MBA program allows seniors to start degree early
Waynesburg University offers a graduate business program that allows anyone, whether they be a student at the school or not, to apply and earn their Masters of Business Administration (MBA). Waynesburg’s program; however, allows for senior undergraduate business students to take up to six credits of graduate classes in addition to their undergraduate classes.
Janice Crile, director of graduate programs in Business Administration and assistant professor, thinks that it is a good thing for seniors to consider, so they can get an idea of what the MBA program is like, at no extra cost to the student.
“Business majors that [are juniors] can apply to take classes their senior year,” she said. “[They] should look ahead and plan to take classes their senior year so they get a feel for graduate work. Also, there is no additional cost to take those classes as a senior, it is included in the undergraduate tuition.”
Coordinator of Graduate Programs Abby Pittinaro graduated from Waynesburg University in December of 2014, and is a current student in the MBA program. Pittinaro encourages students who have the opportunity to get some of those credits out of the way before graduating to strongly consider it.
“There’s a benefit because you will have six credits done of a 36 credit program, so that’s not bad,” she said. “It really doesn’t take that long and you will have a head start.”
The MBA program differs from undergraduate due to the speed of the courses. In the MBA program, courses only run for eight weeks, or roughly half a semester. For seniors who take graduate classes, they will only have to burden the workload from the course they take for half of their semester, lessening that workload for the other half.
Bill Stough, instructor of Business Administration, teaches classes in both the undergraduate and graduate programs. Stough, who is a 1983 graduate of, then, Waynesburg College and graduated from the master’s program in 1994, feels that the MBA really helped to expand his horizon in business.
“[The MBA] allowed me to go from purely accounting to a more broad base…like marketing and management,” he said. “My career changed after [getting the MBA], and now, I teach in it.”
As a current student in the program, Pittinaro believes that it is extremely important to get a graduate degree, as a lot of prospective employers look for that in employees.
“I think that more and more recently we have seen a change where it’s so necessary to have a graduate degree,” she said. “A few years ago everyone was saying ‘oh, you have to have a four year degree, you won’t get a job.’ Now it’s almost like you have to have a four-year degree and a graduate degree. I think that a lot of companies see a benefit of a student that takes initiative and goes right after undergraduate because they are investing in themselves, and they see that they have a drive and are serious, and will be more inclined to hire them.”
According to Crile, students who have shown that they are active during their time as an undergraduate student have had great success in the MBA program.
“[It is] easier if they have work experience, an internship, a job on campus, if they were a Bonner scholar [and have] proven success of juggling school requirements and other personal requirements,” said Crile.
Pittinaro also noted the recent accreditation that Waynesburg University has received, pointing out that credits from Waynesburg’s program will transfer without issue to any other graduate program.
“The thing about Waynesburg is that we are accredited, so if you decided that you wanted to move somewhere else, the credits would also transfer, if that’s where life took you,” she said.
Students interested in learning more about Waynesburg University’s MBA program can visit the university’s website at www.waynesburg.edu and look under the “graduate” tab. Students could also reach out to Denise Birch, secretary for the graduate business program, at dbirch@waynesburg.edu for more information.