Stern Part-Time MBA First Look: Meeting Demand For A New Online MBA Option

Some 21% of NYU Stern’s part-time MBA students this fall chose the school’s new online/modular format, a mix of online and in-person classes. Courtesy photo

This summer, during the first intake for NYU’s Stern School of Business’ new online/modular option for its part-time MBA, the school reported that 25% of all applicants picked the option as their first-choice. Further, 51% of the applicants were women.

Now that we’re getting the first breakdown for the option’s very first cohort, both those numbers have stayed pretty consistent. Altogether, the part-time program enrolled 221 students this fall, 21% of which chose the online/modular option (46 students). And, while 49% of the overall part-time cohort is female, 53% of the online/modular students are women.

“This dovetails with something we’ve seen over the past two years where the yield rate for women has been higher for the part-time program. It may also be that the notion of having online classes is perhaps more important to working professional women than it is to men,” Isser Gallogly, associate dean of MBA admissions and program innovation, at NYU Stern told Poets&Quants this summer.

AT LEAST 9 ELECTIVE CREDITS MUST BE TAKEN IN PERSON

Stern was one of two big brand business schools to enter the fast-growing online MBA market this year. It and UC-Berkeley Haas School of Business welcomed hybrid cohorts this fall that combined online and required in-person experiences. The schools’ entrance comes at a time when online MBA students now outnumber full-time students.

In the online/modular option, students complete most of the core courses (about half of the program) in live, synchronous video sessions scheduled on weeknights. This gives students real-time interaction with classmates and professors. Asynchronous materials – videos, readings, exercises, etc., – are completed in between classes at the students’ convenience.

Students must take at least nine of their elective credits in person, and can choose between three options:

  • One-week intensive, in-person modules at Stern: Each module is worth 4.5 credits (three 1.5-credit electives in a focus area) and stretches Monday through Saturday. The first modules are expected to begin next fall after this first cohort completes their core classes online. Models are focus areas such as Thinking Strategically, Global Business, Tech Innovation and others.
  • In-person courses on weeknights or Saturdays: Students can also attend scheduled in-person classes available to other MBA students on weeknights or Saturdays.
  • A selection of online elective courses: A select range of popular electives will also be offered in live sessions online, taught on weeknights.

“We have intentionally set up the option to be a hybrid of online and in-person because we believe that coming to New York City and taking some of the classes on campus is an integral component of the NYU Stern MBA experience,” JP Eggers, Stern’s vice dean of MBA and graduate programs, told P&Q at the program’s launch.

While the hybrid format requires less frequent travel to NYC, and therefore theoretically makes a Stern MBA more appealing to working professionals from a wider geographic area, about 50% of current students in the online option are from the tristate area, the school reports. Another 20% are from other parts of the Northeast, and 30% come from farther away, including California, Illinois and Florida.

“The first complete application cycle for the part-time MBA program that included our new hybrid online/modular option revealed a lot of interesting insights into what prospective students valued about the new option,” Gallogly says.

“For example, classes being taught live were incredibly important to students as they put a premium on real-time interaction with faculty and peers. Additionally, having the opportunity to come to New York City for the immersive one-week modules was also rated highly.”

STERN’S NEW ESSAY: PERSON, PLACE, & THING

Stern also offered this week the first look at its new photo essay, coinciding with the start of the next admissions cycle.

‘Person, Place, & Thing.’

  • Please share three images – one of a person, one of a place and one of a thing – that will help the Admissions Committee get to know you. These selections should help provide insight into your personal characteristics and the qualities you would bring to the Stern community.
  • For each image you will be able to add a short paragraph explaining what your person, place & thing says about you (each paragraph should be no more than 150 words).

“Over the past few years we’ve been working to make our admissions process even more personal and individual in nature. We wanted to add more ways for the applicants to tell their individual stories, to share the things that have been an inspiration in their lives, and what makes them uniquely who they are,” Gallogly says.

“We are firmly committed to the core value of IQ + EQ. This new essay in our Part-time MBA Program application, coupled with our longstanding essay asking applicants to detail their motivations for pursuing an MBA, will let applicants share more about who they are and give us a sense of their character and the attributes they will add to the school.”

This, along with Stern’s 350-word professional aspirations essay, means there are now two required essays for Stern’s part-time MBA. There is an optional essay for candidates to provide any additional information they think will help their application. Because Stern’s admission process is designed to be holistic, no specific weight is assigned to any particular element of a student’s application.

First application deadline for fall 2023 intake is February 15. Second and third deadlines are April 1 and May 15 respectively. (Check the Stern part-time mba program page for spring 2024 deadlines.)

STERN’S PART-TIME MBA CLASS PROFILE

The online option, announced last fall, brings the delivery options for Stern’s part-time MBA program to four: weeknight, in-person classes; accelerated two-year; Saturday in-person classes, and the online/modular option.

In any option, students can take between 2 to 6 years to complete and may specialize in up to three areas (out of 27 options). Cost is the same for all options, estimated to be about $164,204, according to the school’s website.

See a breakdown of the Stern Part-Time MBA Fall 2022 Cohort below.

DON’T MISS: THE BIG BRAND B-SCHOOLS TIPTOE INTO THE ONLINE MBA MARKET AND NYU STERN BECOMES THE LATEST MAJOR PLAYER IN THE ONLINE MBA SPACE