Online MBA program experiences success at UNC

As she hopped in a cab to go to a business dinner, Meredith Culler made time for a phone interview — just like she makes time to obtain her master’s degree.

Culler is enrolled in the MBA@UNC program, an online program offered by Kenan-Flagler Business School.

Out of the first two MBA@UNC graduating classes, 71 percent of students received a promotion or positive job change. Culler, a current student living in San Francisco, was recently promoted to Inventory Manager of Pottery Barn.

Culler said she joined the program because she wanted to earn a valuable degree but did not want to stop working.

“I was doing my research and knew that I liked my job, and I wasn’t willing to give up my current career path,” she said.

“I never would have been able to be promoted and be where I am now if I had taken myself out of the workforce.”

Since its creation two and a half years ago, the program has enrolled more than 600 students, many of whom are working professionals like Culler.

The executive director of MBA@UNC, Susan Cates, said the program takes in students four times a year and has more than a 98 percent retention rate.

Students are able to interact with one another and their professors as they would through other social media sites. Cates said the site has a social media backbone that resembles LinkedIn and Facebook.

“I’m a grad of our full-time program, and I’m very proud of the education experience that I received through that program — I’m equally as proud of the educational experience the MBA@UNC students are receiving,” she said.

Culler said MBA@UNC offers her the quality she would expect from a full-time program.

“I felt that if I was going to put in the time, the effort, the money and all those things, I needed to go to a school I was proud of,” she said.

Culler said she was proud to be enrolled in a program at one of the top business schools in the nation.

“The professors that make Carolina so amazing – we have the same experience,” Culler said.

Larry Chavis, a professor of strategy and entrepreneurship , said the online program offers an interactive experience.

“I do a lot more on focusing on specific students than when I have 60,” he said.

Classes do not exceed 15 students and classes are held via webcam, which Cates said holds students to a higher degree of accountability.

“You can’t hide,” she said. “You can’t slip in on the back row and hope you don’t get called on.”

Students review material online before each class, which is available at all times so that they can fit it in to their schedule. They can also comment on any questions they might have for the professor to address during the next class.

Students are required to attend at least two immersions that occur over a three-day period in cities across the globe. MBA@UNC tries to decorate the locations in as much Carolina blue as possible, so that when students meet face-to-face they feel closer to their classmates.

“You’re a Tar Heel for the rest of your life,” Chavis said to his class in the orientation video.

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