MBA ADMISSION POLICIES
The University admits both full-time and part-time students.
Admission Requirements
All students must take the GMAT or the GRE prior to application.
In order to be regularly admitted to the MBA program, applicants must:
1. Possess a bachelor's degree from an accredited institution. The degree need not be a business degree; however, the following undergraduate courses or their equivalents are required: Accounting I Accounting II Business Finance Business Law Economics. Marketing Principles of Management Probability and Statistics
2. Submit an MBA application and official transcripts from all previous colleges and universities attended.
3. Have a minimum overall grade-point average of 2.75 on a 4.00 point scale.
4. Have an acceptable combined GMAT or GRE score: GMAT 400 (verbal, quantitative, critical reasoning), GRE 850 (verbal and quantitative). The test must have been taken within five years of application to the program. (Southwestern's GMAT school code number is 6604.
5. Provide two written recommendations from employers and/or former professors submitted together with the admission application.
6. Meet the English proficiency requirements for admission to the University for foreign applicants. English proficiency may be evidenced by any one of the following criteria:
a) Have taken all education from at least the ninth grade through the twelfth grade (or equivalent) in a country where English is spoken and is the language and medium of instruction.
b) Spent four years in, and graduated from, an undergraduate program in a college or university in a country where English is the spoken language and is the medium of instruction.
c) Achieve a minimum score of 550 on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), or 230 on the computer test. (Southwestern's TOEFL school code is 6671.)
d) Obtain a minimum score of 80 on the Michigan English Language Assessment Battery (MELAB).
Conditional Admittance
If an applicant does not meet the above requirements numbered 3, 4 or 6, they may be conditionally admitted to the program. Students granted conditional admission will be granted regular admission status after completing 12 graduate hours with a minimum GPA 3.00; otherwise, they will not be allowed to continue in the program. Admittance may be granted to:
1. Applicants with an undergraduate cumulative grade-point average below 2.75, GMAT scores below 400, or with GRE scores below 850 who, in the judgment of the Graduate Admissions Committee, have the capacity to successfully undertake the MBA program.
2. Applicants who have been unable to score the required TOEFL (550 on the paper based test, or 230 on the computer test) or MELAB (80) score, provided they participate in Southwestern's English as a Second Language Program (ESL). The ESL program director will administer tests to discover where the MBA applicant needs the most help and assign classes that will assist him/her in developing English skills that are necessary to study in the MBA program. The MBA applicant may take these ESL classes as suggested, at the ESL Program Director's discretion, at the same time as he/she takes MBA classes. Thereafter, if the MBA student maintains a GPA of 3.0, the TOEFL or MELAB score may be waived if both the MBA and ESL directors agree the student has a sufficient mastery of English.
3. Undergraduate business majors of Southwestern Adventist University who: a) are in their final semester of course work needed for graduation, b) are taking less than 10 credit hours to complete their undergraduate degree, and c) have a cumulative GPA of 2.75 or higher.
This option allows students to start the MBA program during their last semester of undergraduate work, to enroll in a maximum of two MBA courses (thereby giving them a full academic load). If the student does not graduate in accordance with the terms of their senior contract, this option may not be repeated. Classes taken under this option may not count as both BBA and MBA credits. (Students would not be eligible for financial aid for these graduate classes)
Five-Year MBA and BBA (Accounting) Program
Southwestern accounting majors may be provisionally admitted into the MBA program. This option is designed to provide the necessary flexibility to help each student accomplish his/her professional accounting goals. After completing 24 credit hours, the accounting student must satisfy all requirements for regular admission, excluding the completion of a bachelor's degree. If the student does not satisfy the regular admission requirements, he/she will be reclassified as an undergraduate student.
Conditional admission for the CPA candidates–(i.e. current University's undergraduate accounting majors) may be offered, on condition that the applicant:
1. Has completed a minimum of 95 undergraduate semester hours, including: Business Law I Business Law II Macroeconomics or Microeconomics Intermediate Accounting I Intermediate Accounting II Applied Math for Business Principles of Management Statistics
2. Has a minimum cumulative grade-point average of 2.75.
3. Submits an MBA application and dual enrollment application.
Class Schedule.
MBA courses are taught during evenings and weekends. Full-time students may complete all degree requirements in 15 months, a regular academic year and two summers.
Orientation
The University Counseling and
Graduation Requirements
A student should complete all requirements for the MBA degree within five years after registering for the first time in the program. The University grants the MBA degree to those students fulfilling the following requirements within the established time-frame:
1. BBA accounting majors. Complete a minimum of 36 graduate credit hours. Students who received conditional admittance to the MBA program and eventually received regular admittance must complete all BBA requirements. Students will receive both the BBA, with a concentration in accounting, and the MBA.
2. Maintain a minimum grade-point average of 3.00 on the minimum 36 credit hours required for the MBA. (CPA candidates transferred to the MBA program as part of the 5-year option, will be required to attain the expected undergraduate GPA for the BBA.)
3. Complete twelve of the last 15 credits in residence (up to nine credits may be transferred from other institutions).
4. Complete BUAD 681 with a minimum grade of "B".
5. Pass the MBA comprehensive examination. The MBA Comprehensive Examination, taken in the last semester of classes in the MBA program, will be a four-hour written pass/fail exam, with a combination of essay questions, multiple choice, case studies and calculations derived from required and elective MBA courses. The exam committee includes the MBA program director, full time professors, and one professor from the particular emphasis the examinee selects. If necessary, the student may retake the examination after two weeks. At the discretion of the Graduate Academic Exceptions Committee, a student may be allowed to retake the MBA Comprehensive exam a third time after repeating selected graduate classes.
6. Make application for graduation at least six months before the proposed graduation date.