Admission Criteria
The GMAT or GRE is required unless the applicant holds another master’s level degree or advanced degree (e.g., M.D., Pharm.D.), a CPA, or a GMAT waiver has been issued. These instruments measure aptitudes important to the study of business and must be taken prior to admission. Applicants are required to have at least two years of post-baccalaureate work experience prior to pursuing Innovation or Information Security concentrations, and a minimum of five years of post-baccalaureate work experience prior to pursuing the Executive Leadership concentration.
To apply, students should complete the online application and submit the application fee at http://www.applyweb.com/apply/jmug/index.html. In addition, students must submit a current resume and two letters supporting the work experience listed on the resume through the application site.
Students must also submit the following materials directly to The Graduate School (James Madison University, MSC 6702, Harrisonburg VA 22807):
- Official transcripts sent directly from all colleges/universities you have attended.
- An official report sent directly from GMAC of the applicant’s GMAT score or from ETS of the applicant’s GRE score.
The university encourages applicants with degrees in all major fields of study from accredited institutions. No specific undergraduate courses are required; however, students with non-business baccalaureates are required to complete the following three prerequisite courses:
- Financial Accounting
- Statistics
- Economics (Microeconomics is preferred; Macroeconomics is acceptable)
Students must notify the M.B.A. program office upon completion of each prerequisite course and have official transcripts submitted to The Graduate School directly from the institution where the course was completed. Students may begin the program only during the fall semester.
The final deadline for an application is July 1. However, a rolling admission process is used. All applications submitted by April 15 will be considered. Applications after April 15 will be considered only if the program has an opening.
Mission
The M.B.A. program within the College of Business at James Madison University emphasizes excellence and continuous improvement in graduate learning by stressing knowledge and technical, interpersonal and experiential skills in the development of managerial decision-making.
The Master of Business Administration program is fully accredited by the AACSB and received reaffirmation in the spring of 2017.
The College of Business offers three specialized Master of Business Administration concentrations. All three concentrations are designed for part-time students and utilize a blended teaching approach that integrates the classroom experience with various online techniques.
The Executive Leadership concentration is offered in northern Virginia and takes 28 months to complete. A cohort of students takes fourteen 8-week courses, one course at a time. Each course meets face-to-face for four hours at the beginning, four hours at mid-term and four hours at the end of the session on a Saturday. Instruction between face-to-face sessions is online, using synchronous and asynchronous teaching methods.
The Information Security (Infosec) MBA concentration is offered in northern Virginia and takes 28 months to complete. A cohort of students takes fourteen 8-week courses, one course at a time. Each course meets for four hours at the beginning and at the end of the session on a Saturday. Instruction for the eight weeks between the face-to-face meetings is online, using synchronous and asynchronous teaching methods.
The Innovation MBA concentration is offered in Harrisonburg and takes 21 months to complete. A cohort of students takes sixteen 8-week courses, two at a time in a block format. In this program, students will meet face-to-face with faculty approximately twice every 3 weeks in Harrisonburg during a weeknight, meet online in a synchronous format the other weeks, and utilize other advanced asynchronous teaching instruction, such as simulations or multimedia cases.
Executive Leadership MBA Concentration
The Executive Leadership Master of Business Administration is designed around the theme of “Leading Through Change.” The concentration is intended for high performing individuals who have potential for organizational leadership and who will likely hold C-Suite positions. The Executive Leadership MBA is designed to develop skills and abilities required to effectively and ethically lead in dynamic and highly competitive business settings. In addition to addressing the critically important issues in all functional business disciplines, this program has a particular emphasis on accelerating participant skill sets in crisis management, global competitive issues, supply chain challenges, stakeholder leadership, and in understanding, leading, and creating change across the organization. Emphasizing both in-class and experiential activities, learning takes place face-to-face as well as synchronously, using the latest online technologies.
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