The MBA,REINVENTED.
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Introducing challenge-driven education. It’s centered on progressively deeper and highly personalized action learning. It develops enduring capacity for exceptionally high performance in business.
THE CONCEPT
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What does the market want from an MBA graduate?The market wants graduates with skills built outside of the classroom. Of course, academic training is vital, but students need an opportunity to practice the concepts they are learning. The classroom is not the place where performance is best learned and honed. We are shaking loose of the idea that the classroom is the center of our universe.
Students need to experience successes and failures, learn from those, get real feedback, and then practice again. That is what The Denver MBA model provides.
The Outcomes
How does challenge-driven education lead to higher performance?Challenge-driven education provides the structure to create high performers. Students will interact with business leaders from the moment they step foot on campus. Through our core challenge curriculum, they will be working on actual business problems for the entire 20-month program. Doing so will be demanding, but no doubt rewarding.
Graduates will understand ideation, value creation and that business is a performing art—not an academic undertaking. Our students will have the capacity for continuous growth and agility on the job. Finally, they will develop a powerful narrative to illustrate to employers their past accomplishments and lessons learned.
“Business schools need to become the center for performance development. Challenge-driven education produces a higher-value MBA.”
A recent Bloomberg survey asked all of the biggest corporate recruiters to rate the effectiveness of their hires from essentially every business school in America. Every single school’s graduates came up short, with no school breaking three on a five-point scale. The market is clearly signaling that something different is needed.
The traditional MBA model does not focus enough on performance. Evidently, case studies and team projects are not meeting the needs of the marketplace. Action learning, offered as one-off projects and disconnected from professional growth, is simply not enough.
Dean Chrite explains.
THE CO
NCEPTWHY REINVENT THE MBA?
BRENT CHRITE, PhDDEAN, DANIELS COLLEGE OF BUSINESS
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Four real-world business challenges, academic courses with options for electives and specializations and a Personal Growth Agenda that guides you.
THE PROGRAM
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Dr. Dan Baack is an associate professor of marketing and heads up the design and delivery of all aspects of The Denver MBA. He has led overseas action learning projects on mainland China and Hong Kong, India, Indonesia and Taiwan.
THE CHALLENGESEach challenge emphasizes a different dimension of your development. Together they form a cumulative experience linked by your Personal Growth Agenda.
The Enterprise Challenge The lessons are far-reaching. The curriculum aligns the academic fundamentals of building a company with the hands-on experience of creating and launching a start-up business. 10 WEEKS
The Corporate Challenge Provides the opportunity to take classroom learnings and practice them in a real-world context. Students will work with companies on a challenging business issue, delivering actionable results, while further developing capabilities to succeed in complex environments. 10 WEEKS
The Social Good Challenge Students will engage with community stakeholders to evaluate possible responses to identified social issues and then create and evaluate a plan to address that issue. 10 WEEKS
The Global Challenge Integrating what you have learned over the three previous challenges, you will work with an organization on a major business issue, providing an opportunity to balance cultural and business issues. The first 10 weeks are spent preparing on campus, followed by a 2 week working trip to the global destination. The final 8 weeks students are back on campus to complete the challenge. 20 WEEKS
INTRODUCING DAN BAACK, PhDASSOCIATE DEAN AND MBA PROGRAM DIRECTOR
THE PRO
GRA
M
The Denver MBA’s center of gravity: four real-world value creation challenges. Working in a team with support from faculty and a personal coach is how it all comes together. You practice your academic training, hone your skills and develop a capacity for continuous growth that will stay with you for life.
THE FOUR CHALLENGES
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4.GLOBAL
CHALLENGE
LAUNCH
YEA
R T
WO
SUMMERINTERNSHIP
PERSONAL GROWTH AGENDA & TEAM BUILDING
WEEKS 1-5• Global Business 2 • Macroeconomics
WEEKS 6-10 WEEKS 1-5• Strategic Marketing
WEEKS 1-5• World Issues• Personal Reflection
• Elective 3• Elective 4
• Elective 5• Elective 6
• Business, Government & Society
WEEKS 6-10
FALL WINTER SPRING
INTE
GR
ATE
D5
-WEE
KM
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THE DENVER MBA CURRICULUM
YEA
R O
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1.ENTERPRISECHALLENGE
ACTIVATION 2.SOCIAL GOOD
CHALLENGE
PERSONAL GROWTH AGENDA & TEAM BUILDING
3.CORPORATECHALLENGE
FALL
WEEKS 1-5• Strategy• Accounting 1• Ethics for the Business Professional
• Market Research• Business Stats & Metrics• Global Business 1
WEEKS 6-10• Accounting 3• Microeconomics• Finance 2
WINTER
WEEKS 1-5• Accounting 2• Finance 1• Leading Effective Organizations
WEEKS 6-10 WEEKS 6-10WEEKS 1-5
SPRING
• Execution & Sustainable Business Enterprise
• Data Driven Decisions
• Elective 1• Elective 2IN
TEG
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TED
5-W
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MO
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INTE
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TED
5-W
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MO
DU
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INTE
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5-W
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ACTIVATIONBefore the core challenges and classes start, you will ramp up through a 10-day program called Activation. First, you will get an orientation into challenge-driven education. Then you will plunge into a practice challenge. Additionally, you will craft your Personal Growth Agenda, articulate career aspirations and participate in team-building exercises.
THE FOUR CORE CHALLENGESThe challenges are real-world corporate and social value-creation engagements done in small teams with a faculty advisor, business professional and an on-call coach. You will have a new team each challenge.
PERSONAL GROWTH AGENDAYou go into each challenge with a Personal Growth Agenda focused on professional competencies such as leadership, teamwork and the ability to deal with ambiguity. You use each challenge to hone strengths and overcome weaknesses. When one challenge is complete, you refresh your growth plan to up your game in the next one— producing cumulative, exponential growth over time.
INTERNSHIPYou will participate in a three-month summer internship, or corporate project, where you will continue to refine your skills on the job.
SIMULTANEOUS CLASSESClasses are delivered in five-week integrated modules. The challenges and classes happen simultaneously. What you learn in the morning you try out in the afternoon, then come back to class again with a clearer idea of what you need to get the job done.
360˚PERFORMANCEREVIEW
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4.GLOBAL
CHALLENGE
LAUNCH
YEA
R T
WO
SUMMERINTERNSHIP
PERSONAL GROWTH AGENDA & TEAM BUILDING
WEEKS 1-5• Global Business 2 • Macroeconomics
WEEKS 6-10 WEEKS 1-5• Strategic Marketing
WEEKS 1-5• World Issues• Personal Reflection
• Elective 3• Elective 4
• Elective 5• Elective 6
• Business, Government & Society
WEEKS 6-10
FALL WINTER SPRING
INTE
GR
ATE
D5
-WEE
KM
OD
ULE
S
THE DENVER MBA CURRICULUM
THE PRO
GRA
M
YEA
R O
NE
1.ENTERPRISECHALLENGE
ACTIVATION 2.SOCIAL GOOD
CHALLENGE
PERSONAL GROWTH AGENDA & TEAM BUILDING
3.CORPORATECHALLENGE
FALL
WEEKS 1-5• Strategy• Accounting 1• Ethics for the Business Professional
• Market Research• Business Stats & Metrics• Global Business 1
WEEKS 6-10• Accounting 3• Microeconomics• Finance 2
WINTER
WEEKS 1-5• Accounting 2• Finance 1• Leading Effective Organizations
WEEKS 6-10 WEEKS 6-10WEEKS 1-5
SPRING
• Execution & Sustainable Business Enterprise
• Data Driven Decisions
• Elective 1• Elective 2IN
TEG
RA
TED
5-W
EEK
MO
DU
LES
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Form-Fitting
Your Personal Growth Agenda is based on an assessment of your strengths, weaknesses and career aspirations. The Agenda ensures you use the four challenges to maximum personal benefit and it links every aspect of The Denver MBA into a coordinated developmental program.
You work with executive development experts at the start of each challenge to set your goals for the quarter. At the end of each challenge, peers, faculty, and host partners evaluate your progress. Then you update your Agenda for the next challenge. This produces a cycle of ever-deepening development.
Lifelong Growth
The Personal Growth Agenda also serves a deep developmental purpose in itself. It is a 20-month exercise in how to develop and act on self-awareness: understanding strengths and weaknesses, how to evaluate and improve one’s own performance and the performance of others, and what it feels like to grow. Graduates of The Denver MBA will have the tools, competencies, and mindset for true lifelong learning and continuous growth.
Employer Appeal
The Personal Growth Agenda is career-oriented. Your goals will include building a personal narrative matched to your intended career path. In the challenges, you will also prove yourself in ways that make for a resume that catches the attention of employers or start-up partners and gives you stories to tell in the interview room.
Ali Boyd oversees the Personal Growth Agenda program. She is an executive coach and talent development expert who has worked with clients at Amazon, Google and McKinsey & Company. Ali has also worked with the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, where she helped create a vision for leadership education and established a coaching development program for MBA students.
THE PERSONAL GROWTH AGENDAThe Personal Growth Agenda, unique to the Denver MBA, develops individual performance priorities and identifies ways in which the challenges, courses and additional resources will provide opportunities for action. It sets individual performance development priorities and maps out how to use the challenges, courses and other resources to act on those priorities. It both connects to your near-term career objectives and sets you on a pathway to lifelong growth and achievement; all supported with expert coaching.
INTRODUCING ALI BOYDSENIOR DIRECTOR OF LEADERSHIP & PERFORMANCE FOR THE DENVER MBA
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THE PRO
GRA
M
Activate
Craft your Personal Growth Agenda during your 10-day Activation with your executive coach.
Build
Start with where you want to be at graduation to get where you want to be in life—together we work backwards to see what skills and experiences you will need to build over the next 20 months in the program.
LearnWork with your executive coach to set your goals for the quarter, and then try them out during your challenges.
GrowGrow through feedback. At the end of each challenge you will hear about your progress, and opportunity areas, from peers, faculty and executives.
AdjustWork with your executive coach on how to incorporate this feedback into your plan.
RepeatDo it all again with the next challenge and so on.
Launch
We will work with you to do a final check of your Personal Growth Agenda and you will have intensive executive education-style modules to help you fill any final gaps or add any needed polish. Above all, you will get a refresher on the habits and tools for lifelong learning and growth. The world changes constantly, and one of the most critical determinants of your success and advancement will be your agility. You will start and stay ahead of the curve.
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OUR STUDENTS
The Denver MBA is rooted in community. It is based in a city that is at the core of a high-growth, high-innovation region. Our students find extraordinary levels of access and personal attention in a beautiful campus setting and an environment with deeply held values of ethics and social responsibility.
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OU
R STUD
ENTSMEET OUR STUDENTS
“There are no barriers to faculty at Daniels. I wasn’t enrolled in any of Professor JP Tremblay’s classes, but that didn’t stop him from advising me and opening my eyes to a new career possibility: financial management and portfolio planning. That’s the kind of thing that just happens at Daniels. It feels good to know that as I explore that career option, I have constant access to someone with so much expertise.”
RHOADS CANNON
Education B.A., Middlebury College, 2012 Master’s, London School of Economics, 2013 Master’s, Oxford University, 2014
Fun fact I lived in England for three years, play the bagpipes and am ethnically Czech and Irish.
“If I need someone to talk to about my career, I go to Professor Tricia Olsen. She’s the kind of hands-on mentor I’ve always wanted—she took a personal interest in my development from day-one, helped open doors when I needed it and has made herself available for me at every turn. As a woman striving to be a leader in business, she’s been a great role model for me as well.”
HOPE WROBLEWSKI
Education B.A., Boston University, 2006
Fun fact Before coming to Daniels, I was an Army Aviation Officer and Blackhawk helicopter pilot for 9 years.
“I really appreciate how collaborative the Daniels culture is. It’s competitive, but not cutthroat. That’s true of the students, but also of the faculty. Professor Franco
Marini, just one example, really pushed us to work in teams—he wanted everyone to find their voice, share it and learn from others. He knows there’s value in
diversity and he pushed us to embrace our differences and utilize them to find better answers.”
KENTON THORNTON
Education B.A., University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill, 2009
Fun fact I played college football for four
years as a wide receiver.
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CAREER SERVICESDaniels Career Services is a team of professionals that offers expert guidance to you to develop a career and job search plan. Even more exciting is the special role they play in our challenge-driven education model that’s not typically found in other MBA programs. The team is part of the Personal Growth Agenda and provides input based on their relationships with employers regarding what knowledge, experiences, capabilities and personal narrative will make your candidacy stand out.
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Our Services
Before you even arrive on campus your career development will begin. You will be required to attend career webinars, submit your résumé and build your LinkedIn profile. Career services will provide you workshops on business conversations, elevator pitches, managing your online image, behavioral and case interviewing, career boot camps, cocktail etiquette, dining etiquette, dress for success and more. Personalized career coaching will include résumé reviews, mock interviews and a social media audit. The career services team coordinates on-campus recruiting and also advises on independent job search strategies. Members of the team maintain a program of continual outreach with employers and work closely with alumni.
“The challenge-driven education model, and the magnitude of the real-world experience, will provide students with practiced and proven skills. AT&T’s fortunes are won or lost based on how well we stay on top of our customers’ needs and expectations and how well we stay ahead of the market. We need people with the capability and the agility to do that.”
– MICHAEL KIRK, DIRECTOR OF GLOBAL INTERNET OF THINGS DEVELOPMENT, AT&T
CAREER SERVICESCAREER SERVICESINTRODUCING PAT PERRELLAEXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF CAREER SERVICES
The Career Services office is headed by Pat Perrella, whose corporate background includes a long career with Citi in New York City, London and Dublin. Prior to joining Daniels in 2015, Pat led graduate career services at the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business. He currently chairs the Corporate Advisory Board of the National Society of Hispanic MBAs.
COMPANIES THAT HIRED DANIELS MBAs
Alpine Bank
Amazon
Apple
AT&T
Bank of America/ Merrill Lynch
CH2M
Cigna
DaVita
Deloitte
Duff & Phelps
GCM Grosvenor
Goldman Sachs
Lockheed Martin
McKinsey & Co.
Medtronic
MillerCoors
Oracle
Samsung
Vail Resorts
Zayo Group
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All-Inclusive Tuition
The Denver MBA is a financial investment in your future. Like any sound investment, your MBA will yield positive outcomes for years to come. The Denver MBA has a unique, all-inclusive tuition structure. Your $85,000 investment includes tuition, books, fees and the global challenge trip. No surprises.
Requirements
Graduate students must have earned a bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited college or university.
Work Experience
A minimum of two years professional, post-baccalaureate work experience is required. Three plus years is recommended as our students’ average work experience is nearly five years.
Tests
The GMAT or GRE is required for The Denver MBA. We look for a good balance of verbal and quantitative scores on your GMAT or GRE. All applicants who wish to be considered for maximum merit-based scholarships and graduate assistantships must submit a GMAT score. While we do not have a minimum GMAT score, we do suggest that if you score under 550 you may want to consider retaking the test to increase your candidacy for this program.
Learn More at MBA.DU.EDU
We also offer regular webinars plus a preview weekend, when you can come to campus and get a taste of what life is like at Daniels and learn more about challenge-driven education. You can get updated information at: mba.du.edu
Contact or Visit Us
Graduate Admissions Office [email protected] 303.871.3416 or daniels.du.edu/visit
Application Deadlines
November 15: Priority
January 15: Round 2
March 15: Round 3 *International Student Deadline
May 15: Round 4
APPLICATION CHECKLIST
Completed application
$100 nonrefundable application fee
Official transcript in officially sealed envelopes from each higher education institution attended
GMAT or GRE: GMAT is encouraged for maximum MBA scholarship consideration
Two letters of recommendation
Professional résumé
Admissions interview by invitation
Non-native English speakers: TOEFL or IELTS scores
Essays: Two required, one optional
ADMISSIONS
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MERIT-BASED SCHOLARSHIPS
ADM
ISSION
S
Dean’s Scholarship $38,000 – $60,000 And Up
The Dean’s Scholarship is awarded to exceptional applicants with an extremely impressive academic background and outstanding test scores.
Director’s Scholarship $16,000 – $36,000
The Director’s Scholarship is awarded to those who have very strong credentials and who have exhibited an exemplary commitment to academics.
Daniels Leaders Scholarship $10,000
The Daniels Leaders Scholarship is awarded to students who demonstrate strong leadership skills and experience.
Daniels Pioneer Scholarship $8,000 – $16,000
The Daniels Pioneer Scholarship is granted to individuals who have a strong academic track record and/or noteworthy professional work experience.
National Society Of Hispanic MBAs (NSHMBA) $10,000
Applicants of Hispanic heritage, or applicants that have demonstrated commitment to the Hispanic community are eligible for this scholarship.
Diversity And Inclusion Scholarship $10,000
This scholarship is awarded to candidates who will enhance the diversity of our student body, including students from underrepresented populations.
*Students are eligible to receive more than one scholarship.
mba.du.edu | +1.303.871.3416
@DanielsatDU | #DenverMBA
LIFE IN DENVER
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For business and careers— Forbes
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Best places for millennial- aged entrepreneurs
— NerdWallet
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Fastest growing states in the U.S.
— U.S. Census Bureau
300Days of sunshine
154Craft breweries
26Nearby ski resorts
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