All interested candidates are welcome to apply. We recognize the positive impact students from different majors and work experiences can have on the classroom experience and learning outcomes.
If you are applying directly from your undergraduate institution, we recommend you use your résumé to highlight all campus leadership roles, summer internships, experiential learning, and coursework to offset the lack of postgraduate work experience.
We are here to help you navigate the process. What does this include? Admissions counseling is for any prospective student who has general questions or is seeking program direction advice, application résumé/personal statement review etc. Our goal is for you to showcase the best version of yourself in the admissions process.
If you apply before this date and are trying to decide between a full-time job and graduate school, we can make admissions decisions on a rolling basis as needed.
Note: For rounds 1 through 5, decisions will be made typically within 3 weeks of the application deadline.
The admissions committee highly recommends that you apply in the early rounds for the best opportunity for admission and scholarship awards.
We give earlier applications priority for merit-based scholarships and graduate assistantships.
Deadline: November 15 for all applications
Please refer to both MBA and your program-specific deadlines for joint-degree programs (such as MFA, J.D., MS Civil/Mechanical/Aerospace).
You will need to apply to both degree paths independently with documents and fees required.
You’ll need several things in order to complete your application:
College Transcripts
For each institution of higher education (including community colleges) where you have completed 15 or more credit hours, you should submit an official transcript (electronic or paper) to the Graduate School.
Please note that you do not need to submit University of Alabama transcripts, but we request that you upload unofficial copies to the system.
If you are not attending UA, please also upload unofficial copies of your transcript(s) for us to use until we receive your official transcript from your undergraduate university. Additional transcript information can be found here.
STEM/Create Path Applicants: To qualify for the Path MBA option, students must have a minimum 3.0 cumulative GPA and be on track to complete 91 credits by the end of spring for their planned Junior year and enrolled in the STEM/Create Path Undergraduate program from your Freshman year at the University of Alabama. In addition, participation in the Path program as a Freshman through Junior year does not guarantee acceptance to the MBA portion of the STEM/Create path program.
What is the required GPA?
The university minimum is a 3.0 for the traditional MBA. We sometimes consider provisional acceptance for students slightly under a 3.0 GPA. For the STEM/CREATE Path to the MBA, there is a firm 3.0 requirement. Due to the accelerated nature of the program, no exceptions will be made.
All students must have a bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited college or university completed before starting their MBA classes.
Recommendation Letters
You must upload contact information for 3 references (including name, email, and title). This can be either academic (a professor in your major or relevant coursework) or past/current supervisors, mentors, or advisors, etc.
Note on the submission process
Your recommenders will receive an email notification with instructions on how to upload their letters. All recommendation letters are due ten days after the deadline. If a recommendation is late, you can remind your recommender through the application system.
Resume
You should also upload a professional résumé. The résumé should showcase as much as possible about you as a candidate. This can include information such as volunteer roles, summer jobs, campus involvement, full-time jobs/internships, meaningful class projects, and so on. For the purpose of the application, the résumé can be 1-2 pages.
Statement of Purpose Essay
The statement of purpose is a required document where you share your story of why an MBA from Alabama is the best fit for you. It is ideally 2-3 pages (double-spaced) on the following:
What led to your decision to pursue a Manderson MBA?
What makes you a good fit for the program?
Areas of improvement that you would like to focus on as part of your MBA education?
Area of focus you plan to select as part of the program?
Potential career aspirations?
You must take either the Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT) or the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) before applying to the traditional MBA program.
Which one?
We accept both as options to meet the test requirement. You should take either exam, then request that scores be submitted electronically to The University of Alabama, which you can do immediately following the completion of the exam. Please also upload a copy of your score report to the application system.
We accept only official score reports from GMAC, ETS, or Pearson VUE that are less than five years old. We must receive your official scores before evaluating your application for an official decision. Average and minimum scores:
Do I have to take a standardized test?
Test scores related to the GMAT or GRE are considered an important part of the MBA program application and are required. It provides the admissions committee with additional information as part of their holistic assessment of an applicant’s program application to determine their readiness for graduate education. However, any applicant that has graduated with a bachelor’s degree from an AACSB accredited institution has the option to request a test score waiver for the GMAT/GRE exam. For students to be considered for a test score waiver, we require a GPA of 3.0 or above.
The admissions committee will determine if a waiver is granted based on the examination of the remaining elements of the application. It should be noted that the omission of test scores from an application may impact scholarship award decisions for that applicant. In addition, the admissions committee retains the right to still require a test score if there is concern about any element of their application. Lastly, if a test score is submitted to the program, it will be used in the review process. If you are unsure whether or not to submit a standardized test score, contact the Manderson MBA Admissions office.
Test Score Waiver Request Process (For applicants who do not wish to submit a score):
For students who wish to submit a score:
How do test scores relate to scholarships?
Many students receive merit-based scholarships to help offset costs to attend the MBA program as either a Traditional MBA student or a STEM/CREATE Path to the MBA student. These funds enhance the accessibility of one of the most affordable MBA programs in the nation.
The MBA program awards scholarships ranging in value, as awards are tied to the wide-ranging qualifications of the student applicant pool.
Key points about scholarships include:
International Students
For international applicants, a test of English proficiency is
required (TOEFL, IELTS, or PTE). We request a score of 100+ for TOEFL
and 7.0+ for IELTS for these tests. The TOEFL, IELTS, or PTE scores must
be less than two years old at the time of your intended enrollment at
The University of Alabama. Once admitted, we’ll need several other items
noted on the graduate school site. Visit the Graduate School website for detailed requirements.
Application Fee:
The application fee for the traditional MBA is $65 for U.S. citizens and permanent residents, or $80 for international students.
You can request an application fee waiver if:
You are a veteran or current member of the U.S. military; and/or
You have completed a Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program
After you apply:
You may or may not be offered an interview.
Due to the high number of applications we receive, not all students will be invited for an interview. If you are not invited for an interview, we will still keep your application under review for each round until a final decision can be made. If you would like to make changes to your application, such as retake the GMAT/GRE, you are welcome to do so to help strengthen your application. If you wish to make changes, please let us know via email.
After your Interview, you will either be admitted or waitlisted.
If you are selected for an interview, you will get an email invitation to sign up. After your interview is complete, we typically send out acceptance decisions within 30 days of the application deadline.
If you do not hear from us, we are still considering your application but are not ready to make a formal decision, so you are on waitlisted status. If you are in this undecided/waitlisted situation, we will review your application again for the next round.
All decline decisions will be typically provided in late June. We prefer to hold off on declines until this date in order to give all applicants the best chance of a comprehensive review.
If you are admitted, you’ll need to respond within three weeks.
If you are admitted to the program, you will have the option in your graduate application system to accept the offer, decline it or defer for up to one year. We expect you to respond to the admissions offer within 3 weeks. If we do not hear back from you, we will assume you are declining our offer and release your space in the class to another student.
