University of Alaska, Anchorage, College of Business and Public Policy Admission
University of Alaska, Anchorage, College of Business and Public Policy Undergraduate Program
University of Alaska, Anchorage, College of Business and Public Policy Application

The Facts

The University of Alaska at Anchorage is a rather large, public institution located in the city of Anchorage, Alaska, and has a combined graduate and undergraduate population of over 16,500 students. The university's graduate College of Business and Public Policy, however, is significantly smaller, and is home to about 100 graduate business students. Approximately 90% of the currently enrolled students have had an average of 6 years of full-time professional experience, a factor taken into serious consideration by the admissions committee when reviewing portfolios. Perhaps as a result of this fact, the average age of enrollment is around 35, however, ages range from 23 to 52. Approximately 5% of the currently enrolled students entered directly from undergraduate school, while about 5% of the students already have a graduate degree of some sort. The university's graduate business program is perhaps best known for its diversity of subject matter, as well as its methods of team teaching. The school offers graduate business degrees in the Master of Business Administration (MBA), Master of Public Administration (MPA), as well as the Master of Science in Global Supply Chain Management (MS/GSCM). The school also offers its students plenty of internship and work-study opportunities throughout the community, as well as several foreign exchange partnerships.

Admission to the University of Alaska at Anchorage's graduate business program is fairly competitive among the relatively few students who apply; last year, over 35 students applied for admission to the school, and approximately 26 of those students were accepted. Eventually, all 26 of the admitted students enrolled for the coming semester. The admitted students had an average undergraduate GPA of about a 3.1, as well as an average GMAT score of about 545. The admissions committee requires all applicants to have a minimum undergraduate GPA of at least a 2.8, as well as a minimum GMAT score of at least 450. Students are able to begin their graduate course work in either the fall or the spring, and are notified of their admissions status on a rolling basis.

The university's graduate business program has 19 full-time faculty members, of whom 95% hold a doctorate degree; there are no part-time faculty-members. The average graduate business class usually numbers around 20 students, and most faculty members teach an average of 9 credit hours at any given time.

Placement Services

The school has rather limited placement services, as most students are already fully employed when they enroll. The services that are available, however, are available to both current students as well as alumni for an unlimited amount of time after they receive their degrees, and include career counseling, resume referral and critique, mock interviews, as well as online job postings and alumni forums.

What's Good

"There is a very active business community here in Anchorage, which you are able to tap into while you're attending the university."

"The professors are all here full-time, so they are always accessible and willing to help out."

"There is a nice amount of diversity on campus, which readies you for a more global business environment, I think."

What's Bad

"I wish there were more recruitment events and career development services in general."

"There isn't much on campus graduate housing, which is a bit inconvenient."

"Things do get competitive, and people can be pretty tough on one another."

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