The University of Arizona’s Eller College is launching an accelerated MBA program to allow experienced professionals and recent graduates to complete the studies in one year, half the traditional time.
The program, spanning 10 months, will begin in summer 2025 for its first cohort of students, offering them a chance to pursue a master’s of business administration at a reduced cost and with less time away from professional jobs.
“This is a national trend. The interest in a two-year MBA has been waning, because it’s extremely costly for the student to leave the workforce for two years and to give up that revenue and join a full-time MBA program,” said Jayanthi Sunder, vice dean of programs and strategic initiatives at Eller College of Management, in an interview Thursday with the Arizona Daily Star.
“But at the same time, there are students who want that immersive experience of a full-time, in-person program,” which UA’s new one-year MBA will offer, Sunder said. “Not everyone wants to do a weekend program or an evening program. So, some of them want to have that networking opportunity, that face-to-face feedback in their classes and what not.”
The one-year program will now be the only option of a full-time MBA course at the college, said Pamela Jorden, assistant dean of MBA academic operations. The previously offered two-year program has been paused for the time being, she said.
Students at the Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona.
As a business school in a changing market, Eller must be flexible and recognize and meet student needs, Jorden said. While certain schools were closing down their full-time MBA programs, Eller wanted to “not close it, but fix it” and make its ranked program more marketable, she said.
Eller’s current full-time MBA program is ranked No. 26 this year among public universities and 50th overall by U.S. News & World Report.
The idea is to appeal to students who are ambitious, driven and willing to work hard for one year and turbocharge their careers, Sunder said.
“The biggest cost a student faces going into a two-year program is two years of lost income,” said Sunder.
“Money is a huge deal, especially when it comes to MBAs,” agreed Ayusha Pendse, an Eller student pursuing a dual degree in Management Information Systems and an MBA.
While the two-year MBA program has now been paused, Jorden said the college still offers students the option to do a dual degree where they could complete two degrees in two years, one of them being an MBA.
“We believe, as the flagship university of the state, we need to provide them with the opportunities to make sure they stay in Arizona, get jobs in Arizona” and keep talent in the state, said Sunder.
Sunder said Eller will be the first college in the state, and one of the early ones in the country, to offer a one-year MBA program.
Curriculum
The one-year MBA program will require students to complete “39 units of comprehensive business education,” delving into core business mastery, effective business communication, data and analytics training, real-world experience, and leadership and career development.
Each part was curated with support from research and input from faculty and current students, administrators say.
The overall tuition and fees for the program is $32,620 for Arizona residents and $54,874 for non-Arizona residents.
This is less than the $52,244 tuition paid by Arizona residents in the two-year MBA’s last class of 2025.
Students at the Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona.
The program will be divided into three semesters — summer, fall and spring. The summer semester will be remote learning, while the fall and spring will be in-person at Eller’s main campus. The previous two-year MBA program was spread over four semesters.
The summer semester was designed to be remote due to a couple of reasons.
The first is the visa issues faced by international students, which could hinder them from getting into the country by July, said Jorden.
An added benefit of the online classes during the summer is to give recently graduated students the opportunity to pursue an internship over the summer, getting them real-world experience as well, said Sunder.
While the core courses of the one-year program have been kept the same as the two-year program, with the addition of one marketing course, the number of electives has been reduced, said Jorden.
Since the accelerated program cuts down the time students get for networking, job hunting and portfolio building, Jorden said it is flexible and customizable. If students feel one year is short, they can opt for a dual degree and it doesn’t change much for them, she said.
However, students choosing the dual degree option will have to pay the dual degree tuition.
The one-year MBA degree as it stands now is not a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) degree, but Jorden said Eller is working to get it that title down the line. The idea is to attract students and professionals from STEM backgrounds as well as Tucson leaders, she said.
Among the programs previously offered by Eller, the only ones which qualified as STEM degrees were the MBA dual degrees. The evening MBA in Tucson, the executive MBA in Phoenix, the online MBA or the MBA concentrations and specializations were not STEM.
Applications
The application requirements for the one-year program won’t be very different, but will have a little more flexibility in terms of examinations such as GRE (Graduate Record Examinations) or GMAT (Graduate Management Aptitude Test), depending on each student’s background, said Jorden.
“We’re still looking for high GPA (Grade Point Average). We have to make sure they can do the program, and we’re not going to set people up to fail,” she continued. “We want to make sure they’ve got some quantitative skills.” In certain instances, a GRE or GMAT will be required, “because we want again to make sure that the rigor of the program is something that they can do.”
Students at the Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona.
Applications for the program’s first summer 2025 cohort were opened on Nov. 28. Upcoming deadlines are Dec. 15 for Round 1 applicants, Jan. 15 for Round 2 and international applicants, Feb. 1 for Round 3 and April 1 for Round 4.
“The rounds are in place to encourage submission of applications, and it allows us to set expectations on when they should hear from us,” wrote Janet Flores, the college’s senior director of marketing and communications, in an email to the Star Friday. “The deadlines are chosen to spread out the submissions and straddle holidays. We admit on a rolling basis. The advantage to applying in the earlier rounds is that more seats and scholarships are available.”
May 31 is the “domestic student deadline,” for U.S. citizens or green card holders who won’t need a student visa to attend the program. International students have an earlier deadline to accommodate their visa processes.
“Our recruiting team is really good and very experienced, and they are ready to talk to students,” said Sunder. “So, if you’re even thinking, ‘Oh, I’m not sure if this is the right program for me,’ I’d say schedule a call and talk to them. Because, they’d be happy to say, ‘No, you’re the perfect student for it,’ or they would say, ‘go out and work for two years and come back.’”
Application information is available at eller.arizona.edu/programs/mba/one-year/admissions.
