In A Tougher MBA Market, Georgia Terry Bets On Small

MBA internships are shrinking. Consulting firms are hiring fewer summer associates. AI is flooding recruiting pipelines with polished résumés that may – or may not – reflect real skill. International students are navigating policy shifts that seem to change by the month, resulting in historic downturns in applications.

At a moment when many business schools are chasing scale or visibility, the full-time MBA at the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia is making a quieter bet: small works better.

With cohorts intentionally capped between 80 and 100 students, Terry isn’t trying to grow. It’s trying to tighten – tighten advising, tighten employer ties, tighten the feedback loop between students, alumni, and recruiters.

“We’ve found our sweet spot,” says Jason Matthews, director of the full-time MBA and MSBA programs. “I don’t have marching orders to grow the program or shrink it. Between 80 and 100 is where we are doing really well.”

In 2026, that discipline looks less like branding and more like risk management.

INTERNSHIPS ARE THE NEW OFFER LETTER

Jiwon Park, who leads the Career Management Center for the MBA and MSBA, says employer presence hasn’t disappeared. But the numbers have changed.

“We still have a similar number of companies visiting us,” she says. “But their recruiting class size has shrunk.”

A summer associate class that once hired 18 might now take 12. Rotational programs are tighter. Tech is more selective. Consulting is cautious.

That shift has elevated the internship from résumé line to proving ground. At Terry, it’s treated that way.

Five of six second-year MBAs who sat down with Poets&Quants during a visit to Athens last fall had already accepted full-time offers from their internship employers. The sixth had options.

Students describe recruiting prep not as a workshop series but as something woven into the first year.

“It was built into the fabric of our curriculum,” says Calder LaBriola (MBA 2026), who interned with JPMorgan Chase and is returning full-time. Second-years answer practical questions – what to wear, how to frame impact, what feedback really means.

Anthony “Oge” Okolo (MBA 2026), who came from startups and interned with Ecolab, says the adjustment to a structured corporate environment was real. “They had their processes. They had the way they operate,” he says. “You need to calm down and follow that process.”

But he credits the Career Management Center with preparing him for it. “They were almost obsessed with our success,” Okolo says. “Everything I learned as regards how to interview, I got from CMC.”

SMALL ENOUGH THAT YOU CAN’T DISAPPEAR

Administrators talk about culture. Students talk about knowing everyone.

“I don’t think any other MBA program has as close a community as we do here in Terry,” says Samuel Ogbonna (MBA 2026), who interned with Bain & Company and will return. “People form real bonds that feel like they’ll be lifelong bonds.”

In a cohort hovering around 80, professors know names. Classmates notice absences.

“You can’t hide in the back of the classroom,” one student says. “If you’re not engaging, people know.”

That intimacy was intentional for Kelly Capacho (MBA 2026), who moved from Colombia and interned with Microsoft in Seattle before securing a return offer in its HR rotational program.

“I wanted a small cohort,” she says. “I wanted to be in a place where I could really connect – with classmates, with professors – and also be in a college town.”

Athens, she says, gave her focus. The Career Management Center gave her range. “The level of support surpassed all my expectations.”

For David Watson (MBA 2026), a father of a two-year-old daughter, the decision was also about geography and flexibility. He interned with American Airlines and will join Delta Air Lines full-time.

“I like the idea of an academic experience in a smaller city where you can focus in and be around your cohort,” he says. “I know everyone.”

Monica Bledsoe (MBA 2026), who came from teaching and nonprofits and interned with United Parcel Service, applied late after attending a campus visit almost by accident.

“It was a no-brainer,” she says, noting that a graduate assistantship made the economics feasible and allowed her to pivot careers without overwhelming financial pressure.

APPLIED LEARNING THAT FEELS REAL

Matthews says one of his priorities since stepping into the role last fall has been making sure students are “positioning for careers” in a tougher market. That includes pushing faculty to integrate practical tools – including AI – into coursework.

“We could literally introduce it in just about every course that we offer,” Matthews says. “Not as a way to cheat. As a tool.”

Students say that’s happening.

Rather than standalone “AI classes,” they describe assignments that force them to test AI outputs, critique them, and improve on them.

Ogbonna says professors are “accepting the use of AI, but demanding tasteful use of AI.” It’s less about automation and more about judgment.

Watson sees the same trend in industry. “You are going to be a decision maker,” he says. “It’s how do you interpret this tool.”

Capacho says a business intelligence course opened her eyes to AI applications she had never encountered before. During her Microsoft internship, she worked with internal tools and learned how to “leverage the rest of your time for strategic work instead of repetitive tasks.”

Okolo took it further. On the first day of his internship, he built an AI agent to streamline part of his workflow and checked with his manager before using it.

“He was shocked,” Okolo says with a laugh. “But he said, since you came up with it, go ahead.”

At Terry, he adds, resisting AI isn’t realistic. “You can’t fight that force,” he says. “It’s inevitable.”

Even recruiting is evolving. Ogbonna says AI has made applications easier to mass-produce – and hiring managers more skeptical.

“It’s actually increasing the strength and benefit of your actual network,” he says. “People prefer knowing somebody face to face.”

INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT, INTENTIONAL STRUCTURE

For international students, the adjustment extends beyond recruiting.

Students describe a pre-orientation program specifically for international MBAs covering finances, healthcare, classroom culture, and daily life in Athens.

“It was everything from how to set up your finances to transportation,” Capacho says. “They help us make these transitions smooth.”

Ogbonna says the university’s global engagement office provides targeted guidance and proactive communication. “You feel in very capable hands,” he says.

That structure matters in a moment of shifting visa rules and uncertainty.

A CULTURE OF PAYING IT FORWARD

Mosley, student services director, says the program works best when students take ownership.

“It’s a transformative experience,” he says. “But it doesn’t happen to you.”

Bledsoe embodies that approach. Through her graduate assistantship, she manages the Nonprofit Board Fellows program, matching first-year MBAs with local nonprofits for extended board-level experience. She recently organized a Match Day-style event to connect students and organizations.

“The support has been incredible,” she says.

That pay-it-forward instinct runs through the cohort. Second-years coach first-years through recruiting. Alumni return for panels and mock interviews. Students describe volunteering for events not because they’re asked to – but because it’s what the culture expects.

“It doesn’t feel forced,” Watson says. “It’s just something everyone does.”

In a market where scale often dominates headlines, Terry’s leaders aren’t pretending to be something else.

“We are not a top-10 program,” admissions director Cara Sonnier says. “You’ve got to have some grit. You can get the same jobs. You have to work for it.”

DON’T MISS AT GEORGIA TERRY, A TRANSITIONAL YEAR BECOMES A STRATEGIC MOMENT and HOW GEORGIA TERRY IS REWIRING UNDERGRAD BUSINESS FOR THE AI ERA

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