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TECHNOLOGY

Technology improvements in the last three academic years: During the past 3 academic years the art, science and technology of business education delivery was leveraged through new/upgraded open source, in-house developed and off-the-shelf products for: lecture delivery and capture; classroom participant response; interactive case delivery; financial modeling, research and analysis; marketing surveys; Web site development; virtual meeting spaces and team collaboration; Webinars; digital signage, branding and communication; and peer-to-peer networking.
Amount spent: $5,360,639.00

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B-SCHOOL ALUMNI

Living MBA alumni: 17,739
Active MBA alumni clubs: 31
Countries in which MBA clubs exist: 29
Living MBA alumni who gave in past year: 8 %
Mean gift from MBA alumni: $1,856.00
Median gift from MBA alumni: $100.00
Did school receive an individual gift in excess of $10 million in the past academic year? No
Does the main university offer career placement services for alumni? Yes
Does the main university have an alumni networking Web site? Yes
University alumni networking site: http://www.bu.edu/life/alumni/careers/can/
Does the B-School have an alumni networking Web site? Yes
Business school alumni networking site: http://management.bu.edu/alu/link.html
Do current MBA students have access to an alumni database? Yes

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CAREER SERVICES

Do part-time MBAs have access to career development office?
Yes
If yes, at what point in the degree process are part-time MBA students able to use the service?
At any time
Are part-time MBAs permitted to interview for full-time jobs? Yes
Are part-time students included in resume drops? Yes

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The school offered a lot of opportunities to network with your peers. As a part time student I didn’t feel I needed adjust to the B-school community. The adjustment happened naturally. I think this might be more important for full timers who are really changing their lifestyle.

Less teamwork would have improved the classroom experience. Again, there is a large disconnect between academia and the working world. The concept of teamwork in the classroom is fine but it does not translate as effectively as it does in the working world. Too often there was difficulty getting 4-5 people, with different schedules and responsibilities, moving in the same direction. On top of that, professors often pitted students against each other by requiring the grading of our peers' contributions to the team. So, minor issues like schedule conflicts become much larger than they need to be. The faculty should step out of the box and develop a new way to derive the benefits and experiences that teamwork can bring because the system is failing the way it currently exists.

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I believe that BU does, in fact, put more focus on the part-time MBA program than other schools in the area. Achieving an MBA part-time is a tremendous amount of work and takes an almost inhuman work-ethic. Most professors and staff understand that. Boston University is also just a fantastic school. I believe it is the highest caliber program in the area.

I think that the BU program has some excellent professors, but as a part time student (which is likely true at most programs) they have a tougher time finding professors that can meet your schedule. This is especially apparent during the summer sessions, when undergraduate and full-time MBAs are not in session. Students have come up the term, "professor roulette" when signing up for summer classes, since some of the professors have been exceptional while others appear to have been randomly picked for the job. Due to the fact that so many of the professors are adjunct, it is difficult to research their effectiveness.

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I was fortunate to have the time and inclination to become involved in a club (The Women's MBA Association) and serve on its board. There are opportunities for part-time students in many of the clubs, however one has to have the flexibility to meet before class (5-6 pm usually) which some part-timers can't do. My involvement in the club served to fill a gap I was feeling as a part-timer in terms of belonging to the community. It is a complaint I hear about all Part-time MBA programs and I do believe BU is doing a better job than the surrounding institutions. However, I think more can be done.

I felt the adjunct professors were a real strength. Several of the adjunct professors were better communicators than the full time faculty. They were able to relate to the part-time students well and had extremely valuable business experience to share with the students.

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There is a powerful pervasiveness of satisfying the customer at BU. If the students believe that the Professor is not effective, that person will be removed! I've seen it happen. They have a low tolerance for poor teaching. The instructors, therefore, are very eager to get the respect of their students. They are all very capable.

Grading is very stringent. I appreciate that--it is not a complaint. You EARN the grades you get.

I greatly appreciated the mix of full-time professors and adjunct faculty as it provided superior real-life experience with a solid background in "classic" business skills. As a part of the Asian Field Seminar we walked through factories in China where our professor had previously worked as a consultant. Where else can you get that kind of experience as a part-time MBA?

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Better selection of instructors in the summer - given that part-time students typically take classes through the summer whereas full-time students are off on internships, I felt part-time students were discriminated against in this manner.