Backstage With UMASS, Jack Welch, U of Denver & William & Mary’s Online MBA

Jack Welch Management Institute

Allen: Great thank you. So what our readers, a lot of our readers are really interested in is the class profile, the class makeup. They want to know, you know, who their potential new classmates could be? How do they fit into it? So, Mehgan we’ll start with you on this one at Jack Welch. What is the incoming, the latest incoming class profiles look like in terms of where they’re coming from, who they are professionally, where they, where are they all that stuff?

Rodgers: Yeah, and I think that’s one of our strongest offerings at JWMI is the diversity of our population. So within the 2000 students that we currently have enrolled, you know, you have a wide age range everywhere from late twenties to late sixties, which really brings a lot of rich discussion into the classroom, you know, based on people’s industry expertise. We’re actually one of the more female-oriented programs as well. About 53% of our incoming classes is female. And we’re also very international. So we matriculate from 47 different states and 67 different countries. About 20% of our current population lives and resides outside the United States. So you know, all of that combined with, you know, just the diversity and the experience that folks are bringing into the classroom, you know, people from every single industry, every single company from FedEx, McDonald’s, Medtronic, you know, all the big ones to folks who are entrepreneurs starting their own businesses. And you know, doing it everywhere in the world. So it really does create that unique point of view within the classroom.

Allen: Great thanks. And Kevin, about William and Mary, you mentioned the massive growth that you all have had. What are, what are the class profiles looking like these days for you all?

Holmes: Our students generally bring in about eight and a half years of work experience coming from a wide variety of industries. I would say the top five industries are represented amongst our student body would be financial services, IT, healthcare, media, and entertainment, as well as the nonprofit sector. And so, you know, as many of my colleagues on the panel have mentioned, a lot of the learning will take place within the classroom, not necessarily between faculty member and student, but between peer to peer, colleague to colleague. And so our students are really attracted to our program because of the high level of student engagement that you may not consider to exist within an online environment, but our students have a great affinity for the Mason School of Business, the overall campus, we have a one-credit hour residency requirement that’s part of the curriculum. Where students can come to Williamsburg for a weekend and take part in a course around a particular theme or topic in business. But overall, you know, we have an extremely diverse student body and diversity in terms of gender. 45, 46% of our students are women. About 36, 37% of our students are people of color. And so we really enjoy seeing applications from all over the world. William and Mary has a global alumni network and you know, we have a strong reach. And so our, fall class is really shaping up nicely as well because it has been fairly competitive for this environment.

Allen: Yeah great thanks. Kenny, what about Denver? How are the class profiles looking like there?

Metcalfe: Yeah, our average age is 36. We have a wide range, as you might expect, mid-twenties, to fifties and sixties. About 43% are female, which we’re really happy about. 13% of our students bring in a previously earned master’s degree. Average GPA from undergrad is just over 3.0. Average numbers, years of work experience is about 11 and similar to other panelists, wide variety of industries. We have a lot of engineers in the program, which, which we love. They bring a unique perspective. People from financial services, healthcare, military, aerospace, all kinds of different places. About two-thirds of our students do come from Colorado. And we are trying to expand our footprint. We are, have students from about 27 different states right now, and we are primarily domestic population at this point. Not, not many international students at all.

Allen: Great thank you. And Traci, Massachusetts.

Hess: Yes. So yeah, similar to some of the other profiles, we’ve just, that we’ve heard from, we’ve 11 years average work experience. The majority, the vast majority of our students are career, are seeking to advance their career through the program. Although we do have a, a good number also of curve switchers. Average age is 34, but we have a wide range around that. We also have a good number of women in our program around 37, 38%. What’s interesting about our program and kind of the industry makeup is that we have around 35% of our students are in the medical profession. So, and that you know, it was probably born out of our, our home location in Massachusetts with a strong medical presence. We also have though, we well represent operations, supply chain, retail, entrepreneurs, and people that are just trying to start up a new career without much of a prior background. So we have such a, a wide range, but the, the different industry backgrounds really make our programs special in that respect. And that there’s quite a bit of networking that goes on among our students in the very active discussions that take place in each of our courses. So that network comes into play because of that wide range of industry experience.

Allen: Great thanks. And then going beyond the numbers in terms of, you know, background and undergraduate GPA and that sort of stuff, how do candidates assess how they fit into your program? What are some things you all are looking for in terms of personal professional characteristics, kind of more cultural things that you all are looking for to fit into your program? Kevin, I’ll start with you at William and Mary.

Holmes: Oh, well we, first and foremost, we’re looking for some candidates that are intellectually curious, candidates that want to apply their learnings and apply theory to practice within their day to day and their prospective organizations and communities. Candidates that also want to solve extremely complex problems that may not be that may not be attainable within your first try. We have a faculty member on staff that states that our students have to be in a constant state of beta, beta testing, a perpetual state of beta testing in order to develop the best product, the best operational system, the best practices for growing your business. And so for us, we want students that really want to roll their sleeves up and tackle extreme problems in society. And leverage all of their learnings in our program within their day to day.

Allen: Great thanks. Kenny, how about at Denver? What sort of culture are you all trying to build through your, your incoming classes and, and how do you assess that fit?

Metcalfe: I mentioned a little while ago, the interactive learning environment. So we’re definitely looking for students who are interested in that kind of environment, having the opportunity to attend live sessions each week and share ideas and share perspectives with their classmates and peers and the instructors. So that’s a big, a big part of what we do and who we are. In terms of some of the characteristics and criteria. We’re looking for people who are interested in impactful leadership. And who are on some kind of growth trajectory showing an increased level of duties, responsibilities as they move along in their career. Students who have tangible professional achievements that they can speak to. We are also looking for students who are interested in corporate social responsibility, ethics, and values-based leadership. Those are really the bedrock principles of the Daniels College of Business. So students who were interested in those things and for whom those ideas and philosophies resonate, we think they’d be a good fit for the program. And then finally, I would say emotional intelligence is a really big part, of what we look for. Folks who understand what’s going on around them, their impact on others, their impact on their community, their neighborhood, not just the organization, but what’s sort of a bigger picture. Those are the kinds of things that, that we look for.

Allen: Great thank you. Traci what about at Massachusetts? What’s, what’s a good fit for you all?

Hess: Well, it’s interesting when I was thinking about this question. So we have such a diverse background of students that on one hand, we would say that, you know, we’re not looking for a specific look, feel or fit. That we’re interested in applicants who are driven, interested in improving themselves, that have goals and aspirations, and that are eager to engage us to help them get there. So again, given our diversity of background, we don’t have one particular thing that we’re looking for in a candidate. And we do consider their entire portfolio. What they have to offer to our program and their motivation to succeed. We have several focus areas in our program, and they range from entrepreneurship, analytics, healthcare administration, and so forth. So that enables us to serve a wide range of interests. And we have a strong offering of electives to fit the needs of the student.

Allen: Great, and Mehgan, what about at Jack Welch?

Rodgers: Yeah, I mean similarly to Traci at UMass we don’t, our population is so diverse. You know, we’re not looking for one particular, you know, demographic over the other. So I would say, you know, where we’re really different is more on the psychographic element. You know, our program is, I believe it’s the only one that was actually built by a CEO, Jack Welch from the ground up. So Jack’s name is not just, you know on the building as a donor, he actually built the entire program based off of his 50 plus years of business experience at GE. And then after that consulting with companies all over the world. So from that perspective, you know, he built the program for people who really want to win in business and really have an affinity for leadership. And I know leadership is such a big, you know, amorphous term, but, you know we’re really focused on people who I would say kind of find themselves in two different spots. You know, either maybe they were really good in their particular, particular functional area. Finance, marketing, et cetera. And now I’ve gotten to the point in their career where, you know, in order to make this the next step, they need what we call the power skills, not soft skills, but, you know, executive presence, communication, understanding how to hire and fire, understanding really how to manage change. So really, I think we teach skills that are a little bit different, you know, in addition to sort of core business acumen, but it’s really that leadership mindset. We like to say we teach from the CEO mindset. And while we understand that aspires to be in the C suite, there is a huge benefit to really understanding how to run a company and understanding what, you know, leadership and management is really looking for. So again, for us, you know, while we don’t really call it a concentration, everything that we teach and our program is really built around, you know, or is really for people whether or not they’re current leaders or aspiring leaders, but really ultimately, you know, have a strong desire to really build great teams and help their organization, organizations win by instilling, like I said, that CEO mindset.

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