Skip The Mailroom: The Manderson MBA Propels Early-Career Graduates Into Success

“Go to a good college. Graduate, then get an entry-level job. Work 4-5 years, then go back to school for your MBA. Rejoin the workforce ready to climb to the top.”

In 2024, what used to be accepted advice now sounds like instructions for winding a pocket watch or driving a horse-drawn buggy. Today’s motivated business students are no longer interested in entering the job market with an undergraduate degree, working a few years in the mailroom, then returning later for their MBA, after they’ve found that their dream job requires one. They want to attack the job market, ready with MBA in hand.

While other MBA programs are facing decreased enrollment or shutting down programs completely, the on-campus Manderson MBA offered by The University of Alabama’s Culverhouse College of Business has drastically increased enrollment by responding to these new demands. One of the few MBA programs that accepts students straight from undergraduate through a unique five-year program, the STEM/CREATE Path to the MBA targets students that are motivated learners, who know what they want and don’t want to wait to get there. 

STEM Path to the MBA alum Samantha Walker Whorton, now a grid investment construction supervisor at Alabama Power Company, said, “…I knew it would be difficult to go back to graduate school once starting a career and family. The STEM Program helped me accomplish my educational goals in a timely and effective manner before leaving campus.” 

The Manderson Standard

Manderson MBA students—whether they enter through the STEM/CREATE Path to the MBA without work experience or return to the traditional MBA after spending time in the workforce—embrace the Manderson Standard, which challenges them to excellent, ethical performance throughout their time in graduate school. From their very first day, they are urged to fully engage in everything that Manderson has to offer, including deep industry knowledge, assessment and development of personal skills, and ability to work in teams. 

During their MBA, students can audition for the nationally-recognized Manderson MBA Case Team, competing with b-schools across the nation to solve business problems and win cash prizes. In the last two years, the Case Team has placed in competitions including Florida Southern College’s MBA Case Competition; IDEACorps MBA Consulting Challenge; Race & Case; Keybank/Ohio State Minority MBA Student Case Competition; FSU/Southstate Bank Small Business Case Competition; Southeastern Conference MBA Case Competition; and BYU’s Faith & Belief in the Workplace Competition. 

Adventurous MBA students can also travel internationally to places like Panama, Cambodia, or Portugal. While on international trips, students meet with business leaders in their host countries, study business problems and opportunities, practice intercultural communication, and, of course, have fun. CREATE Path to the MBA student Elizabeth Underwood reflected, “Studying abroad is an opportunity like no other…We got to meet leaders from Uber, Amazon, and Spotify, and collaborate with students from various backgrounds to create our own startup. Our experience in Porto was beautiful—from boat tours to chocolate tasting, it’s an adventure you’ll remember forever!” 

Finally, there are plenty of opportunities for MBA students to learn, serve and gain experience without leaving Tuscaloosa. In addition to taking courses with elite business school faculty who bring both cutting-edge research and real-world experience into the classroom, students can gain free or inexpensive access to symposia and conferences like the Culverhouse African American Alumni Network Conference and the Business Analytics Symposium, attend speaker events like the Hewson lectures, volunteer in service or student-run organizations like the Graduate Student Association, and participate in resume-building summer internships with partner companies both in and out of Alabama. 

STEM Path to the MBA alum Clay Wagenhals, who is now a staff mechanical engineer at Burns & McDonnell, said, “Deciding to commit to the STEM Path to the MBA was the best long-term career decision I have made in college. Through the program, I have been introduced to value-driven business strategy, customer identification techniques, the language of accounting and finance, and the foundations of entrepreneurship. Balancing my engineering degree with a business perspective created advantages for me when selecting an industry and a starting role.“ 

The Manderson Advantage

Every Manderson MBA graduate embraces the Manderson Standard and emerges with the Manderson Advantage: a valuable set of habits, skills, and competencies that make them transformers of business, and ambassadors of a business school with a world-class reputation. The Manderson Advantage means that Manderson MBA alums have been recruited to organizations such as Lockheed Martin, ExxonMobil, EY, Pepsi, Ford, AT&T, PNC, Georgia Pacific, FedEx, Southwest Airlines, Nissan, Cracker Barrel, Regions Bank, 84.51, and PWC. 

Armed with the Manderson Advantage, Manderson STEM/CREATE Path to the MBA graduates transform business like Samantha Walker Whorton (Alabama Power). They practice medicine like Ruth Bishop (University of Michigan) and Sudarsan Murali (Johns Hopkins). And they drive industry like Clay Wagenhals (Burns & McDonnell) and Jane Gillette (United Launch Alliance). 

In short, they skip the mailroom and change the world. Straight out of school.

David Bedsole writes for the marketing and communications office at the Culverhouse College of Business at The University of Alabama. He identifies and develops storylines to support and promote Culverhouse initiatives like the Manderson MBA.

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