Why do I need to choose an Academy – aren’t we all getting an MBA?
The Iowa full-time MBA program repeatedly draws a significant number of professionals with about 3.5 years of work experience looking to make a, sometimes quite significant, career change. In fact, only 16% of the incoming class of 2015 indicated entering the MBA program with a business undergraduate degree.
Some MBA programs offer no opportunities for a specific area of concentration and others require a narrow track of study to be selected from day one. Iowa’s full-time MBA program is a blend of these two approaches; providing focus by asking students to choose from one of three career areas, but also the ability to take the entire first of four semesters to explore and “try things on” before making that selection.
The Academy structure combined with the abundant experiential learning opportunities within Iowa’s full-time MBA program can be just what a career-changer needs to launch into an entirely new direction. For career-changers, acquiring as much field or career related experience as possible is especially important to help make that transition to a new role, company or industry. In fact, the 2015 GMAC Corporate Recruiters Report tells us that among recruiters planning to hire graduate business students, the vast majority (92%) rate Proven Ability to Perform as the most critical attribute out of 22 other possible hiring attributes.
Why have Academies?
Academies are especially helpful to full-time MBA students looking to make a career change by:
• Helping to develop an area of fit that supports developing relevant knowledge, skills and experiences in their chosen area.
• Providing a structure that helps to create a purposeful path through their MBA journey.
• Avoiding pressure to prepare for any and every MBA job, and instead preparing for the RIGHT next job.
HOW does the Academy structure work?
In addition to academic content tailored to each Academy experience, students also have ease of access to field-specific faculty and experienced business people to help students quickly build a foundation and depth of knowledge related to a specific career area.
Students are also encouraged to plan their two-year MBA journey. This means understanding themselves and researching career opportunities for “fit”, setting personal development goals to fill “gaps” and checking in with their personal development progress on a regular basis.
Also, within the full-time program, opportunities abound for experiential (outside the classroom projects) that are themed for a specific Academy / career area. These experiences further help students develop and distinguish themselves as a relevant professional in their chosen career area.
The Academy structure is in place to accelerate the career-changers career transformation process by guiding students to make difficult choices, to help them acquire a focus, and to create a purposeful MBA experience that leads to a successful outcome. The sooner students can find their focus, the sooner they can spend their two years choosing relevant experiences, knowledge, skills, events, conferences, extra-curricular activities, and so on, that will set them apart in the career pursuit process.
WHY does the Academy structure work?
The Tippie FTMBA program attracts and excels at working with career-changers. The academy structure provides a path for students to change their career focus by making choices and developing relevant knowledge and skills to match the career choice. Students are pushed to discover, develop, prove and articulate job-ready relevance.
The Academy structure works for the full-time MBA students at Iowa because this approach fits with an Iowa FTMBA strength of providing an individualized student MBA experience.
