Double top 50 national ranking for CCU's MBA program
Study.com and businessstudent.com are websites that offer current college students resources such as study tools and job interview tips. They also offer prospective college students information about a different universities, such as different degree programs they offer, a catalog of their courses and post graduate resources. They post rankings for the top degree programs in the U.S. based on the value of education, public availability, graduation rate, retention rate and student-to-faculty ratio. CCU's MBA program was ranked No. 44 in the nation by study.com and No. 47 in the nation for their MBA program.
"I believe CCU was ranked so highly due to the abundance of resources for the students who are taking the program," said Noah Whitlock, 2018 CCU MBA graduate. "You can take courses in class, online or both, which makes it very doable while also being able to complete your life responsibilities in addition to class."
The MBA program, housed in the E. Craig Wall Sr. College of Business Administration, offers master's degree programs in business administration and accountancy and allows students the option to concentrate in health care administration or nonprofit administration. The one-year 30-credit hour program offers face-to-face, hybrid and online options for attaining a degree and is spread across seven required courses and three elective courses.
"CCU is an AACSB-accredited business program," said Heather Read, graduate program manager. "Many students don't understand the benefits of accreditation when evaluating a graduate school, especially if they are looking for an online format."
Only about 5 percent of the business schools in the world are accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. AACSB accreditation has many benefits for students such as being recognized worldwide by top employers, providing more access to recruiters, leading toward competitive salaries after graduation and being included in a network of other graduates from accredited schools.
Students can complete CCU's MBA in 12 months if they take fall, spring and summer courses, but many of the students who take the program online spread their credits over the course of two years. Students in this program range from student-athletes to working parents and even CEOs of their own businesses. The students also range in age from their early twenties to 60 years old.
"This kind of diversity is what we think sets our program apart from other institutions, together with our personalized attention and small class size," said Read.
The required courses for the MBA program include: Operations and Global Supply Chain; Leadership; Financial Management; Managerial Economics; Marketing Strategy; Managerial Responsibility and the Law; and Strategic Implementation.
Students who have a GPA of 3.75 or higher in their undergraduate program or who have more than five years of relevant, professional work experience are not required to take the GMAT exam to be admitted into the program. Although the admission requirements are competitive, CCU works with potential applicants by clearly laying out the criteria for admission before the applicant begins the application process.
"We like to think of our admissions process as holistic, meaning we review all of the factors in the application and take that into account before making an admissions decision," said Read. "This includes interesting academic or work experience and letters of reference that speak to the student's commitment and capability to excel in graduate school." Tuition for graduate school at CCU for in-state students is $598 per credit hour and $1,102 per credit hour for out-of-state students. There is also a $45 nonrefundable application fee that must be paid after all parts of an application are complete.
For more information on the MBA program at CCU, email Read at hread@coastal.edu or visit coastal.edu/business/mba. To apply to graduate school at CCU, visit coastal.edu/graduatestudies/applynow.