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Policy on students with no undergrad degree

  • 1.  Policy on students with no undergrad degree

    Posted 07/03/25 11:02 AM

    Curious about other programs, what percentage do you admit that don't have an undergraduate degree? 



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    Traci Larrison
    Director, Graduate Admissions and Recruiting
    Texas Christian University
    Fort Worth TX United States
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  • 2.  RE: Policy on students with no undergrad degree

    Posted 07/04/25 10:52 AM

    Traci,

    We have not admitted anyone without an undergraduate degree.

    Ron



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    Ronald Magnuson
    College of Charleston
    Charleston SC United States
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    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: Policy on students with no undergrad degree

    Posted 07/07/25 05:00 AM

    Hi Traci, We have one student who does not have a UG degree. At the beginning of the programme he was concerned with his performance but he has taken to the academic elements really well. 



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    Iona Taylor
    Programme Manager, Executive Degrees
    King's College London
    United Kingdom
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    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Policy on students with no undergrad degree

    Posted 07/07/25 07:20 AM

    In my 10 years here, we have admitted only one, but are looking at another this year and considering it.  They were both CEO's of companies of substantial size and weight.  The previous one did struggle, although he hired numerous students, so in the end was a net positive in the program.  These calls have to go through a process that ends up with the Dean of Postgraduate and Doctoral Studies for final approval.



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    George Andrews
    Associate Dean
    Rice University
    Houston TX United States
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    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: Policy on students with no undergrad degree

    Posted 07/07/25 10:39 AM

    Thank you all, very helpful. We have admitted them before and yes go through a rigorous admissions process with our Assoc. Dean and leadership as well.

     

    GO FROGS!

    ___

    TRACI LARRISON

    Director of Admissions and Recruiting, Graduate Programs

    TCU Neeley School of Business

     

    Executive MBA

    Full-Time MBA

    Professional MBA / Online MBA

    Master of Supply Chain Management

    Master of Business Analytics

     

    www.neeley.tcu.edu/gradprograms

     

     

     



     




    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: Policy on students with no undergrad degree

    Posted 07/07/25 09:43 AM

    Hi Traci,

    UT-Austin's Graduate School does not allow graduate admission without an undergraduate degree, and I'm not aware of any exceptions in my 11 years here. 



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    Joe Stephens
    Senior Assistant Dean & Director
    University of Texas at Austin
    Austin TX United States
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    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: Policy on students with no undergrad degree

    Posted 07/07/25 11:30 AM

    We do not have any students without an undergrad degree.  CU Boulder does not allow us to admit anyone without a degree.  We have wanted to though . . . 



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    Helen Zucchini
    Director for Graduate Admissions
    University of Colorado Boulder
    Boulder CO United States
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    Original Message


  • 8.  RE: Policy on students with no undergrad degree

    Posted 07/08/25 04:30 AM

    Hi all, 

    At Manchester in the UK, we usually have at least one student per year without an UG degree joining our GEMBA (class of 50-60), and then around 5 (10max) joining our Global MBA (class of circa 400) without a UG degree (this number is currently growing in the Middle East, often ex-pats).  The no UG degree isn't a problem for us if they have over 10 years of professional experience.  Many are entrepreneurs with 15-20 years of experience, but not limited to them.  I was always under the impression U.S. schools were not allowed to admit students without a UG degree onto their MBAs, I must have got that wrong from a GMAC  a number of years ago.

    Hope this helps.

    Cheers

    Chris 



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    Chris Healy
    Head of MBA Recruitment
    University of Manchester
    Manchester United Kingdom
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    Original Message


  • 9.  RE: Policy on students with no undergrad degree

    Posted 07/09/25 07:51 AM

    Duke does not admit anyone without an undergraduate degree. There have a number of opportunities to do so, with very accomplished individuals, but we remain strict with our undergraduate academic degree requirement.  



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    Karen Courtney
    Associate Dean, EMBA & MSQM Programs
    Duke University
    Durham NC United States
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    Original Message


  • 10.  RE: Policy on students with no undergrad degree

    Posted 07/09/25 09:44 AM

    We do not require an undergraduate degree for the CU Denver EMBA program. We typically have one or two individuals a year who come to us without an undergraduate degree. In lieu of the degree, we do require 10+ years of professional experience. 



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    Paul Wood
    Assistant Director Executive MBA Recruiting
    University of Colorado Denver
    CO United States
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    Original Message


  • 11.  RE: Policy on students with no undergrad degree

    Posted 07/09/25 11:50 AM

    The Cox School at SMU does admit students who do not have an undergraduate degree, and in my experience, they are typically some of the brightest and most motivated students in the program. I think our pre-work courses in Accounting and Statistics help bring these up to speed prior to the start of the semester and help set expectations for moving forward. The study groups and professional experience also seem to help these students, though some of them need some initial encouragement. It is actually our students who hold terminal degrees who seem to struggle most in the program, in part I believe, because they start out over-confident and then find it difficult to catch up.



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    Emily Newsome
    Associate Director, EMBA Program
    Southern Methodist University
    Dallas TX United States
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    Original Message


  • 12.  RE: Policy on students with no undergrad degree

    Posted 07/09/25 05:49 PM

    Hi Traci,

    We track this metric in the annual EMBAC Membership Program Survey... In 2024, 56.5% of EMBA programs report that an undergrad degree is required, 2.2% not required, and 41.3% of programs report that it is required with some exceptions. The 5-year trend indicates a decrease in the requirement for an undergraduate degree with an increase in allowing exceptions. These data, along with a further breakdown by cost band and US/CA vs non-USA/Canada programs, are located on page 44 of the 2024 Standard Report (regional, cost band, and peer trends are also available in custom reports).

    2024 Undergraduate Degree Required (D1a)



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    Brian Mahoney
    Managing Partner, Percept Research
    Actionable Marketing Insight through Intelligent Research
    Charlotte NC United States
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    Original Message


  • 13.  RE: Policy on students with no undergrad degree

    Posted 07/09/25 06:02 PM

    I forgot to mention-we're still collecting responses for the 2025 EMBAC Membership Program Survey. The deadline has been extended to allow more programs to participate.

    If you need your school's unique survey link or want to confirm whether your school has already completed the survey, please reach out to our team here: https://link.bschoolresear.ch/EMBACsupport

    You can also use this same link to request access to the EMBAC Program Survey Dashboard or to order custom benchmarking reports.

    We encourage all member programs to participate so we can deliver the most comprehensive insights into the executive degree market. 💡



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    Brian Mahoney
    Managing Partner, Percept Research
    Actionable Marketing Insight through Intelligent Research
    Charlotte NC United States
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    Original Message


  • 14.  RE: Policy on students with no undergrad degree

    Posted 07/10/25 03:02 PM

    Hi Traci,

    I'm now in my 18th year as Admissions Director, and during that time, we have admitted applicants without an undergraduate degree. The criteria for doing so have varied somewhat between 2008 and 2022, depending on the Graduate School Director at the time.

    In March 2022, the University of Washington Graduate School formalized the option for graduate programs to consider candidates without a bachelor's degree. Section 3.1.2.2 of the UW admission policy outlines the general criteria for such admissions.

    For the EMBA program specifically, we established standards requiring a minimum of 15 years of professional experience, including at least 5 years in a designated leadership role. We also typically require either an Executive Assessment or GMAT score for applicants who do not have any earned college-level credits.

    Interestingly, these applicants have performed as well as-or in some cases, slightly better than-their peers in the EMBA program. We generally receive one or two non-degreed applicants per admission cycle.

    I'm happy to share more details if interested.



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    Randell Hernandez
    Director of Admissions, EMBA
    University of Washington
    Seattle WA United States
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    Original Message


  • 15.  RE: Policy on students with no undergrad degree

    Posted 09/04/25 02:54 PM

    Hi Traci. We intentionally admit 'no-degrees' each year. The program was initially introduced in part due to the number of individuals who had built up substantial companies in the energy industry through experience alone. This year, we have maybe 4 of them, 2 of whom scored in the 100% percentile in the Executive Assessment integrated reasoning. I remember last year one of the students saying they preferred working with 'no-degrees' in group work because they just get things done. Purely anecdotal... No-degrees go through an interview process like everyone else and must offset their lack of a prior degree with extensive experience at a management level. I haven't seen any variance between them and the students with master's degrees in terms of hiring tutors in quantitative classes. Phil



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    Phil Davidson
    Director, Executive MBA Program
    University of Calgary
    Cochrane Canada
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    Original Message


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