UT-Knoxville MBA?

wise_rita

Can anybody shed some light for me on the MBA program at UT?  DBF is looking to further his education and for some strange reason we keep looking at this school.

I say "strange" because we've never been to TN. Heck, we've never even been to the South before.  We currently live abroad in his home country so this would be a big more/commitment for us.

The rankings are good, the price is great.  Everything checks out so far!  So I'm looking for opinions/personal experiences about that school, living in Knoxville, etc.

FWIW we'd like to move to MN after his education.  And keep the possibility of moving back to Norway open.  TIA!

MrsNash37212

My DH just got his MBA from Vandy. My advice? Tell him to get his education where you guys want to live. Companies from MN will not be coming to UT Knoxville to recruit. Besides Nashville, we got mostly companies from NY, LA, Chicago, and Atlanta. On-campus recruiting is huge and very important in business school, especially since it's practically the only way to get an internship the summer between the two years (which usually leads to an offer). If your BF doesn't get a job with a company that does on-campus recruiting, it is exponentially harder to get a job. Add travel to your search and it's a big mess. Not to be a downer, but most of DH's classmates don't have jobs and it's the ones who wanted to go somewhere random that are struggling right now. On the other hand, if you're interested TN is a great place to live!

wise_rita

This is very good advice, thank you!

moviesprincess

I have friends that have been through the program and they loved it and were all able to find fantastic jobs afterward. As someone else said, most of the on campus recruiters that come to UT are all located in the south so you might want to look into MBA programs near where you want to live. Not saying that he could not still get a job where he wants if he went to UT, it would just be harder.

ladyjeni

I'm actually an UT MBA grad and can't say enough good things about the program.  In regards to jobs post graduation we actually had a fair amount of people get recruited to go outside of TN.  I know only a handful of people in the Nashville/Memphis/Knoxville area.  With that being said it truly depends on two things, your area of concentration and your willingness to move. It took me very little time to find a job and I was limited in where I could move however I graduated during a stronger work marketplace. You also need to weigh in the factor of UT's program being so short compared to traditional programs, would the market being better after 18 months? Note that internships are required in our program, which could be anywhere and only for three months. Some married couples have found this a constraint.  But do know that once you intern somewhere your chances to get an offer are significantly increased.  UT has tons of connections but you will have to work hard to make it work for you. HTH!