Duke Global Executive MBA Student Blog
Hey, What’s Up with the (*)?
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If you have landed here you are probably interested in learning more about how you pursue an MBA while keeping a full-time job. You are likely also interested in what those options look like at Duke.
But all of a sudden you are seeing this * symbol frequently on our website. You may be asking, “what’s up with that?” I’m writing to answer that question.
At Duke we are never happy with the status quo. We are continually looking for ways to strengthen our programs to best educate business leaders who can thrive in today’s world. That means we are in constant conversation with students, alumni, and industry about how to evolve our programs to meet their needs.
A few years ago, we started hearing from working professionals about how much they value flexibility in pursuing an MBA. Many of them were also telling us they highly value the greatest mix possible in the diversity of their cohort. That aligns with our strong belief in the importance of students learning from people who think very differently.
Long story short—we started looking for ways to provide additional flexibility for students and recruit an even stronger mix of backgrounds, ages, experiences, and career stages.
We decided to combine our two programs with international residencies into one, merging the popular format of our Cross Continent (CC) program with the more rigorous leadership curriculum of the Global Executive (GEMBA program). The new combined program is named Global Executive, which is why you are seeing * next to Cross Continent references.
In addition, we made changes in format to our Weekend Executive program which in past years met in Durham twice a month. Residencies will continue to be based in Durham, but now students will attend one three-day in-person residency every month. We’ll still have classroom sessions every two weeks between the in-person residencies, but students will now have the option to participate virtually or in person.
Both of the Global and Weekend programs will offer executive coaching for a fee.
So now you may be wondering about whether you should be pursuing Global or Weekend. I’d say that decision really depends on what you hope to gain from the MBA experience and what best works for your lifestyle.
Global has primarily international residencies, whereas the Weekend program is based in Durham. That is the biggest distinction between the two programs. The curriculum and admissions process is largely the same and you can expect an exceptionally talented cohort in either program.
More information about both programs is here. And you can always reach out directly to us in Admissions. Our team is more than happy to answer your questions: including about the (*).