PROGRAM BASICS

• • Coles College of Business
  • Evening/Part-Time MBA
  • 1000 Chastain rd
  • GA
  • Kennesaw, 30144, Georgia
  • United States
  • Program Web site: http://www.colesmba.com
  • E-mail: colesmba@kennesaw.edu
• • Percentage of part-time students who graduate within six years of entering program: 87 %
  • Average months to complete program: 24
  • Maximum months permitted to complete program: 72
  • Does the school have a separate full-time MBA program? No

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

  • Resident: $4,688.00
  • Non-Resident: $12,524.00

• Tuition per credit:

  • Resident $250.00
  • Non-resident $903.00
• • Graduate business school is accredited by: Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), European Foundation for Mgt. Development (EFMD)

SCHOOL BASICS

• Graduate business school enrollment:

  • Total: 511
  • Part-Time MBA: 402
  • Executive MBA: 109
• • Graduate degree programs: Master of Accounting

ADMISSIONS, SELECTIVITY AND YIELD

• • Total applications, most recent entering class: 246
  • Applications accepted, most recent entering class: 32 %
  • Admitted students enrolled: 82 %
  • Applicants wait-listed during the last admissions cycle: 0
  • Applicant interviews are: By invitation only

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

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

• GMAT score distribution (applicant pool)

  • 50th Percentile (median) 490
  • 90th Percentile 630
  • 75th Percentile 560
  • 25th Percentile 410
  • 10th Percentile 330
  • Average GMAT Score 487

• GMAT score distribution (incoming class)

  • 25th Percentile 560
  • 10th Percentile 530
  • 50th Percentile (median) 590
  • 75th Percentile 620
  • 90th Percentile 680
  • Average GMAT Score 592
• • 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?

  • • Other
    • IELTS
    • TOEFL Internet Based Test
    • TOEFL Paper-based Test

• Other additional English language proficiency tests accepted

  • IELTS
• • Minimum paper-based TOEFL: 550

• Relative Importance of Application Elements:

  • GMAT Score: Very Important
  • Resume/Work Experience: Very Important
  • Application Essays: Important
  • Interviews Considered
  • Recommendations: Important
  • Undergraduate Transcripts: Very Important

CLASS PROFILE

• • Female students: 47 %
  • International students: 10 %

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

  • African American: 8 %
  • Asian American: 5 %
  • Hispanic or Latino American: 7 %
  • Multiethnic/Multiracial: 2 %
  • White (Non-Hispanic): 60 %
  • Chose not to report: 8 %
  • Other: 10 %

• Postgraduate work experience (months):

  • Mean: 132
  • Median: 108
  • From: 36
  • To: 168
  • One year or less: 0 %

• Entering students work in the following functional areas:

  • Finance/Accounting: 20 %
  • General Management: 28 %
  • Marketing/Sales: 17 %
  • Management Information Systems: 10 %
  • Operations/Production: 15 %

• Entering students work in the following industries:

  • Consumer Products: 17 %
  • Financial Services: 20 %
  • Government: 15 %
  • Manufacturing: 15 %
  • Non-Profit: 9 %
  • Pharmaceutical/Biotechnology/Health Care: 9 %
  • Technology: 10 %
  • Other: 5 %

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

  • Shaw 62
  • Mohawk 28
• • Mean age, newest entering class: 33
  • Median age, newest entering clas: 32

FINANCIAL AID

• • Part-time MBAs apply for financial aid through: Central financial aid office at the university
  • Students receiving some form of financial aid in 2011-12: 80 %

• Of part-time MBA students who applied for financial aid for the 2011-12 academic year, percentage receiving:

  • Assistantships: 5 %
  • Loans (private and government): 95 %
• • Mean financial aid package: $20,500.00
  • On what basis are scholarships awarded? A combination of need and merit
  • How does an applicant apply for scholarship consideration? Unique scholarship application
  • Does school offer a guaranteed loan to all part-time MBAs? Only to domestic students
  • Mean outstanding debt at graduation: $20,500.00

FACULTY

• • Faculty employed by the B-school: 149

• Full-time faculty:

  • Tenured: 64
  • Non-Tenured: 60

• Adjunct/Visiting Faculty:

  • Tenured: 15
  • Non-Tenured: 10

• Women on Faculty:

  • Tenured: 33
  • Non-Tenured: 11

• Minority Faculty:

  • Tenured: 16
  • Non-Tenured: 14

• Faculty with PhDs:

  • Tenured: 60
  • Non-Tenured: 50
• • Faculty on company boards: 2

STUDENT LIFE

• Active MBA specialization clubs open to part-time students:

  • • Corporate Social Responsibility/NetImpact
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Human Resources
    • Marketing
    • Investment Banking

• Active MBA networking clubs open to part-time students:

  • • International Club
    • Black MBA Association
    • Hispanic Student Organization
• • Do part-time MBA students have their own area/center on campus? Yes
  • Do part-time MBA students have break-out rooms? Yes

TEACHING/ACADEMICS

• Teaching Methods:

  • Case Study: 25 %
  • Distance Learning: 10 %
  • Experiential Learning: 5 %
  • Lectures: 30 %
  • Simulations: 10 %
  • Team Projects: 20 %
• • Estimated number of hours per week students spend on classwork, excluding time spent in class: 20
  • Teachers in the part-time program: 69
  • Tenured teachers in the part-time program: 42
  • Faculty with at least five years of full-time corporate experience 74 %
  • Average core class size: 35
  • Average elective class size: 25
  • Electives available: 78

• Recently added electives:

  • Managing Information systems
• • Last curriculum revision: 2007
  • Recent curriculum changes: Global focus- requiring International business course in order to graduate

• Concentrations and specializations offered to part-time MBAs:

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

• Leading areas of study:

  • • Entrepreneurship
    • International Business
    • Leadership
    • Strategy
    • Management Information Systems

• 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: 36

TECHNOLOGY

• • Technology improvements in the last three academic years: New hardware and software added to classrooms to enable efficient learning (even across borders). i.e Professors teching students in classes around the world through our video technology added to the classrooms here.
  • Amount spent: $3,400,000.00

B-SCHOOL ALUMNI

• • Active MBA alumni clubs: 2
  • Countries in which MBA clubs exist: 1
  • Did school receive an individual gift in excess of $10 million in the past academic year? No
  • 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://community.kennesaw.edu/
  • Does the B-school offer career services for alumni? Yes
  • Does the B-School have an alumni networking Web site? Yes
  • Business school alumni networking site: http://coles.kennesaw.edu/networking/linkedin.htm
  • 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

• • -The learning environment is great. The flexibility makes it manageable. The knowledge gained was significant.
    
    -During the program I was given a shining recommendation for a summer internship by one of my professors. This internship lead to my being hired full time with the company at the end of the summer before I had completed the MBA. The MBA got my career off the ground and will hopefully open more doors with my company in the near future.
    
    -I enjoyed my experience at KSU and thought I received a quality education through the program. I liked the fact that it was flexible and you could choose courses tailored to your career interests.
    
    -I'd like to see higher standards for admittance. At the end of the capstone course, I was asked by a student to help rewrite their final paper. They did not perform well, and receive an "incomplete" for the course. The instructor recommended me to this person. My problem with this is that if this person cannot write a paper, why were they admitted in the first place (GMAT score), and how did they make it to the final MBA course?
    
    -I'd like to see the capstone class updated. It was fun, but I felt very rushed at the end to complete the individual compxm program, where as we had over 8 weeks to do the team exercise. I felt like I didn't have an opportunity to do as well on my own individually as I did with my team.
    
    -The Coles program has satellite campus locations, which is helpful for higher enrollment for different areas of the surrounding Atlanta communities. Also, the staff is extremely helpful and supportive to the students. They go above and beyond to assist students.
    
    -The career development aspect of the program could use the most improvement. Guest speakers and social events for MBA students with industry representatives would be nice to have.
    
    -This program is excellent. The accelerated format and web-based coursework are perfect for professionals with busy schedules. The program is fully AACSB accredited and the professors are very good.
    
    -The program offers no concentrations. Only a general MBA is awarded. Once concentrations are added, this program will be outstanding.
    
    -The professors were great, classes were very professional, and I learned so much over the 2 years at KSU that can apply to the real world, not just textbooks
    
    -If a professor is to take on an online course, they need to treat that course as though it were an in-person course. Some professors clearly put all their effort into their classroom courses, and the online course was treated as an afterthought. If a professor does not have time to take on an online course, he/she should not be allowed to take the responsibility.
    
    -I expected KSU to be sub-par in comparison to my undergraduate experience at a private university. This was not the case. KSU had a great program in which I was exposed to many situations I did not expect. I was challenged at an intellectual level as well as on a social level with the intense group work that was required. I would definitely recommend this as a top choice MBA program in Georgia
    
    -Some classes in the catalog are not offered very often or never offered, they should either be offered or eliminated from the catalog.
    
    -The professors are wonderful and so knowledgeable about real world business. Many of them are business owners and/or consultants, so they offer current and relevant education. The location of their Galleria satellite campus makes attending courses more convenient than any competing school in the area. Also, this program is a great value.