Program Highlights

Team Building and Leadership

Work in business organizations is accomplished in teams. Therefore, our curriculum seeks to develop strong team-building and leadership skills. To maximize the learning benefits from team experiences, students are organized into small groups who work together on all projects across second-semester classes. At the beginning of the term, team members participate in training on group dynamics and effective communication in cross-cultural teams, and are given a personalized assessment. Throughout the term they receive detailed multi-rater feedback on individual performance and behavior as team members, leading to a formal Personal Development Plan that is produced with the help of an executive coach. Teams are also appraised on the extent to which they have been able to develop into a well-functioning unit. Beyond these types of supervised team-building experiences, our engaged and cohesive MBA community enjoys a wealth of other opportunities to work in small groups and further develop leadership skills, including case competitions, student organizations, and action-learning or community service projects.

Global Awareness

A global perspective is critical to future success in business and as such is embedded throughout coursework in our curriculum. You can also pursue an International Business concentration and participate in global study trips. Moreover, you will gain a global viewpoint as well as an awareness and sensitivity to different expectations and behavior across cultures as you learn to work with other members of our cross-national MBA community.

Professional Development and Growth

The emphasis on development of professional skills is a constant throughout Kent State’s Full-time MBA core curriculum. During three semesters students participate in a Professional Development course series which includes discussions, exercises, and workshops on effective public speaking and presentations, report writing, creative problem solving, career planning, negotiations, ethical leadership, crisis management, social media, resume clinics, conducting a job search, and interviewing skills, as well as a series of business etiquette events.

Concentrations

Beyond our innovative and rigorous core curriculum, our elective offerings allow students to specialize in one of eight concentration areas:  Accounting, Economics, Fashion Merchandizing, Finance, Organizational Behavior & Human resource Management, International Business, Marketing, and Supply Chain management. Students also have the flexibility to design the concentration that will best suit their professional goals, by selecting among our portfolio of elective courses and (with program approval) graduate courses offered by other colleges of the University as well.

Recognition

Kent State University and the College of Business have a commitment to excellence which for the FT-MBA program translates into a drive to continuously improve the relevance of our curriculum, the quality of our delivery, the value of the student experience, the significance of our relationships with industry partners, and the success and impact of our graduates. As a testament to this, the program has obtained several stamps of recognition, including:

• AACSB-International Accreditation (only 20% of schools worldwide obtain this distinction)
• Princeton Review listing among the Best Business Schools (we have consistently been included in this publication, year after year).

Full time MBA Class of 2013 Profile

Average GMAT			616
Average GPA			3.36
Average Work Experience			14 months
Average Age			24 years
Percent Female			39%
International Students			45%
Undergraduate Majors :
Business	35%	Engineering and Science	10%
Architecture	19%	Economics	7%
Liberal Arts	16%	Other	13%

Organizations that have hired recent Full-time MBA graduates

3e Company			First Energy Corporation	PNC Bank
Alliance Data			Gap Inc.	Salesforce.com
American Tire Distributors			Honeywell	Target
Best Western			Live Nation	The Davey Tree Expert Company
CareWorks			MRI Software	The Timken
Epsilon			Nationwide Insurance	US Department of Veteran Affairs
Ernst & Young			OE Connection	Westfield Insurance
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)			PLS Logistics