MBA open house July 12

By Michael Terrazas mterraz@emory.edu

The Goizueta Business School’s Executive MBA program will hold an open house for interested and prospective students on Thursday, July 12, from 6:30–8:30 p.m. in room 207 of the business school.

Joe Porac, senior associate dean and professor of organizational management in the school, will speak at the event, which will bring together past, current and future executive MBA students to discuss the merits of the program.

“It’s sort of a taste-test for people to sample what we offer,” said Julie Barefoot, Goizueta’s assistant dean of admissions, adding that the school holds several such open houses each year.

After a half-hour of meeting-and-greeting and refreshments, Porac will take the podium, then attendees will hear a panel of current students and alumni discuss their experiences in the Executive MBA program. Finally, Barefoot and David Hanson, associate director of admissions for the program, will talk and answer questions about the program’s application and admissions processes.

“A lot of these people haven’t applied to a school in 15 years,” Barefoot said. “And if they went to a public school, it was probably just a form—they didn’t have essays or interviews. They want to know what kinds of things we’re expecting to see from these.”

The open houses are advertised on the business school’s Executive Education website and also through mailings and print and radio ads around Atlanta and the Southeast. Also, Hanson said, Executive MBA alumni make excellent ambassadors for the program, both within their own institutions and beyond.

Both admissions officers said the program does not stop at recruiting external business professionals; a small handful of University employees enroll in the program each year.

“We welcome the interest of Emory employees in this program,” Barefoot said. “We have two offerings, one during the evening and one in the daytime, that would be options for them to obtain their graduate business degree while maintaining their employment at Emory.”

She added that employees may also register to sit in on an Executive MBA class or set up an appointment to talk personally to a staff member. Two more open houses on Aug. 16 and Sept. 13 will feature business school faculty Susan Gilbert and Robert Kazanjian, respectively.

For more information on the program or the open house, call 404-727-6311 or visit www.emory.edu/BUS/executive_education/index.f.html.