Master of Business Administration (MBA) - Virtual Information Session

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Thank you so much, Jennifer. Hi everyone, thank you so much for joining us. My name is Benam Tavakol. I'm an associate professor of business analytics and also the interim program chair of the MBA program. I'm really happy to be here today and presenting some information about our MBA program. So, first thing that I would like to talk about is our Atlantic City campus. Starting from fall semester in 2020, the MBA program officially moved to Atlantic City campus. Our Atlantic City campus is a new campus. You know that we have like two main campuses, one in Galloway and one in Atlantic City. And, you know, it's a brand new building, basically very modern, and all of our face-to-face classes for MBA program are offered in Atlantic City campus. The classes are offered on weeknights from Mondays through Thursdays from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. And the official modality of our classes is hybrid, meaning that, like, there is an online element to supplement the classes. So two hours would be face-to-face, and then we assume that there is an hour of instruction also online. So I can't say enough things, enough good things about our Atlantic City campus. If you haven't been there, please, you know, stop by. It's really nice. It's off of the boardwalk, literally like five minutes to the beach. So it's a gorgeous campus and, you know, students love that campus for sure. Next thing I'd like to talk about is our curriculum. So our MBA program is made of like 12 classes. Eight of those classes are core classes. All MBA students must take those, and then we have four electives. And each class is like three credits, so it means that our requirement is 36 credit hours. And here on this slide, you can see the names of those eight core classes. We have accounting analysis for managers, management theory, practice and vision, applied marketing management, applied financial analysis, business decision analysis, business information systems and technologies, employment law and ethics, and finally our capstone course, business strategy and policy. One thing that I'd like to mention is that we have four prerequisite classes for our capstone class, business strategy and policy. These four courses listed on the left are those. So we always encourage our students to take those four classes first so that they won't have any problem registering for capstone class.

We offer six different concentrations for our MBA program. So many of our students don't pick a concentration; they just do a general MBA, meaning that they take the eight core classes, and then for the four electives, they have the flexibility of taking whatever elective classes that they want, and that would give them the general MBA degree. And then for concentrations, you can see the names. We have business analytics concentration, management accounting, marketing, finance, hospitality, tourism and event management, and global business sustainability. To get a concentration, basically students need to take the eight core classes and take three electives from each of these disciplines. For example, if you want to do your concentration in business analytics, you take the eight core classes and then you take three business analytics concentrations, and then that's going to leave you with one additional elective that can be in any discipline that you want to get you to the 36 credit hours that is required.

Now, on this slide, you see the kind of classes that each concentration basically offers. For example, for management accounting, as I said, students must take three electives, and these are the three electives that are continuously being offered: accounting information systems, fraud analytics, advanced cost accounting, and data analytics. For business analytics, we have business analytics for managers. Actually, that's a course that I teach myself, big data, machine learning, and advanced business data management. For some programs like finance, like global business sustainability and hospitality, tourism, and event management, you can see that the offerings are more than three, so students have the option of choosing three out of these, for example, five or four offerings. For finance, we have five, as you can see. For global business sustainability, there are four courses being offered. Marketing, students must take these three classes to get their MBA with concentration in marketing. And for hospitality, tourism, and management concentration also, you can take whatever three courses that you are more interested in to get your MBA degree with concentration in hospitality, tourism, and event management.

We have some opportunities for studying abroad. We have some faculty-led programs that basically means that you're gonna have a short visit to a country abroad, usually like a few weeks long. For example, we have a course in the spring semester. It's a corporate sustainability course that students will travel to Germany. They're gonna spend two weeks at a university, partner university in Germany, and, you know, it's a great opportunity. So we have many courses like that, and we have some partner universities, as I mentioned throughout the world that, like, you know, our faculty are constantly in touch with. And I encourage you, if you have a chance, please consider this. It's a great experience. In fact, I spent about two months this summer in one of our partner universities in Germany, and that was an amazing experience.

So we also have study abroad programs, semester long or summer visit to study in other countries. Those are not part of courses. This is like courses that our own faculty offer, but you have a chance to basically take a course in another institution abroad, and we can consider those courses also.

Now, we get to funding opportunities for startups MBA. I let Jennifer take over because she's the expert in these.

No, I think you said it all. So we are here to answer questions. Well, the students can also directly contact me if they want. My email address is like my first name dot my last name at stetson.edu. I'm sure they can find information on our website also. Yeah, so we'll be happy to answer any questions.

Yes, and that's always probably the one thing that we get the most questions about. You know, students want to know, all right, well, what is the curriculum? What would I be learning? And then the second most important thing is, all right, how do I pay for this? And I always share with students that going to graduate school is a large time commitment and it's a large monetary commitment. But if you're learning about something you're truly passionate about, it's worth every penny and every minute. And so what we try to do is provide you with as much information on how to finance that so that you can make this an opportunity for you. Traditionally, graduate students have a little bit less opportunity when it comes to financial aid in comparison to undergraduate students, and that's on a national level. That's not just Stockton. But there are a number of ways that you can help to make it a cost-effective opportunity for you. And the number one thing is I always encourage to make an appointment with our financial aid office. They are the experts at all of this, and they can really help you look at your own personal situation when it comes to finances. But here are a couple other things that you can take a peek at. Number one: graduate assistantships. An assistantship is the ability to do research within your program or area of study while you receive monies to take off of your tuition. So usually it's one or two credits, and so it's just a couple hours a week that you'd be working with a faculty member or a staff member on campus to be doing research. And it can be based on your own personal interests or area of study, or maybe an area of study that a faculty member is already working on. And so Ben and I were just talking about the graduate student that is working with him on some research on a marketing project. And so there's just a lot of different opportunities. But this is a good way to kind of knock down the cost of your tuition while also gaining experience to put on your resume, to be utilizing for future job searches or just to enhance your own personal knowledge. That's number one, a really great opportunity. And you can apply for a graduate assistantship when you're applying for the program. It's part of your actual application. So that's number one. There are a small amount of new student scholarships, but they're very minimal. And again, that's only going to cover maybe one class or a part of a class. And so it's not something to rely on, but they do exist. If you are going to be coming to Stockton for more than one year, you can apply for our foundation scholarship process after your spring semester. So if you've been here for the fall, then in the spring, it usually is the last week of January, first week of February, you can apply for the foundation scholarship process, which then would be applied for the following year. If you're a current Stockton student and you're currently an undergrad, you can apply during your senior year for the foundation scholarships if you're applying for the MBA program for the following term. So again, if you're graduating in May, you're currently enrolled in May, you can apply for the foundation scholarship as a graduate student in February, which could then be applied to your next fall term. So that's a good opportunity as well. As we mentioned, checking in with financial aid, scheduling an appointment with them is always a good idea. And then the other thing I always encourage students to take a little bit of time on is looking at private scholarships. There are a number of scholarships out there for different organizations, maybe affiliations that you or your family members may have. And if you're willing to take a little bit of time to do that online research, it can result in some really great scholarship opportunities as well. And you may want to check with your employer. So even if you're a part-time employee somewhere, and even if you're a full-time employee somewhere, a lot of times your employer may help to pay for that cost too. So it's worth talking to your HR department if you are currently working. So check that out. And even if it's not in the field of business, a lot of times even retail offices, retail employers will have opportunities for students to get scholarships. They want to see them furthering their education while still working. So check that out as well. So let's talk a little bit more about what the admission criteria actually looks like and what the application process looks like. The MBA program enrolls for both fall, summer, and spring. So you have opportunities at a number of start points, whatever works for you. So that's something that's very accommodating. You do need to have a number of prerequisite courses completed, and we get a frequent question, Well, I wasn't a business major in my bachelor's degree. Can I still apply? And the answer is yes. So you'll notice here that the successful completion of the prerequisite courses, including management, accounting, economics, finance, and operations and management, are all things that you would need to have. You do not need to necessarily do those at Stockton before attending. You can do them online. You can do them at a community college. And to be perfectly honest, things like looking into Coursera is really one of the things that we would recommend. It allows you to get the credits that you need in a short period of time to do it online, and it is through accredited institutions. So Coursera is a really great way to look at accomplishing those in, again, a short period of time. You will not be able to have your application reviewed until you have those prerequisites done. And so if you do have more questions about that, we'd be happy to help you. But you will want to look into that. That's the first thing that you would need to do. Next, it is a minimum undergraduate cumulative GPA. So that's if you attended multiple schools, if you transferred from another school, you have an associate's from another school. That even includes if you have another master's degree. Those are all factored into your cumulative GPA. And it needs to be at least a 3.0 to qualify for the program. If you have below that, you can take the GRE or GMAT to help supplement that to enhance our portfolio of what we're able to learn about you as a student. Students traditionally ask, Well, which one should I take? Should I take the GRE or the GMAT? It's really up to you and your personal preference. And there's a number of really short little YouTube videos out there that describe the difference between the GRE and the GMAT. And we would just encourage you to go take a peek at a couple of those to make a decision of what you think would be a best fit for you and your learning style. And so we would check that out. Next, let's talk about what the application entails. So once you submit your application, and we get that question a lot as well. They say, Well, I'm not ready to submit. I don't have all my materials. Submitting your application is just a term we use here at Stockton to say that you are interested in completing an application. It's going to ask you for a $50 application submission fee or a waiver code, depending on. We have some particular situations where you can earn a waiver code, and you can ask us about those if you are eligible or not. But submitting just means it is allowing you to load your materials. So let's talk about what would need to be loaded in your application. The first thing it's going to ask for is letters of recommendation. And these are all going to be done electronically. You don't have to collect anything from your recommenders. All you need to do prior to starting your application is talk to your recommenders. There's nothing worse than us getting a call from a recommender saying, I didn't know this person was even applying. So make sure you have that conversation with them first. Make sure they're available to do your recommendation in a timely manner. And then just let them know that they'll be receiving it electronically and everything gets submitted online, so they don't have to mail us anything. You don't have to collect anything. The second part of that is making sure that these recommenders are professional recommenders. These are individuals who either know you academically, they've worked with you in a classroom at a collegiate setting, or they've supervised you in a collegiate setting in an internship or practicum experience, or they've supervised you. If you're in the workforce, they've been your supervisor. They can speak to your professional abilities. What it shouldn't be is individuals who are our personal references. So family members, neighbors—you know, even if you bring in your next-door neighbor's trash can every week and, you know, help them with their mail and mow their lawn—we're not looking for recommendations like that. We need people who can speak to your professional and your academic ability to succeed in the MBA program. When you input their information, all you'll need is their name, their title, and their email address. I suggest that you copy and paste the email address instead of retyping it. We get a lot of individuals who say, Oh, my recommender hasn't submitted anything yet. I don't know what's going on. And we go in and find out they wrote .con instead of .com for their email or something like that. So copy and paste directly from an email you already have from them just to make sure that you know that it is accurate. You will also have a personal statement or an essay that you will have to submit. You will be able to see that essay prompt once you submit your application. So once you put in that $50 or that waiver code, you will then see the essay prompt. You will also see a little note that when you do that, it does take about five or 10 minutes for that waiver code or that $50 fee to go through. Please, if you don't see all the things we're talking about right away, go make a cup of coffee, take a walk around the block, come back to your computer, re-login, and you'll be able to see all of that. But it does take a few minutes for our system to populate that. But again, you will be able to see that essay prompt after you move to the submission stage. Next, you'll be supplying us with a copy of your CV or your resume, just letting us know the things that you have to share with your professional experience. And then lastly are your transcripts. And we will need to receive all official transcripts from every institution you attended. So again, even if, let's say, you went to Stockton. Well, with Stockton students, we will pull your transcripts for you, so you can leave that be if you are a Stockton student. We have access to those. But if you attended, let's say, Rowan, but you also went to Camden County for your associate's, just know that we would need both of those transcripts. But if you also have a master's degree, we would need both your bachelor's and your master's degree. So any collegiate transcript you have, those official transcripts must be sent to us. And you can either choose Stockton as a drop-down in the electronic request form, or you can type in gradschool@stockton. edu, and we'll share that with you at the end of the presentation. You can send us paper hard copies, but really, electronic copies are the way to go. You get a receipt that it's been done. You get a receipt when it's been received, and it happens very, very quickly. Sending them actual paper copies can take well over a week, and so if we're trying to do things in a timely manner, the electronic format is really the best way to go. And again, if you are a Stockton student and you also have a 3.0 or higher along with the prerequisite courses, there's also the direct entry application process, which allows you to waive all materials except for your essay and your resume. So it's a very quick process, very easy process, and that's good for up to two years for the MBA program. And so all you would need to share with us again is your essay and your resume. We pull your transcript. There are no references that are needed, and there is no application fee. So as a Stockton student, under those requirements, that's another opportunity that you have as well. So let's talk about where you apply. So if you go to stockton. edu/mba, or you go to stockton. edu and you can just type in MBA at the top of the page, you will be able to go straight from there to the Apply button. That's going to take you to the application directly. Once you've logged in once and started your criteria, you're going to choose Returning User from that point forward to work on your application through the Application Portal. At any point, if you have questions, you can reach out to Graduate and Continuing Studies, and we're happy to help with any questions you have through that process. The system is very user-friendly, but again, we're always here to help if there's any questions. The next item that we do want you to know, just in the grand scheme of things as you're applying, we are not going to go into detail on this, but we do have two other programs within our School of Business. One is our MBA in Healthcare Administration and Leadership program. The curriculum is slightly different. It allows you to be working in the field of, again, healthcare administration, working in hospitals and healthcare systems. We are going to have an upcoming virtual information session two weeks from now for that program. And then the other program we have is also our Master of Science in Accounting. And this is one of our newest programs here at Stockton, but is housed in the School of Business and is a little bit different. It's intended for students who are going to sit for the CPA exam and allowing them to get the appropriate credits that are needed for that, which has altered just recently. So we would ask you to take a peek at that, but we'll be doing an information session next week for that program as well. It has the embedded experience for the internship in that program. And again, those courses are really geared towards preparing for students who want to sit specifically for the CPA exam. Excuse me. All right. So with that being said, we are going to turn things over to our audience for questions. I know we have a few folks joining us, a small group. For those of you who are watching this prerecorded, this is our contact information as well. Please feel free to reach out with any questions via email, give us a call. Our office is located in Lower N Wing on the main Galloway campus. You can also stop by to see us there. I'm going to leave things open as far as the chat is concerned. And Ben, anything else that I have missed that you would like to share?

Awesome. I'll leave you all with one closing thought. My favorite question that I get from students when they're, you know, deciding whether or not to come to Stockton is sometimes they'll say to me, Well, tell me the one reason I should come to Stockton above all else. And I have to share with you, my answer is always, without question, our amazing faculty. Our faculty, especially in our MBA program and in all of our graduate programs, they really care about our students. You're not just a number. They want to see you succeed. They are there to support you to be academically successful. And also so is the Office of Graduate and Continuing Studies. And that's actually my role here at the institution, is making sure that once students are enrolled and from the point of orientation to graduation, that you know you have a support system. So between our office and our amazing faculty, just know that you have the support to go through this program. We know that it's a large time commitment. We know that it's not an easy feat, but it's important and it's something that will help you to succeed and to better your career, and we're here to help you to do that. So with that being said, I don't see any questions in the chat, so we'll close things out. Thank you all so, so much for being here, and we hope to talk with you soon. Take care, everybody. Bye-bye.