MBA Admissions Update

I am back in the office today after a 3 day weekend. My family went to Devil's Den (state park) and I'll provide all of the details tomorrow. I forgot to bring my camera so I could share the pictures today. We had a wonderful time. I had never been and it was beautiful. This state park is only about 30 minutes from my house so it's ridiculous that I have not taken advantage of this local resource. My kids had a blast hiking, caving, swimming, and running around. More details tomorrow.

I just sent the last stack of completed folders to the admissions committee for the Walton MMBA (our part-time program which takes 2 years to complete; students take 6 hours a semester for 6 semesters by only attending class on campus 1 Saturday each month). This program currently has 51 students. Last year we enrolled 58. I am expecting to be at or close to last year's enrollment number. This admission cycle has been challenging because applications are down. Many local employers have discontinued their tuition assistance plans and unemployment is up in the area. This has definitely affected the population that would be applying to this program. I am pleased with where we are right now and I am confident that by the time Orientation begins (August 13), we'll have 57-59 students. I just may have to do a happy dance if we hit 60.

I only had 2 more completed applications for MBA to send to committee today. Final deadline is September 15th and we will accept applications through November. This program currently has 26 students. Today's review will be the last one until after the deadline. The next committee review will occur the week of September 21st. This time last year we had 12. When the committee met after the deadline last year, 16 more were added to the class, bringing our total to 28. Between the deadline and the beginning of the program, 9 more were admitted. 37 began January 2009. If the 2 students I sent to committee are admitted today, we will be at 28 which was where we were last year AFTER the deadline of September 15. This program has seen a significant change in applications also. I hope to have a class of 42-45 begin January 2010.