American University Kogod School of Business

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School Says - General Information
American University's Kogod School of Business was established in 1955 as Washington, D.C.'s first university-level school of business. Kogod is recognized for program excellence and innovation by prestigious business and academic organizations worldwide.

Kogod is committed to offering interdisciplinary programs that give students the breadth and depth of knowledge necessary to succeed in a dynamic global business environment. Kogod's MBA program combines a high-quality business education with the top-rated programs of other American University professional schools to ensure a fully integrated learning experience.

School Says - Student Body
At Kogod we believe education should extend beyond the classroom. Hands-on experiences enhance leadership ability, communication skills, and self-confidence. K-LAB (Kogod Leadership and Applied Business) allows students to learn valuable professional skills in real-world settings and includes options to participate in graduate study abroad, the annual case competition, graduate clubs, and community volunteer programs.

School Says - Academics
Kogod's MBA program is built around an integrated core curriculum with a strong emphasis on global decision-making, quantitative analysis, and professional development.

At Kogod, education takes on real-world relevancy through close collaboration with corporations, nonprofits, and government organizations. This market-driven approach is reflected in our MBA hands-on consulting projects, co-curricular opportunities, scholarly research, and career development.

The MBA core curriculum consists of carefully sequenced and designed to build upon foundation coursework in economics, accounting, and quantitative methods. The program is balanced by elective courses that allow students the opportunity to concentrate coursework around a particular career path or take courses from the other AU graduate schools.

School Says - Admissions
The application process for the Kogod School of Business is an electronic process. Complete the online application at http://kogod.american.edu/apply.

Kogod application requirements include the following:
- A bachelors degree from a regionally accredited college or university.
- Official GMAT score.
- International Students: TOEFL paper-based score of 600 or Internet-based score of 100 (minimum) or IELTS score of 7 (minimum).
- Interview with a member of the Graduate Admissions Committee.
(Interview invitations are extended to selected applicants after a preliminary review of the completed application).

School Says - Campus Life
Kogod recently opened a 21,000 square foot building expansion, with new student lounges, classrooms, break-out rooms, a Financial Services and Information Technology lab, a Behavioral Research lab, and computer lab.

Students Say - Academics
The "small and friendly" MBA program at American University's Kogod School of Business offers a "solid academic program" that, like its namesake (Robert P. Kogod, Charles E. Smith Co.), excels in the area of real estate. American's Washington, D.C. location is ideally situated for a curricular focus on international matters, and the school exploits that opportunity well, interjecting "an international perspective in class discussions that is second to none. Almost all classes integrate an international component." Kogod's strengths extend far beyond real estate and international business, however. The school boasts a finance faculty that is "internationally recognized for their research. They are great instructors too." Students praise the commercial banking career track offered here and love the fact that the program "allows you to concentrate in two areas of expertise," which "lets you design your own MBA" and "is a great advantage in the job market." Kogod now has concentrations in accounting, consulting, entrepreneurship, finance, global emerging markets, leadership, strategic human capital management, marketing, and real estate. In addition, students can design their own major. Kogod recently "created the first LLM/MBA in the country, which is an excellent way to combine international law studies and business." Kogod's pedagogical approach embraces a mixture of case studies and theory, combined with plenty of group work that acts as good practice for the real world. Professors "have a great reputation and have done interesting research." They are also easy to contact because of an "open-door policy." Faculty members "bring a lot of academic and professional experience" to the programâ€"another plus. "We have former investment bankers, former consultants, former CFOs, and lifelong academics," brags one student. Small class sizes "give Kogod an advantage over the other D.C. schools like Georgetown and GW. I know everyone by name, and that's a nice feeling." As a result, the program "feels like being in a big family. Everyone knows you and does their best to help you." Kogod's D.C. address "creates many opportunities for networking, internships, etc." As one student puts it, "The D.C. location gives Kogod a huge advantage. There are so many more opportunities to pursue when you are in a big city. It also helps Kogod draw "international students from very diverse countries," enhancing in-class and networking experiences. Perhaps best of all, this is a school that "is in the middle of overhauling its curriculum." In addition, the school recently completed a 21,000 square foot expansion which opened in 2009. The expansion which included 7 new class rooms, 3 student lounges, a financial services and information technology lab, a career center suite, a behavioral research lab, a mini-computer lab, and several breakout rooms. With these changes, one MBA predicts that "I think there will be some great changes" in the school's near future.

Students Say - Admissions
The Kogod Admissions Office requires the following from all applicants: a completed online application form; a personal statement of purpose in pursuing the MBA; a current resume; two letters of recommendation; an official transcript from all attended undergraduate and graduate institutions; and an official GMAT score report. International applicants whose first language is not English must also submit an official score report for other the TOEFL or the IELTS. An interview is required of all applicants.

Students Say - Campus Life
The atmosphere in the Kogod MBA program "is low key, friendly, and accessible," with "a great learning environment. The students are all very friendly and socialize together regularly. The professors are very approachable and friendly, and have some impressive resumes. The academics are tough and the program is effective but not cut-throat." Kogod offers "many clubs and organizations in different fields," and students report that "involvement is highly encouraged." Some here feel that "the program is not as social as others, and this is due in large part to the fact that the school is located in a relatively upscale neighborhood, and there are few restaurants or bars in the immediate area. Also, students tend to live all over Washington, D.C.," so "Getting large groups together can be difficult. However K-LAB provides cocurricular programs for grad students and students at Kogod are very involved with intramural sports. "Further, most agree that D.C. is one of the most exciting and fun cities in the country." As an added bonus, "There is so much work in D.C. that making $100K a year is almost automatic if you connect with the right government-related job." Students here represent a variety of backgrounds. "I come from a military background," says one MBA, "and I really enjoy mingling and working with people from nonprofits, other government agencies, small companies, and large companies." The population includes a substantial international contingent.

Students Say - Careers
Career Services at Kogod "does a great job in involving alumni in school life. There are lots of networking opportunities . . . [and] lots of on-site visits with direct interactions with alumni, both young and more experienced." A Wall Street trip includes visits to "all the major financial institutions with alumni as tour guides and a session for Q & A's and recruiting procedures and tips, concluded by an alumni networking dinner." Career Services Counselors also provide "constant information about new jobs/internship opportunities in the D.C. area and beyond." Companies that have recently hired Kogod MBAs include: America Online, BearingPoint, Booz Allen Hamilton, Citigroup, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Discovery Communications, Ernst & Young, Exxon Mobil, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, The Gallup Organization, Goldman Sachs, IBM, Johnson & Johnson, JPMorgan, Lehman Brothers, Marriott International, MetLife, MSN, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Raytheon, U.S. Bank, the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the U.S. Senate, and Unisys.

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