BUSINESS
ADMINISTRATION (MBA) – Program Policies (2010/2011)
Telephone:
(302) 831-2221
E-mail:
mbaprogram@udel.edu
http://www.lerner.udel.edu/mba
PROGRAM OVERVIEW
The
Master of Business Administration (UD MBA) program is accredited by the AACSB
International - The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. Students may pursue either a full- time or
part-time course of study in the UD MBA program. In some cases, UD MBA students with an
undergraduate degree in business administration may waive some of the core
classes, and thereby complete the program with less than the 48 credits
required of students with no prior academic background in business
administration. The Executive MBA (EMBA)
is a lock-step program and EMBA students are not eligible for course waivers.
REQUIREMENTS FOR ADMISSION
Admission
to the UD MBA program is highly selective and is based upon a combination of
professional work experience, prior academic grades, Graduate Management
Admissions Test (GMAT) scores, letters of recommendation, and an
interview. Please refer to the Graduate
Admissions chapter in this catalog.
Applicants are required to provide a copy of their recent resume along
with a completed application. Two
letters of recommendation should be sent to the Office of Graduate and
Professional Studies. For the Executive
MBA program, one of these letters must be from the applicant’s direct
manager. The GMAT is not required for
the Executive MBA; however, Executive MBA applicants must have a minimum of 5
years of professional work experience.
Students
in the UD MBA program are admitted for initial enrollment in either the fall
(August), spring (February), or summer (June) semesters. Admissions decisions
are made on a rolling basis throughout the year. To expedite consideration for admission,
applications should be submitted by February 1 for full-time applicants seeking
financial aid, May 1 for applicants seeking fall admission (including Executive
MBA applicants), and November 1 for applicants seeking spring admission. Admission decisions may be made after these
dates if space is still available; however, students are strongly encouraged to
apply early. An admission deposit is required upon notification of admission ($300
MBA, $500 Executive MBA).
Candidates
for admission need not have majored in any specific undergraduate field;
however, students entering the UD MBA program are assumed to possess basic
skills in written and oral communication, mathematics (normally one year at the
college level) and computer usage (word processing, spreadsheets, e-mail,
internet, and research based on electronic scholarly resources). Students deficient in any of these areas are
encouraged to enroll in appropriate credit and non-credit courses.
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE
Candidates
for the UD MBA degree must complete 48 credit hours, divided into Business Core
courses (24 hours), EDGE Core courses (12 hours), and elective courses (12
hours). The EMBA Committee specifies
specialized courses beyond the core and required curriculum. The UD MBA
committee specifies specialized courses beyond the core and required curriculum
for the on-site UD MBA programs.
Full-time
UD MBA students can normally complete the program in 21 months. Part-time students normally take from three
to four years to earn their degrees.
Students may accelerate their program by taking courses in the winter
and summer. The accelerated full-time
program may be completed in as few as 16 months and the part-time program may
be completed in less than 30 months.
Executive MBA students earn their degrees in 19 months.
Business
Core Courses (24 hours):
ECON
503: Economic Analysis for Business Policy
ACCT
800: Financial Reporting and Analysis
ACCT
801: Management Control Systems and Information Technology
BUAD
831: Operations Management and Management Science
FINC
850: Financial Management
BUAD
870: Leadership and Organization Behavior
BUAD
880: Marketing Management
BUAD890:
Corporate Strategy
Students
in the MBA programs (part-time and full-time) may waive up to 12 of the 18
above core credit hours if they have completed two applicable courses in that
subject area at the undergraduate level at an AACSB-accredited institution,
during the last five years, with grades of B or better in each course and one
of those two undergraduate courses is at the intermediate level. The students entering the MBA program with a
BSBA or equivalent degree from an AACSB-accredited school may substitute
additional elective coursework for the remaining 6 required hours. Thus, the students on this faster track will
need to take a minimum of 36 credit hours instead of 48 hours. Course waivers are not allowed in the EMBA
program.
EDGE
Core Courses (12 hours):
* MBA Case Competition/Marketing Strategy Simulation,
BUAD892
* Business Consulting Practicum, BUAD899
*
A
Study Abroad class - Special Topics in Global Business, BUAD843
* High Technology Entrepreneurship, ENTR860
* Statistical
Data Analysis for Business, BUAD820 (REQUIRED if the student has not taken statistics)
*
Marketing Research, BUAD881
* Data
Analysis and Management in Economics, ECON828
* International Accounting, ACCT883
* Leadership in International Business Cultures,
BUAD878
* International Marketing Management, BUAD882
* International Economics for Managers, ECON540
* International Finance, FINC853
*
Ethical Issues in Business Environment, BUAD840 (REQUIRED
if the student has not taken ethics)
* Ethical
Leadership Development: Theory & Practice, BUAD860 (new)
These requirements may also
be met by prior approval of a class not listed here if it has an appropriate
focus.
Elective
Courses (12 hours):
Twelve
hours of additional graduate level coursework must be chosen in Business
Administration, Finance, Economics, Accounting, Museum Studies, or other areas
appropriate to the student’s concentration, specialization, and/or academic or
professional interests.
Concentrations
and Specializations:
Although
not required, it is possible for students to obtain one or more of the
following concentrations by choosing nine hours of elective course work
in a highly structured course of study:
Finance, Healthcare Policy, Information Technology, International
Business, Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Museum Leadership, and Management. Please see the UD MBA programs web page at
www.mba.udel.edu for more details.
As
an alternative to a highly structured concentration, a student has the option
to build a course of study in consultation with their faculty advisor for a
specialization by choosing 9 hours of electives coursework in line with their
professional interest under the option of Self-Directed Specialization. The Self-Directed Specialization option
allows MBA students more flexibility in designing a specialization with a
variety of MBA program electives or in conjunction with other degree programs
in the University. Examples of
self-directed specialization include Operations Management, Accounting,
Chemical Engineering, Sport Management, and Public Policy.
The
remaining three hours of electives ought to be outside the area of
concentration or specialization.
Students
interested in a general-interest UD MBA need not pursue a concentration or
specialization and may select electives from a wide variety of academic
interests.
COURSE WAIVERS and TRANSFERS
A total of up to 12 credits may be waived and/or
transferred. Course waivers should be assessed upon application to the
MBA program. It is possible to finish UD MBA degree at an accelerated pace in one
year and minimum 36 credits with enough course waivers/transfers. The students
entering the UD MBA program with a BSBA or equivalent degree from an
AACSB-accredited school may substitute additional elective coursework for up to
six credits from the EDGE core requirement.
Thus, the students on this faster track will need to take a minimum
of 36 credit hours instead of 48 hours.
Course waivers are not allowed in the EMBA program.
Course Waivers
Students in
the MBA programs (part-time and full-time) may waive up to 12 credits of the 24
credits in Business core if they have completed two applicable courses in that
subject area at the undergraduate level at an AACSB-accredited institution,
during the last five years, with grades of B or better in each course and one
of those two undergraduate courses is at the intermediate level.
Coursework
from related graduate degrees may also qualify as the basis of a course waiver,
but only in a related academic field. For instance, a student who already holds
an MS in accounting from an AACSB-accredited institution may request a course
waiver for ACCT 800; similarly, a holder of an MA in economics may request a
course waiver for ECON 503.
It
is possible to transfer graduate-level coursework to the UD MBA from other
AACSB-accredited schools. A maximum of nine credits MAY be transferred.
Graduate courses are eligible for transfer only if earned at a school fully
accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business
International. Course transfers are not official until you have completed at
least nine credit hours as a matriculated MBA student at the
DUAL DEGREES
There
are many dual degrees options with the MBA, including:
·
MBA/MA: Economics
·
MBA/MS: Information Systems & Technology Management
·
MBA/MS: Organizational Effectiveness Development &
Change
·
MBA/MS: Mechanical Engineering
·
MBA/MS: Electrical and Computer Engineering
·
MBA/MAS: Civil Engineering
·
MBA/Master of Civil Engineering
·
MBA/Master of Chemical Engineering
·
MBA/ME: Mechanical
·
MBA/Master of Materials Science & Engineering
·
PhD Biological Sciences/MBA
·
MBA/Master of International Business
·
MD/MBA (in collaboration with
Most
dual degrees generally require at least 60 graduate credits and follow a very
structured curriculum. A dual degree requires 30 credits in the MBA curriculum. The 30 credits for MBA will consist
of 24 credits of the Business core requirements plus six credits of the EDGE
core requirements. The remaining six credits of the EDGE core may be met by the
courses taken for the other degree being pursued along with MBA. Students interested in pursuing a dual
degree should contact the MBA Program Manager to discuss the specific courses
required to complete the degrees.
ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS REQUIREMENT
All
MBA students are provided with electronic addresses and e-mailboxes and are
expected to utilize e-mail, the Internet, and electronic scholarly resources on
a regular basis. The MBA program
provides basic instruction in electronic communications for new students. Other
instruction is available in short, non-credit classes that are offered by the
University‚ Information Technologies staff, and the business reference
librarian at Morris Library. Students
wishing to use their private e-mail MUST forward their University e-mail
accounts to this address. Electronic
mail is the primary method of administrative information dissemination and
students are responsible for monitoring their University e-mail account.