George Mason University

PROGRAM BASICS

George Mason University School of Management – Undergraduate Programs

4400 University Drive 5A1
Fairfax , Virginia 22030

Public Institution

Web site

http://som.gmu.edu/DegreePrograms/Undergrad

Program e-mail address:

somserv@gmu.edu

Program telephone number:

(703) 993-1880

AACSB accredited:

Yes

Accreditation other than AACSB:

Southern Association of Colleges and Schools

Year in which the undergraduate business program was founded:

1974

Length of entire institution:

Four Year

Business program length:

Two Year

Degrees offered:

Degree/Program Name:
BS, Accounting
BS, Finance
BS, Information Systems and Operations Management
BS, Management
BS, Marketing

PROGRAM COSTS

Annual Tuition (Resident):

$  7,512

Annual Tuition (Non-Resident)

$  22,476

Cost per academic credit (resident)

$  313

Cost per academic credit (non-resident)

$  937

Required fees

$  20

Books:

$  900

Room and board:

$  7,360

ENROLLMENT

Full-time undergraduate business student enrollment:

2,725

Part-time undergraduate business student enrollment:

1,101

Total College enrollment for 2008-09:

30,714

ADMISSIONS

Interviews for entire college:

Not required

Additional application requirements for entire college:

TOEFL for International Students

Upcoming application deadlines for entire college:

Semester: Fall 2009
Deadline: 01-15-09
Semester: Spring 2010
Deadline: 11-01-09

Freshmen admitted into business program:

No

Percentage of business students admitted as freshmen:

0  %

Are the freshman admits to the business program required to complete pre-business courses before beginning upper-lever courses in the junior year?

No

Internal transfers handled by:

Separate application

Minimum requirements for business program:

Entrance exam requirement other than SAT/ACT for business program:

No

Interview to enter business program:

Not required

Additional application requirements for freshman admits:

Freshmen cannot be admitted directly into the Business program. Freshmen can indicate interest in Business and are "BPRE" (Pre-Business) majors. All students (except high caliber direct admit transfer students) must apply to the Business program (in Junior year) to become BS students -and admission is based solely on grades in application courses and cumulative GPA at time of application.

Minimum college GPA for internal business program transfers:

2.5

Additional requirements for internal transfers:

2.5 GPA, no additional requirements

Relative Importance of Application Elements:

Secondary School Record:

Very Important

Class Rank:

Important

Talent/Ability:

Important

Interview:

Not Considered

Extracurricular Activities:

Important

Volunteer Work:

Considered

Character/Personal Abilities:

Considered

Application Essay:

Considered

Work Experience:

Considered

SAT/ACT Scores:

Very Important

Recommendations:

Important

High School GPA:

Very Important

Admissions program managed by:

The business program office

Total undergraduate business program applicants, 2008-09:

1,245

Applicants enrolled in undergrad business program 2008-2009:

100  %

Applicants admitted to undergraduate business program, 2008-09:

79  %

CLASS PROFILE

Class Profile:

Female: 48  %
International : 6  %

Entering students by age:

Mean: 24

Citizenship of Entering Students

U.S.: 94  %

Percentage of US citizens in entering class who are:

African American: 7  %
Asian American: 23  %
Hispanic or Latino American: 6  %
Multiethnic/Multiracial : 0  %
Native American: 1  %
White (Non-Hispanic): 34  %
Chose not to report: 5  %
Other: 24  %

Entering students from the following region:

Mid-Atlantic: 90  %
South: 10  %

SAT Scores for full-time entering business students on 1600 scale:

From: N/A To: N/A

Mean: N/A Median: N/A

From: N/A To: N/A

FINANCIAL AID

Financial aid handled by:

Central financial aid office at the university

Scholarships awarded to students in the business program based on:

A combination of need and merit

Scholarship consideration process:

Unique scholarship application

Other scholarship considerations:

Major

Percentage of institutional scholarship money distributed to business students based on merit, 2008-09 year:

44  %

Percentage of institutional scholarship money distributed to business students based on need, 2008-09:

56  %

School offers guaranteed loans:

No

Financial aid web site

http://financialaid.gmu.edu/

PROGRAM BASICS

Business students who graduate within four years:

34  %

Business students who graduate within 6 years:

62  %

Freshman retention rate:

85  %

PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS

Credit hours required for graduation:

Degree: 120

Other degree requirements:

All degree applicants must complete a minimum of 30 credits of SOM core and major courses at Mason. They must include at least 9 credits required for the specific major and SOM 498. A grade of C or higher must be earned in SOM core and major requirements. SOM students pursuing a BS degree must complete the university-wide general education program plus 1 additional credit of natural science, for a total of 41 credits. The natural science requirement must be fulfilled by completing two 4-credit laboratory sciences. All degree applicants must complete the following SOM degree requirements: Course Work Credits ECON 103* 3 ECON 104* 3 ECON 300-400 3 ANTH, PSYC, or SOCI 3 MATH 108 or 113* (satisfies university requirement for quantitative reasoning) 3 School of Management Core* 35 ACCT 203 3 ACCT 301 3 BULE 302 3 FNAN 301 3 MGMT 301 3 MIS 102 3 MIS 301 3 MKTG 301 3 OM 210 3 OM 301 3 SOM 301 3 SOM 498 3 Major* 18 General Electives 20 These credits may not include pure activity courses, such as those listed under the catalog designations of individual sports, physical education, team sports, and recreational activities. Certain courses under the designation of dance, music, theater, and arts are also restricted. Consult the SOM web site for specific information. Total Credits (University General Education and SOM) 120 * Completion with a grade of C or better is required for graduation.

ACADEMICS

Average class size in required business courses:

59

Average class size in business electives:

29

Average class size in non-business electives required for admission to business program:

79

Class size:

Classes with fewer than 20 students: 7  %
Classes with 21 to 50 students: 51  %
Classes with more than 50 students: 42  %

Required business courses that reached maximum enrollment by the first day of class, previous academic year:

100  %

Required business courses that had waiting lists, 2007-08:

70  %

CURRICULUM

Number of elective courses available in business program:

33

Electives added current year:

Fnan 462 - Honors Seminar
Fnan 491 - Computational Finance
MIS 462 - Honors Seminar
MIS 491 - Service Oriented Arch/Business Process Analysis

Year of the last major change to the business program's core curriculum:

2001

Leading areas of study:

Accounting

Finance

General Management

Management Information Systems

Marketing

Special programs for business students:

Accounting Honors program, Freshman Living and Learning Floor

Business program offers work study or co-op opportunities:

Yes

Semester/Year long co-op assignments consisting of 150 hours per semester of work experience

Business program offers study abroad opportunities:

Yes

Study abroad program description:

The Center for Global Education at George Mason University serves as the premier clearing house for global exchanges and international education. The Center for Global Education offers a full range of professional services, including shor-term, semester/year long, honors study abroad, internationally themed internships and intensive language programs. Additionally, the School of Management participates in a dual degree program with the University of Applied Science, Aachen, Germany. Students form Aachen complete a fourth year of study in the US, and the students from Mason complete their junior year and major preparatory courses in Aachen.

Volunteer work and community service opportunities:

Yes

Volunteer opportunities description:

Two of our premier student organizations require volunteer or community service hours. The service projects range from community service projects involving foodbank collections to environmental cleanup, and academic service projects including peer tutoring and tax form preparation.

Business clubs and extracurricular activities:

Beta Alpha Psi
American Marketing Association (AMA)
Beta Gamma Sigma
Financial Management Association (FMA)
Delta Sigma Pi
International Business Organization (IBO)
MASON Entrepreneurs
Mason Information Technology Association (MITA)

FACULTY

Faculty:

Full-time faculty : 57
Adjuncts and visiting faculty: 46
Permanent/tenured professors: 16
Percentage of permanent/tenured professors who are women: 13
Percentage of permanent/tenured professors who are underrepresented minorities: 13
Percentage of permanent/tenured professors who are also members of company boards of directors or of advisors: 0
Percentage of permanent/tenured professors who are business owners: 44

Prominent faculty:

Jerry Hanwick
Amit Dutta
Michelle Marks

STUDENT LIFE

Largest on-campus organizations for business students:

Delta Sigma Pi
Beta Alpha Psi
Beta Gamma Sigma
Financial Management Association
International Business Organization

Freshmen are required to live on campus:

No

Business students are grouped in learning communities:

Yes

TECHNOLOGY

Wireless network available:

Yes

Technological improvements made in the last three years:

(1) Increased the use of social media platforms. The School currently manages a Facebook Group with 500% growth in the last quarter of 2008. The group is used to share information among students about events as well as build a community that keeps graduates connected to the School after graduation. (2) The School has developed a GIS learning lab within its Executive Education program. The 15 seat lab is shared space specifically configured to use and learn business analytical software in the business analytical discipline. (3) The school is actively managing an increasing number of virtual servers allowing the data center to grow by three servers while maintaining roughly the same energy consumption as two years ago. (4) The School is using more open source software allowing it to reduce licensing costs for running data and web servers while increasing the services provided for applications in the School. (5) The School continues to add to its electronic research library adding directEDGAR and 13f holding databases within the last year. (6) Expanded the MSDNAA program providing no/low cost legal downloads of Microsoft system development software for all actively enrolled students in the School of Management (7) Enabled wireless network throughout the learning classrooms in Enterprise Hall. This was a School of Management sponsored project that benefits classes, regardless of discipline who use the classrooms in Enterprise Hall.

Trading laboratory available:

No

COMMENTS

Additional extracurricular clubs: Real Estate Association for Leaders; Society for Advancement of Management (SAM); Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM)

ALUMNI

Total number of undergraduate business program graduates since inception:

17,012

Total living alumni:

16,828

Percent of alumni who gave, 2007-08 academic year:

5  %

Mean alumni gift 2007-08:

$  293

Median alumni gift, 2007-08:

$  50

Single donation in excess of $10 million in 2007-08?

No

Prominent alumni:

Name: Debora J. Wilson
Title: President and CEO, The Weather Channel
Name: Mark F. McGettrick
Title: President and CEO, Dominion Generation
Name: Terri J. Wesselman
Title: President and CEO, Omniplex World Services Corporation

CAREER SERVICES

Percent of 2008 graduates who provided employment information:

54  %

Seeking full-time employment in business: 24  %
Not Seeking full-time employment in business: 76  %

Number of companies recruiting undergraduate students on campus in previous academic year:

93

Companies that posted full-time job offers/positions on school job boards, previous academic year:

1,299

Other activities and services provided for business majors:

Career counseling, career workshops, database for jobs/internships, career panels, networking events, internship course for credit, Job Fair

Job offer results, 2008 graduates:

Accepted first job offer by graduation: 70  %
Did not report having accepted a job offer: 30  %

Top hiring firms:

Graduate compensation:

Mean base salary: $  55,000
Mean signing bonus: $  3,000

Grads accepted jobs in following functional areas:

Consulting: 10  %
Finance/Accounting: 46  %
General Management: 9  %
Human Resources: 5  %
Management Information Systems: 4  %
Marketing/Sales: 13  %
Operations/Production: 0  %
Logistics/Transportation: 1  %
Other: 12  %

Grads accepted jobs in following industries:

Accounting: 19  %
Consumer Products/Retail: 9  %
Consulting Services: 13  %
Financial Services: 17  %
Government/Education: 13  %
Pharma/Biotech/Health: 1  %
Manufacturing: 1  %
Media/Entertainment: 1  %
Petroleum/Energy: 0  %
Real Estate: 0  %
Sports/Leisure: 1  %
Technology/Science: 18  %
Non-Profit: 2  %
Transportation: 1  %
Utilities: 0  %
Other: 4  %

Percentage of job acceptances, US and Canada:

US: 100  %

Grads accepted jobs in the following US regions:

Mid-Atlantic: 100  %

Internship postings on job boards, previous academic year:

618

Top internship recruiters, 2007-08: