MBA America Tour Making a Stop at UT Dallas

What options are available for students interested in a graduate business education? What can an MBA do for a student’s career? How much does an MBA cost?

Students can find answers to these and many more at a one-stop free educational fair being held at the UT Dallas School of Management on Thursday, Feb. 4. Admission representatives from top business schools nationwide are coming to Dallas to meet with potential MBA students as part of a national tour that is running through March 2010.

The MBA America Tour is stopping at the School of Management from 6 to 8 p.m. on Feb. 4. The spring tour was organized to provide information and help prospective students choose the right MBA program for them. The tour, made up of leading public university MBA programs, gives students wanting to pursue an MBA an opportunity to talk to admission representatives from schools in the Dallas area, as well as outside the state.

The schools – which include the University of Missouri, the University of Arkansas, Michigan State University, the University of Oklahoma, the University of Houston, The University of North Texas and The University of Texas at Dallas – will host panel sessions and alumni seminars, and representatives will be available to talk to prospective students throughout the conference.

“We wanted to expose prospective students to some of the public MBA programs, and more importantly, we wanted to give them an opportunity to really explore their options,” said Lisa Shatz, director of UT Dallas’ Full-Time MBA program. “In this environment, value is critical, and with so many top-notch public programs, there are excellent opportunities for everyone.”

Because the troubled economy has triggered many to explore various career options, MBA directors from about a dozen public universities decided to join forces to host a tour that stresses the value of public education, especially in today’s economic climate, and addresses many misnomers regarding public schools, according to Shatz.

“One misnomer is that you can only get in-state rates if you go to school in your own state, which is not true. Not all out-of-state students pay out-of-state tuition,” she said. “Another is that public universities are somehow less well-regarded when in actuality, almost half of the top 50 MBA programs ranked by U.S. News and World Report are public.”

Tour organizers say the MBA America Tour will be an annual event, and they hope to eventually expand the tour to include more cities.

For more information and to register, visit www.mbaamerica.org.

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