Acton School of Business - The Acton MBA in Entrepreneurship

Acton School of Business’s unique MBA is like “boot camp” for entrepreneurs. This “challenging yet rewarding” program covers every aspect, practical and personal, of launching a successful venture. Through the school’s unique curriculum, students “learn how to learn, learn how to make money, and learn how to live a life of meaning.” In meeting this mission, Acton employs “some of the best entrepreneurs in the world”; the school’s stellar professors are “leaders in the field of study, and experts at leading the classroom discussions.” A current student gushes, “To say the professors here are ‘world-class’ would be an understatement. These are the best teachers an MBA student could ever encounter.” Coursework is entirely case-based, and professors employ the Socratic method to encourage discussion and creative problem solving in the classroom. Students love the fact that “class time is 100 percent dedicated to real-life applicable situations. There is no wasted time on theory that we can’t use.” A current student adds, “After seeing 300 cases and having analyzed those from the entrepreneur point of view, you start seeing patterns.”

The Acton MBA is an accelerated program, which packs two years of coursework into single fast-paced year. Every day is a marathon, with students meeting for break-of-dawn study groups before class kicks off at eight o’clock in the morning. With its emphasis on discussion, “class is incredibly intense; the professors are knowledgeable, and the students are incredibly well prepared.” On that note, there are roughly ten cases assigned every week, so you can reasonably expect “ninety to a hundred hours of case prep per week.” Fortunately, the rewards of the Acton MBA are well worth the effort. Despite the long hours, “discussions and material make the days go by so fast. It really is a lot of fun once you get past the tough schedule.” Not to mention, the rigor itself is a great teacher; here, the curriculum is “so difficult and time-consuming that you are a different person after you finish.”

“Acton is run like a well organized company,” and overseen by a staff of three that is “very easy to work with and very efficient.” The “school administration is very responsive to problems” when they arise, treating students like valued customers. A case in point, all Acton instructors are required to sign a contract agreeing to step down if students are dissatisfied with their course. Students also appreciate the accelerated structure, which limits their educational expenses to a single year. Sure, you may sweat through it, but “the amount of education packed into one year is better than any two or two-plus year program in the country.”<

With its pointed focus on entrepreneurship, Acton’s approach to career services is rather different than what you would find at most MBA programs. Acton students are rarely interested in working for a large bank or corporation, and the school encourages them to eschew a life of time cards and cubicles. Instead, successful graduates of the program go on to start their own ventures in a wide range of areas. As a result, you will not find career fairs and resume assistance at Acton School of Business. On the contrary, “recruiters are not allowed on campus,” and, when students are matched with employers, it is done on a more individual level. Nonetheless, long-term career goals are essential to the Acton academic experience. Of particular note, all students take the contemplative Life of Meaning course, which challenges them to profoundly examine their long-term goals. A current student agrees, “The Life of Meaning course changed the way I thought about life, and changed my direction of life also.”

MBA candidates say you must be prepared to “dedicate your life to the program” at Acton. Keeping up with the rigorous MBA coursework requires every waking hour, from dawn to midnight. A current student details, “A typical day begins at 5:15 A.m . to make it to study group by 6:00. Class until 12:20 over the cases you prepared the day before. Go to lunch with classmates and then begin studying at 1:00. Go to bed at midnight and start again.” While students spend a great deal of time with their classmates, “there is no time for clubs or activities” outside schoolwork. Even your personal life may end up on the back burner; for most students, “family time is limited to around 30 minutes per day.” While no one questions the efficacy of the program, some say it would be nice if the school provided more “support for families, including spouse events.”

The rigorous interaction naturally helps to create strong bonds between students. You will learn a lot from your peers at Acton, and not surprisingly, most students are “very motivated and extremely competitive.” Fortunately, they are also described as “friendly, easy to talk to, eager to help one another, and family-oriented.” Similarities end there, however. The school attracts a “diverse group of individuals with different backgrounds and political ideologies.”