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David Frasier is assistant dean in the School of Management and administrative director of the MBA program.
With the recent downturn in the economy, especially in Western New
York and the rest of Upstate, has the MBA become a "must-have" degree?
Can you still get a good job with just a bachelor's degree in business
administration?
First, I think it is a mistake to assume that
the focus of UB MBA or undergraduate business students should be just
Western New York. Graduates should be open to going where the jobs are.
There still are good jobs in Western New York, however. The accounting
sector is especially hot for undergrads and grads. I see the MBA as a
longer-term, career degree. Ideally, an undergrad should find the best
possible job, stay in it for several years and go back for an MBA. An
MBA student with several years of experience brings more to, and gets
more out of, the degree. A number of our students came back because
their career progress had stalled out with just the bachelor's degree. I
think that an MBA will increasingly be important for long-term career
growth, but it is more valuable after some experience "in the
trenches."
What's an MBA worth these days in increased salary?
That's
a little hard to say since the past few years have been a soft market
for the MBA. However, we appear to be seeing a turnaround. Over one's
career, it certainly is a solid investment. Forbes magazine rates
the UB MBA as an excellent investment due to its low cost and the return
to students. That is true even for graduates who stay in Western New
York, where salary levels are admittedly lower than New York City or
other major metro areas. But when adjusted for the cost of living,
Buffalo can look pretty good.
Describe the different MBA programs offered at UB.
Our
"flagship" program—the one that consistently is ranked in the top
10 to 15 percent of all MBA programs—is the full-time MBA Program.
That is a 60-credit, two-year program with a core curriculum that
grounds students in management fundamentals and features nine
concentrations to choose from. The Professional MBA is a weeknight
program designed for working adults with a year or more of full-time
managerial experience. The Executive MBA Program is designed for
mid-level executives who have 10 to 15 years of experience. The EMBA
meets Friday and Saturday on alternating weekends, making it available
to executives from a broader region. The School of Management also has
EMBA programs Beijing, China, and Singapore. One-year M.S. programs are
offered in information systems, accounting, supply chains and operations
management, and finance—with tracks in financial management or
financial engineering. The School of Management also offers the Center
for Entrepreneurial Leadership Program and customized corporate
training.
What's the MBA Advantage?
MBA Advantage is our orientation
and professional-development program that begins during the summer prior
to the start of the program. Students complete the online CareerLeader
assessment, which helps our Career Resources Center work with them on
their job search. When the students arrive on campus prior to classes,
we have a range of team-building and problem-solving events, career
workshops, an Ethical Fitness Seminar, several networking events with
alumni and a career competition over a total of eight days throughout
the first three semesters. We believe this program significantly
contributed to The Wall Street Journal's recruiter-based ranking
that rated our program grads among the top 10 in leadership potential
and leadership skills.
There's a lot of competition among local institutions for MBA
students. What makes the UB MBA program unique from its competitors?
Several factors make the UB MBA stand out. We are the only
nationally ranked program in the area. We have one of the highest
percentages of international students among all U.S. programs, as well
as a very high percentage of female students. Our teamwork structure is
distinctive and prepares graduates for the challenges of working on
corporate teams. Recruiting a class of about 150 students each year
places us among the smaller of national MBA programs, which allows us to
develop strong relations among students, faculty and staff, but we have
all the resources of a major research university at our disposal, and
the relationships that affords. We have the only dedicated Career
Resource Center in the university, and it was ranked number one
worldwide by The Wall Street Journal in its last survey that focused on
career centers. We also have the advantage that, as a SUNY school, our
tuition rates make the UB MBA an outstanding value.
Is an MBA only for someone interested in a career in business?
An MBA is an excellent companion degree for a number of other
professions. We have many joint-degree programs, such as the J.D./MBA,
M.D./MBA, architecture/MBA, geography/MBA, pharmacy/MBA and social
work/MBA. One of our recent M.D./MBA grads reported back that she had
applied to some hospitals for her residency that she felt were a real
stretch. She was accepted at all of them and got her top choice. The
review committee told her that the MBA degree made her stand out from
other applicants and made the difference. I am sure it will be a
lifelong asset for her.
Do you have an MBA?
I wouldn't leave home without
it—especially for my job as assistant dean for the UB SOM MBA
Program. I earned it from Boston University in 1979 and it has served me
well for more than 25 years in teaching and administration.
What question do you wish I had asked, and how would you have
answered it?
How do I find out more about the UB MBA? See our
Web site at http://www.mgt.buffalo.edu/mba/.