University of South Carolina - Moore School of Business

Widely considered “one of the top institutions to study international business,” the Darla Moore School of Business at University of South Carolina offers an “alternative program to traditional business school” through its flagship international MBA (IMBA) program (although it does offer a professional MBA and a one-year MBA as well). The IMBA program exposes Moore’s students to a combination of “international work experience, education, and opportunity to learn a new language while completing [an] MBA.” The program’s required core classes make lead to “well-rounded” students. In the IMBA program, “the first seven months are spent doing a year ’s worth of core classes. Students are very tightly woven to provide each other academic, mental, and social support. The next three (or ten) months are spent overseas learning another language…then a five to seven-month internship, internationally or domestically, followed by a year of electives (in Columbia or abroad).”

Supporting the unique structure of the program are the school’s “extremely talented” and “stellar” professors who “truly bring a wealth of international experience into the classroom.” These professors “teach worldwide and use cases, simulations, and other situations to help us get a better understanding of how our decisions interact instead of just reading text.” They make “the most abstract material understandable.” As a result, students develop “a deep understanding of business fundamentals.” Particularly noteworthy is the Global Supply Chain and Operations Management department which “prepares students to manage supply chains in a global environment, and provides students with operations management knowledge and practical training that puts them at the same level [as] engineers currently working at Fortune 500 companies.”

While generally pleased with the quality of their professors, students are a bit more critical of the business school’s administration which “is new and has some kinks to work out.” On a more positive note, students feel that the administration is “open to working with the students to improve the school community, which makes up for a lack of organization and gives students a chance to gain valuable leadership skills.” One recent development that is generating a lot of excitement among the students is the new “green” “multimillion dollar business school building” which was designed with “input from everyone,” including “undergrads, master ’s [students], PhD [students], [and] staff” and which all hope will “bring unbelievable opportunities for future students.”

The majority of students surveyed expressed the need to improve the Office of Career Management (OCM) which they suggested should “spend less time ‘coaching’ students and more time focusing on building relationships with employers” as well as “reach out to a more diverse company base including ones from a wider geographic range.” They also point out that “the highly-touted internship experience has suffered in recent years—the result of a failure to maintain relationships with companies (specifically in Latin America).” Students realize that not all of the blame falls on the OCM and acknowl- edge that “classes are small and our alumni network is small as a result. We attract some Fortune 500 companies who recruit on campus, but because there aren’t as many of us out there in leadership, sometimes it is harder for us to get our foot in the door with these companies and during the recession we were one of the first schools cut from recruiting trips as a result.” One of the more optimistic students has hopes for a brighter future and observes, “The Office of Career Management has partnered this year with a new external company and I believe they are doing a good job at providing students with placement services in a difficult hiring environment.”

The city of Columbia “is small but the student population makes going out fun” and “football is king.” Despite its “good bar scene and nightlife,” many of the students are “too busy during the core to enjoy the Columbia area. During your second year you have more of a chance, but it is a challenge to become involved in the community out- side of the business school.” The school campus provides “a lot of social and cultural activities” and has “everything from the normal Finance Club to Net Impact and even a Wine Society. We organize plenty of intramural teams and usually open them up to most people in the class.”

The school attracts “a diverse set of students from Peace Corps volunteers to Fortune 500 company employees,” to “Mormons with families” who all form a “very close-knit community.” One student offers the more general observation that “half the students are more conservative and half are more liberal.” While coming from a diverse set of backgrounds and experiences, “all are interested in new adventures and experiences particularly those having to do with learning aspects of other cultures and how their business practices differ from U.S. standards.” “Overall, everyone is friendly and the atmosphere was one more of cooperation than competition.”