University of Washington

PROGRAM BASICS

• • Michael G. Foster School of Business
  • Evening MBA Program
  • 110 Mackenzie, Box 353200
  • University of Washington, Seattle
  • Seattle, 98195-3200, Washington
  • United States
  • Program Web site: http://www.foster.washington.edu/academic/eveningmba/Pages/eveningmba.aspx
  • E-mail: mba@uw.edu
• • Percentage of part-time students who graduate within six years of entering program: 99 %
  • Average months to complete program: 30
  • Maximum months permitted to complete program: 72
  • Does the school have a separate full-time MBA program? Yes
  • If so, can part-time students switch to the full-time program? No

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

  • Resident: $20,094.00
  • Non-Resident: $20,094.00

• Tuition per credit:

  • Resident $917.00
  • Non-resident $917.00
• • Graduate business school is accredited by: Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)

SCHOOL BASICS

• Graduate business school enrollment:

  • Total: 749
  • Full-Time MBA: 248
  • Part-Time MBA: 292
  • Executive MBA: 127
  • PhD Program: 82
• • Undergraduate business school enrollment: 1,875
  • Graduate degree programs: Master of Accounting, Other

ADMISSIONS, SELECTIVITY AND YIELD

• • Total applications, most recent entering class: 200
  • Applications accepted, most recent entering class: 59 %
  • Admitted students enrolled: 80 %
  • Applicants wait-listed during the last admissions cycle: 3
  • Wait-listed applicants admitted for the semester to which they applied: 1
  • Applicant interviews are: By invitation only

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

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

• GMAT score distribution (applicant pool)

  • 25th Percentile 540
  • 10th Percentile 510
  • 75th Percentile 670
  • 50th Percentile (median) 610
  • Average GMAT Score 615
  • 90th Percentile 710

• GMAT score distribution (incoming class)

  • 10th Percentile 550
  • 25th Percentile 570
  • 50th Percentile (median) 620
  • 90th Percentile 710
  • 75th Percentile 690
  • Average GMAT Score 631
• • 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 Internet Based Test
    • TOEFL Paper-based Test
    • U Michigan Language Test
• • Minimum paper-based TOEFL: 600

• Relative Importance of Application Elements:

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

CLASS PROFILE

• • Female students: 32 %
  • International students: 26 %

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

  • African American: 1 %
  • Asian American: 11 %
  • Hispanic or Latino American: 0 %
  • Native American: 0 %
  • White (Non-Hispanic): 66 %
  • Chose not to report: 19 %
  • Other: 3 %

• Postgraduate work experience (months):

  • Mean: 82
  • Median: 75
  • From: 28
  • To: 130
  • One year or less: 1 %

• Base salary of entering part-time MBA students:

  • Mean: $74,742.00
  • Median: $72,000.00

• Middle 80% range:

  • From: $45,200.00
  • To: $109,200.00

• Entering students work in the following functional areas:

  • Consulting: 1 %
  • Finance/Accounting: 21 %
  • General Management: 16 %
  • Human Resources: 2 %
  • Marketing/Sales: 14 %
  • Management Information Systems: 17 %
  • Operations/Production: 24 %
  • Other: 5 %

• Entering students work in the following industries:

  • Consulting: 3 %
  • Consumer Products: 7 %
  • Financial Services: 10 %
  • Government: 4 %
  • Manufacturing: 17 %
  • Media/Entertainment: 0 %
  • Non-Profit: 3 %
  • Petroleum/Energy: 0 %
  • Pharmaceutical/Biotechnology/Health Care: 9 %
  • Real Estate: 2 %
  • Technology: 36 %
  • Other: 9 %
• • Mean age, newest entering class: 30
  • Median age, newest entering clas: 30

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: 40 %

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

  • Institutional Scholarships: 2 %
  • Assistantships: 0 %
  • Loans (private and government): 97 %
• • Mean financial aid package: $20,531.00
  • Median financial aid package: $20,398.00
  • On what basis are scholarships awarded? A combination of need and merit
  • Full-tuition scholarships awarded, 2011-12: 0
  • How does an applicant apply for scholarship consideration? Part of the admissions application
  • Does school offer a guaranteed loan to all part-time MBAs? No
  • Mean outstanding debt at graduation: $49,100.00

FACULTY

• • Faculty employed by the B-school: 155

• Full-time faculty:

  • Tenured: 55
  • Non-Tenured: 45

• Adjunct/Visiting Faculty:

  • Tenured: 0
  • Non-Tenured: 55

• Women on Faculty:

  • Tenured: 11
  • Non-Tenured: 34

• Minority Faculty:

  • Tenured: 13
  • Non-Tenured: 18

• International Faculty:

  • Tenured: 9
  • Non-Tenured: 23

• Faculty with PhDs:

  • Tenured: 55
  • Non-Tenured: 62
• • Faculty on company boards: 14

STUDENT LIFE

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

  • • Biotech/Health care
    • Corporate Social Responsibility/NetImpact
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Finance
    • Marketing
    • Nonprofit
    • High Tech
    • VC/ Private Equity
    • Consulting

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

  • • International Club
    • Hispanic Student Organization
    • Volunteer
    • Women in MBA
    • Partners/Family
• • 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: 30 %
  • Experiential Learning: 5 %
  • Lectures: 35 %
  • Team Projects: 30 %
• • Estimated number of hours per week students spend on classwork, excluding time spent in class: 21
  • Teachers in the part-time program: 27
  • Tenured teachers in the part-time program: 18
  • Faculty also teaching in full-time program: 91 %
  • Average core class size: 51
  • Average elective class size: 40
  • Electives available: 62

• Recently added electives:

  • Fixed Income
  • Asset Allocation
  • MBA Field Studies
• • Last curriculum revision: 2011
  • Recent curriculum changes: The leadership and professional development curriculum have been restructured. Two additional credits of ethics were added to the core curriculum.

• Concentrations and specializations offered to part-time MBAs:

  • • Accounting
    • Finance
    • General Management
    • Marketing
    • E-commerce
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Leadership
    • Operations Management
    • Organizational Behavior
    • Strategy
    • International Business
    • Public Administration

• Additional concentrations offered:

  • Sustainable Real Estate Development
  • Self-Designed Concentration
• • Does the B-school offer an accelerated part-time MBA program? No

• Leading areas of study:

  • • Entrepreneurship
    • Finance
    • International Business
    • Marketing
    • Manufacturing and Technology Management

• 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: 73

TECHNOLOGY

• • Technology improvements in the last three academic years: Greatly expanded wireless capacity. Expansion of Sharepoint throughout system. Adoption of CRM system across all MBA programs.
  • Amount spent: $1,300,000.00

B-SCHOOL ALUMNI

• • Living MBA alumni: 12,293
  • Active MBA alumni clubs: 21
  • Countries in which MBA clubs exist: 11
  • Living MBA alumni who gave in past year: 11 %
  • Mean gift from MBA alumni: $851.00
  • Median gift from MBA alumni: $100.00
  • Did school receive an individual gift in excess of $10 million in the past academic year? No
  • Business school endowment $1,097,000.00
  • 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: http://www.washington.edu/alumni/careers/hcn/index.html
  • 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://www.foster.washington.edu/corporations/mba_careerservices/Pages/MBAAlumniCareerServices.aspx
  • 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

• • -It's a longer program than the alternatives in the area (3 yrs), but it's by far the best. The quality of students and faculty is high. The number of electives offered are high as opposed to some other school that don't offer electives at all.
    
    -University of Washington's Foster School of Business helped me to dramatically change my life, both in terms of my career and my approach to problem solving in both my personal and professional lives. I don't think the same way anymore; my approach to complex situations and challenges is more focused, less scattered, more systematic, and more reasoned. It was the program that helped me to learn this new way of thinking, so I owe a great deal to Foster and its people. I'd absolutely urge my friends and colleagues to have the same chance to make such a positive change in their lives via the Foster experience.
    
    -More flexibility in first 2 years of program - core class requirements in first 2 years are strict. More opportunities and incentives for part time students to participate in case competitions, while still working full tome and earning course credits.
    
    -The best part of the program for me, other than the education, was the access to a vibrant and local Alumni network. My friend or colleagues looking to make a change in career like I did and not looking to move to a different city would benefit greatly from the program. Several events were organized to get students plugged into the investment and business communities present in the area.
    
    -There is a lot of emphasis on keeping the Evening program on par with the full time program. This means that class workload was essentially the same for full and part time students. However part time students tended to have full time employment and family obligations. This made the workload relatively more burdensome for part time students than for full time students. The program should explore ways to make the quality of education similar between the two programs without relying on making the workload the same. A different model might be more appropriate for part time students than for full timers.
    
    -The UW Evening MBA is extremely rigorous and rewarding. The caliber of the students in the classroom is extremely high. The team-based environment was really effective.
    
    -I am confident that all MBA programs care more about their ranking and image than their students. While one would think that if they took care of their students, the rankings would be higher. However, the reality is that the office focuses on marketing the program instead of the students that are in the program. Sure they give you some free cake and talk about how great the year will be, but there really isn't a feeling of investment and interest in the students. And after you spent your 2 to 3 years invested in the program, they rely on your desire to make your hard earned degree as appealing as possible to give positive reviews. They don't say anything directly to the students about giving positive reviews, but they are definitely interested in us taking the survey and other students justify gaming the scores to prevent hurting ourselves.
    
    -The quality of the faculty and fellow students at the UW Evening MBA program were very good. The students come from diverse backgrounds and a lot of successful companies like Boeing, Microsoft, Amazon, Starbucks, T-Mobile etc are represented which makes for good depth of discussion in class and exposure to various management styles, industry landscapes etc.
    
    -Foster's part time MBA program was exceptional, with the only significant drawback being my own limited ability to participate in extracurricular activities due to work commitments. The consideration is then whether a part-time program can provide the same level of immersion as a full time program, and this isn't specific to Foster.
    
    -I would highly recommend the part-time MBA program at the Foster School of Business to any of my friends/colleagues without any hesitation. The quality of education, the quality of students (peers), the flexibility, the excellent facilities, the personalized career services and access to an amazing network of students and alums makes the Foster MBA program one of the top programs.
    
    -Simply said, it combines smart people from diverse backgrounds, with great faculty, a research oriented university and a great student life. Having a diversified (i.e. work experience) student body in Seattle is impressive where there is a lot of tech workers. It enabled me to step out my technology bubble. Several of my friends have gone through Foster and all of them have good tales of their experience.
    
    -The program should get rid of "the forced curve" in grading. I know that certain professors assigned extra work solely for the purpose of helping to distribute the students' grades along the forced curve. That doesn't make any sense to me. If everyone in the class gets 100% on an exam, there shouldn't be any problem with giving everyone in the class an A.
    
    -Professors are good and the course work is interesting. The students are of very high quality and they do challenge you. There are so many ways you can get experience working in the field. Even as a student with a full-time job I was able to participate in field study, case competitions, business plan competition, non-profit leadership work and so on. The staff is very helpful and go out of their way to help you succeed in your career.
    
    -The program should step up the standard in some courses. Finance, Accounting and Marketing are good. But these can be made better. I would have liked to do more cases than just some little assignments. Cases are where we apply the learning, the rest is just formulas.
    
    -My Foster MBA experience was valuable. I enjoyed the learning experience, expanded my knowledge and grasp of business models, and have advanced in my career. The Foster program is well designed, the core classes build on one another, and the subsequent elective requirements are robust. Again, it was an excellent and rewarding experience. I would recommend it to anyone looking to differentiate themselves and move forward in their firm (or advance with a new firm). Indeed, I already have recommended the Foster program to a couple of my peers.