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College of William and Mary The Mason School of Business

Contact Information:
Alan B. Miller Hall
101 Ukrop Way, P. O. Box 8795
Williamsburg, VA 23187-8795
Phone: (757) 221-2900
Fax: (757) 221-2958
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College of William and Mary The Mason School of Business Says...
The College of William & Mary, founded in 1693, is the second oldest educational institution in the United States. Alma mater of three presidents and countless other Early Republic luminaries, the College offered its first business oriented class in 1798: Political Economy. One-hundred and twenty-four years later in 1922, William & Mary undergraduates had the opportunity to...
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Statistics
Enrollment: 367
Average GMAT: 601.00
GMAT Range (25-75%): 570-650
Average Undergrad GPA: 3.20
Regular Application Deadline: 05/15
Rolling Admission: Yes
School Type: Public
Average Age: 28.00
Average Work Experience (months): 51

Programs & Curriculum
Part Time Program: Yes
Evening Program: Yes
Executive MBA Program Offered: Yes
Total Faculty: 45

Employment
Average Starting Salary: $78,222.00
Hired Consulting: 32.5%
Hired Finance: 42.5%
Hired Operations: 7.5%
Hired Marketing: 10%

Scholarships & Financial Aid
Out-of-State Tuition: $33,000.00
In-State Tuition: $21,000.00
Financial Aid Deadline: 02/15
Students Receiving Some Aid: 74%
Average Annual Total Financial Aid: $27,424.00

Rankings & Lists
Best Professors

School Says - General Information
The College of William & Mary, founded in 1693, is the second oldest educational institution in the United States. Alma mater of three presidents and countless other Early Republic luminaries, the College offered its first business oriented class in 1798: Political Economy. One-hundred and twenty-four years later in 1922, William & Mary undergraduates had the opportunity to pursue a full course of study in accounting through the CollegeÂ's first School of Business Administration. Today approximately 5,500 undergraduates and 2,000 graduate students study a wide variety of subjects on the beautiful William & Mary campus located in the heart of Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia. WilliamsburgÂ's close proximity to Virginia Beach, Norfolk and Richmond and relative proximity to Washington, DC and New York City allow students to partake in a vibrant business, political and cultural life.

School Says - Student Body
Small by design, the Master of Accounting (MAC) Program enrolls approximately 30 individuals each fall. The entering Class of 2005 draws students from around the world and across the United States. Fifty-two percent of the class is female and the average age is 25 years old. Nearly half of the students are entering the program directly from their undergraduate studies, where they pursued majors in accounting, finance, and business administration. For the remaining students with post-graduate work experience, their undergraduate majors also included economics, English, history and Russian language and literature. A small number of enrolling students already hold advanced degrees. The average GMAT score is 607, while the average undergraduate GPA is 3.41.

School Says - Academics
Flexibility and academic rigor are the hallmarks of the William & Mary MAC Program. Believing in the value that people from diverse academic backgrounds bring to the accounting profession, the award-winning faculty created the full-time, two-semester, 30-credit hour MAC Program to attract both accounting and non-accounting undergraduate majors. Core Curriculum All MAC students benefit from the same 15 credit hour core curriculum designed to strengthen their knowledge of financial reporting and accounting information systems, finance and the art of effective business communication. The core includes: BUAD 502 Professional Accounting I (3) BUAD 503 Professional Accounting II (3) BUAD 504 Financial Markets and Valuation (3) BUAD 505 Accounting Information System Design & Management (3) BUAD 506 Analytical Tools for Financial Modeling (1.5) BUAD 507 Communications & Professional Development (1.5) For non-accounting majors or those accounting majors who might not have had classes in auditing, taxation and/or cost accounting, the core curriculum expands to include: BUAD 509 Professional Auditing & Assurance Services (3) BUAD 514 Strategic Cost Management (3) BUAD 515 Influence of Taxation on Business Decisions (3) Electives Students round out their MAC course of study by selecting electives from the CollegeÂ's Master of Business Administration (MBA) Program that complement their career objectives. Accounting undergraduates typically select 15 credit hours (five classes) while non-accounting majors take six credit hours of electives (two classes). The wide variety of MBA electives includes, but is not limited to: BUAD 514 Cost Administration/Financial Control Systems BUAD 516 Tax Research & Advanced Business Entity Tax BUAD 527 Database Management BUAD 529 Electronic Commerce BUAD 532 Corporate Financial Policy BUAD 536 Portfolio Management BUAD 542 Marketing Strategy BUAD 557 Leadership & Planned Change BUAD 574 Principles of Negotiation BUAD 577 Management Science BUAD 583 Non-Profit Organizations BUAD 595 Business Law BUAD 595 Business Research Seminar in Internet Law BUAD 595 Stock Market Trends Opportunities exist for those students with an undergraduate course in taxation to take electives in the Law School with instructor permission. In fact, MAC students interested in tax can pursue that specialty by taking up to 12 credit hours of taxation. Other non-business electives in law and computer science are available to MAC students with instructor approval.

School Says - Admissions
Prerequisites To ensure student success, MAC applicants are required to have successfully completed Principles of Accounting, Intermediate Accounting I, Financial Management, Statistics, and Introduction to Information Technology. Recognizing that some non-accounting majors might not have taken Intermediate Accounting I, the program offers an intensive 14 day course in August prior to the start of classes. Application Deadlines Offers of admission are made on a revolving basis until the class is full. For priority merit aid consideration, all applicants are encouraged to apply before March 15. International applicants are strongly encouraged to apply by February 1 to allow sufficient time for visa processing. Applications from international applicants who are not currently residing in the U.S. on a valid visa will not be accepted after March 15. Notification of admission decisions will occur within two weeks of the receipt of a complete application and interview. Please apply on-line at http://business.wm.edu/mac. Evaluation of Applications Admissions decisions are based upon the applicantÂ's academic record, GMAT score, TOEFL score (for non-native speakers of English), essay, recommendations, interview, and other indicators of aptitude for graduate study of accounting and business. International applicants are also required to submit a Â"Course by CourseÂ" evaluation of their transcripts performed by World Education Services (WES). Admissions Contact: Aimee Turner Keeney Associate Director of Admissions, Master of Accounting Program Tyler Hall, Room 235, Williamsburg, VA 23187 Phone: 757-221-2875 • Fax: 757-221-2937 E-mail: MAC@business.wm.edu Web Address: www.business.wm.edu/mac

Students Say - Academics
Students speak highly of the curriculum at the College of William & Mary's Mason School of Business, but for most it's "the intangibles, particularly the Executive Partners network, Career Acceleration Modules, and Field Consultancy Programs" that elevate this program and have MBAs declaring it "absolutely wonderful." Mason offers three MBA options, one full-time and two part-time. Part-time options include the flex MBA, a nine-semester sequence consisting of 3-hour, once-weekly classes; and the executive MBA, with classes meeting on alternate weekends.
Full-timers rave about the school's Executive Partners network, "a mentorship program for students under the auspice of our Leadership Class" that takes advantage of "Williamsburg's dozens of retired C-level executives who tire of golf and are looking to participate. Those men and women are a huge resource," as they "hold more knowledge than you can access in your time with them (luckily they respond to e-mails and take phone calls as well). They volunteer to come help us and genuinely care about how we do. They are worth their weight in gold."
Mason's Career Acceleration Modes in entrepreneurship, investments and financial services, corporate finance, consulting, B2B Marketing, B2C Marketing, and Enterprise Engineering combine training and field projects for companies such as Philip Morris, DuPont, and Hamilton Beach. Field Consultancy Programs puts second-year students to work consulting for the likes of Cox Communications, Sprint, and Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. Students tell us that both experiences are invaluable.
Mason also shines in the less glamorous task of teaching the MBA curriculum. Professors "are absolutely amazing. They will blow you away with their across-the-board commitment to helping the students completely understand the material." The curriculum itself "puts a strong emphasis on teamwork, leaving no doubt that we will come out extremely well prepared to deal with others both in and out of the workforce." Mason recently opened new, state-of-the-artm LEED-certified facility, called Miller Hall. One student points out that "prospective students should look at the trajectory of a program. With the expansion of the program and the new building, William & Mary is well on its way to establishing itself as a top-notch MBA program that can reasonably compare itself to Fuqua and Darden."

Students Say - Admissions
Applicants to the full-time, flex, and executive MBA programs must submit official academic transcripts for all undergraduate and graduate work; an official GMAT score report; letters of recommendation; personal essays; and a resume. International applicants whose first language is not English must submit official score reports for either the TOEFL or the IELTS.

Students Say - Campus Life
For full-time students at Mason, "Half of the day is spent in classroom. In the other half, a student ends up partly completing team assignments and partly completing individual assignments." Team projects "create the opportunity to interact with other students" and develop "a great deal of camaraderie, but it is an intense 2 years full of self-improvement and demanding course work." Many students "spend evenings studying late, usually past midnight."
Even so, students do find time to socialize. The opportunities in town are limited, as Williamsburg offers only "a small-town environment. If that's what you want, you will love it here. It is beautiful and safe and loaded with historical activities. Big city it is not. Williamsburg is great, and it is very community based. You will get to know your classmates very well. It is easy to feel very comfortable." Students see an upside to the challenges Williamsburg presents. One student writes, "There are only three bars, and that forces students in the b-school and law school to excel socially. Any large town has a big enough nightlife to seem exciting. We make ours exciting-city social scenes are cake after having fun in such a small environment."

Students Say - Careers
Students tell us that recruiting is on the upswing at the Mason School, although "due to the size of the school, there are only certain companies willing to come to campus to recruit." There is, however, a select group that comes here, and it is growing over time. A new Career Services Director is strengthening the relationships among students, alumni and corporations. The Executive Partners network has been a recruiting boon, "grooming students to find positions within current recruiting firms and attracting distant companies to campus once they see what students at this little school can do." Students also point out that "when a student decides to pursue an alternative career or company, the Career Services Office is very helpful in developing strategies for that student."
Top employers of Mason MBAs include: American Airlines, Ball Corporation, Booz Allen Hamilton, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Darden Restaurants, Deloitte Consulting, Ernst & Young, Federal Home Loan Bank, IBM, JNK Securities, John Deere, Johnson & Johnson, MeadWestvaco, Reckitt Benckiser, and STIHL.

Other School To Consider
Case Western Reserve University
Rice University

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