts share a number of international study tours and joint class sessions, thereby building their global networks.

• • -I would like to see more continued learning as an alumnus. This continued learning is important to me personally and professionally and would help keep a connection with the school.
    
    -I felt the program overall was an excellent experience for me and my personal and professional growth was substantial. My cohort was exceptional and I have a significantly increased network as a result of the program. I’m very pleased to have made the investment in my future.
    
    -When I looked at schools, I thought the international business focus was somewhat specialized and I was considering a conventional 'unspecialized' MBA. In retrospect, I would have wasted my money dearly; the conventional MBA is a dinosaur and the people coming out of it are getting skills that are nostalgic, quaint remnants of a post-WWII era United States. In the program, I visited businesses in Europe, Latin America, India, China, and UAE and learned their methods while also working and applying them here in the US on a company that I founded while in school, using a global team that I formed using what I learned. If you can think of a better EMBA experience, let me know.
    
    -The Thunderbird EMBA program is not for everyone (e.g., overly competitive Wall Street types). However, it is the only option for executives with a global mindset and a strong sense of ethics who are committed to finding mutually beneficial solutions to global business problems.
    
    -A strict code of behavior should have been established and followed. Unfortunately, this didn’t exist or wasn’t enforced and many of my cohort members acted like drunken imbeciles during most of the program; being completely disrespectful of other people.
    
    -Career services for EMBA students needs to be improved. It is not current and little effort made to place students with companies. This is especially important given the high percentage of EMBAs that are completing program on their own w/o company support. Also, some disciplines were missing (ethics, law, sustainability, business intelligence) and some disciplines could use improving (finance and accounting, leadership)
    
    -There appeared to be a bit of an adversarial relationship between the cohort and the administration. Expectations among the cohort were high. The dialogue between the students, the administration, and the board could have been more open.
    
    -Although there were occasional snags and inconveniences, the administration did a great job with the logistical challenges of our cohort - especially since half of us traveled to campus every other weekend from out of state. Some members of my cohort felt disconnected from the rest of the campus (especially out-of-state commuters), but there were multiple opportunities for involvement for those who chose to actively pursue them.
    
    -Thunderbird seems very focused on improving the program on a regular basis. The only area I can see that could be improved would be some of the actual classroom facilities. Some of the rooms are state of the art but others are dated with poor learning environment design.
    
    -Across the board, I was thoroughly satisfied with the classroom experience. There was a mindful selection of case studies and assigned projects resulted in engaging classroom discussions and constant opportunities for learning. The curriculum was masterfully structured, with opportunities for students to build upon what they previously learned and an ideal balance of quantitative and qualitative analysis. My only minor complaint is that a few professors could benefit from updating some of their readings and case studies.
    
    -Thunderbird seems very focused on improving the program on a regular basis. The only area I can see that could be improved would be some of the actual classroom facilities. Some of the rooms are state of the art but others are dated with poor learning environment design.
    
    -The school should drop the text-books and give all the EMBA students iPads as part of their tuition so all reading online and portable and shareable. I’d like to see better food catering on campus for busy EMBA students paying top dollar. There should also be more community building for spouses (given how much support they need to provide their EMBA spouses), and more interaction with other MBA programs and business programs there to foster greater sense of overall, wider Thunderbird community.