When UVA’s Darden School of Business announced last year that it would offer an M.B.A. for Executives program—an opportunity for those already in the business world to earn a degree in 22 months—it was putting its lofty reputation on the line. In an already saturated marketplace of schools with similar programs, UVA was getting an acknowledged late start. Nearby schools such as Virginia Tech and the University of Maryland have offered similar programs for years.
 Don’t want to leave your job to get the M.B.A. you’ve always wanted? For a meere $96,000, you can bust your chops during the week, visit Darden on the weekends, and find yourself a graduate 22 months later (whether you still have a spouse is another matter). |
But six months into the UVA program’s launch, it has established such success that its severely time-pressed students—who spend between 80 to 100 hours weekly on school and work—now hit the road with administrators to reel in potential recruits.
“All last year there was so much uncertainty,” says Barbara Millar, the program’s executive director. “I think [this] shows that we’ve delivered on the promises we’ve made. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be helping us.”
The program nabbed 85 applications and brought on 54 students, higher than the projected 45. It boasts recruits from AOL, Capital One and Philip Morris, and has snatched students from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which offers three M.B.A. executive degrees.
“It’s so competitive,” Millar admits. “In Charlottesville, we needed to create something special.” That translated to a holistic approach to business in a case-study format. Students attend two- or three-day sessions every three weeks and engage in distance learning with faculty via teleconferencing, the source of the program’s only reported early hiccups.
“I found the program the most fun I’ve had and [the most I’ve] had to work in a long, long time,” says Jayson Rieger, a project manager for local biotech company Adenosine Therapeutics and now a Darden student. Rieger has a science background, and sees the executive M.B.A. as “a learning experience with priorities for career advancement.”
What certainly doesn’t seem fun about the program is the cost: UVA charges a cool $96,000 for tuition (the national average for Executive M.B.A. program tuition is $50,000). To dampen that shock, Rieger, like many participants, has help footing the bill from his company.
For more information, go to: www.darden.virginia.edu