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March 20, 2002
McCombs School Enters Dallas-Fort Worth Executive MBA Market
Austin, TX - Beginning this fall, managers in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metro area will be able to attend the best executive MBA program in the Southwest without having to travel. Effective immediately, the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin is recruiting for the Texas Executive MBA at Dallas/Fort Worth. The new program will mirror UT Austin’s popular Option II MBA, which Business Week ranks as the #12 executive MBA in the nation.
With the new program, UT Austin takes on a crowded marketplace of executive MBAs in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Competing schools include Texas Christian University, the University of Dallas, UT Dallas, and SMU-Cox. SMU is the only other nationally ranked executive MBA in the region, at #19 according to Business Week.
“We are confident that we can stand out from the crowd, while offering a vital service to North Texas,” said Robert G. May, dean of the McCombs School.
UT Austin established a pilot version of the program in 1999, working with Texas Instruments to create an MBA especially for the company’s managers. “We give TI a lot of credit for getting us into the Dallas market and for showing us the potential for broader service to the region,” says May. Texas Instruments will continue to be actively involved, sending ten to fifteen managers to the new program.
Like its Austin counterpart, the Dallas-Fort Worth executive MBA will focus on general management skills, building on the McCombs School’s strengths across the board in accounting, finance, marketing, management, and information management.
Director John Doggett says that UT created the program in response to requests from some of the region’s largest companies. “Because they have operations in every part of the world, Metro-area companies want access to an MBA that will be recognized anywhere in the world,” says Doggett. “We can offer that.” At the same time, notes Doggett, many UT Austin alumni in the region wanted to obtain an MBA from the McCombs School without having to leave their jobs.
Classes will be held every other Friday and Saturday in the American Airlines Training and Conference Center at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. The Fort Worth location was chosen for its amenities and convenience. Students will be able to stay at a hotel on site, maximizing time with colleagues. Commuters from nearby cities like Tulsa and Little Rock will have easy access via non-stop flights.
Director John Doggett stresses that the McCombs program will be the most rigorous and academically challenging in the region. Average GMAT scores for the Austin version of the executive MBA, notes Doggett, are seventy points higher than those for SMU-Cox, its closest regional competitor. (The GMAT is the standardized entrance examination for business schools, graded on an 800-point scale.)
"If students want the most portable and globally recognized MBA in the Southwest,” says Doggett, “One that’s going to help propel them to the next level of business leadership, then we are the best choice. Our message to DFW Metroplex managers is simple: If you want the best MBA in the Southwest, you only have one choice: UT Austin’s TxEMBA Program.”
The full cost of the program will be $65,000. This includes a weeklong trip to China and three weeklong seminars in Austin. Typically companies, and not individual students, bear the cost of executive MBA programs.
For sponsoring companies, the Dallas-Fort Worth program will offer a special incentive by allowing enrolled managers to work on actual projects that companies had slated for outside consultants. “This will give the companies an instant return for sponsoring one of their managers,” says Doggett.
To apply or to receive more information, contact Jennifer Rea at (512) 232-5536, or visit www.mccombs.utexas.edu/txemba.
QUICK FACTS on the Texas Executive MBA at Dallas/Fort Worth
URL: http://www.mccombs.utexas.edu/txemba/
First entering class: Fall of 2002
Anticipated enrollment: 65
Participating faculty: 18
Schedule: 21-month program meeting every other Friday and Saturday. Classes begin in August 2002 and end in May 2004 for the entering class. Four weeklong business immersion courses are included, with three on the UT Austin campus and one in Asia.
Class location: American Airlines Training and Conference Center, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.
Cost: $65,000
National Ranking: #12 in the nation, according to Business Week. *
Average years of work experience for incoming students: 11*
Average GMAT score: 658
Who normally takes an executive MBA: Managers and professionals who wish to pursue an MBA while continuing their work responsibilities. Candidates must have five years of work experience, preferably manager-level or higher.
For more information contact:
John Doggett, Director(512) 232-7671
Jennifer Rea, Program Manager(512) 232-5536
About McCombs
The McCombs School of Business is perennially ranked one of the top business schools in the country and world according to leading business publications such as The Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, and U.S. News & World Report. With strength across the board in all major business disciplines, McCombs is especially known for innovative collaborations with industry and for leading programs in technology, entrepreneurship, finance, and accounting. McCombs offers a full range of business education programs, from BBA and full-time MBA to Part-time MBA, Executive MBA, Executive Education, PhD, and graduate accounting (PPA/MPA). Under new dean George W. Gau, the school has set a goal of becoming the top public business school in the nation. Visit www.mccombs.utexas.edu for more information.
For information on specific programs at the McCombs School, consult our contacts page. For media information, contact the Communications Director by phone at 512-471-3314 or by email at CommunicationsDirector@mccombs.utexas.edu.
