Master of Business Administration (MBA) - Virtual Information Session

Hello everyone, Thank you for joining us today. We're going to give everybody just a moment to make sure your audio is set that you can hear us if you are joining us live. For those of you who are joining pre recorded, you can, uh, hit that Fast forward button just a couple of seconds and we'll be started in just a moment.

Awesome, great. All right, so my name is Jen Radwanski and I am the Associate Director for Graduate Admissions here at Stockton University. And I am joined by my colleague, Doctor Keith Deaner, who is the program chair for our MBA program. And today we want to share a little bit more about how you could be involved and how you can apply for this program here at Stockton. A few housekeeping items before we kick off #1 you will notice if you are joining live, there is a chat feature you are welcome to join to.

Questions into the chat feature, Um, what we would suggest is maybe wait until the end of the presentation to drop those questions in and then we'll do a Qna at the end of the session.

For those of you who are joining us, uh, prerecorded, we will also give you and our live audience our contact information. So if you have questions, you can follow up with us as well. Uh, if you are joining live and putting any questions in the chat, as you have just heard, this is being recorded. So you may want to refrain from putting any personal information in the chat feature, uh, because again, we will be sharing this with others later. Uh, so without further ado, I'm going to turn things over to Doctor Deaner. Thank you so much for joining us today.

Hey, thanks, Jen, and thanks everyone for being here, uh, for our virtual information session with the MBA program here at Stockton University. As Jen said on Keith Theater, I'm the MBA chair as well as a professor here at Stockton University. And the purpose of this presentation is to give you a little introduction, uh, to Stockton, uh, to let you know about our MBA program, what we have to offer and to answer any questions that you may have about the program after providing you with this overview.

Umm. So first I'd like to give a little plug about.

How beautiful our campuses and we are located, the MBA program is housed at our Stockton Atlantic City campus, literally right across the street from the beach and the boardwalk, a state-of-the-art building, state-of-the-art classrooms all filled with like, uh, fully updated technology, a really nice, really new, really beautiful. Uh, so we're right there, right on the beach in Atlantic City. Uh, we meet our classes.

Each class usually once a week from about 6:30 to 8:30 PM. So it's set up so that you can go to work during the day and then come to Stockton at night and take a class. Most students, if they're going through the program part time, they take two classes a semester. Now, one of those classes could be in person or both of those classes could be in person, or you could have one in person and one online. It's just to make it a little bit more flexible.

For students who are traveling or who have heavy work schedules.

You could have an in person class 6:30 to 8:30 say on a Monday and another one on a Wednesday, or you could have an online class along with an in person class at some point in the week. So so there's a lot of flexibility that's built into the program is meant for working professionals. And it's like I said, it's right. There's just gorgeous campus, a great place to be, especially in the spring, summer, fall.

So to to turn out to the curriculum a little bit about how the program is set up. I'd like to mention as well that we are an AACSB accredited program which is we have.

The honor of really being included in the 6% of business schools worldwide that have this accreditation. So it's kind of very prestigious accreditation. Uh, so it means also that our program is evaluated and our business goes evaluated externally and we have to meet certain criteria. So our curriculum satisfies this criteria for external accredit or ACSB.

And it includes UH-12 classes, each of them being.

Three credit hours. As you can see up on this slide, you can see our 8 core classes. We have an accounting, a management, marketing, a finance, decision analysis, infosystems and technologies, law and ethics. And then we have our capstone, the business strategy course. So that is the Common Core. And almost all students entering into our MBA program with very limited exception have to take those 8 core classes.

The very limited exception is if you have a 21 or more.

For undergraduate credit hours in either accounting, marketing or finance, in which case you would not have to take that core class. Instead, you would take an additional elective course. So we have our 8 cores and then we have 4 elective classes as well, each of them being three credit hours for a total of 36 credit hours. So I'll tell you a little bit about the electives, but in order to do that, let me first explain.

Our general MBA and our concentrations because our electives they they they live in.

The concentrations really, so of those 4 elective courses that you take, you have the option at Stockton of being in the general MBA program, in which case you can choose whichever 4 electives you'd like from any of the concentration areas or you can specialize in a particular concentration. If you specialize in a particular concentration, then you would take three of your 4 electives in that concentration.

So for example you can see the concentration is listed here on the slide.

If you wanted to concentrate in business analytics, three of the four electives.

Would be in business analytics and that 4th elective, it could be in business analytics or it could be in any other area that that interests you. Same if you would like to concentrate in marketing, three of your 4 electives would be in marketing and then the 4th elective could be from any area and so on and so forth. So I mean our concentrations in addition to business analytics and marketing, we currently have a financial forensic investigation which.

Which is like a forensic accounting concentration, a finance, a hospitality, tourism and event management concentration, and a global business sustainability concentration. So we have these six concentrations and we also have our general NBA, which again if you do the general NBA, you can select from any of these concentration classes for your elective courses.

To give you an idea of what the electives look like, uh, here are just some samples of some of the courses that we've run recently. Uh, now this isn't to say that all of these courses would be run, uh, in any given year. Uh, the way that we set it up is every semester we have UH-6 electives that are offered for a total of 18 different electives, uh, every year, uh, spring, summer, fall.

Uh, and in each semester we have at least one in each.

Concentration area so in each semester we would have at least One Financial forensic investigation elective, one business analytics, one finance, one sustainability, one marketing, one hospitality. Uh, so in any given year, again, you'd have your choice of about 18 electives to select from uh, for the four electives that you need uh, for your MBA program and you see you can see here we have a variety of electives uh, from sustainability to ethics, uh, to digital marketing to consumer and.

Customer behavior to portfolio management to new ventures to hospitality analytics, you know, we really expand the spectrum of the business arena and the electives that we offer in our program.

So in addition to kind of the standard core course and the electives that you could take here on our Stockton campus, we also have some global opportunities through our MBA program, so.

Every now and then we have one actually coming up. We're working on it. It's not, it's not 100% finalized yet, but we're hoping it'll be finalized by fall 2026 where we have a a corporate sustainability class which will be linked to a study abroad opportunity in in Europe. Also the way that these faculty LED programs work is you'll take the class here at Stockton and you'll learn about.

You know, say for example, sustainability in a particular country.

And then at the end of the semester, after the semester, yoga and you'll visit that country and you'll do some tours with Stockton. It's pretty cool. We did one with hospitality a few years ago where they went to France after having, you know, a semester long course here at Stockton. And then we also have other study abroad programs. We have Office of Global Engagement that can place you in a lot of different places all around the world for a semester or for a summer.

And then we transfer the credits back in here to Stockton from the study abroad.

So I always encourage you if you have the time and you have the ability.

You know, go abroad and just, you know, expand your horizons. Have a great time doing it.

Outside of study abroad, we also have some some financial funding opportunities. Here at Stockton, we have a variety of different types of funding opportunities depending on your needs. The most common is the graduate assistantship. So these are applied for every semester you have to apply for.

And they are competitively awarded on a semester by semester basis and you get essentially you get tuition remission towards, you know, part of or one of your classes in exchange for you working with a professor or with someone in Stockton administrator, so.

The graduate assistantships are one great form of funding for Stockton for MBA program. We also have graduate student stock, student scholarships that are available on a competitive basis. Both entry scholarships as well as our foundation scholarships which are available for MBA students. And of course, we have student loans or financial aid for qualifying students. So with these points out, Jen, is there, is there more you'd like to add on for our funding here at Stockton or?

That is it. I think you hit it all.

Alright, excellent. Alright. So Jan, I guess I'll move on to the application process and I'll kick the can over to you for that.

Sounds good. So I'm gonna drop a link or I just dropped a link into the chat for everyone as well. The items that we're about to go over for the admission criteria are also under the admission criteria tab, uh, located on the link that I sent you for our MBA program. Umm, but just to give you a quick overview of what is involved in that, umm, there are a number of prerequisites that you do need to have prior to, uh, uh, applying and being admitted to the program, but don't let that be a deterrent. There are a lot of options in making sure that you can get those.

Son, in a very quick and economical way, on our website we do have a guide for ways that you can do these prerequisites at the undergraduate level online at a very reduced cost. So if you have questions about that, we'd be happy to review that with you on a case by case basis.

So that you can apply for that program. So in addition to that, you do need to have a minimum graduate GPA of a 3.0. If you do not umm, the GRE or the GMAT is required for you.

We get the frequent question, umm, which one should I take? And really, that's a personal preference. And if you, uh, Google the difference between GRE and GMAT, there are some really great little short 3 minute YouTube videos.

That will give you a little bit more insight and then you can make a personal decision as to which you'd prefer. There is not a great or a score requirement that we're looking for, but you do need to do OK on it. So it is proving your ability to to be able to succeed academically in the graduate level curriculum.

Um, in addition to that, you are going to need 3 letters of recommendation. Those are going to be done electronically. So your letters of recommendation are are populated when you begin your application and what will happen is you will input your recommenders title, name and their e-mail address. We strongly suggest you copy and paste their e-mail address instead of typing it into your application just so that you don't mess it up. We sadly get lots of folks who realize that their recommenders haven't done.

Letter of recommendation because the e-mail address was typed incorrectly.

And so there's no need to collect anything from them or to submit anything. They will do it all electronically. But you do need to have a conversation with them prior to asking or prior to putting their name on the application, let you know, ask them if they're willing to be a recommender, and then also check with them to make sure the timeline is good and all of that. We also want to make sure that you are selecting individuals who can speak to your academic success. So these should be people.

Who can speak to your ability to either work in the field?

Professionally or have had you in a class at the undergraduate level or in another masters course. So even if you've known your next door neighbor for 20 years and you help take their trash cans in and help them mow their lawn, umm, they'd be of great character reference for you. But we're looking for academic and professional references, umm, for your, for your application. So keep that in mind when you start your application. You will also be loading a copy of your resume and umm, you will be sending all official transcripts.

To us, so official transcripts need to come from every institution you attended. So if you have dual credit, if you had an associate's degree, if you have another masters degree or doctoral degree, um, all of those need to come to us in addition to your bachelors degree.

And you'll be having them sent, we recommend electronically, although you can send paper copies to us as well, but the electronic seems to be the most, uh, time efficient. And also, uh, you get a copy stating that it's been received. So that seems to be very helpful. And lastly, there is an application fee. There is a $50 application fee. Some folks may be eligible for a fee waiver. And umm, if that's already been sent to you, then you'll know that you have, umm, have that. But if you have any questions, we'd be happy to answer that for you too, if you are eligible.

Umm for those who are stocked in graduates or participating in dual degree, the dual degree program application process is a little different and we would encourage you to work with your preceptor as well as the School of Business for that application process. But also note that if you are a Stockton student not part of dual degree, there is a direct entry option. Umm there are certain criteria that you would need to meet and as far as your GPA.

Of a three, three or higher and a number of the prerequisites which if you were umm.

Uh, business student at the undergraduate level, you would meet those requirements. Umm, but for all Stockton applicants, we will pull your transcripts for you as a complementary service as well.

So this is the slide where you can see what our website looks like. And that link that I showed you is where you would be going to apply to. And so you'll hit that little apply button that'll take you to our internal application system. But you'll also notice one of the things the arrow is not pointing to it, but I think this is a good time to mention it as well. You'll also see on the very bottom left side, there's a contact us button. And so if you're working through things and you do have questions, you have a way to reach out to us in graduate admissions and we'd be be very happy to answer.

Additional questions about the application process too. So with that being said, Doctor Deaner, I think you have a few other tidbits that you'd want to share with folks as far as other options for graduate education here, correct?

Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. So our MBA program that we've been discussing in this webinar so far, we're talking about our general MBA as well as the concentrations that are available in the MBA, but we also have two other graduate programs here at Stockton. Uh, one is the MBA in healthcare administration and leadership. Uh, we call MBA how, uh, this program launched right in the middle of the pandemic, September 2020, uh, with the full cohort of students, uh.

Had a lot of success with this program so far with students coming out of it and landing a really, really high quality jobs in healthcare administration. So this program is aimed specifically at students who desire to go into healthcare management, healthcare administration, healthcare leadership. It's set up a little bit different than our general MBA or concentrations.

Insofar as it's a hybrid program, so it's delivered primarily online.

But you meet three to four times a semester on a weekend, so you may come in on a Saturday morning and leave Saturday afternoon. You know, once a month or so throughout the year, get some in person contact with your professors and other students and then go and get some online learning and then come back a month later, do the same. So it's set up again for healthcare professionals or those who desire to go into.

Into the healthcare field.

So if that's your interest, you definitely want to check out this program. What's unique about it besides the way that's set up as hybrid? Is it also?

It's a mix of education of both Health Sciences and business. So you're going to get an understanding of both, both Health Science and management in this program. So it's really uniquely created and modeled for those who want to go into healthcare. We also have another program. It's not an MBA, but it's an Ms. in accounting.

And this program also just recently launched. So this program is a little bit different than the MBA. It's set up primarily for students who have an accounting background and want to attain other CPA credential. So the classes are intentionally designed to give you the knowledge that you would need for the CPA exam and they also have a pretty generous internship option in the program.

Which if you if you partake in that option, it could actually.

Potentially lead to a job for you. But one of the things that I like to mention about all of our Stockton graduate programs or their MBA or healthcare MBA or a masters in accounting is that we have really a small classes and we have a really hands-on kind of learning environment where if you're a local student or if you want to live in South Jersey, it's a great way to come in to really get to know other students, other professionals in the area.

To get to know your professors. So all these programs offer that a small learning environment where most of the classes are capped at 25 students. It's not like you're not going to be an electoral hall with like 200 other students where you're just a number. You know your professors are going to know your names eventually, and they're going to get to know you and you might get to know them on a personal level. So it's really just a great aspect of Stockton. And what really distinguishes our program from others is we really are that local commodity.

Coming to Stockton, you know you're South Jersey, you're here.

How you could know people in South Jersey? Uh, so, so that's a little bit information about our programs here. Uh, we'll open it up at this time for questions to either Genri or.

To our program.

Yes, we have a number of questions that have flooded in already. So thank you all for that. So we'll go ahead and dive right in. The first question has there's been there's a number of questions about the scholarships and funding. And so let me just be clear, there are four, unfortunately, are no full scholarships for students or full funding opportunities at Stockton. Umm. So our graduate assistantships may pay for part of a course or one course. Umm, but it will not the graduate assistantships are not full assistantships paying full tuition. So just keep.

That in mind, we do not currently have merit based scholarships, so that is also something we have a new student scholarship that you may be eligible for for your first semester. However, there are no merit based scholarships upon admission. Now the one caveat to that is we do have the Foundation scholarships which are merit based scholarships through the foundation but not through admissions. And you would apply for those if you are doing more than one year here at Stockton and had not previously been a Stockton student if you were a Stockton student.

In your senior year in February and then starting the graduate program the following May, you are eligible to apply for the Foundation scholarship. And if you are a new student starting the MBA program, then you have the opportunity to apply in your second spring. If you're starting in the spring or if you're, or excuse me, if you're starting in the fall, you can apply in the spring for your following fall semester. So it's a little bit complicated, but there are some opportunities for you to apply through the.

For that so so good question.

Um, for international transcripts, thank you for mentioning that as well. We do have to receive an evaluated transcript, so it needs to come from Wes, ECE or Span Tran and but we do not accept transcripts that have not been evaluated.

So thank you for that, um.

All right, great question. What, to what extent does work experience make up for a UMM?

Less than stellar GPA from 30 years ago. Great question, Keith, do you want to take that one?

Uh, yeah, I'll, I'll, I'll address that. So, uh, from time to time we, we get questions such as this and, and we definitely do value work experience. So, and we do value the GPA as well. Uh, so the way that work experience can come into play, uh, for the admissions process is, is in two different ways really. Uh, one is as a possible equivalency for a prereq. So let's say if you've been in management for the last 30 years and you can show us.

That you really know management well, we could waive the say the intro to management prereq for you or same case maybe for someone who's been working in, you know, statistics for the last, you know, five years. You know, we may, we may waive the, the statistics requirements, things like that. So you can come into play in terms of like.

Making it easier for you to to get in without the necessity of the prereqs 1/2. It does play a role because we do evaluate the applications holistically and we do recognize, you know, where you were 30 years ago is very different than where you are today. And if it's below a 3.0 that we're talking about, then there would be still be the GRE or the GMAT requirement. And that would be one way of showing us, hey, even though 30 years ago, you know.

I wasn't really paying attention. Well, I'm acing this GRE and I've got 30 years of experience and that certainly would would play a role in our application decisions. So, so Jen, is there anything else you'd like to add to that question?

Yeah.

I think you've had a great UM. So next question, are classes offered at the Galloway campus?

Yeah, At this point we're a fully Atlantic City and online. In 2020, we moved to the AC campus and we haven't looked back. Honestly. It's great down here the the facilities.

Yeah, it really is.

And honestly, it's a phenomenal campus. Parking is great, there's great places to eat, the view is beautiful. I love the Galloway campus too, it's wonderful. But the AC campus is fantastic and in a really great area. If you've not been, I strongly recommend you go take a peek because umm oh I love, I love heading down to that campus. Keith is lucky that his office is right there.

Yeah.

Yeah, everything's new down here. Everything's state-of-the-art. I mean, you. It's it, it. Come check it out and you won't want to go back to Galilee. Yeah.

Most definitely.

Yeah.

So someone said, can you please discuss the dual degree hospitality MBA program? I, I'm not quite sure, Claudia, if you have maybe a more specific question, if you have questions about how to apply as an undergraduate student for that, we can, we can have a conversation offline and talk further. Umm, but if you, if you could tell me a little bit more about that, that would be helpful. Umm.

And then we had another question, our graduate assistantships separate of tuition reimbursement offered to adjuncts. So those are two completely different things. So the graduate assistantships are doing research with faculty members within the program.

And tuition reimbursement for adjuncts is if you are hired as an adjunct, you are able to be you are able to apply for a graduate program and take graduate level courses. So those are two completely different things and if you have questions about those a little bit further again.

We'd be happy to talk through them, but they are not not connected.

Umm Keith, I'm going to let you take part of this one and then I can take the other. But what type of schedule can I expect as a full time student And what is the projected timeline for completion? Umm do all of the classes have the potential to be seen in person to satisfy the GI Bill requirements? Umm, And I will say we have a number of folks who have utilized the GI Bill, umm, to do this program. It does meet the requirements. But Keith, do you want to talk a little bit further about what timeline looks like for folks?

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So, So Matthew in in our MBA program, you're officially considered a a part-time student for financial aid purposes. If you're enrolled in two classes a semester and it is set up initially as a part-time program, it is possible to do it as a full time program as well. But if you take two classes a semester every semester, fall, spring, summer, fall, spring, summer, you're done in two years.

And as mentioned, you could take both of those classes each semester in person. All of our core classes as well as a variety of our electives are offered in person or you could take them a mix of in person, online. I don't, I don't know what the GI Bill requires in terms of the proportion that can be in person versus online. That would be up to you to find out. But I can tell you that we do offer all of our core classes in person and we also offer a lot of our electives in person as well.

I'll say that you wouldn't have any problem there if you wanted to do it as a full time program. It's three classes minimum for full time student status, so you can do the math. If you took three classes in the fall and the spring, you took the summers off 3 classes in the fall and the spring, you're done in two years. Again, if you took four classes, which is a Max you're allowed to take in the fall, spring, fall.

Done in a year and a half. So there's twelve classes total, 3 to be full time for maximum credit load. And then for the GI Bill question, Jen, do you have anything else to add on that?

How can I help you?

No, but I think your clarification of just checking with financial aid is important. What I would share with you is that we do have a representative within our financial aid office that that handles all of our military and veteran affiliated UMM.

Uh, costs and, and paperwork, uh, her name is Jennifer Robin. She is absolutely phenomenal. Umm, and if you have more specific questions, I'd suggest a meeting with her to talk through things a little bit more further. Umm, but she, she would be happy to meet with you.

Absolutely. And I think we've been named best for vets as well and recently and like repeatedly. So like apparently we're very good institution for veterans also.

Partially because we have resources such as, you know, a designated financial aid person as well as an office for military and veteran affiliated students. So the combination will make that transition very easy for folks to be able to utilize services and things like the GI Bill. So, yeah, most definitely great. So our next question.

If I were to be accepted into the higher flyer program with the classes I take be part of my graduate curriculum, if I were to pass them, would it count towards my MBA? Yes. UMM if you are a Stockton student in your UH senior year and you meet the requirements for higher flyer, meaning you can take graduate level courses that will uh account for both your undergraduate needs for UH degree works as well as.

Umm.

Fall into a masters program that you're interested in applying to and you get into that program, then yes, it will be, um, it will transition in and cover both. So for those who haven't done the dual degree, dual degree program, umm, but know that they would like to go on to the MBA and you're in your senior year hire flyer is a phenomenal opportunity to save a little bit of time and money. Umm, and kind of knock two things out at the same time. So please, uh, definitely look at that as an option. Umm, you need to begin with talking.

Your preceptor preceptorial advising days have already passed, but reach back out if you haven't talked with them. But it is a great opportunity to to umm advance your your curriculum and again, with less time and less money, umm and.

Next, some international questions. So one of the things that I forgot to mention too with our international applicants, because I know we have a number of folks joining us from overseas is we also have an admissions counselor within graduate admissions that works just with our international applicants. And there's usually a lot of particular questions that have to do with your country, your visa and you as a student in particular. And what I would really suggest for all of our international applicants is to jump on the.

Page and on the left side where it says contact us, you can schedule an appointment with Matt Shaw. Again, that's Matt Shaw, Matthew Shaw and he is our counselor for all international students. He'll be able to go into great detail about the things you need as far as your transcript evaluations, your visas, umm, things you may be eligible for as far as funding and he's our expert when it comes to all of our international applicants umm, so he would be best to to chat with about.

And so if you also have questions specifically about your application, he'll be able to pull up your material as well.

Umm.

We may not be able to answer this one, but we'll try. Can you share a little more info on the class which is set to do a study abroad in fall 2026? Where is it going, uh, in Europe and what is the class? Do we have that yet?

I can, I can share a little bit about that. So it's in the works. I can't, I can't guarantee at this time that it's going to be set for fall 2026, but I can say that we are working on it and we're hoping that it'll launch in fall 2026. The class is actually called Corporate Sustainability and it's running for the first time this fall as part of our global sustainability concentration, which again you could take this class and any MBA concentration as your 4th elective and the general or as part of the global business sustain.

Concentration. So we're hoping that it'll be designated as a faculty LED study abroad by fall 26. And we don't quite know yet where in Europe they're going, I've heard.

Some some ideas are possibly going to Germany or possibly some other country in in Europe. We're not sure 100% yet, still being worked on, but but that's as much information as I have on it right now. But the class is being taught right now and I've gotten a lot of positive feedback on it.

And then we're hoping next year it'll be its first run as a as a faculty LED study abroad.

Yeah, it is. Yeah.

Exciting, so stay tuned.

Umm, next question. Uh, is the curriculum for the core classes primarily group-based projects, or is it more of an individual effort?

And that's a, that's a great question. And that varies based on the professor who's teaching. So I teach the employment law and ethics course and the MBA. And I do know group projects in that particular course, it's all individual work. But other professors in other courses, they have a group project focused in some of the courses, some are more individual work. So you get a mix of both.

Throughout the program, I know some people actually prefer individual work.

Because you get created on your own merit. Some people prefer group projects because they like working with people, but you definitely get a mix in our program of both styles.

Great. Umm, and then last question we have for now is when trying to get financial aid, do you apply just like you do for undergrad? So yes, you would be doing the FAFSA, umm, and that would put you in the running for any loans or anything like that. As far as the scholarships and the assistantships, the assistantships you would apply for, uh, at the time that you apply for the MBA program, it's part of the MBA application. Umm, and then the scholarships will vary according to when you're entering if you've been a Stockton.

Student prior to the semester that you're applying to so we can help answer some of those questions. You know, one off on a more personal level after the session if you want more details about that.

So good question. Awesome.

All right, well I think that brings us to all of our questions and again our contact information is here for graduate admissions would be more than happy to assist you in in answering more and then also scheduling A1 on one with you. And then again for our international folks, you can schedule a meeting with Matt Shaw who was our international counselor. But I hope that you come to consider attending here at Stockton. I know that when I am asked as a recruiter to say you know why, why come to Stockton.

Without question or hesitation, my very first response is always our faculty.

And this program, without question, is, is one of the best as far as folks, you know, just caring about our students. Our faculty care very much about the program. They care about the students. And as Doctor Deaner had mentioned, they get to know you, they care about you. They want to see you succeed and to excel academically. And I think that that's one of the things we do best here at Stockton. So, Keith, thanks to you and your team there. And I hope that you all who are watching, consider applying to our program here. And I hope everyone has a wonderful day.

All right, take care everyone. Bye bye.

Alright, thanks, Jennifer. Thanks everyone. Have a great day. Bye, bye.

Bye.