Beginning May 2006, the John Cook School of Business will offer a new one-year MBA program that will allow students to earn their MBA in half the traditional amount of time. This accelerated degree will be the first in the region. The one-year MBA program is designed for people who have a bachelor’s degree in business and who have work experience. “It is not to say that exceptions won’t be made for extraordinary students, but we prefer students to have two to three years of work experience because it allows them to contribute more to the classroom experience,” said John Cook School of Business Assistant Dean Tom Miller. Other schools offering such a program include Northwestern University, Emory University, Pittsburgh University and the University of Notre Dame. Across America, a shift has been made to accelerate the MBA program to better serve students’ needs. “We are going to be an industry leader with this, because two-year MBA programs are having trouble nationally drawing applicants. There is an increased demand for a one-year program because not everybody can afford to take two years off work or pay for two years to earn their MBA,” said Miller. With an accelerated program, the concern arises that the quality of the program may diminish; however, SLU has proven that this is not the case. The program is AACSB accredited, which accounts for only 14 percent of all universities nationwide. “To be AACSB accredited we must have both high-caliber students and high-caliber faculty. The quality of our program will not diminish whatsoever. If anything, it will have a boot-camp feel because it will be intense coursework,” Miller said. Although the program will try to accommodate internships, it is emphasized that students will be unable to work during the year. “We view the one-year MBA program as a full-time job. We will keep [students] busy from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and then they will have to go study at night,” Miller said. Miller also said that the accelerated coursework is designed to attract students who are motivated, driven and energetic. This three-semester program has been under construction for over two-and-a-half years, during which time many people contributed to the program’s framework. “This program we built from the ground up. We consulted everybody from business leaders, students, employers and faculty to make sure that the program is complete,” said Miller. As a result of this collaboration, the one-year MBA program has several distinct features. The first is that a two-week study abroad option is built into the program. Three weeks will be spent preparing for the trip and discussing expectations, and two weeks will be spent abroad, followed by a week of reflection. The study abroad feature is designed to shed light on the international business culture, where students can travel to Hong Kong, Madrid and possibly Panama or Belgium in the future. Another feature of the one-year MBA program is a collection of MBA seminars. The seminars are designed for all MBA students and will keep pace with emerging business issues. They are built into the program and will cover topics like personal development and career training. The cost of tuition has yet to be determined, but is expected to hover around $45,000. Early decision applicants have a deadline of Dec. 1, and the University has a rolling admissions policy.