Living in Birkdale and thinking of an MBA

I have many ideas for topics to write in this blog and one that I have been discussing with various people that I meet on our twice daily dog walks is the quality and differences of local MBA programs. Not counting numerous online programs available the local region offers three quality MBA programs within commuting distance: UNCC, Wake Forest, and Duke.

UNCC
UNCC offers the most flexible MBA program close to Huntersville. This program allows students to take classes at their convenience - weeknights, weekends, or weekdays. There is no fixed schedule (unlike the next two programs) and you can take up to five years to complete the program. I am not sure of the cost but I think it runs about $18-$30K


Wake Forest
Wake Forest is a top 30 ranked school and has a Charlotte Business School campus dedicated to Charlotte. Currently it is located in South Park right across from South Park Mall. In a few years they will have a dedicated uptown campus that should make commuting there much easier for use North Meck residents. This program starts and finished within 22 months which offers the chance to bond and network with a group of classmates.
Wake has an evening and a Friday/Saturday format and they begin every August and January. An Executive MBA runs about $56K.

Duke

Duke is a top 10 ranked school and has a few Executive programs available. I realize that this is a 2.5 hour drive from Birkdale/Charlotte. However, Duke has a Cross Continent program that meets once a quarter for a week straight and then follows up the second half of each class with an online portion. It is a lock step program like Wake Forest. What's neat about this program is that you would only drive to Duke 4 times a year and before each class transitions to the online phase you actually get to meet your classmates and spend a week networking. Additionally, one week of the program is spent in Europe and Asia respectively.

An Executive MBA from Duke runs about $96K.



Grad School Prep
Before you consider any of the above MBA programs or many other grad school programs you'll likely have to take the GMAT, GRE, LSAT, or MCAT. UNCC's Continuing Ed Department has a great preparation program that is definitely worth the money. It is cheaper than Kaplan or any of the commercial classes but the instructor is awesome. I took the class and it was great.

Do you know of any other programs that I have not researched, then let me know.