PART-TIME MBA Profiles Publish Date 11/05/09

Boston University

School of Management

Getting In

PROGRAM BASICS

Professional Evening MBA Program

School of Management

595 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston , Massachusetts 02215 United States

Program Web site:

http://management.bu.edu/gpo/parttime/index.html

Status:

Private Institution

E-mail:

mba@bu.edu

Part-time enrollment (2009-10):

697

Times offered:

Evenings

Alternate weekends

Occasional week-long sessions

Semesters offered:

Fall

Spring

Summer

Percentage of part-time students who graduate within six years of entering program:

80 %

Part-time MBAs graduating since program began:

12,490

Average months to complete program:

Maximum months permitted to complete program:

Does the school have a separate full-time MBA program?

Yes

If so, can part-time students switch to the full-time program?

Tuition and Fees: (Based on six credits in the fall and six credits in the spring)

Resident: $ 14,358
Non-Resident: $ 14,358

Tuition per credit:

$ 1,184

Graduate business school is accredited by:

AACSB International

Other

Commission on Accred of Healthcare Mgmt Education

SCHOOL BASICS

Graduate business school enrollment:

Total: 1,198
Full-Time MBA: 333
Part-time MBA: 697
Executive MBA: 39
PhD Program: 32

Undergraduate business school enrollment:

2,016

Graduate degree programs:

Other graduate degree programs:

Master of Science in Investment Management; Master of Science in Mathematical Finance; Doctor of Philosophy in Mathematical Finance

ADMISSIONS, SELECTIVITY AND YIELD

Total applications, most recent entering class:

310

Applications accepted, most recent entering class:

68 %

Admitted students enrolled:

68 %

Applicants wait-listed during the last admissions cycle:

Wait-listed applicants admitted for the semester to which they applied:

Applicant interviews are:

By invitation only

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

Rolling admissions?

Yes

GMAT required?

Yes

If not, how are applicants' quantitative abilities checked?

N/A

Average GMAT:

613

Median GMAT:

610

Middle 80% GMAT:

From: 540
To: 710

Is proficiency in English required?

Yes

Is a minimum score on an English language proficiency test required?

Yes

Which English language proficiency tests are accepted?

IELTS

TOEFL Computer Based

TOEFL Internet Based Test

TOEFL Paper-based Test

Minimum paper-based TOEFL:

600

Relative Importance of Application Elements:

GMAT Score:

Important

Resume/Work Experience:

Very Important

Application Essays:

Important

Interviews:

Very Important

Recommendations:

Important

Undergraduate Transcripts:

Very Important

CLASS PROFILE

Female students:

44 %

International students:

0 %

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

African American: 1 %
Asian American: 12 %
Hispanic or Latino American: 1 %
Multiethnic/Multiracial : 5 %
Native American: 0 %
White (Non-Hispanic): 65 %
Chose not to report: 10 %
Other: 6 %

Postgraduate work experience (months):
Mean:

Median:

Middle 80% range:

From: 28
To: 100

One year or less:

4 %

Middle 80% range:

From: N/A
To: N/A

Mean entering student age:

Median entering student age:

Entering students work in the following functional areas:

N/A

Entering students work in the following industries:

N/A

FINANCIAL AID

Part-time MBAs apply for financial aid through:

Dedicated financial aid office at the B-school

Students receiving some form of financial aid in 2009-10:

44 %

Of part-time MBA students who applied for financial aid for the 2009-10 academic year, percentage receiving:

Institutional Scholarships: 0 %
Assistantships: 0 %
Loans (private and government): 100 %

Mean financial aid package:

$ 19,487

Median financial aid package:

$ 20,500

Does school offer a guaranteed loan to all part-time MBAs?

Academics & Lifestyle

FACULTY

Faculty employed by the B-school:

190

Full-time faculty:

Tenured: 54
Non-Tenured: 65

Adjunct/Visiting Faculty:

Tenured: 0
Non-Tenured: 77

Women on Faculty:

Tenured: 11
Non-Tenured: 43

Minority Faculty:

N/A

International Faculty:

Tenured: 16
Non-Tenured: 17

Faculty with PhDs:

Tenured: 54
Non-Tenured: 70

STUDENT LIFE

Active MBA specialization clubs open to part-time students:

Biotech/Health care

Consulting

Corporate Social Responsibility/NetImpact

Entrepreneurship

Environmental

Finance

Information Technology

Marketing

Media & Entertainment

Nonprofit

Other

Active MBA networking clubs open to part-time students:

Black MBA Association

Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual

Hispanic Student Organization

International Club

Partners/Family

Volunteer

Women in MBA

Other

Do part-time MBA students have their own area/center on campus?

Do part-time MBA students have break-out rooms?

Yes

TEACHING/ACADEMICS

Teaching Methods:

Case Study: 50 %
Distance Learning: 0 %
Experiential Learning: 5 %
Lectures: 30 %
Simulations: 5 %
Team Projects: 10 %
Other: 0 %

Estimated number of hours per week students spend working in class and outside the classroom:

Teachers in the part-time program:

101

Tenured teachers in the part-time program:

Faculty also teaching in full-time program:

78 %

Faculty with at least five years of full-time corporate experience:

60 %

Average core class size:

Average elective class size:

Electives available:

Recently added electives:

Business Transformation
Clean Energy Services: Financial Models and Incentives
Applied Ethics
Improving Your Decisions
International Entrepreneurship
Employer Consulting Project

Last curriculum revision:

2005

Recent curriculum changes:

N/A

Concentrations and specializations offered to part-time MBAs:

Entrepreneurship

Finance

General Management

International Business

Marketing

Strategy

Other

Additional concentrations offered:

Health Sector Management
Public & Non-Profit Management

Does the B-school offer an accelerated part-time MBA program?

Leading areas of study:

Finance

Health Care Administration

Marketing

Public Administration

Technology

Graduation requirements:

Students must have attended a minimum number of classes

Students must have earned a pre-determined GPA/letter grade average

Credits required to graduate:

TECHNOLOGY

Technology improvements in the last three academic years:

During FY09 the art, science and technology of business education delivery was leveraged by expanded use of video capture of lectures, virtual meeting spaces, team collaboration products, digital signage, and social networking software. These focus areas and services compliments SMG’s open source portfolio consisting of Sakai (course management system) and u-portal. The program also piloted mobile application development projects and launched various green computing initiatives to reduce carbon footprints, energy utilization and overall resource consumption.

Amount spent:

$ 5,320,842

Alumni Affairs & Careers

B-SCHOOL ALUMNI

Living MBA alumni:

15,783

Active MBA alumni clubs:

Countries in which MBA clubs exist:

Living MBA alumni who gave in past year:

11 %

Mean gift from MBA alumni:

$ 625

Median gift from MBA alumni:

$ 230

Did school receive an individual gift in excess of $10 million in the past academic year?

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.bu.edu/life/alumni/careers/can/

Does the B-School have an alumni networking Web site?

Yes

Business school alumni networking site:

http://www.bu.edu/alumni/

Do current MBA students have access to an alumni database?

Yes

CAREER SERVICES

Do part-time MBAs have access to career development office?

Yes

If yes, at what point in the degree process are part-time MBA students able to use the service?

At any time

Are part-time MBAs permitted to interview for full-time jobs?

Yes

Are part-time students included in resume drops?

Yes

Organizations that send the most participants to the part-time MBA program:

State Street Corporation	8
Fidelity	6
Harvard University	5
Genzyme	3
Raytheon	3

Graduate Comments

The school offered a lot of opportunities to network with your peers. As a part time student I didn�t feel I needed adjust to the B-school community. The adjustment happened naturally. I think this might be more important for full timers who are really changing their lifestyle.

Less teamwork would have improved the classroom experience. Again, there is a large disconnect between academia and the working world. The concept of teamwork in the classroom is fine but it does not translate as effectively as it does in the working world. Too often there was difficulty getting 4-5 people, with different schedules and responsibilities, moving in the same direction. On top of that, professors often pitted students against each other by requiring the grading of our peers' contributions to the team. So, minor issues like schedule conflicts become much larger than they need to be. The faculty should step out of the box and develop a new way to derive the benefits and experiences that teamwork can bring because the system is failing the way it currently exists.

I believe that BU does, in fact, put more focus on the part-time MBA program than other schools in the area. Achieving an MBA part-time is a tremendous amount of work and takes an almost inhuman work-ethic. Most professors and staff understand that. Boston University is also just a fantastic school. I believe it is the highest caliber program in the area.

I think that the BU program has some excellent professors, but as a part time student (which is likely true at most programs) they have a tougher time finding professors that can meet your schedule. This is especially apparent during the summer sessions, when undergraduate and full-time MBAs are not in session. Students have come up the term, "professor roulette" when signing up for summer classes, since some of the professors have been exceptional while others appear to have been randomly picked for the job. Due to the fact that so many of the professors are adjunct, it is difficult to research their effectiveness.

I was fortunate to have the time and inclination to become involved in a club (The Women's MBA Association) and serve on its board. There are opportunities for part-time students in many of the clubs, however one has to have the flexibility to meet before class (5-6 pm usually) which some part-timers can't do. My involvement in the club served to fill a gap I was feeling as a part-timer in terms of belonging to the community. It is a complaint I hear about all Part-time MBA programs and I do believe BU is doing a better job than the surrounding institutions. However, I think more can be done.

I felt the adjunct professors were a real strength. Several of the adjunct professors were better communicators than the full time faculty. They were able to relate to the part-time students well and had extremely valuable business experience to share with the students.

There is a powerful pervasiveness of satisfying the customer at BU. If the students believe that the Professor is not effective, that person will be removed! I've seen it happen. They have a low tolerance for poor teaching. The instructors, therefore, are very eager to get the respect of their students. They are all very capable.

Grading is very stringent. I appreciate that--it is not a complaint. You EARN the grades you get.

I greatly appreciated the mix of full-time professors and adjunct faculty as it provided superior real-life experience with a solid background in "classic" business skills. As a part of the Asian Field Seminar we walked through factories in China where our professor had previously worked as a consultant. Where else can you get that kind of experience as a part-time MBA?

Better selection of instructors in the summer - given that part-time students typically take classes through the summer whereas full-time students are off on internships, I felt part-time students were discriminated against in this manner.