Isenberg School of Management

-The MBA program provided me with the opportunity necessary for the understanding of fundamentals principles of management and how it is applied to the development of capital business. It enhanced my skills to improve effectiveness through the processes of organizing, planning, scheduling, monitoring and controlling a variety of tasks that will enable me to manage more effectively. I learned the management skills needed to work in administrative and leadership positions in this competitive business environment. The MBA program provided more career mobility and the possibility of advancement beyond what my bachelor degree from India would allow.

-Working with the school administration was a nightmare. Disorganized!

-UMass is a career-changing program. It is a robust education that provides an entirely new perspective on my field. It has catapulted my career.

-I felt the classroom demographic was a bit older than I expected, but learned later that was due to the overlapping nature of the program with another one aimed at senior physicians. Otherwise, program was good.

-The program provided a great deal of flexibility that allowed me to continue working my normal schedule. Additionally I viewed the school as a good value based on cost and reputation.

-There were many doctors in the program, in fact too many. I felt this really hurt the discussions to an extent. Many talked too much about the hospital environment, rather than from the standpoint of a business environment. The school should consider offering an MBA experience for doctors alone, rather than mix them in with those who are looking for a business focus.

-I tell my friends in the military about the UMass MBA program all the time. It works well with our busy schedules. UMass is also an outstanding academic institution, which ensures the quality of the program.

-There were fees for skipping a consecutive semester that were absurd considering my first priority (and those of many part time students, I think) is my job. When job priorities take priority, I believe that the school should not penalize you. The money paid was not reimbursable.

-The course is very flexible at the same time providing the quality and ability to tweak the course in terms of the benefit factors. Some of the professors are extremely good in making you think about your career, how to launch it, and where it should be in the next few years.

-The inclusion of more leadership material into the program would be a big step in the right direction. Also, I had anticipated that an MBA would bring all the pieces of entrepreneurship together to form a clear picture, but that did not happen. A capstone course that ties everything together would be ideal.

I was recommended by friends to look at this MBA program and I would do the same, especially for someone who is looking for a more flexible style of learning, yet still is able to maintain their career while working a full time job. The faculty has a great depth of knowledge about new techniques and passes on their unique experience during classes. I found that extremely impressive and noticed that many programs lack that aspect.

-I often wished with curriculum was a bit more challenging; I sometimes found the theory classes to be a bit easy...I like a challenge! I did, however, find that challenge in my finance classes!

-This program afforded flexibility, solid instruction, a variety of modalities and experiences, and what I didn't anticipate and what was key - classmates that provided an amazing variety of experiences (from law, medicine, engineering, business) who were a mix of very seasoned to the newly graduated - who were able to share their experiences, which provided an exceedingly rich resource.

-I thought the college professors where first class. They where very attentive, know their topic, accessible, organized, and clear. They where also willing to work with you if you have personal conflicts. I did not have many but the few times I did, they where very accommodating. It is not to say they let me off, just gave me the opportunity to complete the work based on my schedule.

-My only issue with the MBA program was how large the discussions were. Many times keeping up with the discussions took longer than reading the material for the week. I often just skimmed through or posted as quickly as possible to avoid having to keep up with so many postings - the biggest improvement I think would be splitting the class into smaller discussion groups to make it more personal and less time consuming.

-I loved the flexibility of online courses and the quality of the education at Isenberg's online MBA was similar to what I experienced as an undergrad on campus at Isenberg.