SMU Gets Into The One-Year MBA Game

MBA Students on the Cox Campus

Fast Track students can also participate in Cox’s mentoring program. Started 30 years ago, the effort pairs first and second year students with one of 250 business executives from the Dallas area (only half of whom are Cox alumni). In this program, students meet potential mentors at school-sponsored events, choosing the one who’ll work with them one-on-one for the year. “[These executives] care about having a strong business program in the area,” boasts Armstrong.

Such ties have turned the metroplex into a destination for Cox graduates according to Armstrong. At orientation, just 50% of first-years intend to remain in the Dallas area. By graduation, that number has jumped to 80% because of the many opportunities nearby. “We have an incredibly strong alumni network nearby,” Armstrong asserts. And the Cox network is no slouch, including the likes of Bob Dudley (Group Chief Executive of BP), C. David Cush (CEO of Virgin America), and Tom Horton (Board Chairman of American Airlines).

COULD FAST TRACK DISRUPT THE EXISTING TWO-YEAR PROGRAM?

Of course, the Fast Track program brings an intriguing scenario. With Fast Track presenting a less time-intensive program at lower cost, is it a risk to cannibalize Cox’s full-time MBA program (currently ranked #39 by Poets&Quants)? Armstrong, for one, doesn’t view that as a danger due to the type of students being recruited for the Fast Track program.

The Cox campus during the fall

Like the two-year program, Armstrong expects Fast Track to draw professionals who are 27-28 years of age. Whereas the two-year program caters to career switchers, Fast Track will appeal to students looking to advance their careers while remaining in a similar work role. “Fast Track wouldn’t be the right fit for people looking to switch careers,” Armstrong notes. “They need two years of networking and a summer internship. [Fast Track] is really meant for students with an undergraduate degree in business or economics…who intend to advance the career they’re in now and not switch.”

She adds that Cox conducted very careful benchmarking of three one-year programs before proceeding with Fast Track. For example, the school met with Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management, considered the gold standard among one year MBA programs with a fifty-year track record. Cox also worked closely with the one-year programs at Cornell’s Johnson Graduate School of Management (Ithaca) and Emory University’s Goizueta Business School. “We learned a lot from them…and made it our own.”

LONG-TERM GOALS: STRONG STUDENT PERFORMANCE AND INCREASED SPONSORSHIP

In the end, Fast Track is one more option in Cox’s arsenal, which includes a full-time MBA, two-year professional MBA, and a 21-month executive MBA (along with assorted master’s degree and certificate programs). So what does Cox hope comes out of the Fast Track program? “[To us], success looks like growth,” Armstrong foresees. “And that the profile of the candidates we’re attracting is really strong and helping to build the brand. And with the placement of these students, that they’re doing exceptionally well and moving up in their careers.”

In addition, Armstrong hopes the Fast Track concept – with its lower cost and shorter 12-month cycle – will be attractive to employers, whose sponsorship of MBA programs for employees has declined in recent years. “This might be something to get companies to step up to the plate and sponsor,” she hopes.

DON’T MISS: GUIDE TO THE BEST ONE-YEAR MBA PROGRAMS