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

University of Maryland

Smith School of Business

Getting In

PROGRAM BASICS

Part-Time MBA Program

Robert H. Smith School of Business

Van Munching Hall
College Park , Maryland 20742 United States

Program Web site:

http://www.rhsmith.umd.edu/mba/programs/parttimemba.aspx

Status:

Public Institution

E-mail:

mba_info@rhsmith.umd.edu

Part-time enrollment (2009-10):

1,094

Times offered:

Evenings

Alternate weekends

Semesters offered:

Fall

Winter

Spring

Summer

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

91 %

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: $ 15
Non-Resident: $ 15

Tuition per credit:

$ 869

Graduate business school is accredited by:

AACSB International

SCHOOL BASICS

Graduate business school enrollment:

Total: 1,352
Full-Time MBA: 258
Part-time MBA: 1,094
Executive MBA: 28
PhD Program: 117

Undergraduate business school enrollment:

2,798

Graduate degree programs:

Other graduate degree programs:

MS Business:Accounting MS Business:Finance

ADMISSIONS, SELECTIVITY AND YIELD

Total applications, most recent entering class:

631

Applications accepted, most recent entering class:

86 %

Admitted students enrolled:

71 %

Applicants wait-listed during the last admissions cycle:

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

Applicant interviews are:

Not required

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

Rolling admissions?

GMAT required?

Yes

If not, how are applicants' quantitative abilities checked?

N/A

Average GMAT:

594

Median GMAT:

590

Middle 80% GMAT:

From: 510
To: 690

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:

Important

Application Essays:

Important

Interviews:

Not Considered

Recommendations:

Important

Undergraduate Transcripts:

Important

CLASS PROFILE

Female students:

37 %

International students:

8 %

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

African American: 11 %
Asian American: 21 %
Hispanic or Latino American: 4 %
Multiethnic/Multiracial : NA %
Native American: 1 %
White (Non-Hispanic): 58 %
Chose not to report: 5 %
Other: NA %

Postgraduate work experience (months):
Mean:

Median:

Middle 80% range:

From: 18
To: 108

One year or less:

7 %

Base salary of entering part-time MBA students:
Mean:

$ 69,730

Median:

$ 65,000

Middle 80% range:

From: $ 44,000
To: $ 97,500

Mean entering student age:

Median entering student age:

Entering students work in the following functional areas:

Consulting: 14 %
Finance/Accounting: 26 %
General Management: 5 %
Human Resources: 1 %
Marketing/Sales: 14 %
Management Information Systems: 12 %
Operations/Production: 17 %
Other: 11 %

Entering students work in the following industries:

Consulting: 11 %
Consumer Products: 3 %
Financial Services: 19 %
Government: 18 %
Manufacturing: 3 %
Media/Entertainment: 1 %
Non-Profit: 3 %
Petroleum/Energy: 2 %
Pharmaceutical/Biotechnology/Health Care: 6 %
Real Estate: 2 %
Technology: 18 %
Other: 14 %

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 2009-10:

0 %

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): 0 %

Mean financial aid package:

$ 0

Median financial aid package:

$ 0

On what basis are scholarships awarded?

Other

Full-tuition scholarships awarded, 2009-10:

How does an applicant apply for scholarship consideration?

Part of the admissions application

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

Maximum guaranteed loan:

$ 0

Academics & Lifestyle

FACULTY

Faculty employed by the B-school:

207

Full-time faculty:

Tenured: 72
Non-Tenured: 76

Adjunct/Visiting Faculty:

Tenured: 0
Non-Tenured: 0

Women on Faculty:

Tenured: 19
Non-Tenured: 20

Minority Faculty:

Tenured: 22
Non-Tenured: 23

International Faculty:

Tenured: 17
Non-Tenured: 34

Faculty with PhDs:

Tenured: 72
Non-Tenured: 90

STUDENT LIFE

Active MBA specialization clubs open to part-time students:

Biotech/Health care

Consulting

Corporate Social Responsibility/NetImpact

Entrepreneurship

Finance

Investment Banking

Marketing

Media & Entertainment

Other

Active MBA networking clubs open to part-time students:

Black MBA Association

Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual

Hispanic Student Organization

International Club

Women in MBA

Other

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: 0 %
Experiential Learning: 5 %
Lectures: 45 %
Simulations: 5 %
Team Projects: 20 %
Other: 0 %

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

Teachers in the part-time program:

106

Tenured teachers in the part-time program:

Faculty also teaching in full-time program:

100 %

Average core class size:

Average elective class size:

Electives available:

Recently added electives:

Pricing Strategies for Sustainable Competitive Advanta

Last curriculum revision:

2007

Recent curriculum changes:

The addition of selectives. Within the Globalizaton, Entrepreneurship & Technology fields, students will have a choice of courses to meet their requirements. The addition of two credit electives.

Concentrations and specializations offered to part-time MBAs:

Accounting

Corporate Social Responsibility

E-commerce

Entrepreneurship

Finance

General Management

International Business

Leadership

Marketing

Operations Management

Organizational Behavior

Strategy

Other

Additional concentrations offered:

Consulting
Management & Information Systems
Supply Chain Management
Technology
Portfolio Management

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

Leading areas of study:

Consulting

Entrepreneurship

Finance

Marketing

Strategy

Graduation requirements:

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

Credits required to graduate:

TECHNOLOGY

Technology improvements in the last three academic years:

Van Munching Hall, home to the Smith School, is one of the most technologically advanced business school buildings in the world. In 2008, a 38,000 square foot North Wing addition to Van Munching Hall opened. It houses four state-of-the-art classrooms, four conference rooms, and 10 student/team rooms and an executive meeting space equipped with a NASDAQ ticker. Recent upgrades to the original Van Munching Hall include the addition of video cameras, instructor touch panels, AV controls, and projection units. Other technology improvements include: a Mac Lab equipped with 20 iMac computers with 24” monitors and Adobe Creative Suite 3 and other media applications, along with scanners and printers. Many of our netcentric laboratories were upgraded. In the Supply Chain Lab, we now have the first Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) technology. In the Finance Lab, we added thin client hardware and now all finance applications are available via the Web. (Reuters Financial Certification is available.) The Behavioral Lab’s addition of an Audio Visual Lab is equipped with a Tobii eye tracker, along with audio and video capabilities to record team interactions and a large display screen to review and edit recorded data. Students have 1GB of e-mail and file storage space allotted to them and the Postini spam filter is in use. Smith uses PSync to allow a single sign on to access all UM online resources. A new Smith School Web site was launched in 2008 and video podcasts are available online and via iTunes. MBA Networth is the online community of practice for students. It includes course schedules, program announcements, classroom applications, virtual library, upcoming events, online directory and personal profiles. New improvements this year include student club sign up and work flow applications. This allows students to edit their profiles and sign up for specific clubs. The club memberships are permanently recorded in their profiles. Students are able to use the school’s CVENT online event management system to manage their club events. Turning Point software is installed in all classrooms allowing students to participate in classroom instruction using clickers for real-time results. In the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C., the Smith space was renovated and upgraded and all class and lab machines were replaced and additional printing services were added along with an upgrade to the wireless network, including the installation of a TLS line. New Bloomberg terminals were installed at the Ronald Reagan building for students to gain access to financial market information. These terminals also support the new Center for Financial Policy. The MySmith portal allows students to gain access to top industry database subscriptions and research applications such as Thomson Reuters, Standard and Poor's, Compustat, IBISWorld, RiskMetrics, DataStream Advance and other popular applications.

Amount spent:

$ 8,670,717

Alumni Affairs & Careers

B-SCHOOL ALUMNI

Living MBA alumni:

8,893

Active MBA alumni clubs:

Countries in which MBA clubs exist:

Living MBA alumni who gave in past year:

2 %

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

Business school endowment

$ 32,769,198

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://alumni.umd.edu/

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

Yes

Business school alumni networking site:

htt:www.alumninetwork.rhsmithumd.edu

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:

Lockheed Martin	22
Northrop Grumman	16
US Navy	10
Booz Allen Hamilton	9
T Rowe Price	8

Graduate Comments

I like the program format, the quality of the education, flexibility, and the options to tailor your course selections to your individual educational goals. I'm also in the Army Reserve and had many classes interrupted by temporary Army duty or mobilization. The school and instructors were incredibly accommodating to the extra challenges I faced.

The Smith MBA is among the best in the country, in my opinion. As an MBA student at Smith, I had the opportunity to learn management, strategy, and finance from expert professors who are well known in the industry. The program is comprehensive and well thought out with a mix of case studies, lectures, and experiential learning. In addition, the electives offered me a chance to delve in-depth into several areas that are key to a successful management career: global strategy, pricing, negotiations, new venture finance, valuations, game theory, M&A, and management consulting. The school also gave me the opportunity to participate in many extra-curricular activities that enhanced my learning and network toward a great post-MBA career.

I really loved my MBA experience. I already miss learning new things and seeing my classmates regularly. University of Maryland was a great choice. I went to a private university for undergrad, and was really blown away by the intelligence of my classmates at U of M.

The administration at Maryland was subpar. Teachers were good but the number of credits per class changed while I was attending, which made it difficult to graduate.

Great value for the money. Best program in DC area.

The cohort period was great for building camaraderie and a sense of community. The Baltimore facilities need improvement. The DC facilities are fantastic.

This program is very strong and any candidate from any school should know that you will get out of it exactly what you put into it. Smith will show you the door and provide top-notch professors. Case in point: even though I was starting my own company I completed the program in two years, went to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Tunisia, Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Hong Kong, Macau, and competed in a $15k business competition put on, judged and hosted by Kevin Plank, the CEO of Under Armor. All of this is thanks to the networks and exposure every student will have at Smith.

One of the best parts of the MBA program was my classmates. They were all completely competent, willing to work, and shared interesting experiences to facilitate the lesssons/topics under discussion. We really got to know each other over the past 3 years, and I consider many of them good friends.

Strengths: Instructors were almost always leading scholars in their fields and were published regularly. Furthermore, they respected us as students and were available for discussion before/after class and via email and the phone. Weaknesses: Often had to deal with large class sizes, which, by their nature, limited the instructors' ability to engage everyone in the discussions/debates.

Maryland offers all of the same opportunities as the top five MBA programs do, as far as resources and quality professors. If you're seeking a challenging MBA program with a leading edge on the global events, it would be Maryland.

I am very torn as to whether this was worth the time and money. Yes, I have learned a lot and gotten a new job, and I will have some great skills with me for the rest of my life. I have also met many great, talented people who will be valuable friends and contacts for many years to come. However, I feel the program has stopped caring about me as a student, and they have sold out their good name to cash in and take in as many students as possible. There is almost zero selectivity in admissions. Anybody with a pulse and a student loan can get in. Also, the school doesn't seem to know what it is. When I first applied it was all about "leaders for the digital age." That slogan is gone, now. So what is it? Georgetown is very clearly branded as an international program. Maryland should take advantage of its location and either go back to being a leader in high-tech MBA offerings, or focus on being in Washington DC and close to the federal government. About 2/3 of our class are either government employees or contractors--why not focus on the business of government? There is a single class offered that deals with the public sector. A truly missed opportunity.

There should be more career services for part-time students, especially closer to the teaching facilities.

Yes, there is an event almost every week. I could not name all the networking events I receive invites to.

I think better flexibility as to the number and timing of electives offered would help. The balance between core and electives is skewed too heavily towards generic, mainstream courses. The electives really help distinguish our skills in the marketplace. Making the core such a substantial potion of overall credits (unnecessarily, I might add) is a detriment to our marketability.

The school needs teachers with more outside experience and more learning from the book rather than class discussions.

All the instructors did their best to try and meet the needs of the students. They were all willing to make time for you to go over any area of interest or issues with a topic. They all had a wide variety of experiences and many were at the forefront of their field in research. The instructors were not easily accessible, although they made themselves available. The instructors' offices were located on the main campus, which was a little out of the way for most of us to visit, but they did try and accommodate us by coming to class earlier or staying later to attend to the students.