Master of Business Administration (MBA) Virtual Information Session

Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you so much for joining us for the MBA Virtual information session. My name is Tara Williams. I am the director of graduate admissions here at Stockton University. And whether you are joining us live or watching us on a recording, I want to thank you for expressing interest in our MBA program and for, you know, taking a deeper dive and to learn more about this program.

I am joined today by our program chair of the MBA program. Keith, would you like to introduce yourself?

Hello.

Program.

Yeah, absolutely. Thanks, Tara. Hello, everyone. My name is Keith dinner and I am currently chair the MBA program at Stockton University along with all of its concentrations. And I'm really happy to be here today with you to share a little bit about our program and what we have to offer and answer any questions you may have about it.

So as we're going through the presentation, um, if you want to hold your questions to the end because chancellors are your questions will probably be answered throughout the presentation. Please feel free to use the chat feature to ask your question. And at the end of the presentation, we will go through the chat and answer any questions that you may have. I'm going to turn the presentation over to to Keith who will get us started this afternoon.

All right. Thanks, Tara.

Alright, so.

Start with a little bit about Stockton's MBA program. Generally probably the most exciting thing in my view that has occurred at Stockton in our MBA program in the recent years is our move to Atlantic City. We're currently right across from the beach and the boardwalk. All of our classes are offered at the Atlantic City campus and the Atlantic City campus is growing. We're, we're building down there, we're building new buildings, new residential halls. It's just, it's just a really exciting.

Time to be down there and that part of Atlantic City.

Uh, so we moved down there right in the middle of the pandemic first semester. It turns out we only taught one class live in Atlantic City due to the pandemic, and then since then we've ramped it up and all of our live classes are now offered at the Atlantic City campus.

The in addition to the live classes which we offer.

Monday through Thursday night, typically 6:30 to 8:30 PM each class meeting one night a week. We have some online offerings which allow for a little bit more flexibility. So you could have one live class and two online classes, or two live classes and one online class and a semester, depending on kind of what meets your needs. And, you know, maybe you're working, maybe you have family responsibilities. We try to remain as flexible as possible so that you know you can get your education.

But still have a life at the same time. So down in Atlantic City we have our General MBA and we also have.

At this time, 5 concentrations, the core for both the General MBA and the five concentrations are are the same. They're essentially 8 core classes. These eight core classes, they're three credit hours each, which adds up to 24 credit hours. And then we have 4 electives, which are 12 credit hours in total, three credit hours each. So I'll tell you a little bit about the electives in a moment, but to give you an idea of the NBA core, we have the core.

Accounting, management, marketing, finance, decision analysis, info systems, employment law and ethics. And then we have the capstone course, which is a strategy and policy course. So all MBA students, unless they're very rare exceptions for those who've had undergraduate degrees in marketing, finance or accounting, or are required to take all eight of these core courses as part of the MBA program. And each core course is offered every fall.

Every spring so.

Pretty easy to schedule those.

Uh, now what I mentioned about the undergraduate students is if you had an undergraduate degree in accounting and finance or in marketing, and you have 21 more or more credit hours and one of those fields as an undergraduate, you actually would substitute the the core course in that field. For example, if you had 21 credit hours in accounting as an undergrad, you would substitute the accounting court course with an additional MBA elective. Now that doesn't apply to all of you.

But for those of you who does apply to it allows you also a little bit more flexibility and the courses you choose and the opportunity to take an additional elective in an area that you find interesting.

Um, so in addition to the core, as I mentioned, we have these electives and the General MBA, we have the any elective pretty much that you want to take any of our electives out that we offer. You can take 4 electives in any area?

Now in the concentrations, I'm going to show you these right now and the concentrations and these are our five concentrations. We have business analytics, financial, forensic investigations, marketing, finance and hospitality, tourism and event management. Others are the five that we currently offer. If you do want to concentrate and essentially concentration is kind of like specializing in a particular area. So if you do want to concentrate in a particular area, three of your 4 electives.

To be taken in that subject area. For example, if you were to.

Concentrate in business analytics. Three of your 4 electives and the MBA would be taken in business analytics and then you'd have one what we call kind of a floating elective that you could take and in any of the concentration areas of pretty much any other MBA elective class you could take to fill that 4th requirement, adding up again to the 36 credit hours, you got your 8 core, 3 concentration electives and one general elective.

And yet the electives are for each concentration, we we tend to offer at least one elective in each concentration each semester and that's fall, spring and summer. So you could get all three in a year if you needed to give you an example or several examples if you will, several examples of what our MBA program electives look like and these and I want to just give a little caveat here that that's these electives are they're not necessarily the ones that will be offered at the time.

The role, but there's a good shot that like a lot of these will be offered at the time that you here at Stockton because you know the different concentrations that have the ability to change out their relatives to stay current and have the ability to to swap them out and update them and change the names and add new ones. But just to give you an idea we have a variety of different electives and the Domini concentrations we offer, we're also you may have seen on the previous slide where in the process right now of developing a global sustainability.

Concentration, and we're hoping with any luck, it has to go through all sorts of approval processes to add a new concentration. But with any luck, fall 2024, we'll have that concentration in place. But for now we have our five concentrations, and we also have a variety of electives, as you can see in each of the concentration areas. I don't, I don't want to read through all the electives. You can also find them on our webpagestockton.edu back slash MBA.

So that's kind of the IT for the basic curriculum. We've got the opportunity, the General MBA and you've got the option of an MBA with a concentration and one of the concentration areas beyond that.

We've been working with a variety of different institutions globally to expand Stocktons's global reach and to provide global opportunities to our students.

Right before the pandemic hit, we entered into a dual degree arrangement with a university in Taiwan and CU University where you can actually go and spend an entire semester over in Taiwan and take classes. They have English speaking classes over there and they transfer back to Stockton and they're planning now that hopefully soon. We were planning a launch right before the pandemic, but.

Hopefully soon we'll be relaunching this program. They'll be sending their students over here to take classes at Stockton and I'll be staying for a semester and then heading back to Taiwan. So it's a great opportunity to collaborate, to go study abroad for a semester to see the world, to get some culture. We also offer a specific classes which are referred to as faculty LED programs where you actually take a class at Stockton and then at the end of the class or sometime during the class, you could go for a week or two weeks.

To a specific country and actually visit that country and talk about, for example, if it's a hospitality class, you talk about the hospitality and visit some of the hospitality and tourism types of events in that particular country. So we try to offer a faculty LED program once every year to two years, so that at some point in your experience you would have the opportunity for a faculty LED program and then the university as a whole as well has a variety of.

Different study abroad programs that are available to MBA students. We have office of Global Engagement which can provide you with an opportunity to study. I don't want to say anywhere but but a lot of different places in the world and to to go study abroad for a semester and and to come back to Stockton and and share your experiences with us. So, so we do have a lot of really fun and really exciting global opportunities at Stockton which will be available to you as well.

So I'm just changing gears a little bit.

I often get a lot of questions about, well, is there funding available for the MBA. Now keep in mind that the MBA is a a professional degree, it's a professional degree. And so a lot of schools, you know very limited funding for for professional degrees. We do have some funding available for MBA students. One of those opportunities is the graduate assistantship, which each semester you can apply for graduate assistantship.

Uh, they're awarded on a competitive basis, and if you're awarded one, you would have the opportunity to work with a professor at Stockton or perhaps an administrator at Stockton, and you would get some sort of tuition remission or replacement of certain number of credit hours of your tuition costs in exchange for your work. We also have graduate student scholarships which are available on a competitive basis, believe, I believe annually at this point in time sometimes.

And maybe going semester to semester at some point and then we have financial aid available just as all.

You know, all universities typically have financially available and you can apply for student loans as a qualifying student. So there are some opportunities for funding at Stockton. If you would like to know more about those, you can reach out to the office of grade admissions.

Yeah.

OK. I will take over on the next couple slides for the admissions criteria. So if you go to ourwebsite@stockton.edu/grad and, you know, click on graduate programs and then MBA or even if you just go to stockton.edu back slash MBA, you will be able to see the admissions criteria for our program. It really is very cut and dry for this program.

There's really not a lot of requirements. Everything is listed on our website. But for the most part, the very first thing to keep in mind is that there are prerequisites for this program. The list of prerequisites are on our website, but you know, for the most part it is courses in management, accounting, economics, finance and operations management. If you've taken courses in those areas, they don't necessarily have to be called accounting, but if you've taken courses.

In that field, then they would you know they would count towards the electives. So, as you are sending us your transcripts, the review committee that is led by faculty, they'll be able to go through your transcripts and ensure that you have all of these prerequisites in order before you join the program. Can you apply without having all the prereqs done? Yes, but you will be notified that you need to complete the prereqs before starting the program, so.

Let's say that you are. You know it. Let's say it's February and you decide you want to apply for the program for the fall. I always encourage the earlier the better. That way, if you need to accomplish anything before you begin, you have plenty of time to do so. So Umm, you know, let's say it's February and you want to apply for the fall. You have a couple outstanding pre racks, or maybe you're not sure whether the ones you have qualify go through the application.

Process. The Faculty Review Committee will review all of your transcripts and then notify you and say, you know, I see that you've taken all your, you know, all of your prereqs. Maybe you might want to consider doing something in, you know, economics before you begin the program. And we have a list of courses, whether they are college credit courses or, you know, online open course courses that you can take to fulfill those prerequisites. And we would just need proof that you've completed those prereqs.

Before you begin the program. So like I said you know my best advice is, you know, apply for the program. If you have any outstanding prerequisites we will inform you and make sure that you have enough time to complete those before you begin the program. A lot of our prerequisites you can complete with, you know, one of the online open courses. That way it's not like you have to wait for a semester in college to begin. It really is just an online delivered.

Course for you to take and then we would just need proof that you completed that prereq. Any information on prerequisites like I said, please visit our website. We do have information there. And before you leave today, our last slide gives you our contact information and that way if you have any follow up questions we'll be happy to help you. So other than other than the prereqs, what we require for this program is the online application, links to that are on our website and then.

That comes with the $50.00 application fee on the graduate application ESSAY 3 letters of recommendation. If you have a below a 3 point O, we do ask that you complete on either the GMAT or the GRE if you have. If you believe that you qualify for a testing waiver, we will accept those. To see if you qualify for testing waiver, please visit our website, specifically in the.

FAQ section where we ask, you know, the question involves the waiver. It tells you what you need to do to qualify for the waiver and then you can always, you know, let us know whether you think you qualify and then you know hopefully we can waive that exam for you. But if you're applying and you have a 3.0 or higher, no need to worry about testing. It is waived for you. It is also waived for folks who are coming in with a Masters degree. Does it have to be in business? It can be in another area, but if you have a masters you don't need to worry about.

Testing either also along with the requirements we require your resume and then transcripts from all colleges attended. So if you went to a Community College or another four year institution anywhere where you received college credits, we do need that transcript. Other than that, those are really the requirements for the program. You know, if you see this slide here, it'll give you more information if you graduated from Stockton business or hospitality with a 3.5.

Or above you may qualify for direct entry. Anything about direct entry, we do have that information on our website. Direct entry is really just a way to get into the program and not having to complete the supplemental requirements like an essay, the application Fee, 3 letters of recommendation, all of that is waived if you qualify for direct entry. Again, direct entries for Stockton students or one year out alumni with a 3.5.

Or higher specifically with a business or hospitality degree?

The other important thing to note here, and I said it before, is to please make sure you give yourself plenty of time to apply for the program. The application itself is not lengthy, but just in case you need to complete anything before you start, we want to make sure that we set you up for success. So applying early really you know makes yourself you know, setting yourself up for success, giving you plenty of time in case you need to complete any additional requirements or if we need additional documents.

For you, you know, you give yourself plenty of time. We admit for the MBA program 3 * a year, the summer, fall and spring we have a rolling admission process. So if you decide you want to apply for a term that is in the future, you can always apply for that. It is rolling admission. You don't have to wait for the deadline in order to apply. We do have priority deadlines listed on our website, but like I said, it's rolling admission the earlier you apply.

You know the better. Do you think I missed anything or we covered everything in advance?

I think you did fantastic car. I think you had every key point.

Thank you. I appreciate that.

Yeah, absolutely. And and there's just a little graphic here of of the website, you can just go to stockton.edu back slash MBA and there's a little little apply button, there's a little blue button. You can just click apply and start the application process there.

So anything else you wanna add to on that or should we jump to the healthcare MBA?

No, I think we're good. We can jump to healthcare.

Alright, cool. Well and just to to to make you all aware, there's a separate webinar on, on the MBA in healthcare administration and leadership. But I just didn't feel like we'd have an MBA presentation. I didn't feel like an NBA presentation would be complete without at least a shout out to our MBA hall program which also launched in the middle of the pandemic and fall of 2020 with a really fantastic cohort of students and we just graduated our first cohort just this past year. So there is a.

Healthcare focused MBA it's actually really cool concept which integrates Health Sciences and business and it's an executive style MBA, meaning that it meets about usually 4 * a semester on a Saturday and is offered in a hybrid format. So this in this particular MBA program is it's a little bit different than everything else we've been talking about because you're you're you're put into particular classes each semester and.

Now you don't have kind of the same flexibility and self scheduling as you do with the general MBA or the concentrations and it's intended primarily for those in the healthcare field. So our first, second going on 3rd cohort have been primarily professionals in the area who work in healthcare and some Health Sciences graduates are from Stockton as well. So it's a really cool program for those of you who may be in healthcare or want to transition into healthcare.

And maybe check out the other webinar on that if you haven't already, if you have an interest in that program. And with that being said, I believe that's all the information that we have. Just if you would like more information, here's on this slide, you can see the link to the graduate admissions website, the phone number as well as the e-mail. You can reach out anytime. Tara runs the Office of Graduate Missions. She does a fabulous job and her staff does a fabulous job communicating with students.

I just streamlining the application process for you and with that any questions, anything to add at this point?

Yeah, feel free to post your questions in the chat and we will go through and answer all of them for you. You know, the slide is there with our information grad school at stockton.edu or our phone number there. Also through the application, you know, application system, you can always reach out to us with any questions and we can communicate directly with you through the application system. So we are here to help you through the entire process.

Of admission, please don't hesitate to reach out to us at anytime and we're always happy to help and answer any questions that you may have. So if there's any questions right now, I don't see any. But if you want to post any questions, we are here to help. If you leave this information session today and you think of something that you want to ask, best way to reach out to us is our e-mail grad school at stockton.edu. Also, we are very active on social media and particularly LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.

So please feel free to follow us on all of our social that way you can get information not only about the MBA or MBA healthcare program, but all of our graduate programs. Here at Stockton we post about deadlines and important information that you need to know coming from Stockton. Any you know, notifications that we need to send you, deadlines that are coming up. We also post links to our webinars like this. That way you can always go back and and view.

You know the different videos that we have. So if I don't see any questions, um, that's about it for this afternoon. So thank you so much for joining us for this MBA webinar, learning about the Master of Business administration here at Stockton, uh, we have a question. If a Stockton student applies for MBA, he or she be eligible, eligible for this game scholarships. So if you are a Stockton student and you wish to have a scholarship, your undergraduate scholarship.

Unfortunately, does not carry over to grad. It ends with you when you graduate with your undergraduate degree. However, we do have, you know, some financial opportunities in the grad school realm. We have the new graduate student scholarship for incoming graduate students. It's in the form of $2500 for your first semester when you begin. We also have the graduate assistantship program that you heard a little bit about earlier and then once you are in the program.

Um, there are scholarship opportunities through our foundation office. Those scholarships open up in January every year. The close date is around March, and those scholarships are applied for the following fall. So for Stockman students who have that undergrad scholarship, whether it's a presidential or Provost scholarship, unfortunately those end when you graduate, but then you open up the opportunity for other scholarships when you are a graduate student. Other question.

Are there career services available post completion for the MBA or internship? The answer to both is yes. As a Stockton student, whether that is an undergraduate student or a graduate student or even all of our Stockton alumni, you have access to our career development office here at Stockton. That office is staffed by very talented group of folks who can help you with resume building interview skills and connecting you to potential employers.

Doing different job searches where you can learn about different careers, in business or otherwise. You can always set up an appointment with one of our career counselors who can help you with all of your skills. Or doing that career search like you talked about. And then even when you graduate, you have access to the career Development Office and and its talented staff. So the answer is yes. And then as far as internships, you can do an internship through the MBA program. You can even do.

Um, something through our Career Center, if that's, you know, a route that you wish to take. But you can do an internship through this program, yes.

Great questions.

Absolutely not. Just add that the internship if you choose to do when it's not a requirement in the MBA, but if you choose to do one, it does count as an MBA elective and there are some paperwork that needs to be done to make it count as an MBA elective. Not not just any internship will count, but it does have to be approved in advance. But we do encourage those whenever students want to do them because it's great experience.

And our next question, how many credit hours will be done in semester one? Um, well, the great thing about our MBA program is that it's flexible scheduling. So it really is open to your availability as a working professional, as a continuing student. You know, this is not a set curriculum with our MBA program. If you wish to start off, you know, just really small to get your feet wet, you can begin with one program, one.

Of course, if you wish to just, you know, dive in head first and get started with a full time course load, that would be 3 classes, which is 9 credits. Really it is up to you, your availability, what you wish to do. Most of our students start out with two classes. If you take 2 classes, you are eligible for financial aid, financial aid. On the graduate side, you have to enroll in at least five graduate credits. So if you take 2 classes that would satisfy, you know, you would be taking six.

6 credits and that will make you eligible for financial aid. So if financial aid is something that you wish to do as a graduate student, it's mostly in the form of loans. But you would need to take two classes and maintain two classes each semester in order to make you eligible for financial aid. If you if financial aid is not something that you you know, wish to wish to do or go through, then really you can start out with one class if that's something that you're more comfortable with and then kind of.

Back on as you go through the program, as we mentioned before this program does have courses in the summer and that is a really great opportunity to you know take some classes. Stockton is a little quiet in the summer so you can you know get that on campus experience in Atlantic City. You know obviously Atlantic City in the summer is a fantastic opportunity to take classes you know, right on the boardwalk in Atlantic City if your classes are hybrid or online then you can be you know.

Running in that modality as well, we have two sub terms in summer, sub term A and sub term B. So there are two opportunities to kind of take classes in the summer term. But you know to, to answer your question really this program is very flexible. You can take, you know as many classes as you wish each semester. Obviously the more classes you take the quicker you graduate. But there is no set schedule really is what is available and what is best for you.

Hmm.

Absolutely. I'll mention this Walter that if you do take 2A semester, he'll be done in six semesters, so fall, spring, summer, fall spring, summer 222222 and and you're done financially it all the way through, which is what a lot of our working professionals do and they find that two classes is pretty manageable with working a full time job. Much more than that it sometimes becomes a little bit difficult. So, so we typically recommend if you're working full time.

Take start with two classes.

And we have a question about financial aid. So as soon as you are accepted into the program, I, I encourage you to, you know, apply via FAFSA and then you will see what your financial award offer is and then it can be applied directly to your bill. Unfortunately, international students are not eligible for financial aid. So those who are applying as an international student who wish to get a visa here.

Um, they're you're not eligible for financial aid, but you can always contact our financial aid office or our bursar's office to see what other options are available to you. But federal financial aid typically is not all is not eligible offered for international students, but otherwise, as soon as you apply and are accepted, your next step is to fill out the FAFSA form and see what you're eligible for through our award offers.

Any other great questions?

Like I said, if you leave here and you have any questions, please feel free to e-mail us grad school at stockton.edu and we're happy to help at anytime or give us a call. Our phone number is up there, 6096263640. Follow us on social, interact with us, ask US questions. We're here to help you at any time. I don't see any more questions, so I think we're going to close this session. Thank you again so much for those that that participated today. Thank you so much.

Doctor Keith Deaner for joining us and providing US information about our MBA program. One more question just got squeezed in. We're going to answer it before we leave. I've completed my.

So if you're an international student and you wish to apply and you have the English proficiency, there are exemptions for English proficiency. We do list, you know, reasons why you would be exempt for that on our website. So if you fit into any one of those categories, you would be waived from the English proficiency. Please check our website, click on international admissions, and you'll be able to see all that information about English proficiency and all of the requirements that you need for international admissions.

So thank you again for joining us. Please feel free to e-mail us, hit us up on social, um. Call us at anytime. Thank you so much. Appreciate everybody.

Yeah. Thank you all. You have great questions and thanks for joining us.