DePaul MBA Student Andrew Winburn says Kellstadt’s revised MBA curriculum helped him refocus his degree concentration and reduce his out-of-pocket tuition cost.
By Jaclyn Lansbery
In April 2020, the Kellstadt Graduate School of Business announced the new DePaul MBA. The school revised the curriculum to focus more on data analytics and business innovation and shortened the completion time to 18 months for most students. Lastly, the DePaul MBA is now test-optional, so that students do not have to submit GMAT or GRE scores to be accepted into the program.
Below, we talked with two students who were able to take advantage of the program’s new benefits while earning their MBA at Kellstadt.
Reducing Cost, Adding Value
Evening MBA student Andrew Winburn entered Kellstadt with a background in mechanical engineering. After graduating with his bachelor’s degree from Bradley University, Winburn worked in a variety of engineering roles: applications, design and now sales engineering. His current role led him to seek out an MBA program that would help him refine his business acumen and move into more senior roles.
Winburn is currently pursuing a DePaul MBA in Business Analytics. “The redesigned MBA at Kellstadt emphasizes design and innovation further in its core curriculum and shifts the focus toward one concentration instead of two,” he says. “I liked this change and felt that I didn’t need two concentrations, so I jumped at the opportunity to reduce my overall out-of-pocket tuition cost and focus on one specialty. I find it refreshing that DePaul was open to reevaluating their curriculum based on feedback they received.”
Staying Ahead of the Knowledge Curve
Thanks to the shorter completion time, full-time MBA student Carl Kettler will graduate from the program two quarters earlier than he had planned. A father of two grown children, one of whom is close to finishing her MBA, Kettler was eager to begin working full-time again. “My ability to step away from working in order to be a full-time student, combined with the change in the program, has allowed me to earn my MBA from a well-respected program very quickly,” he says.
Prior to graduate school, Kettler spent years working in business technology and even considered earning a doctorate degree after graduating with his bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Buffalo in New York. Following the dot-com bubble in the mid-1990s, Kettler craved a new path as well as more autonomy. He ended up buying into and managing an Illinois-based franchise for the next 10 years of his career.
Carl Kettler
As a life-long learner, he always knew he wanted to go back to school so he could one day teach and improve his business knowledge. Thanks to his background and accounting degree, Kettler was able to waive several of his classes and had already taken the GMAT years before enrolling in Kellstadt.
“I was very appreciative of the interview process because it gave me a chance to meet some of the people who are going to be there to support me from the administrative side of the program,” he says, adding that the DePaul Career Management Center’s support “felt like DePaul has wanted to help me find a job before attending my first day of class.”
Once he graduates this month, Kettler plans to launch his technology consulting business and possibly begin teaching as an adjunct faculty member at a nearby college.
“Evidence-based management has really been beaten into me within the last year and a quarter,” he adds. “I really do feel like I have a new set of tools to go out and use to be able to back up why things work, why they don’t work, and how things could be done better. I think that combined with all of the experience that I have, everything I’ve learned at Kellstadt is going to make me more valuable to whatever I do next.”
Learn more about the new DePaul MBA
Jaclyn Lansbery is a website and social media content editor at the Driehaus College of Business.
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