Thunderbird School Of Global Management

Program Basics

• • Executive MBA
  • Thunderbird School of Global Management
  • Thunderbird School of Global Management
  • 1 Global Place
  • Glendale, 85306, Arizona
  • United States
  • Status:
    • Private
  • Length of program (months): 17

• Classes meet:

  • • Alternate weekends
    • Occasional week-long sessions

• Tuition and fees for entire EMBA program:

  • Resident: $84,500.00
  • Non Resident: $84,500.00

• Graduate business school is accredited by:

  • • Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)

SCHOOL BASICS

• Graduate business school enrollment:

  • Total: 1,278
  • Full-Time MBA: 538
  • Part-Time MBA: 19
  • Executive MBA: 116
  • PhD Program: 0
• • Undergraduate business school enrollment: 0
  • Other graduate degree programs: Master of International Management/Business

ADMISSIONS - Getting Into the Institution

• • Rolling admissions? Yes
  • GMAT Required? No
  • If applicants are not required to take the GMAT, how are EMBA applicants' quantitative abilities checked before enrollment? Three required essays;series of four in person interviews; work history
• • Is the TOEFL required for non-English speakers? No
  • Application fee: $125.00
  • Number of applications to the newest class: 56
  • Applicants accepted: 100 %
  • Admitted applicants enrolled: 83 %
  • Applicants wait-listed during the last admissions cycle: 0
  • Wait-listed applicants admitted for the semester to which they applied: 0
  • Applicant interviews are: Required
  • Applicants (admitted and denied) who were interviewed: 100 %
  • Admitted applicants who were interviewed: 100 %

CLASS PROFILE

• EMBA students in newest entering class who are:

  • Female: 21 %
  • International: 21 %

• Entering students are from the following regions:

  • Africa: 4 %
  • Asia: 4 %
  • Eastern Europe and Central Asia: 8 %
  • Latin America and the Caribbean: 4 %
  • Middle East: 1 %
  • North America: 72 %
  • Western Europe: 7 %

• Entering North American citizens are from the following regions:

  • West: 11 %
  • Midwest: 3 %
  • Southwest: 84 %
  • South: 3 %

• U.S. students in newest entering class who are:

  • African American: 3 %
  • Asian American: 22 %
  • Multiethnic/Multiracial : 5 %
  • Native American: 3 %
  • White (Non-Hispanic): 59 %
  • Other: 8 %
• • Average months of work experience: 175

• Middle 80% range work experience in months:

  • From: 108
  • To: 228
• • Average age: 38

• Middle 80% age range:

  • From: 30
  • To: 49

• Work background:

  • Have advanced degrees: 24 %
  • Work in the nonprofit sector: 0 %
  • Work at an organization with 100 or fewer employees: 24 %
  • Have title of president, CEO, or chairman: 11 %
• • EMBA students living within 45 miles of campus: 78 %

• Middle 80% base salary range:

  • Low: $100,000.00
  • High: $249,999.00

• Students work in these functional categories:

  • Consulting: 15 %
  • Finance/Accounting 9 %
  • General Management : 14 %
  • Human Resources: 0 %
  • Marketing/Sales: 28 %
  • Management Information Systems : 20 %
  • Operations/Logistics: 11 %
  • Other: 3 %

• Students work in these industries:

  • Consumer Products: 7 %
  • Government: 4 %
  • Non-Profit: 0 %
  • Petroleum/Energy: 15 %
  • Pharmaceutical/Biotechnology/Health Care: 11 %
  • Real Estate: 2 %
  • Technology: 9 %
  • Other: 41 %

• Top organizations sending students:

  • AAA
  • Intel Corporation
  • United States Air Force

FINANCIAL AID

• • EMBAs receiving financial aid through school: 61 %
  • Does the school offer a guaranteed loan to EMBAs, regardless of nationality? No

FACULTY

• • Faculty employed by the B-school: 69

• Full-time faculty:

  • Tenured: 27
  • Non-Tenured: 21

• Adjunct/Visiting Faculty:

  • Tenured: 0
  • Non-Tenured: 21

• Women on Faculty:

  • Tenured: 7
  • Non-Tenured: 17

• Minority Faculty:

  • Tenured: 8
  • Non-Tenured: 9

• International Faculty:

  • Tenured: 4
  • Non-Tenured: 7

• Faculty with PhDs:

  • Tenured: 27
  • Non-Tenured: 26

STUDENT LIFE

• • Does the program include a mandatory international trip or project? Yes
  • Description: Three overseas trips are required. The nine day study tours include cultural learning, industry visits, guest speakers and classroom sessions.
  • Does the school offer pre-program orientation for all EMBA participants? Yes
  • Does the school offer temporary housing/accommodations for EMBA participants? Yes
  • Description: On campus housing includes two levels of executive accommodations, hotel and dormitory, that are offered for a discounted fee to EMBA students. They also have access to lounges, study rooms and business centers.
  • Do EMBAs have access to a health club or gym? Yes
  • Special student/home/work/life initiatives: We have begun to offer services such as video recordings of class sessions and tutoring for quantitative classes.
  • How far away from a major airport are most EMBA classes held? (miles) 24

TEACHING/ACADEMICS

• Teaching methods:

  • Case Study: 35 %
  • Distance Learning: 6 %
  • Experiential Learning: 15 %
  • Lectures: 10 %
  • Simulations: 4 %
  • Team Projects: 20 %
• • Faculty also teaching in full-time program: 88 %
  • Tenured/tenure-track EMBA faculty: 76 %
  • Average class size, core EMBA class: 44
  • Elective courses: 0

• Estimated hours per week in class and outside classwork:

  • Hours per week in class: 8
  • Hours per week outside of class spent on classwork: 20
• • Last revision of core EMBA curriculum: 2007
  • Distance-learning EMBA via the Internet, videoconferencing, or some other medium? No
  • Description: Global Political Economy; Regional Studies; Language

• Graduation Requirements:

  • • Students must have attended a minimum number of classes
    • Students must have earned a pre-determined GPA/Letter grade average
    • Class participation accounts for some percentage of students' grades
    • Other
    • please describe on next screen
  • Demonstrate ability to converse in a second language at a specified fluency level by either completing 6 credits of language classes at Thunderbird or passing an external language exam

• TECHNOLOGY

  • Technology improvements in the last three academic years: 1) Rolled out a new LMS (based on Moodle open sources, aka TLE. 2) Rolled out a single sign on environment (aka Portal Login) across our major web applications, including our LMS, Portal, Google Apps hosted Student Email, and more. 3) Implemented complete wireless coverage in all our dorms. 4) Changed public and computing lab environment to use Remote Desktop technologies instead of dedicated PCs. Provides better performance, central management, and far lower power requirements.

B-SCHOOL ALUMNI

• • Living MBA alumni: 37,661
  • Active MBA alumni clubs: 167
  • Countries in which MBA clubs exist: 73
  • Business school endowment $16,940,000.00
  • Does the main university offer career placement services for alumni? Yes
  • Does the main university have an alumni networking Web site? Yes
  • University alumni networking site: http://my.thunderbird.edu
  • Does the B-School have an alumni networking Web site? Yes
  • Business school alumni networking site: http://my.thunderbird.edu
  • Do current MBA students have access to an alumni database? Yes

• • The strengths [of the professors] were not only a consistent focus on global issues, but the linking of their subject areas to the overall strategy of the firm and what makes financial sense in the long term.
    
    
    
    
    
    A relatively minor issue was that the schedule of classes through two of the semesters at the school had several gaps of multiple weeks for a few classes.
    
    
    
    
    
    Instructors have real-life experience and are currently engaged in business projects around the world. They are typically called upon to consult because they are experts in their fields.
    
    
    
    
    
    [The program should] be more selective with applicants and provide long-term career counseling services.
    
    
    
    
    
    It is one of the strongests programs in the country. The focus on international business is absolutely critical in today's economy.
    
    
    
    
    
    The diverse backgrounds, professional experience, and education were strengths of the professors. The fact that most of them were full-time, PhD instructors was a strength. Some of the teachers, without properly preparing their classes, taught at a level that went above the students' heads.
    
    
    
    
    
    The online courses really needed improvement. There needed to be direct interaction with the professors instead of all pre-recorded content.
    
    
    
    
    
    I think some investment in the latest technology and upgrades to physical classrooms would help the overall academic experience. I would have liked to have had more interaction with successful alumni.
    
    
    
    
    
    Overall, I thought the program was terrific. Unfortunately, we were going through the program as the economy was melting down, so several of my classmates, (myself included) were laid off before graduation and/or had to change jobs or take pay cuts. The job environment post-graduation was dismal and having the executive MBA didn't seem to have the cache or influence it once had with job recruiters.
    
    
    
    
    
    Some of the professors had practical experience but some of them had only little experience and did a poor job in transporting their experience.
    
    
    
    
    
    Many of the instructors were from outside the U.S., which added to the international value. Management, leadership, and cross-cultural negotiations were excellent. But professors need to improve the use of technology and multi-media into the programs and interactions with students. Leverage new online, video, and telepresence capability to further facilitae outside-the-classroom interaction.
    
    
    
    
    
    There was a really good balance between theory and practice, but my preference is to err on the side of more practice. That makes all the difference in the world when it comes to flexing different muscles. I think an increased focus on leadership skills - the soft skills - would have really helped some of my peers in the class. They are imperative to their success going forward.
    
    
    
    
    
    It may help to be a longer program. I felt like we rushed through some of the topics, and it would have helped to be able to spend more time with the material.