FAQs

Both our Evening MBA and Weekend Executive MBA programs are designed for working professionals who want to pursue their MBA without sacrificing earnings and career progression. The major difference between the two programs are the schedule, structure of class meetings, and work experience requirements.

Our Evening MBA is perfect for professionals with at least two years of work experience who can commute to Chapel Hill once a week and want to continue working while getting their MBA. Like our Weekend Executive MBA and Online MBA, Evening MBA students quickly accelerate their careers, develop deeper business acumen and leadership skills, and instantly expand their professional network. If you live in North Carolina and value regular in-person interaction with your cohort and faculty members to develop your leadership skills, define your priorities and maintain your focus, the Evening MBA program offers unparalleled value and convenience.

The Weekend Executive MBA meets every third weekend in Chapel Hill at the UNC Rizzo Center. Weekend residencies allow students to focus on the program without distractions and the schedule offers significant flexibility for work and personal commitments between residency weekends. A minimum of five years of work experience is required for the Weekend Executive MBA program, and students enter with an average of 12 years of experience.

Yes. The UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School offers a portfolio of programs that enable students with a range of backgrounds, objectives and scheduling requirements to access UNC Kenan-Flagler’s top-ranked MBA. Whichever program you choose to take, you’ll receive the same degree.

The Evening MBA program allows working professionals with at least two years of work experience to earn an MBA while working full-time, without sacrificing salary or career progression. On average, UNC’s Evening MBA students are about eight years older than our full-time MBAs. Though core coursework is similar across our MBA programs, professors in our Evening MBA Programs adapt their approach to take advantage of the professional experience their students bring to the classroom, often asking students to bring in real-word work challenges to study and problem-solve. As a student in the Evening MBA program, you’ll be able to turn to your cohort to seek solutions for challenges you currently face at work and you’ll be able to apply the knowledge and skills you acquire immediately in your career.

After graduation, you can take additional elective courses for a nominal fee. This allows you to update your skills and knowledge throughout your career.

Yes. All UNC Kenan-Flagler MBA programs, including the Evening MBA format, are fully accredited by AACSB International (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business), the premier accrediting agency for business schools.

UNC Kenan-Flagler’s Executive Development programs offer non-degree business courses and seminars lasting a few days to several weeks. These highly ranked programs take an innovative approach to leadership development, business strategy and skills acquisition for executives.

Yes. The innovative online MBA@UNC makes the UNC Kenan-Flagler MBA accessible to working professionals who are unable to make regular visits to the Chapel Hill campus for in-person coursework.

Yes. The Evening MBA program is designed around dynamic, in-person weekly meetings on campus in Chapel Hill. This format allows you to expand your local network through regular face-to-face contact with faculty and your cohort, and to stay motivated and on task as you work toward the degree. It also gives you the flexibility to manage family and work obligations—including business travel—for the rest of the week.

Good business is built on meaningful relationships. Because the Evening MBA program is designed for professionals who live and work in proximity to Chapel Hill, your classmates represent a valuable professional network with ties to industries and sectors across the region. The cohort model ensures that you have the time to build the kind of lasting connections that you can rely on for the rest of your career—for advice, guidance, resources and talent.

Yes. Evening MBA students receive an individualized career coaching session that focuses on identifying your leadership style, along with your strengths and areas for improvement. The session is built around the results of a 360 assessment and is designed to give you the self-awareness and perspective to expand your long-term leadership potential and set you up to prepare your Professional Development Plan. Evening MBA students also have ample opportunity to work with our dedicated career and leadership team who will get to know you and your vision for career success, and work with you one-on-one (unlimited sessions) to create, execute, and assess your personalized action plan.

One of the things that sets the UNC Evening MBA program apart from competitors is the broad selection of electives offered, as well as the ability to take electives from one of our other MBA formats (Evening, Weekend Executive or Online). As an Evening MBA student you may take up to 12 elective courses (more than 40% of coursework), which gives you the ability to really tailor your coursework to your goals and interests. Some students use their electives to focus on areas where they’d like to improve, and others opt to add further depth to their strengths or interests by completing a concentration.

We offer several different MBA formats, with different schedules, for exactly this reason. Many of our students regularly travel for work and find that our working professionals MBA programs provide plenty of flexibility to pursue their MBA without impacting those work-based travel demands. The Evening MBA classes meet on Monday evenings for the first year, and one or two nights a week (depending on selected courses) during second year electives, giving students great travel flexibility during the week.

No. In fact, it’s just the opposite: our full-time faculty teach across our MBA program formats and opportunities to teach in the Evening MBA program are coveted. Faculty members enjoy the caliber and expertise of working professional MBA students and love engaging with the real-world, current workplace challenges they bring to the classroom.

Professionals who live in proximity to the Chapel Hill campus can benefit from either the Evening or Weekend Executive MBA program—it really comes down to the demands of your schedule and the way you like to learn. The Evening MBA program is a good fit for students who learn best with short but regular contact with faculty and classmates. The Evening MBA program’s weekly class meetings extend into late evening hours, which works better for some students than others, depending on work and family obligations. The Weekend Executive MBA Program is best suited to students who thrive in an immersive setting. Being in residence on campus for one weekend every three weeks means you can really concentrate on the work. But it also means you need to be self-directed enough to keep up with coursework between your sessions. So, our advice is to consider your learning style and life and work obligations. Please contact us to learn about how students balance their lives with both programs.

Most students spend 12 to 20 hours per week in individual study or team meetings, in addition to class time.

Students communicate through email, video and conference calls, face-to-face meetings, and a variety of apps and collaboration tools between classes.

Our Evening MBA program is designed so that busy, driven professionals can pursue their MBA while balancing their career and family commitments. Classes are scheduled so that you will have the flexibility for work travel and other personal commitments between class meetings. Our cohort model also means you can find support during particularly busy times. While the program is rigorous, our students are quick to tell others that it can be done and that time flies! If you’re interested in speaking to a current student about work-life-school balance, email our admissions team and they can connect you with someone who can share their first-hand experience.

Yes. An important element of the orientation experience is the opportunity to develop connections with other members of your cohort and faculty, and to focus on coursework.

No, we do not accept transfer credits. All students in your class begin the Evening MBA program at the same time and complete the coursework as a cohort.

Yes. The interview gives us an opportunity to learn more about you and your qualifications and gives you a chance to learn more about the Evening MBA. We encourage you to schedule your interview at a time when you can visit a class and meet our students and faculty.

Applicants who have five or more years of professional full-time work experience at the time of application are exempt from the GMAT/GRE requirement and do not need to fill out a waiver.

An official GMAT or GRE score is required of applicants with less than five years of full-time work experience. Some Evening MBA applicants with less than five years of full-time work experience at the time of application may still be eligible for a waiver of this requirement. If you have less than five years of experience, we encourage you to submit a GMAT / GRE waiver request as one of the first steps you take in the process (although you can do it any time—regardless of how far along you are in the application process).

Yes! In fact, we encourage anyone who’s interested in applying to the Evening MBA program to sit in on a class and attend breaks with current students. Class visits offer the best way to experience the environment at UNC Kenan-Flagler, see how immediately relevant the curriculum is, witness the caliber of students you’ll be in class with and understand the strength of our cohorts and faculty. Additionally, we hold various webinars each month that allow you to learn more about our programs, including special career topics and student and alumni panel discussions. To register for a class visit or see our webinar schedule, visit our Admissions Events Calendar.

The Evening MBA program is designed for driven, seasoned professionals, so most applicants have been away from school for many years. If you are concerned about the currency of certain skills (such as statistics, economics, or accounting), you may want to take continuing education courses to refresh those areas before applying. You will also need to be proficient in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel, including financial and statistical functions. Your academic background, work experience and standardized test scores (GMAT, GRE or Executive Assessment) are all things we assess to determine whether you will be academically successful.

The first step in the federal aid process is to file your FAFSA application on their website. Once received the application will be reviewed and a loan offer will be emailed to you. In most cases your loan offer will contain two federal loans; Unsubsidized Direct Loan and the Direct Graduate Plus Loan. Loans are set up to cover tuition in full for each installment and are offered throughout the program.

All billing is handled through the Cashier’s Office, which is where all financial aid is disbursed. Student loan funds will be credited directly toward any outstanding tuition balance due.

Student loan applications will not be processed until an applicant is admitted to an academic program, but they can begin the process at any time. The FAFSA becomes available each year on October 1st and can be completed on FAFSA’s website.

All U.S. citizens and permanent residents are eligible for Direct Loan funding so long as they meet the basic eligibility requirements: not currently in default on an outstanding student loan, not currently filing bankruptcy, no drug convictions, etc.

No. Students can borrow as much or as little of the maximum loan amounts available to them.

Yes. Financial aid budgets include cost of living estimates for each student and these are updated for each academic term based on reasonable living expenses for the Chapel Hill area. Students can choose to increase their overall indebtedness to include these estimated living expenses, if they would like.

Discover® Student Loans has designed a private student loan for UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School international Evening MBA and Weekend Executive MBA students who reside in the United States during their program studies. You can review the terms and conditions of this loan online. These loans are made by Discover® Bank, not by UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School. Aggregate loan limits apply. Some student loan lenders offer private loans to international students, if they have a U.S. co-signer. Students should choose the loan program that best suits her/his individual situation.

Most lenders will defer repayment of student loans for borrowers who enroll at least half-time at an accredited college or University (UNC Kenan-Flagler Evening MBA and Weekend Executive MBA programs fall into this category). Be sure to continue making your student loan payments until you have been notified that your outstanding loans have been deferred.

IRS Publication 970 covers tax benefits for education. This publication typically addresses most general questions that students have and the IRS website is user friendly for searching on other topics. Keep in mind that Financial Aid Officers are not trained accountants and, therefore, are unable to answer tax questions.