My daughter was home from college last weekend and she and I went to lunch on Saturday. She's nearing the end of her undergraduate architectural degree and is considering continuing on for either an MBA or Masters in Architecture.
Not long after our sandwiches arrived (in fact, I hadn't even gotten a bite of my chicken salad), she started asking questions about our MBA program. "Dad," she began, "How many hours/classes are in the UHD MBA program?"
"Thirty-four," I sort of mumbled because I had finally taken a bite of my sandwich and my mouth was full.
"Thirty-four classes?" She was clearly shocked.
"No, no," I said crunching a salt and vinegar chip, "Not thirty-four classes -- 34 hours."
"Wait a minute," I could see her mind calculating. "Thirty-four isn't divisible by 3. Are some of the courses more than 3 hours??"
I was able to reply a bit more clearly since I had swallowed my mouthful. "No, all of our classes are 2 credit hours and you need 17 classes to complete our program."
"That's a little strange," she began. "None of the other MBA programs I'm considering or have looked into have 2 hour courses. What's the thinking behind that?"
"Pretty simple," I said. "The goal of our MBA program is probably a little different from most. We want to produce general managers not individuals who are functional specialists. For this reason, we wanted to communicate to our faculty who were delivering the MBA program that they should strip down the content within their courses to specific material of high value to general managers. Thus, 2 hours, not 3."
Not long after our sandwiches arrived (in fact, I hadn't even gotten a bite of my chicken salad), she started asking questions about our MBA program. "Dad," she began, "How many hours/classes are in the UHD MBA program?"
"Thirty-four," I sort of mumbled because I had finally taken a bite of my sandwich and my mouth was full.
"Thirty-four classes?" She was clearly shocked.
"No, no," I said crunching a salt and vinegar chip, "Not thirty-four classes -- 34 hours."
"Wait a minute," I could see her mind calculating. "Thirty-four isn't divisible by 3. Are some of the courses more than 3 hours??"
I was able to reply a bit more clearly since I had swallowed my mouthful. "No, all of our classes are 2 credit hours and you need 17 classes to complete our program."
"That's a little strange," she began. "None of the other MBA programs I'm considering or have looked into have 2 hour courses. What's the thinking behind that?"
"Pretty simple," I said. "The goal of our MBA program is probably a little different from most. We want to produce general managers not individuals who are functional specialists. For this reason, we wanted to communicate to our faculty who were delivering the MBA program that they should strip down the content within their courses to specific material of high value to general managers. Thus, 2 hours, not 3."
"Whoa, I thought you told me these were all night classes," now she was in high gear. "If that's the case, won't it take like 3 years to finish the degree?"
"Not at all. Our MBA can be attained in 2 years or less. We do 8 week classes in a hybrid format -- that's 2 hours in class and 2 hours outside of class per week per class and allows you to complete 4 courses per semester."
She was mulling that over so I thought it was time for a father/daughter moment. "Honey," I started, "if I knew you had so many questions about our MBA program, I would have ordered the grilled chicken..."
I thought it was an extremely humorous moment but she didn't even crack a smile. What do fathers know?
