UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School

FAQ

What is the tuition for Kenan-Flagler’s MBA program?

The tuition for Kenan-Flagler’s MBA program is $66,840 for out-of-state residents and $51,152 for in-state residents with an additional $895 in fees for orientation and student association dues. With the addition of living expenses, the school estimates that costs climb to $94,632 for out-of-state residents and $78,944 for in-state residents.

How hard is it to get into Kenan-Flagler’s MBA program?

The acceptance rate for Kenan-Flagler is 44% It is important to consider the acceptance rate in the context of the student profile of those who are admitted. For example the average GMAT score is 696.

What is the average GMAT score for admission to Kenan-Flagler’s MBA program?

The average GMAT score for the incoming class at Kenan-Flagler is 696.

Does the Kenan-Flagler MBA program accept the GRE?

Yes. The Kenan-Flagler MBA program has accepted the GRE for a few years now.

What is the average GRE score for admission to Kenan-Flagler’s MBA program?

Kenan-Flagler does not publish an average GRE score for its incoming class, but does accept the GRE for admissions.

What is the minimum number of years of work experience required for admission to Kenan-Flagler’s MBA program?

Kenan-Flagler does not state a minimum requirement for years of work experience. However, it is important for candidates to be aware that they are being considered against other candidates with an average of 5.75 years of experience.

What is the average number of years of work experience for admission to Kenan-Flagler’s MBA program?

The average number of years of work experience among students in Kenan-Flagler’s MBA program is 5.75.

What is the average starting salary for graduates of the Kenan-Flagler MBA program?

The average starting salary for Kenan-Flagler MBA graduates is $125,687. The salary will vary by industry, with consulting and finance jobs generally commanding the higher salaries.

How long is Kenan-Flagler’s full-time MBA program?

Kenan-Flagler offers a traditional 2 year MBA program.

What are the application deadlines for Kenan-Flagler’s full-time MBA program?

The Early Action MBA application deadline is October 11, 2021. The Round 2 application deadline is January 10, 2022. The Round 3 deadline is February 28, 2022. The Round 4 deadline is April 11, 2022

What percent of Kenan-Flagler MBA students are women?

The percentage of the class at Kenan-Flagler that are women is 34%.

What type of interview does Kenan-Flagler use for MBA admissions?

Kenan-Flagler offers open interviews. If you do not interview during the open interview period, you may still be invited for an interview. The interviews are resume-based. This means the interviewer has not had access to the application materials.

VIDEOS

Admissions

The Class Profile

Kenan-Flagler’s Class of 2023 has 296 students, with a median GMAT of 696 and median GPA of 3.43. Altogether the new class averaged 5.75 years of pre-MBA work experience. Twenty-six percent of students are international and women make up 34% of the class. Fifteen percent identify as underrepresented minorities and 23 percent as U.S. minorities.

Application Procedures

Kenan-Flagler has four rounds of admissions that occur in mid-October, early January, early March and mid-April.  The first deadline in October is Early Action, reserved for students who are certain that they will attend Kenan-Flagler if admitted.  Applicants must submit a one-page résumé, an application form, transcripts from all undergraduate and graduate institutions attended, GRE or GMAT test scores (if applicable), two recommendations, essays and a $150 application fee.  Applicants to the Class of 2023 can submit a GRE/GMAT waiver if they meet the following criteria:

• ● Applicants who graduated within the past 10 years (2011 – 2021) with 3.2 GPA or above and coursework in STEM, business, economics or analytical fields from a U.S. institution
  ● Earned an advanced or terminal degree from a U.S. institution in JD, MD or a PhD or MS degree within a STEM, business or economics academic field
  ● 5+ years of professional experience in a quantitative or analytical field
  ● Hold a U.S. CPA or CFA professional certificate
  ● Strong test results from the Executive Assessment, LSAT, or MCAT

North Carolina residents should submit a residency form for tuition purposes, while international candidates whose native language is not English must submit their TOELF, IELTS or PTE Academic scores.  The usual open interview season at Kenan-Flagler has been cancelled due to COVID-19. For the 2020-2021 admissions season, interviews will be issued by invitation only and be conducted virtually.  An interview is required for admission and a member of the admissions committee or an alumnus conducts them.  Applicants with a proven commitment to supporting diversity in business may also apply through the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management, of which Kenan-Flagler is a member.

Application Checklist

• Data Forms
• GMAT/GRE and TOEFL/IELTS/PTE Academic Score(s)
• Résumé
• Application Fee
• Two Recommendation Letters
• Academic Transcripts
• Essays
• Residency Form, if applicable

Interview Reports

UNC Kenan-Flagler MBA Interview Questions & Report: Round 1 / Adcom / Online

You won’t know who the interviewer is in prior. The interview was with an Ad-com and lasted 30mins. Questions – Tell me more about yourself. Why MBA? Why Kenan-Flagler? 3 leadership qualities? An area of improvement? What is a common misconception about you? Looking back at your MBA experience, what would you consider as success? […]

UNC Kenan-Flagler Interview Questions & Report: Round 2 / Adcom / Zoom

The interview was informal and conversational. The Adcom said she had my resume on the screen, but she wanted me to explain my professional journey and what led me to think I needed an MBA at this point. I also talked about my post-MBA career. I then had to explain a work gap and the […]

UNC Kenan-Flagler Interview Questions & Report: Round 2 / Adcom / Zoom

My interview with UNC KF was with a member of the admissions committee. She mentioned that since she was part of the admissions committee she had read parts of my application (and then tailored some of her questions towards that). Questions included: Usual Tell me about yourself questions Why I want the MBA/Why the MBA […]

UNC Kenan-Flagler Interview Questions & Report: Round 2 / Third Party / Video Interview

This was a very conversational interview! I had a great time talking to the interviewer about my background. The list of questions are the following: 1. Why MBA? Why now? Why Kenan-Flagler? 2. What are your short-term goals and long-term goals? 3. What are some activities / organizations you would like to be a part […]

UNC Kenan-Flagler Interview Questions & Report: Round 2 / Adcom / Skype

I was interviewed my an adcom member via Skype. The adcom member read my application completely including the essays. Below are the questions she asked: 1. Tell me about you experience in XXX Bank, your career progression and why you want to do an MBA? 2. What’s your career goal? 3. Why an MBA from […]

UNC Kenan-Flagler Interview Questions & Report: Round 2 / Adcom / Skype

The interview was with an adcom and it was application based. She informed me at the start that she did have access to my entire application. It was a fairly standard interview, asking about my past experience. She asked why Kenan-Flagler specifically. She also asked about the diversity component in the application and how my […]

UNC Kenan-Flagler Interview Questions & Report: Round 2 / Second-Year Student / On-Campus

Decided to do the interview on campus. Interviewer who was a Year 2 student already had a copy of my resume; hence, questions were very specific. Asked the following: Walk though my story (2-3 minutes). Short- and Long-Term goals? Why UNC? Why an MBA? (Important to focus on how prior experience is helpful to your […]

UNC Kenan-Flagler Interview Questions & Report: Open Interview Period / Adcom / On-Campus

Adcom member was very friendly, not intimidating. She started off by informing me that this was a blind interview and that she only had my resume to go off of. Asked me the typical questions I was expecting (resume walk-through, why MBA, what professional accomplishment are you most proud of, why Kenan-Flagler). No questions that […]

UNC Kenan-Flagler Interview Questions & Report: Round 2 / Adcom / On-Campus

I interviewed on a Friday, which was a little bit odd considering there are no classes on Fridays. This meant that there was less activity and buzz within the school, but overall I still had a really positive experience. My interview was a blind interview with an adcom member. It lasted about 45 minutes and […]

UNC Kenan-Flagler Interview Questions & Report: Round 2 / Adcom / Skype

The whole interview was very cordial. The Adcom member introduced herself. She mentioned that the interview is a blind one and she only knows what is written on the resume about me. Overall, interview ran for about 40 minutes. List of questions: Please tell me about what you have you been doing since college, how […]

Kenan-flagler Q&As

Admissions Director Q&A: Danielle Richie of UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School

We are thrilled to continue our  Admissions Director Q&A Series with Danielle Richie, the senior associate director of full-time MBA admissions at UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School. Danielle Richie began at UNC Kenan-Flagler in April 2018. She has more than 12 years of higher education experience within admissions and student recruitment with a primary focus on […]

Admissions Director Q&A: Sherry Wallace of the University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School

Today we hear from Sherry Wallace, director of MBA admissions at the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School. We are grateful to her for making time to share some of the things she’s most excited about in the year ahead – not the least of which is welcoming a new class of students to […]

Admissions Director Q&A: Sherry Wallace of the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School

Our 2014 Admissions Director Q&A with Kenan-Flagler’s Sherry Wallace is now available.  Sherry Wallace, director of MBA admissions at the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler School of Business, told us that she wants to make the admissions process as transparent as possible. “There is no advantage to us in our selection process if people feel […]

UNC Kenan-Flagler LiveWire and DecisionWire

Academics

Faculty

Kenan-Flagler employs nearly 150 tenured and tenure-track faculty members, adjunct professors and lecturers across its seven academic areas.  These professors also contribute to the business school’s 14 research centers, which vary in focus from real estate to urban investment strategies.

Curriculum

Courses at Kenan-Flagler emphasize learning through case studies and small group activities.  For their first year, students are assigned to groups of 70 to 75 people who take the same required courses together.

Kenan-Flagler breaks each semester into two seven-week periods of instruction called “modules,” with breaks for holidays and fall, win­ter and spring vacations. Two pre-term summer sessions called the Analytical Skills Workshop and Tools of Financial Markets are available to first-year students who wish to review key analytical and financial skills prior to beginning their degree.  First-years begin formal classes in the second week of August, while second-year classes start a week later. Due to COVID-19, Fall 2020 classes began August 31. All classes finish for the year at the beginning of May, with graduation occurring a week later.

Kenan-Flagler students are required to complete 14 core courses their first year along with a Core Case Competition.  Topics for core courses cover business fundamentals such as finance, microeconomics, marketing, accounting, ethics and business strategy.  Kenan- Flagler offers almost no waivers for its core courses; only those holding CPA designations may waive the accounting-related course.

To complete their business degree, students must take 62 credits worth of classes. Each core course is worth 1.5 to 2.5 credits, and the remaining credits are fulfilled through elective courses.  Students may begin taking electives in the spring semester of their first year, and the second-year curriculum is comprised entirely of electives.  The school reports that at least 10% of elective courses are new each year in order to keep class material current with faculty research.  There are no required majors at Kenan-Flagler, but there are six suggested concentrations for students who wish to demonstrate their interest and proficiency in subjects such as real estate or operations management. Typically, each concentration requires students to complete five or six elective courses.

Kenan-Flagler also encourages students to design their own independent study or practicum project in which students apply theory to real-world business situations.  Students interested in gaining international experience may study abroad for a semester at one of Kenan-Flagler’s more than 50 MBA exchange partner schools or spend one to two weeks abroad as part of a “Doing Business In” immersion course.  Alternatively, students can pursue a Global Immersion Elective, a semester-long course that teaches students about a particular region’s culture and history and concludes with a 10- to 14-day tour of that region.

Other MBA Degree Options

Along with the full-time MBA program, Kenan-Flagler offers nine dual degree programs, two of which are run in conjunction with schools at Duke University.  Through the dual degree programs, students may earn an MBA in addition to an advanced degree in areas ranging from Public Health to Information and Library Science.

Kenan-Flagler recently launched an online MBA program, through which students complete 62 credits over an 18- to 36-month timeframe.  The school offers an Executive MBA on the weekends at Chapel Hill, as well as an Evening MBA for experienced professionals. The evening program takes 24 months to complete, and the weekend program takes 20 months.

Concentrations at Kenan-Flagler

• Corporate Finance
• Marketing
• Operations Management
• Capital Markets and Investments
• Consulting
• Real Estate

Enrichment Concentrations

• Business Analytics and Management Science
• Sustainable Enterprise
• Data, Digital Analysis and Technology
• Energy
• Entrepreneurship
• Healthcare

Degree Offerings at Kenan-Flagler

Full-time MBA Program
www.kenan-flagler.unc.edu/programs/mba

Online [email protected]
onlinemba.unc.edu/

MBA for Executives
https://www.kenan-flagler.unc.edu/programs/mba/weekend-executive-mba/

Evening MBA
https://www.kenan-flagler.unc.edu/programs/mba/evening-mba/

Dual Degrees
Law, Public Health, City and Regional Plan­ning, Information and Library Science, Pharmacy, Medicine, Dentistry, Environment, and Public Policy
https://www.kenan-flagler.unc.edu/programs/mba/dual-degree-mba/

Campus Life

Clubs, Conferences & Competitions

Kenan-Flagler students play an active role on the UNC campus, participating in more than 40 clubs as well as five student-led advisory boards.  These groups range from clubs focused on careers paths such as consulting and private equity to affinity-based clubs like Carolina Women in Business or the Alliance of Minority Business Students.  There are also a number of athletic clubs focused on sports like basketball or running.  In addition to offering resources on career opportunities and professional development, Kenan-Flagler’s clubs regularly pair with companies to organize other events. For instance, the Consulting Club organizes career treks to Atlanta to visit companies including Deloitte, BCG, and Bain.

Kenan-Flagler hosts a variety of conferences each year on areas ranging from real estate to diversity.  Since 2010, for example, the school has hosted their own annual healthcare conference, which has focused on innovation, analytics and most recently, rising costs  The most recent real estate conference in 2019 featured Harlan Crow, Chairman of Crow Holdings, as the keynote speaker. The school has also founded a number of business competitions, including the Venture Capital Investment Competition, the Alpha Challenge, the UNC Kenan-Flagler Real Estate Development Challenge, the UNC Kenan-Flagler Marketing Case Challenge, and the Invest for Impact Competition.

Campus Spaces

Nearly all classes at Kenan-Flagler take place in the McColl Building, located on the south end of the University of Carolina, Chapel Hill campus. Along with 18 classrooms, a 500-seat auditorium, a café and a computer lab, the building also houses classes for the evening MBA for Executives program. The weekend MBA for Executives program, meanwhile, primarily takes places in the Paul J. Rizzo Conference Center, located approximately three miles from the school. While there are housing options available on campus for full-time MBA students, those can be difficult to secure, so most students live in one of 10 apartment complexes near the school.

MBA Careers

Career Services

Kenan-Flagler’s Career Management Center (CMC) offers students guidance on their careers through options such as one-on-one coaching with a career search expert, peer counselors trained to review résumés and conduct mock interviews, and training sessions on job search and recruiting basics.  With more than 100 companies presenting on campus each year, the CMC organizes career fairs and résumé books starting in September.  On-campus interviews for full-time positions begin in early October for second-year students, and first-year students start interviewing for summer internships in early January.  Students may also go on club-sponsored career treks to different major cities to tour companies in their area of interest.

Career Statistics

Ninety-three percent of Kenan-Flagler’s Class of 2021 received job offers within three months of graduation, and 91% of the class had accepted offers by that time. The average salary for this class was $125,687 while the average signing bonus was $29,751.

The most popular industry for recently minted graduates was financial services, which attracted 23% of the Class of 2021. An additional 19% entered the tech industry and 18% went into consulting. Fifteen percent of the class pursued jobs in the healthcare industry. Seven percent each took roles in real estate or CPG.

Given the school’s location, Kenan-Flagler graduates unsurprisingly gravitated towards positions in the Southern U.S., with 36% of the class taking a job in that area. A quarter of 2021 graduates left for the Northeast, while 12% found work in the West or Midwest. Six percent each headed to the Southwest or Mid-Atlantic regions of the U.S.

Financing

Tuition for the 2021-2022 academic year comes to $66,840 for out-of-state residents and $51,152 for in-state residents with an additional $895 in fees for orientation and student association dues. With the addition of living expenses, the school estimates that costs climb to $94,632 for out-of-state residents and $78,944 for in-state residents. Each year, Kenan-Flagler helps students defray the cost of their education by offering a limited number of merit-based fellowships that award funding ranging from partial tuition to full tuition and a stipend. All applicants are automatically considered for the fellowships. Students looking to finance their MBA degrees with loans may consider federal loan programs, extended only to U.S. citizens or permanent residents, or private loan options. International students may apply for a loan through Discover, which does not require a co-signer.

Cost of Attendance

Tuition

• State Resident $51,152
• Out-of-state Resident $66,840

Books $1002

Food $5,004

Housing $13,756

Health Insurance $2,616

Miscellaneous $1,934

Direct Loan Fee $258

Technology Allowance $110

Travel $1,260

Orientation Fee $345

Student Association Dues $550

Totals

State Resident $78,944

Out-of-state Resident $94,632

Recent UNC Kenan-Flagler News

Real Numbers of MBA Admissions: Percentage of U.S. Minorities at Top U.S. Business Schools

The percentage of U.S. minorities at top U.S. business schools can provide a sense of the diversity you will find in your MBA program. U.S. minorities is defined as enrolled students at business schoo

MBA Essay Insight Webinar Series Fall 2022

We’re sure you’ve already heard that the application essays are a crucial component of the MBA application. So how can you ace this part of the admissions process without the use of sample

Real Numbers of MBA Admissions: International Students Statistics

International students statistics can showcase an element of diversity at leading business schools. In the chart below, see the percentage of international students at U.S. business schools.U.S. B

Weekly Refresh: Latest MBA Essay Questions, Analyzed – Plus Deadlines

Welcome to Weekly Refresh, a roundup of admissions advice and updates on the Clear Admit site. In this edition, we’re catching up with essay tips and deadlines released the week of July 19th, 2022.

Weekly Refresh: Latest MBA Essay Questions, Analyzed – Plus Deadlines & Rec Forms

Welcome to Weekly Refresh, a roundup of admissions advice and updates on the Clear Admit site. In this edition, we’re catching up with essay tips and deadlines released the week of July 19th, 2022.

Early & Round 1 MBA Deadlines 2022-2023

To help you stay organized, we’ve compiled a chart of the earliest deadlines, including Early Action and Round 1, of the top business schools in one place. For schools that have announced their essa

Real Numbers of MBA Admissions: Class Size of Top U.S. MBA Programs

Business schools come in all shapes and sizes and the class size of top MBA programs can be a factor in considering fit. From networking to a tight-knit culture to campus opportunities, class size can

Real Numbers of MBA Admissions: Average GMAT Scores at Top U.S. MBA Programs

See where your GMAT score lands among the top U.S. MBA programs, as we report the average GMAT scores in the chart below. If you have yet to take the GMAT, you can also get a sense of what score you n

MBA Essay Insight Webinar Series Summer 2022

We’re sure you’ve already heard that the application essays are a crucial component of the MBA application. So how can you ace this part of the admissions process without the use of sample

The Week Ahead: MBA Admissions Decisions, May 23-27, 2022

Welcome back to the series, The Week Ahead, in which we provide a brief rundown of what is happening in MBA admissions this week and every week! Round 3 decisions continue. Monday, May 23, UNC / Kena