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

Allen: Great thanks. Mehgan this next one, we’ll let you lead off with this one. But one of the big things about the full-time MBA program is your network. And I believe it was Kevin who mentioned this early on in the, in the webinar and the panel that your classmates tend to be some of the most helpful. And you learn so much from your classmates. But also there’s connections with professors that are, that are important. What does Jack Welch do to help foster connections with peers, classmates, and with professors while students are in the online program?

Rodgers: Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, that’s probably the thing we see that one thing that people are most skeptical about in an online program is the ability to create that network network network, which is so important. You know, it’s why I got my MBA. And you know, I think things have come a long way. So a couple of things that we do specifically from the Jack Welsh MBA program perspective, I mentioned it before, but first, you know, your first, you know, network experience, if you will really comes, you know, within the classroom. So as I mentioned, we purposely keep the class sizes very small at 19 to one. So that students can interact with one another as well as with their faculty member anytime they want. And so, you know, from that perspective and it’s, it’s relatively unique. Our program is really, discussion-based. It’s almost like a Reddit thread if you will. And so I don’t know about my fellow panelists, but, you know, I went to a traditional MBA program and sat in a classroom of 90 people and, you know, maybe spoke once a class. In our program, you’re really getting interaction constantly because it’s part of the academic requirements. You know, you have to not only make your own academic contribution, but you actually have to reply and respond and interact. That’s how the grading works in the program. So that’s kind of jumping in from day one. So, you know, by the time you finish your program, you’ll have, you’ll have been, you know, sitting after those 10 classes, you know, with 200 folks, you know, going through almost, you know, 19 to one, you create pretty quick bonds. And then it’s all the supplementals. So we have a very active student and alumni advisory board that have really helped us address some of the connectivity issues and networking issues. So we have a proprietary platform called JWMI Connect, which is our own virtual networking group. So just like other schools, you can join investment clubs, you can join the sales and marketing group. You have access to all of these live sessions, you know, and those are attended, we’re having, you know, our program’s 2000 people. We have hundreds of people signing up for these. So there’s, you’re getting a huge amount of exposure. And then something we’re also really proud of, although a little difficult to talk about this year is our on-ground networking. So as I mentioned, you know, we’re in 67 different countries. We do global day of networking events. And I think we’re up to 45 local chapters. So there is that opportunity to be on ground, when, you know, when we want to. But we really try to listen to our students and see what they need and kind of balance, you know, really balanced, you know, from that perspective. But not to plug our rankings again but since you said I could.

Allen: Plug away.

Rodgers: We were ranked, you know, by our own students and alumni number one, in terms of the ability to create good connections with faculty and number four, in ability to create connections with fellow students, as well as the level of satisfaction with their network. So we really let our students kind of lead the way to help us figure out what the best experiences are from them and try to balance it by both the classroom design and then the extracurriculars.

Allen: Great, thanks. And for those who might be watching later and don’t know, the annual online MBA rankings that we do each year is the biggest portion of that, is the alumni survey. So whenever she says that she’s, she’s referring to how the alumni, recent alumni have rated them. So Kevin, at William and Mary, how do you all approach building this network, giving students the opportunity to build the network with their peers, classmates, and professors?

Holmes: Well, it’s something that’s vitally important to our program. We have faculty members that have stated that our online students in some cases are more engaging than some of the students in the face to face programs. And I think really because they have to be. You can’t, you can’t just sit and be an observer. And within our, within our curriculum, as Mehgan mentioned before, you have to be actively engaged. And that’s engaging through your discussions and group work within the program, engaging in terms of asking questions and meeting with your faculty members, doing some of those virtual office hours, being engaged in terms of taking advantage of some of the affinity opportunity that you have to establish that connection to the university. As an enrolled student in our program, you become a member of our alumni association from the moment that you enroll. And so as a member of that alumni association, you have access to a wide variety of professional and career development opportunities. Our students can also reach out to our graduate career management center as it relates to how to transition or change careers, or how to explore, you know, startup concepts. Our environment is really a tight-knit community as part of the tribe there’s this network of, of scholars that want to see you succeed, but it’s really up to the student to raise their hand and be proactive in taking advantage of all of those opportunities that do exist, but we encourage our students to when they become alums to become actively involved in our alumni association. We have a MBA alumni weekend that we have every year that our online students and online graduates participate in as well. We are also developing an advisory board within the Mason School of Business for our online programs. And so that will be another contact and point of contact for engagement as well. But it’s something that’s highly encouraged, but it’s just a matter of, you know, asking, asking questions and getting involved in your, your course content. And in speaking with your student success coordinators and working with our staff members to gain whatever insight or knowledge that you need in order to be successful.

Allen: Okay, thanks. Kenny how about it at Denver?

Metcalfe: I mentioned a couple of times the, you know, the immersions we have, and of course, the live sessions. Those are first and foremost, a terrific ways for our students to develop a network and get to know each other and build those relationships. I will just add that in terms of class size, our classes are no larger than 20. And in fact, many are in a 12 to 15 range. What that means is students are able to get to know each other throughout the quarter, exchange ideas, exchange perspectives, but also get to know the instructors and the faculty. And that’s, that’s a really important part. Usually, at the end of a 10 week quarter, the faculty are talking to me about, oh my gosh, the student came to me with this project, wants me to help with a consulting project. So those relationships are, are a big part of our structure and delivery. I would also add that we do offer students who live in the Denver area and are willing and interested in coming to campus the opportunity to take all of their electives on campus. And so those students have the opportunity to, of course, meet with, or meet different students, from different programs, full-time MBAs, our evening professional MBA, master of science students. So they have those opportunities. And then we also have virtual case competitions, which have been very successful. I know our students are very busy as, as everyone’s students are, but we had a team of students last year in a case competition, they took third place among all the MBA Daniels teams. So that’s another chance for students to, to network and, you know grow outside the classroom.

Allen: Great, thanks. And Traci at UMass, what are some things you all are doing to foster these connections?

Hess: So we have some, both some formal networks and informal networks that we strongly encourage. So our students are automatically members of the alumni association and are able to join that LinkedIn group. We also have our MBA LinkedIn group, our Isenberg LinkedIn group, and we really try to encourage our students to join those right away when they enter the program. We also organize virtual events. So this is something where I feel like the current climate we’re in is been helpful in that regard, in that we’ve, we’ve pushed a lot more events online. So we’ll have alumni panels and sessions, recruiter panels, and sessions. And so students get that opportunity to hear from alumni and recruiter, a recruiter and, and try to build relationships with those individuals. We also have some courses where we help them learn how to do that networking and get some more one on one training if they’re interested. And then the informal side of it really is within the courses. Because of the discussion aspect, right? The interaction that occurs in these courses, that’s a fundamental part of online learning. Our students really get to know one another and they can make great connections through their classes. In addition to those formal pathways, which we try to steer them toward upon entering the program.

Allen: Great, thanks. So we’re at about three minutes left before we all need to, to let you all get the break before the breakout sessions. So this last question, I’ll give you all the opportunity to answer it, but it’ll be pretty quick. We’ll start with Kevin. And in three words, and then you can give a brief explanation if you want, with these three words, what’s the best way to describe the student experience at your school? So just three words or less, best way to describe the student experience at your school? I’m stalling a little bit to give Kevin some time to think about it so he’s not totally on the spot. And then we’ll go, Kenny, Traci, and Mehgan. So Kevin, how about, how about William and Mary?

Holmes: I would say connection, principled, and community. And I picked those three words because our students are coming from a wide variety of walks of life. And it’s because of the online modality that they’re able to have and attend a program here at the Raymond and Mason School of Business and William and Mary, William and Mary specifically. And it’s through all of the rich things that we’re known for in our on-grounds programs that our students really enjoy about our online programs. And that is the fact that you have a tight-knit community, that there’s this level of connectedness that people don’t anticipate coming from an online program, and that you will be engaged and forced to really think outside of the box as you develop and enhance your business acumen and experiences.

Allen: Great thanks. Kenny how about at Denver, three words?

Metcalfe: Yeah I would say interactive, integrity filled. I know that’s technically two words, there’s a–

Allen: We’ll hyphen it.

Metcalfe: Hyphen it yeah. And then applied. And, the interactive part, I think I touched on. The integrity part is, as I mentioned earlier, we really, our institution’s all about values-based leadership and ethics and corporate social responsibility and what that means in business, and how can MBAs as leaders make an impact on their communities, on their neighborhoods, on society as a whole. And so we really try to reinforce that piece in our courses. We actually have a course early in the program called leading with integrity that’s all about that part. And then the last piece is applied. Again, we want to make students indispensable to their organizations, so we strive to give them skills that they can apply in real-time and make a difference in their organization.

Allen: Great thanks. Traci three words.

Hess: Flexible, engaging, and relevant. So I think we’ve all talked today about the flexibility of our programs. But we do really, that’s a focus area for us, even if you look at our, our Poet and Quants write up, it’s flexibility is a really big attribute that we instill and share with our students and our advisors help to support that. Engaging in that yes, students are in an online environment, but they’re engaged within their classes. The faculty are very skilled at engaging and promoting interactive discussion so that students get to know the faculty and get to know the other students in their, in their program. And then from a relevance perspective, you know, we are, we’re constantly, you know, changing our curriculum. Changing as far as more electives and considering different focus areas and listening to what our students and our industry partners tell us. So while we have our core MBA curriculum, we offer electives that are relevant, that are gonna help our students move to that next level and reach the goals that they had in mind when they joined our program. So I think those three words are very representative of our program, thank you.

Allen: Great, thanks. Mehgan.

Rodgers: I would say practical, you know, as I mentioned earlier, you know, the program being built by one of history’s greatest CEOs gives us a unique point of view about what it really means to win in business. And so while we provide the best of theory, we’re always providing tools that anybody can really use regardless of their level and their organization. I’d actually say surprising. I think it’s, you know, as much as we talk about it in the marketing and admissions experience, really understanding, you know, our school, again, sort of, you know, built outside of traditional academia, built the way that we felt a school should be built as a business school while still being accredited and still, you know, having super qualified faculty. But people really, you know, it’s very hard to really understand how, how student-driven we really are and how serious we take the student experience and the feedback until you you’re a student. And then lastly, I’d say transformative. You know, I’m constantly surprised when I talk to even some of our seasoned professionals about their personal experience coming out of the program. You know, words like, you know, I’m a more, the confidence. I think, you know, not only in building your business skills but also becoming a better communicator, understanding how to motivate people, really embracing that leadership mindset. You know, people really, you know, come for the education and are really transformed along the way. And I don’t think that’s something, you know, most folks expect out of, out of any academic experience.

Allen: Great thanks so much. And thanks everyone for being here, Traci, Mehgan, Kevin, Kenny, it’s been great. I think it’s been very helpful, to people who will watch this. We’re grateful for your time. We know that you’re all busy, especially with admissions seasons rolling right now. So thank you very much. And for all of the people watching, there is one more panel, the final panel, will start in about an hour at 1:00 PM Pacific. Otherwise, thank you very much and have a great rest of your day.