Southern Methodist University

Program Basics

• • Full-time MBA Program
  • Cox School of Business
  • 6212 Bishop Blvd.
  • TX
  • Dallas, 75275, Texas
  • United States
  • Program Web site: http://www.coxmba.com
  • Status: Private
  • Program e-mail address: mbainfo@cox.smu.edu
  • Graduate business school is accredited by:
    • Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)

SCHOOL BASICS

• Graduate business school enrollment:

  • Total: 908
  • Full-Time MBA: 282
  • Part-Time MBA: 343
  • Executive MBA: 168
• • Other graduate degree programs:
    • Master of Accounting
    • Other
  • Master of Management; Master of Entrepreneurship

PROGRAM COSTS

• Total direct costs (tuition and required fees) of the entire MBA program:

  • Resident: $91,616.00
  • Nonresident: $91,616.00
  • Recommended annual budget (Resident): $62,208.00
  • Recommended annual budget (Nonresident): $62,208.00

PROGRAM LENGTH

• • Full-time program (months): 22

ADMISSIONS

• Application Deadlines

  • Semester: Fall 2012
  • Deadline: Nov 2, 2011
  • Semester: Fall 2012
  • Deadline: Jan 11, 2012
  • Semester: Fall 2012
  • Deadline: Mar 7, 2012
  • Semester: Fall 2012
  • Deadline: May 2, 2012
• • Does the program have rolling admissions? Yes
  • Is proficiency in English required for admission? Yes
  • Is a minimum score on an English language proficiency test required? No

• Which English language proficiency tests are accepted?

  • • TOEFL Internet Based Test
    • TOEFL Paper-based Test
• • Minimum paper-based TOEFL score required for MBAs: 100

• Relative Importance of Application Elements:

  • GMAT Score: Very Important
  • Resume/Work Experience: Very Important
  • Application Essays: Very Important
  • Interviews: Very Important
  • Recommendations: Not Considered
  • Undergraduate Transcripts: Very Important

APPLICANTS

• • Applications (admitted and denied) to the newest class: 606
  • Applicants who were accepted to the most recent class: 37 %
  • Admitted applicants who enrolled in the newest class: 48 %
  • Applicants wait-listed during the last admissions cycle: 50
  • Wait-listed applicants admitted for the semester to which they applied: 7
  • Applicant interviews are: By invitation only
  • Applicants (admitted and denied) who were interviewed: 39 %
  • Admitted applicants who were interviewed: 100 %

APPLICANT POOL

• • International applications received: 47 %
  • Applications from women received: 26 %
  • Mean base salary forgone: $53,182.00
  • Median base salary forgone: $52,000.00

CLASS PROFILE

• Full-time students in newest entering class (2010-2011) that are:

  • Female: 22 %
  • International: 22 %
  • Married: 20 %

• Students from following regions:

  • Africa: 0 %
  • Asia: 18 %
  • Europe: 1 %
  • North America: 78 %
  • Latin America and the Caribbean: 3 %
  • Oceania: 0 %
  • Dual citizenship: 0 %

• Percentage of U.S. students in newest entering class that are:

  • African American: 6 %
  • Asian American: 7 %
  • Hispanic or Latino American: 6 %
  • Multiethnic/Multiracial: 0 %
  • Native American: 1 %
  • White (Non-Hispanic): 76 %
  • Chose not to report: 4 %
  • Other: 0 %

• Percentage of U.S. students in newest entering class who are from the following regions:

  • Northeast: 4 %
  • Mid-Atlantic: 1 %
  • South: 6 %
  • Southwest: 67 %
  • Midwest: 7 %
  • West: 11 %
  • Possessions and territories: 4 %
• • Mean months of work experience of newest entering class: 56
  • Median months of work experience of newest entering class: 49

• Middle 80% range of work experience of newest entering class in months:

  • From: 27
  • To: 98
• • Median age of entering class: 27
  • Mean age of entering class: 28

FINANCIAL AID

• • Full-time MBAs apply for financial aid through: Central financial aid office at the university
  • Full-time MBAs who applied for financial aid for the current academic year: 75 %
  • Full-time MBAs receiving financial aid in the current academic year: 73 %
  • Mean MBA financial aid package for the current academic year: $46,051.00
  • Median MBA financial aid package for the current academic year: $45,910.00
  • On what basis are scholarships awarded?
    • some other criteria
    • academic merit
  • How does an applicant apply for scholarship consideration? Unique scholarship application
  • Mean scholarship awarded to full-time MBAs in the previous academic year: $20,913.00
  • Percentage of first-year students receiving financial aid who receive at least the same amount in their second year of study: 100 %
  • Does the school offer a guaranteed loan to all MBAs regardeless of nationality? No

GMAT

• • Are applicants required to take the GMAT? Yes
  • Are applicants allowed to submit the GRE? No

• GMAT score distribution (applicant pool):

  • 25th Percentile 600
  • 50th Percentile (median) 650
  • 10th Percentile 550
  • 75th Percentile 690
  • 90th Percentile 710
  • Average GMAT Score 635

• GMAT score distribution (incoming class):

  • 25th Percentile 600
  • 50th Percentile (median) 640
  • 75th Percentile 680
  • 90th Percentile 710
  • 10th Percentile 563
  • Average GMAT Score 641

CLASS OFFERINGS

• • Average number of students in a full-time MBA core class: 64
  • Average number of students in a full-time MBA elective class: 37
  • Elective courses available to full-time MBA students: 88

• Electives that have been added to the full-time program since June 30, 2010:

  • Accounting Based Valuation

• Concentrations and specializations offered to full-time MBA students:

  • • Finance
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Marketing
    • Real Estate
    • Accounting
    • Operations Management
    • Strategy
  • Concentrations in Business Analytics; Financial Consulting; Management; General Business; Finance Specializations in Alternative Assets, Investments, Corp. Finance, Energy Finance

• Joint-degree programs offered to full-time MBAs:

  • • MBA/MA (Arts)
    • MBA/JD (Law)
• • Does the school offer an accelerated full-time MBA program? No

• The school believes that its leading areas of study for full-time MBA students are:

  • • Finance
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Marketing
    • Strategy
    • Accounting

FACULTY

• • Faculty employed by the B-school: 123

• Full-time faculty:

  • Tenured: 40
  • Non-Tenured: 43

• Adjunct/Visiting Faculty:

  • Tenured: 0
  • Non-Tenured: 40

• Women on Faculty:

  • Tenured: 5
  • Non-Tenured: 33

• Minority Faculty:

  • Tenured: 3
  • Non-Tenured: 12

• International Faculty:

  • Tenured: 4
  • Non-Tenured: 15

• Faculty with PhDs:

  • Tenured: 39
  • Non-Tenured: 49

STUDENT LIFE

• Professional clubs available to full-time MBA students:

  • • Corporate Social Responsibility/NetImpact
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Consulting
    • Other
    • Finance
    • Marketing
    • Nonprofit
    • VC/ Private Equity
    • High Tech
    • Information Technology
    • Investment Banking

• Networking clubs available to full-time MBA students:

  • • International Club
    • Partners/Family
    • Women in MBA
    • Other
    • Volunteer
    • Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual
    • Wine

TEACHING/ACADEMICS

• Teaching methods used:

  • Case Study: 30 %
  • Distance Learning: 0 %
  • Experiential Learning: 10 %
  • Lectures: 25 %
  • Simulations: 10 %
  • Team Projects: 25 %
  • Other: 0 %

• Requirements for graduation:

  • • Students are required to complete international experience
    • Students must have attended a minimum number of classes
    • Students must have earned a pre-determined GPA/Letter grade average
    • Other
  • Meet proficiency in Business Presentation Techniques

TECHNOLOGY

• • Technology improvements in the last three academic years: We are broadening our focus on cloud technologies and online collaboration. Our labs are all multi-platform O/S deployed. We have doubled the throughput and improved the capacity of our wireless networks. Our Business Information Center has been completely redesigned to include a state-of-the-art trading center with interactive data walls. We produce over 30 hours of classroom and event video a week. We offer a forward-thinking approach that embraces heterogeneous technologies.
  • Amount spent: $2,500,000.00

B-SCHOOL ALUMNI

• • Living MBA alumni: 11,049
  • Active MBA alumni clubs: 30
  • Countries in which MBA clubs exist: 22
  • Living MBA alumni who gave in past year: 14 %
  • Mean gift from MBA alumni: $100.00
  • Median gift from MBA alumni: $487.00
  • Did school receive an individual gift in excess of $10 million in the past academic year? No
  • Business School endowment: $170,920,461.00
  • 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: https://perunanet.net
  • Does the B-School have an alumni networking Web site? Yes
  • Business school alumni networking site: https://www.coxalums.com/
  • Does the B-SCHOOL offer career services for alumni? Yes
  • Do current MBA students have access to an alumni database? Yes

CAREER SERVICES

• • Graduates seeking full-time professional MBA employment: 90 %
  • Graduates not seeking employment: 17 %
  • Graduates for whom you have no information regarding employment: 0 %

• Annual job-searching trips that the school coordinates or participates in:

  • Destination: NBMBAA Conference and Career Expo
  • Month: October
  • Amount Paid By School: Partial
  • Destination: NSHMBA Conference and Career Expo
  • Month: October
  • Amount Paid By School: Partial
  • Destination: MBA Veterans Conference
  • Month: October
  • Amount Paid By School: Partial
  • Destination: Reach Out Annual Conference
  • Month: October
  • Amount Paid By School: Partial
  • Destination: Wall Street Trek
  • Month: September
  • Amount Paid By School: None

• Primary source of job offer:

  • School-facilitated activities: 68 %
  • Graduate-facilitated activities: 29 %
  • No information provided by graduate: 3 %

• Job Offers for 2011 graduates

  • Received first job offer by graduation: 67 %
  • Received first job offer in three months following graduation: 16 %
  • Received first job offer more than 3 months after graduation: 4 %
  • Did not report having received a job offer: 13 %
  • Accepted first job offer by graduation: 61 %
  • Accepted first job offer in three months following graduation: 20 %
  • Accepted first job offer more than 3 months after graduation: 4 %
  • Did not report having accepted a job offer: 15 %

• Top recruiting organizations most recent academic year:

  • Ericsson 4
  • Essilor of America 4
  • Agrium Advanced Technologies 3
  • American Airlines 3
  • Deloitte Consulting 3
  • 7-Eleven 2
  • Caddis Partners 2
  • Caelus Energy 2
  • Ernst & Young 2
  • PriceWaterhouseCoopers 2
  • Southwest Airlines 2
  • AT & T 1
  • Credit Suisse 1
  • ExxonMobil 1
  • Kimberly-Clark 1
• • Job-accepting graduates who received a signing bonus: 34 %

• Base salary, signing bonuses and other compensation for most recent employed graduates:

  • Mean base salary: $84,465.00
  • Median base salary: $82,400.00
  • Mean signing bonus: $12,333.00
  • Median signing bonus: $10,000.00

• Graduating students who accepted jobs in the following functional areas:

  • Consulting: 10 %
  • Finance/Accounting: 48 %
  • General Management: 8 %
  • Human Resources: 0 %
  • Marketing/Sales: 25 %
  • Management Information Systems: 0 %
  • Operations/Logistics: 4 %
  • Other: 5 %

• Graduating students who accepted jobs in the following industries:

  • Government: 0 %
  • Consulting: 8 %
  • Consumer Products: 10 %
  • Financial Services: 21 %
  • Manufacturing: 6 %
  • Media/Entertainment: 1 %
  • Non-Profit: 0 %
  • Petroleum/Energy: 12 %
  • Pharmaceutical/Biotechnology/Health Care: 4 %
  • Real Estate: 8 %
  • Technology: 8 %
  • Other: 22 %

• Graduates who accepted full-time jobs in the following regions:

  • Africa: 0 %
  • Asia: 0 %
  • Europe: 0 %
  • North America: 99 %
  • Latin America and the Caribbean: 1 %

• Within the U.S., graduates who accepted full-time jobs in the following regions:

  • Northeast: 1 %
  • Mid-Atlantic: 3 %
  • South: 1 %
  • Southwest: 92 %
  • Midwest: 3 %
  • West: 0 %
  • Possessions and territories: 0 %

• Top recruiting organizations for internships, most recent academic year:

  • American Airlines 5
  • Agrium Advanced Technologies 4
  • Credit Suisse 4
  • Essilor of America 4
  • Bank of America-Merrill Lynch 3
  • Caelus Energy 3
  • FedEx Services 3
  • Oxy Sure 3
  • PriceWaterhouseCoopers 3
  • AT & T 2
  • Booz Allen Hamilton 2
  • Goldman Sachs 2
  • Intel 2
  • Samsung 2
  • TXU Energy 2
• • Internships awarded that are paid: 75 %

• Weekly internship compensation:

  • Mean: $1,091.00
  • Median: $1,000.00
• • Average internship length in weeks: 10

SCHOOL COMMENTS

• • School Comments: The Cox Full-Time MBA is designed for young professionals who desire the degree, the knowledge and the skills to accelerate or alter their career paths. It provides a solid foundation in business through full-time academic study, leadership training, mentoring and career development. The modular curriculum, consisting of 8-week courses, allows students to select from a broad range of offerings and develop skills applicable in the next steps of their careers and in global business leadership.

• • -My experience at SMU has far surpassed my expectations. I learned more in two years at SMU than I would have learned in 5-10 years of work experience. In addition to the classroom learning, my classmates, local businessmen, and extra programs provided me with an extremely well-rounded educational experience.
    
    -SMU's Cox School of Business is exceptionally challenging but it awards students with the tools they need to succeed. Because Dallas is such a business-oriented city and we have such a large amount of alumni, SMU is the natural choice for businesses to recruit.
    
    -The program at SMU was excellent and strongly exceeded my expectations. SMU is a top ranked program with excellent faculty and the benefit of a smaller class size. This provides for great access to both professors and other administration. The level of personal attention and service was very strong. In addition, SMU is very well connected with the business community in Dallas. The networking opportunities are incredible, especially for those who plan to pursue a career in Texas. The SMU Cox brand is continuing to strengthen and I believe the program will continue to improve under current leadership.
    
    -SMU is incredibly expensive for the quality of education and they did not provide me with much financial aid other than loans. At the same time, they do award full scholarships to Cox scholars which are merit-based and not necessarily need-based. Overall, I was happy with the marketing department professors which was my concentration but I had at least a couple of terrible professors that were way below my expectations.
    
    -Obtaining my MBA at SMU was an incredible experience. The quality of the professors, the caliber of the students, the outside opportunities provided by the university (fully-funded international travel, equity portfolio and venture capital practices, access to the "movers and shakers" in Dallas and the Southwest) far exceeded my expectations. I turned down Kellogg and the University of Texas to come here, and I have not regretted it for a minute.
    
    -SMU Cox was perfect because my return on investment was greater than any other program possibly could be. I got a full scholarship, and ended up getting my dream job as a management consultant at the top ranked firm. Had I paid $90,000 in tuition to go to a higher-ranked MBA program, I couldn't possibly do better for job placement. I'm 120 percent satisfied with my MBA experience at SMU Cox. My exposure to Fortune 100 companies was great, and the programs location in Dallas is a huge competitive advantage. The professors are encouraging, well-respected in their fields, and very willing to interact with students. I was a graduate assistant for three different professors, which created opportunities for growth, leadership, and networking that you just cannot get at a bigger school.
    
    -Coming from the military, I relied on business school to aid in my transition to the business world, and I feel that I have been able to make this transition well because of my time at SMU. I also believe that Dallas is a great place to start your career, and there are many opportunities.
    
    -The school needs a more developed Career Management Center. SMU's network is fantastic but not always at our fingertips.
    
    -The ROI from the school's program is great especially for International students. The school supports through good scholarships and the dallas location makes the economics of the MBA program very student friendly.
    
    -SMU is a good school but highly regional. It's not the place to be if you are looking for investment banks or big management consulting firms as they recruit very rarely. However the education is excellent and could lead to great opportunities in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
    
    -I valued the small class side and the one on one experience I had with the teachers. I also felt that because of this the staff of the MBA program had a personal level of responsibility in my success outside of the program. I also believe that the program is on the rise which is another reason I think future students should attend this school.
    
    -SMU provides a myriad of classes, tailored for several concentrations within business and the professors teaching those classes are of the highest caliber. Several points that stick out about SMU include its global leadership program--which sends students to international destinations to educate them on international business practices--and the mentor program--which places current students with past students who are knowledgeable in an array of fields.
    
    -SMU has a unique quality in its Global Leadership Program. This is a required trip for all students at the end of their first year. All students pick from three or four different trips to destinations like China, Europe, India, and South America. Here we meet with large corporations daily and discuss how they do business in a global economy. It was the single most incredible and rewarding experience I have had in business school. Outside of meeting with companies we got to enjoy the culture, the nightlife, and cultivate stronger relationships with our classmates. It was truly an incredible.
    
    -SMU Cox is a top regional school. While it may never be a national school such as Harvard, Wharton, or Stanford, its location and reputation in Dallas enables students to be exposed to just as many opportunities as the top 10 schools do; but the placements are more concentrated geographically. This would be a cause for concern were it not for the booming economy of the Southwestern US and Texas in particular.