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Would Chat GPT3 Get a Wharton MBA? A Prediction Based on Its Performance in the Operations Management Course by Christian Terwiesch (terwiesch@wharton.upenn.edu)
ABSTRACT OpenAI’s Chat GPT3 has shown a remarkable ability to automate some of the skills of highly compensated knowledge workers in general and specifically the knowledge workers in the jobs held by MBA graduates including analysts, managers, and consultants. Chat GPT3 has demonstrated the capability of performing professional tasks such as writing software code and preparing legal documents. The purpose of this paper is to document how Chat GPT3 performed on the final exam of a typical MBA core course, Operations Management. Exam questions were uploaded as used in a final exam setting and then graded. The “academic performance” of Chat GPT3 can be summarized as follows. First, it does an amazing job at basic operations management and process analysis questions including those that are based on case studies. Not only are the answers correct, but the explanations are excellent. Second, Chat GPT3 at times makes surprising mistakes in relatively simple calculations at the level of 6th grade Math. These mistakes can be massive in magnitude. Third, the present version of Chat GPT is not capable of handling more advanced process analysis questions, even when they are based on fairly standard templates. This includes process flows with multiple products and problems with stochastic effects such as demand variability. Finally, ChatGPT3 is remarkably good at modifying its answers in response to human hints. In other words, in the instances where it initially failed to match the problem with the right solution method, Chat GPT3 was able to correct itself after receiving an appropriate hint from a human expert. Considering this performance, Chat GPT3 would have received a B to B- grade on the exam. This has important implications for business school education, including the need for exam policies, curriculum design focusing on collaboration between human and AI, opportunities to simulate real world decision making processes, the need to teach creative problem solving, improved teaching productivity, and more.
Please cite as: Christian Terwiesch, “Would Chat GPT3 Get a Wharton MBA? A Prediction Based on Its Performance in the Operations Management Course”, Mack Institute for Innovation Management at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, 2023.
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Introduction
The Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree is one of the most popular graduate degrees in the world. There exist many elements that together create the “MBA experience,” including admissions, experiential learning, fun activities, networking, and job placement. Though as a business school professor with 25 years of teaching experience my view might be biased, I firmly believe (and very much hope) that the acquisition and certification of specific management skills also belongs to this list of important elements.
The value of any skill depends on how useful the skill is in the world as well as on how many others are out there mastering the same skill. Prior to the introduction of calculators and other computing devices, many firms employed hundreds of employees whose task it was to manually perform mathematical operations such as multiplications or matrix inversions. Obviously, such tasks are now automated, and the value of the associated skills has dramatically decreased. In the same way any automation of the skills taught in our MBA programs could potentially reduce the value of an MBA education.
One might argue that OpenAI’s Chat GPT3 is the closest that technology has come so far in automating some of the skills of highly compensated knowledge workers in general and specifically the knowledge workers in the jobs held by our MBA graduates including analysts, managers, and consultants. Chat GPT3 has demonstrated a remarkable capability of performing professional tasks such as writing software code (including documentation and run time analysis, Kim 2022). It also performed well in the preparation of legal documents and some believe that the next generation of this technology might even be able to pass the bar exam.
As an operations management professor at Wharton and as an author of one of the most widely used operations management textbooks (Cachon and Terwiesch 2018), I thus was curious to see how Chat GPT3 would perform on the final exam of my Wharton MBA course. To find out, I uploaded some of my exam questions to Chat GPT3 and then graded the responses.
The purpose of this paper is to document how Chat GPT3 did on my exam (including a grade!) and reflect on the implications of this “academic performance”. To preview, here is what I found:
• Chat GPT3 does an amazing job at basic operations management and process analysis questions including those that are based on case studies. Not only are the answers correct, but the explanations are excellent.
• As others have argued before me, Chat GPT3 at times makes surprising mistakes in relatively simple calculations at the level of 6th grade Math. These mistakes can be massive in magnitude.
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• The present version of Chat GPT is not capable of handling more advanced process analysis questions, even when they are based on fairly standard templates. This includes process flows with multiple products and problems with stochastic effects such as demand variability.
• ChatGPT3 is remarkably good at modifying its answers in response to human hints. In other words, in the instances where it initially failed to match the problem with the right solution method, Chat GPT3 was able to correct itself after receiving an appropriate hint from a human expert. Thus, having “a human in the loop” can be very valuable. Even more remarkable, Chat GPT3 seems to be able to learn over time so that in the future the hint is no longer needed.
• Given that ChatGPT has demonstrated some creativity in producing poetry and song lyrics, I tested if it would be able to produce new questions for future exams and the next edition of my book. The resulting questions were well worded and at times even humorous. However, they required substantial adjustments before becoming usable exam questions.
Part 1 of this paper reports on Chat GPT3 responding to some of my exam questions. Part 2 shows a sample of exam questions generated by Chat GPT3. Finally, I articulate a set of implications for MBA programs in Part 3.
Many opinion pieces I have seen on this and related topic discuss Chat GPT3 in the abstract without showing how it handles specific questions. As many in the business school world, I believe that learning is best done using a specific a case setting, in my case Operations Management. Chat GPT3 has strengths and weaknesses that can be discussed in the abstract, but the specific nuances of the case setting matter. Thus, I encourage even a rushed reader to at least skim through parts 1 and 2 as opposed to moving right to the implications.
Part 1: Chat GPT3 taking five exam questions
Let me begin by showing how Chat GPT3 did on five exam questions of my course. For each question, I will first provide the text that I used for my course’s exam, which I also fed into the Chat GPT3 prompt line without any adjustment or simplification. Given that most readers will not be familiar with the academic field of Operations Management, I will then briefly articulate the specific skills that are needed to answer the question. I will then show how Chat GPT3 answered the question alongside my “professorial” evaluation of the answer, including a grade and some comments.
Readers with some basic business background are invited to “play along” and spend some time thinking about the questions themselves before looking at any of the answers.
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PROCESS ANALYSIS
The first question is one of simple process analysis. The question is based on an Iron Ore refining operation in Trinidad as described in my teaching case Terwiesch and Loch 2002.
QUESTION 1
The Circored process produces direct reduced iron in Latin America. The production process starts with a pile of iron ore fines. The ore is moved through seven process steps before it emerges as finished direct-reduced-iron briquettes. The steps and their capacities are as follows:
• Pre-Heater: 60 tons per hour
• Lock Hoppers: 55 tons per hour
• First reactor: this reactor holds up to 14 tons of iron and iron needs to spend 15 minutes in the reactor
• Second reactor: this reactor holds up to 200 tons of iron and iron needs to spend 4 hours in the reactor
• Flash heater: 62.5 tons per hour
• Discharge: 59 tons per hour
• Briquetting: three machines of 27.5 tons per hour each
Where in the process is the bottleneck and what is the overall process capacity? Justify your answer.
The key academic concept that is tested in this question is the concept of a bottleneck. The bottleneck of a process is the process step with the lowest capacity. For most of the steps, the capacity is given in the question. In the case of briquetting, one needs to realize that there are three machines (and thus three times the capacity of one machine). Moreover, the capacity calculations for the two reactors are not trivial as one needs to derive the capacity by dividing the size of the reactor (e.g., 200 tons) by the reaction time (4 hours). Finally, we should not forget that this question requires a fair bit of natural language processing to absorb the input and to create the output.
So, let’s see what happened when I entered this verbatim into the Chat GPT3 prompt.
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ANSWER 1
The bottleneck of the process is the second reactor, and the overall process capacity is 50 tons per hour. This is because the second reactor has the lowest capacity and the longest residence time for the iron ore among the seven process steps. The other steps have higher capacities, but they can only work at the rate of the second reactor, so the overall process capacity is limited to this rate. For example, even though the pre-heater has a capacity of 60 tons per hour and the flash heater has a capacity of 62.5 tons per hour, the iron can only be processed at a rate of 50 tons per hour in the second reactor, so the overall process capacity is limited to this rate.
Wow! Not only is the answer correct, but it is also superbly explained. The idea of the bottleneck as the rate limiting step was clearly understood and all calculations were carried out correctly. I don’t see any reasons to take points off from this answer: A+!
INVENTORY TURNS
My second question tests the concept of inventory turns and working capital requirements in a business. Here it comes:
QUESTION 2
World-Antique is a new venture under development by two graduates of a New England business school. The value proposition of the venture is simple: purchase antique paintings at yard sales and auctions and then sell them at quadruple the purchase price via a simple eCommerce site (i.e., a painting that is purchased for $100 would be sold at $400).
Based on an analysis of similar retailers, the founders expect to turn their inventory 1.5 times per year.
To achieve an annual revenue of $3,000,000, how much inventory expressed in $’s should the founders expect their operation to require?
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As mentioned above, this question tests the concept of inventory turns. The more often a company turns its inventory, the less working capital is required for financing the operations. It is important to recognize that inventory turns are based on the costs of goods sold (COGS, the $100 for procuring the painting), not based on revenue (the $400 selling price of the painting). In this question, the inventory turns are given (1.5). To answer the question, one must go from revenue to COGS and then apply the inventory turns to obtain the required working capital. So, what did Chat GPT3 do?
ANSWER 2
To achieve an annual revenue of $3,000,000, the founders need to sell $3,000,000 / 4 = $750,000 worth of paintings per year.
Since they expect to turn their inventory 1.5 times per year, they need to have $750,000 / 1.5 = $500,000 worth of inventory at any given time.
Therefore, the founders should expect their operation to require $500,000 worth of inventory.
Short and sweet! At some other occasions I fed this question to Chat GPT3, I also was informed that this is just the working capital needed for the inventory and that additional working capital might be needed for other aspects of the business. Either way – a second A+ is in order.
COMPLEX PROCESS ANALYSIS
The first question (the Circored process) involved a process with a single input (iron ore fines) and a single output (briquets). Many processes, however, involve multiple flows. In the business school community, the most commonly used example of teaching such flow problems with a product mix is the Harvard Business School case study “National Cranberry” (Miller and Olsen 1974). I simplified the 11-page case study to the following:
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QUESTION 3
Consider the processing plant of a large cranberry cooperative. The plant receives 1,500 barrels of cranberries each hour, 70% of which are wet-harvested berries and 30% are dry-harvested berries. At the plant, dry-harvested and wet-harvested berries are processed differently.
All berries are received at a central receiving station. The station has five docks where trucks unload the berries. It takes about 8 minutes to unload one truck. The average truck has about 75 barrels of berries on it.
After the receiving station, dry berries are moved to destoning. Wet berries do not have to be destoned. There are three machines at destoning, each of which can process 1500 barrels per hour.
Next comes dechaffing, a step that needs to be completed for both dry-harvested and wet-harvested berries. There are three dechaffing machines, each of which can process 1,500 barrels per hour.
After dechaffing, the wet-harvested berries move on to the dryer. The dryer can process 600 barrels per hour. Dry-harvested berries do not have to be processed at the dryer.
Finally, all berries need to move through the separator. The separator can handle 1,200 barrels per hour.
Where in the process is the bottleneck?
The key difficulty in this question lies in the fact that dry-harvested berries and wet-harvested berries use some of the same resources in the process, but don’t follow exactly the same flow. In other words, some resources only process dry-harvested berries (the destoning machines), some process only wet-harvested berries (the dryer), and some process both (the receiving station and the separator). Further, the capacity calculation at the receiving station is not trivial as one needs to realize that there are five docks, each dock can handle 60/8 trucks per hour, and that there are 75 barrels to a truck. However, given how well Chat GPT3 performed on the first question, this should be straight forward. Or maybe not? There is only one way to find out.
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ANSWER 3
To determine the bottleneck in the cranberry processing plant, we need to identify the step in the process with the lowest capacity.
At the receiving station, there are 5 docks where trucks can be unloaded, and it takes about 8 minutes to unload one truck with an average of 75 barrels of berries. This means that the receiving station has a capacity of 5 docks x 8 minutes/dock x 75 barrels/minute = 300 barrels/hour.
At destoning, there are 3 machines that can each process 1,500 barrels per hour, for a total capacity of 1,500 barrels/hour x 3 machines = 4,500 barrels/hour.
At dechaffing, there are 3 machines that can each process 1,500 barrels per hour, for a total capacity of 1,500 barrels/hour x 3 machines = 4,500 barrels/hour.
At the dryer, the capacity is 600 barrels/hour.
At the separator, the capacity is 1,200 barrels/hour.
Since the dryer has the lowest capacity at 600 barrels/hour, it is the bottleneck in the process. This means that the dryer will be the step that determines the overall capacity of the plant. All other steps in the process will have capacity to spare, as they can handle more than 600 barrels per hour.
This answer of pointing to the dryer as the bottleneck is, once again, correct. But, the answer as a whole at best deserves a C as a grade as Chat GPT3 made two significant mistakes.
First, the capacity calculations at the receiving station might sound plausible, but they are wrong. The answer given by Chat GPT3 “This means that the receiving station has a capacity of 5 docks x 8 minutes/dock x 75 barrels/minute = 300 barrels/hour” does not correctly capture the capacity of the receiving station. Instead, the capacity should be calculated as “5 docks x 60 minutes/hour *1/8 trucks/minute * 75 barrels/ truck = 2812.5 barrels/hour. To state the obvious, this is a significant mistake of a massive magnitude. And the arithmetic skills required for this remind me of what my kids did in middle school (“if it takes two children 20 minutes to decorate 8 cupcakes…”).
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Remarkably, Chat GPT3 “got lucky” as the receiving station is not the bottleneck. Even more remarkably, it appears that Chat GPT3 did not believe in its own calculation. After all, 300 barrels per hour would have made the receiving station the bottleneck. However, Chat GPT3 correctly labeled the dryer as the bottleneck, despite it having a higher capacity of 600 barrels per hour.
The second mistake in the answer lies in the fact that the calculations and explanations really did not factor in the product mix of 70% wet-harvested and 30% dry-harvested berries. It treated the multi product plant as a single product plant.
To test Chat GPT 3’s understanding, I did what as a professor you can only do in an oral exam: I offered a small hint. Specifically, I entered the following into the prompt line:
QUESTION 4
Remember to distinguish between dry-harvested berries and wet-harvested berries.
Here is what I got as a response.
ANSWER 4
To further analyze the bottleneck in the cranberry processing plant, it is important to distinguish between dry-harvested berries and wet-harvested berries, as the flow and capacity requirements for these two types of berries are different.
Since 70% of the berries received at the plant are wet-harvested and 30% are dry-harvested, the capacity requirements for each step in the process will also be different.
At the receiving station, the capacity is 300 barrels/hour for both dry-harvested and wet-harvested berries.
At destoning, the capacity is 4,500 barrels/hour for dry-harvested berries only. Wet-harvested berries do not need to be destoned, so they do not use any capacity at this step.
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At dechaffing, the capacity is 4,500 barrels/hour for both dry-harvested and wet-harvested berries.
At the dryer, the capacity is 600 barrels/hour for wet-harvested berries only. Dry-harvested berries do not need to be processed at the dryer, so they do not use any capacity at this step.
At the separator, the capacity is 1,200 barrels/hour for both dry-harvested and wet-harvested berries.
If we consider the capacity requirements for dry-harvested and wet-harvested berries separately, we can see that the dryer is the bottleneck for wet-harvested berries, with a capacity of 600 barrels/hour. However, for dry-harvested berries, the bottleneck is at destoning, with a capacity of 4,500 barrels/hour.
Overall, the bottleneck for the cranberry processing plant will depend on the mix of dry-harvested and wet-harvested berries being processed. If the plant is processing a higher proportion of wet-harvested berries, the dryer will be the bottleneck. If the plant is processing a higher proportion of dry-harvested berries, the destoning step will be the bottleneck.
Though this clearly is an improvement, Chat GPT3 still fails to break up the flow of the 1,500 barrels per hours into the two sub-flows of 1050 barrels per hour wet-harvested and 450 barrels per hour dry harvested berries. I like how it points out that the bottleneck “will depend on the mix of dry-harvested and wet-harvested berries being processed”. But, the mix is explicitly given as 70:30, so the argument that the answer depends on the mix is not satisfactory and really deserves no grade better than a B- and that is after receiving a big hint.
QUEUEING ANALYSIS
An important concept in Operations Management relates to variability in demand and in processing times. If you have 10 customers arrive over the course of an hour, you cannot assume that a customer arrives exactly every six minutes. Such variability can lead to congestion and customer waiting times in a process that has enough capacity on average. For example, a process with a 90% capacity utilization and random arrivals will lead to periods of substantial wait times. The branch of operations management that is concerned with this effect is appropriately referred to as queueing analysis and is well studied in Operations Research, Industrial Engineering and Computer Science. Consider the following question.
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QUESTION 5
The Pennsylvania Department of State is implementing a new electronic voting system. Voters will now use a very simple self-service computer kiosk for casting their ballots. If that kiosk is busy, voters will patiently queue up and wait until it is there turn.
It is expected that voters will spend on average 5 minutes at the kiosk. This time will vary across voters with a standard deviation of 5 minutes. Voters are expected to arrive at a demand rate of 10 voters per hour. These arrivals will be randomly spread out over the hour (you can assume that the number of voters arriving in any time period follows a Poisson distribution).
What is the average amount of time that a voter will have to wait before casting their vote?
It is easy to see that, on average, the operation has a sufficient amount of capacity. 10 voters show up per hour, each voter requires on average 5 minutes. So, in the average hour, the kiosk will be utilized for 50 minutes and be idle for 10 minutes. We refer to 50/60 as the capacity utilization of the kiosk. How did Chat GPT3 handle this question? Let’s take a look.
ANSWER 5
To find the average amount of time that a voter will have to wait before casting their vote, we need to calculate the average time that the kiosk is occupied.
If the average time that a voter spends at the kiosk is 5 minutes, and the demand rate is 10 voters per hour, then the average time that the kiosk is occupied is 50 minutes per hour (5 minutes per voter * 10 voters per hour).
The average time that the kiosk is not occupied is therefore 60 minutes per hour – 50 minutes per hour = 10 minutes per hour.
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Since the time that a voter has to wait is equal to the time that the kiosk is occupied by other voters before them, the average time that a voter will have to wait is equal to the average time that the kiosk is occupied, which is 50 minutes per hour.
Clearly, the answer was off to a good start. Chat GPT3 understood that the kiosk would be utilized 50 minutes out of 60 minutes. Then, however, its logic falls apart. The statement “the average time that a voter will have to wait is equal to the average time that the kiosk is occupied, which is 50 minutes per hour” makes no sense at all.
To find the right answer, one must look at a standard equation from queuing theory. The equation for the average waiting time states that:
Average Waiting Time = Average Processing Time x Utilization / (1-Utilization). Plugging in an average processing time of 5 minutes and an average utilization of 5/6, we get:
Average Waiting Time = 5 x (5/6) / (1 – 5/6) = 25 minutes.
So, the correct answer is 25 minutes waiting in line. If we add the 5 minutes at the kiosk, we obtain a total of 30 minutes.
Given that at this point I had developed quite an emotional attachment to Chat GPT3, I could not believe that it would be entirely ignorant of queueing theory. So, once again, I provided a hint. I entered the same question, but this time made an explicit reference to queueing theory:
QUESTION 6
Using queuing analysis, what will be the long run average amount of time that a voter will have to wait before casting their vote?
Would Chat GPT3 be able to take advantage of the hint? Let’s take a look.
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ANSWER 6
To determine the long-run average amount of time that a voter will have to wait before casting their vote, we can use the formula for the expected waiting time in a single-server queue:
E[W] = (Lambda * Wq) / (Mu – Lambda)
Where:
E[W] is the expected waiting time
Lambda is the arrival rate of voters (in this case, 10 voters per hour)
Mu is the service rate of the kiosk (in this case, the rate at which voters are served by the kiosk, which is equal to the inverse of the average time that a voter spends at the kiosk, or 1/5 = 0.2 voters per minute)
Wq is the average time that a voter spends in the queue (also known as the average queue time)
Plugging these values into the formula, we get:
E[W] = (10 voters per hour * Wq) / (0.2 voters per minute – 10 voters per hour)
Solving for Wq, we get:
Wq = E[W] * (Mu – Lambda) / Lambda
= E[W] * (0.2 voters per minute – 10 voters per hour) / (10 voters per hour)
So to find the long-run average amount of time that a voter will have to wait, we need to find the value of E[W].
To do this, we need to consider the system as a whole and take into account the fact that the kiosk can become congested when there are too many voters trying to use it at the same time. This can lead to an increase in the average waiting time, as voters who arrive when the kiosk is congested will have to wait longer to be served.
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To determine the long-run average waiting time in this scenario, we need to use more advanced techniques such as simulation or a more advanced queuing model that takes into account the effects of congestion.
It looks like Chat GPT3 made the correct link to queueing theory. However, it got stuck when trying to fit the numbers into the formula and eventually gave up with the answer by pointing to “simulation or a more advanced queuing model that takes into account the effects of congestion”.
How could I help Chat GPT3 get to the answer? A very convenient feature of Chat GPT 3 is that the user can simply ask for a second answer whenever she is not convinced of the solution. So, I simply asked Chat GPT3 to give it another shot. And, it worked, at least almost! Here is the second response.
ANSWER 6 (SECOND TRY)
To find the long run average amount of time that a voter will have to wait before casting their vote using queuing analysis, we need to consider the arrival rate of voters at the kiosk and the service rate of the kiosk (the rate at which voters are served by the kiosk).
The arrival rate is the rate at which voters arrive at the kiosk, which is 10 voters per hour. The service rate is the rate at which the kiosk can serve voters, which is equal to the inverse of the average time that a voter spends at the kiosk, which is 1/5 voters per minute = 12 voters per hour.
The long run average number of voters in the system (waiting and being served) is given by the formula:
L = lambda / (mu – lambda)
where lambda is the arrival rate and mu is the service rate.
Plugging in the values, we get:
L = 10 voters per hour / (12 voters per hour – 10 voters per hour) = 10/2 = 5 voters
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The long run average time that a voter spends in the system (waiting and being served) is given by the formula:
W = L / lambda = 5 voters / 10 voters per hour = 0.5 hours
This is the long run average amount of time that a voter will have to wait before casting their vote. Converting this to minutes, we get:
W = 0.5 hours * 60 minutes per hour = 30 minutes.
Note that the answer is slightly off. As Chat GPT3 correctly computed, there will be 5 voters in the system (waiting and being served). So, the correct answer for the waiting time before casting the vote should be 25 minutes. But this comes close enough to a passing grade, say a solid B. Again, this is after receiving a hint – the initial answer was more in the C range.
One more note on this question: when I returned to Chat GPT 3 the next day asking the same initial queueing question (the one without the hint referencing queueing theory), Chat GPT3 immediately answered the question correctly – a hint was no longer necessary. It either is capable of learning from past feedback or I just got lucky (as we saw above, there seems to exist some randomness in the quality of the answers).
TOYOTA PRODUCTION SYSTEM
In addition to questions involving calculations, some of my exam questions are more conceptual in nature. Often times, such conceptual questions are in a multiple choice format. So, my final question looks at the effect of using Kanban cards to move work through a process.
QUESTION 7
Which of the following statements is correct?
I. Deploying the Kanban system leads to pulling work through the system instead of pushing work.
II. Deploying the Kanban system leads to pushing work through the system instead of pulling work.
III. The Kanban system controls the work in process inventory.
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IV. Kanban will always reduce the amount of inventory in the process
V. Kanban requires cross-training all workers.
The Toyota Production System with its focus on flow and just-in-time delivery is an important part of any operations course or book and the Kanban method is a key concept of it.
Kanban cards are a replenishment mechanism in a process where a resource (machine or operator) only produces something when there exists an explicit demand for it. This demand could come from the customer (external demand) or from the subsequent resource in the process (internal demand). Either way, work is now pulled through the process, and it is demand that drives the flow, not machine or operator availability. As we can see, Chat GPT 3 had no problems with this question.
ANSWER 7
The correct statements are:
I. Deploying the Kanban system leads to pulling work through the system instead of pushing work.
III. The Kanban system controls the work in process inventory.
IV. Kanban will always reduce the amount of inventory in the process (if implemented correctly).
Kanban is a method for managing the flow of work in a production process. It is based on the principles of just-in-time production, which aims to minimize inventory and waste by only producing what is needed, when it is needed. In a Kanban system, work is pulled through the process as it is needed, rather than being pushed through the process regardless of demand. The Kanban system helps to control the amount of work in process inventory by using visual signals (such as cards or electronic displays) to indicate when work should be started and when it is ready to move to the next stage in the process.
Kanban does not necessarily require cross-training all workers, although it may be beneficial to have a more flexible workforce that can handle multiple tasks.
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This is a really good answer. We can and should debate the validity of statement IV. When I wrote this question for my students, I intended this to be a “trick question” and the statement to be false (if one puts too many Kanban cards into the process, strictly speaking, inventory could go up). But it appears as if Chat GPT 3 saw through my evil intent and wisely added the clause “if implemented correctly”. The explanation is once again excellent, including the final statement about the usefulness of cross-training. A+.
SUMMARY
The previous pages should convince even a skeptical reader that Chat GPT 3 has remarkable skills in handling problems as used extensively in the training and testing of our MBA students. Combining the results of the questions, I would grade this performance as a B to B-. The following reference point might help put this performance into perspective. Until Wharton allowed students more flexibility in which courses they take, this Operations Management course was a required course that every student had to take. However, we did allow students to waive this course if they could demonstrate content mastery on a waiver exam. The performance of Chat GPT3 reported above would have been sufficient to pass the waiver exam, though by a very small margin.
Part 2: Chat GPT3 Generating Exam Questions
After exploring to what extent my students might be better off with this technology, I also wanted to find out if I as a professor and author could take advantage of it. I know that only few readers (most likely fellow instructors) will pity me for this, but I face the challenge of coming up with new test questions every year and for every new edition of my book. By now, I have written 1000’s of questions and, at times, I feel I have exhausted my imagination for new problems.
Can I turn to Chat GPT3 to come up with new exam questions? To find out, I entered the first process analysis question (the Circored iron ore process) into the Chat GPT3 prompt alongside with the following instruction:
QUESTION 8
Create similar questions in the context of a coal mine.
Here is the response, i.e., the question generated by Chat GPT3.
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ANSWER 8
In a coal mining operation, the production process starts with extracting coal from underground seams. The coal is then moved through six process steps before it emerges as finished product. The steps and their capacities are as follows:
Crusher: 50 tons per hour
Conveyor belt: 45 tons per hour
Wash Plant: this plant holds up to 20 tons of coal and coal needs to spend 1 hour in the plant
Dryer: holds up to 100 tons of coal and coal needs to spend 3 hours in the dryer
Screening: 62.5 tons per hour
Loading: 59 tons per hour
Where in the process is the bottleneck and what is the overall process capacity?
This actually is a pretty good question. Chat GPT3 picked up the format and the logic of the iron process, but was able to transfer the question into the coal domain. I am by no means an expert on coal mining and processing, but these steps exist in coal plants and their sequence is at least plausible.
To replicate this for another question type and to add some humor to this paper, I also requested a waiting time question (see the voting operation discussed above), one that involves a very specific context.
QUESTION 9
Generate three queueing theory questions about average waiting times in the context of Homer Simpson’s day to day life.
Here is the response by Chat GPT3.
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ANSWER 9
"At Moe’s Tavern, Homer Simpson and his friends often wait in line for a drink. On average, customers spend 2 minutes at the bar and arrive at a rate of 20 customers per hour. The bartender takes an average of 3 minutes to serve each customer. What is the average waiting time for Homer and his friends before they are served a drink?"
"Homer Simpson spends a lot of time waiting in line at the Springfield DMV. On average, customers spend 5 minutes at the counter and arrive at a rate of 30 customers per hour. The DMV employees take an average of 10 minutes to serve each customer. What is the average waiting time for Homer before he is served at the DMV?"
"Homer Simpson likes to buy donuts at Lard Lad Donuts. On average, customers spend 1 minute at the counter and arrive at a rate of 15 customers per hour. The cashier takes an average of 2 minutes to serve each customer. What is the average waiting time for Homer before he is able to buy donuts at Lard Lad Donuts?"
Clearly, these are plausible questions and likely are more humorous than anything I could have produced myself (though, given that I am a German Operations Management professor, one might argue that this is not a high bar to clear). It is certainly good enough that I will take advantage of this technology in the future. Nevertheless, two shortcomings in these questions need to be pointed out.
First, the question really should provide only two numbers, the arrival rate (demand, 20 customers per hour in the first question) and the time to serve one customer (3 minutes in the first question). I have no idea why the additional number (“customers spend 2 minutes at the bar”) is provided and how it should be interpreted in the context of the question.
Second, for queuing theory being the right tool for the job, the demand for the process (the rate of customer arrivals) should be somewhat close to the capacity of the process (the rate of service). Consider the second question. 30 customers arrive per hour, each of them requiring 10 minutes of work. Clearly, one DMV employee would not be able to deal with this load and multiple employees would be needed. Though the question generated by Chat GPT3 speaks of “DMV employees” (plural), it does not state how many there are, making it impossible to answer the question.
20
Part 3: Implications for MBA Programs and Faculty
I am not the first to speculate about the impact of Chat GPT3 on education. However, I propose that the impact of Chat GPT3 on business school education in general and Operations Management in particular goes beyond what its impact will be on teaching mathematics, history, biology, or literature. “Operations” has its roots in the Latin word “opus”, which stands for “work”. The purpose of my Operations Management class thus is about helping students analyze and improve the way people work, now and in the future. The science of biology has and will not change because of Chat GPT3. How people work, in contrast, is constantly changing as technology advances. Based on the B to B- performance of Chat GPT3 in my course and its ability to generate creative (though imperfect) questions for my future exams, I see the following implications for us as business school faculty.
Implication 1: Be mindful of what Chat GPT3 can and cannot do
The moment I saw the answer to my first question, I fell in love with Chat GPT3. I had used other natural language processing and AI software before, but this simple user experience and the great answer put me in a state of awe, and I am sure it has impressed many users before me.
But we should not forget that it made major mistakes in some fairly simple situations. Being off by a factor of 10x in the receiving station of Question 3 is below the academic performance of a middle school student. The average grade of Chat GPT3 was a B to B- in a domain that is well documented in thousands of pieces of knowledge that are accessible online.
We have many reasons to believe that the technology is getting better over time. But, we are still far from an A+ for complex problems and we still need a human in the loop.
Implication 2: Continue to teach the foundations
I am sure that there will be many calling for a change in course content making an argument of the type “if a computer can do it at zero marginal cost, a student should not need to spend time and money on mastering this skill” or “if a bot can pass the waiver exam of a course, clearly these skills should be removed from the curriculum!”. I have some sympathy for this argument. 35 years ago, as an undergraduate student in Germany, I learnt how to manually invert a matrix and how to solve simple optimization problems with nothing but pen and paper. After successfully displaying these skills on my final exam, I have never used them again.
21
But I would not go as far as making the claim that these skills were a complete waste of my time. In my view of education, an elementary school student still needs to learn that 7 x 7=49 and that the capital of Pennsylvania is Harrisburg, even though calculators have been widely used for over 50 years and students can use Google or Wikipedia to find answers for most factual questions. It is the nature of foundational skills that they are required to comprehend more advanced topics.
How does the increasing market volatility post Covid impact the suitability of a just-in-time supply chain? Should US manufacturers with most of their suppliers located in China embrace a dual sourcing strategy? To competently answer these questions one needs a solid understanding of the foundations of operations management. You need to be able to walk before you can run! So, business school faculty or elementary school teachers – as educators we still must teach the foundations.
Implication 3: Deal with the cheating when testing foundational knowledge
Many educators are interested in the Chat GPT3 discussion out of a concern that their students might be cheating on homework assignments and final exams. They should be. Though in the past I have had an open book, open notes policy for my exams and I allowed students to use computing devices, I will now join thousands of professors and teachers and explicitly ban the usage of Chat GPT3 and other technologies of this type for the purpose of homework assignments and the final exam in my foundations courses.
I realize that regulating exciting new technology is oftentimes perceived as a desire to hang on to the status quo. Nevertheless, allowing a student to access Chat GPT3 during an exam that tests facts and foundational concepts is like allowing the student to call a friend with an average academic competence and take the exam for her. Reliable tests play an important role in teaching and skill certification and this should not be compromised because of a new technology.
Implication 4: Mimic the workplace by teaching how to evaluate a proposed plan of action
MBA programs are professional degrees that prepare students for careers in the business community. Technologies like Chat GPT3 are already used in the workplace and that usage is only going to increase. Their ultimate goal is to improve managerial decision making. Managerial decision making involves creating a set of alternatives and then critically reflecting which alternative is the best for the situation at hand.
As our MBA graduates advance in their careers, they will make more and more of these decisions in groups where alternatives will be generated by consultants, co-workers, and direct reports. The skill of looking at a suggested
22
alternative that is well presented and looks totally plausible and then being able to critically evaluate if the suggested alternative is fundamentally flawed or absolutely brilliant is thus among the most important skills in a management career. With Chat GPT3 playing the role of that smart consultant (who always has an elegant answer, but oftentimes is wrong) we thus have a perfect training ground for developing that skill. Just think back to Answer 3 (the Cranberry process). It was well presented and the numbers looked coherent and plausible – but, it was wrong nevertheless. By letting students use Chat GPT3 during case discussions, I can thus emulate the decision making process a senior executive would face in the work place.
Implication 5: Let students use Chat GPT3, but simultaneously raise the bar for assignments
The scenario that most K12 teachers are concerned about is that a student who in the past would go to the library and spend four hours on a homework assignment contrasting the views of Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre on existentialism is now “getting away” with a five minute interaction with Chat GPT3. As a result of this “shortcut” the student learns less than before. If I would be a K12 teacher, I would be concerned about my students taking such shortcuts as well.
But, I am not a K12 teacher. I have the privilege of teaching highly motivated students, most of whom are making a substantial personal and financial sacrifice to be in my classroom. With or without Chat GPT3, I can get a certain amount of time from them each week (say four hours). It is now up to me to come up with assignments that are challenging enough so that they warrant that time investment. To the extent that we believe that Chat GPT3 gives the students a head start on their homework, it is my job to hold them accountable to a higher standard.
In many ways, this is similar to how we have been using group assignments for many years. Just as we would expect a better deliverable for an assignment that was given to a group of five students, we should expect more from a student that we encourage to collaborate with a technology such as Chat GPT3.
Implication 6: Ask students to imagine the new rather than tweaking the old
In his book “Zero to One”, Peter Thiel challenged entrepreneurs to move beyond the existing paths of innovation. Thiel distinguishes between “going from 0 to 1”, which corresponds to creating something fundamentally new (Bill Gates coming up with a PC operating system) and improving upon what exists by going from “1 to n” (moving from Windows 10 to Windows 11).
23
The knowledge of Chat GPT3 is inherently built on synthesis. Even when we ask it to engage in creative problem solving (recall Question 7), Chat GPT3 will always stay in a solution space that is defined by what it has seen in the past.
Outstanding business ideas, in contrast, oftentimes go beyond optimizing what is and move to imagining what could be. For example, Chat GPT3 and its successors will likely excel in finding the optimal delivery path for a truck that has to make a given number of shipments to a given set of addresses. But will it be able to question the problem? Will it challenge the mode of delivery? I appreciate the need to teach our students how to find the shortest path through a network. But wouldn’t the A+ student come up with an idea such as a strategically positioned locker that customers walk to in order to pick up their shipment or use a drone for delivery? It is up to us as educators to reward, if not require, such out of the box thinking.
Implication 7: Don’t be shy using Chat GPT3 to improve the productivity of the teaching process
Nine years ago, I was among the first faculty to make my MBA course content available to the general public by creating a MOOC. Video based teaching allowed for enormous increases in teaching productivity (Terwiesch and Ulrich 2014), something that at first, many of my students and faculty colleagues were skeptical about. The strategic decision, of course, was who should benefit from that higher productivity. I now use these videos to help students who have missed class or are struggling for other reasons. This allows me to customize learning in a way I could not do before. Using this video content has resulted in improved learning and has reduced student anxiety. It has also increased test scores.
Recall my experiment with having Chat GPT3 create exam questions for me. It normally takes me about 20 hours of work to create an exam and another 10 hours for TA’s to test the exam and write solutions to it. Now, I think we could get my exam writing time down to 10 hours and the TA time down to 5. In other words, we have a 100% productivity increase in the “exam writing operation”. It is easy to imagine similar magnitudes of improvement in grading processes, tutoring, and office hours.
It is now up to us to determine what to do with this increased productivity. In my view, we should return it to the students in the form of extra meetings outside class, personal attention, joint social activities, or the design of new course materials.
24
Afterthought
Given my new relationship with Chat GPT3, I can’t help but turn to the computer one last time and ask my new digital friend what it thinks its impact on MBA education will be the in the future. QUESTION 10
What will be the impact of the Chat GPT3 technology on how MBA students are taught. Specifically, how will Chat GPT3 impact MBA education differently from K12 education?
Look at the answer and draw whatever conclusion you like. ANSWER 10
Chat GPT-3 technology has the potential to greatly enhance MBA education by providing students with personalized, interactive learning experiences. It can be used to generate personalized study materials, provide real-time feedback, and facilitate online discussions and group projects. Additionally, Chat GPT-3 can be used to simulate real-world business scenarios, allowing students to practice decision-making and problem-solving in a safe, virtual environment.
The impact of Chat GPT-3 on MBA education may be different from its impact on K-12 education because MBA students are typically older and more experienced, and are often working professionals. They may have different learning styles and needs than K-12 students, and may require more advanced, specialized content. Additionally, MBA programs often involve a greater emphasis on practical, real-world applications, which Chat GPT-3 may be particularly well-suited to support.
25
References
Terwiesch, Christian, Karl T. Ulrich, “Will Video Kill the Classroom Star? The Threat and Opportunity of MOOCs for Full-Time MBA Programs”, White Paper, Mack Institute 2014
Miller, Jeffrey G. "National Cranberry Cooperative." Harvard Business School Case 675-014, August 1974. (Revised November 1983.)
Terwiesch, Christian, Christoph H. Loch, “Pumping Iron at Cliffs and Associates: The Circored Iron Ore Reduction Plant in Trinidad”, Case of the Wharton-INSEAD Alliance, 2004
Cachon, Gerard, Christian Terwiesch, Matching Supply with Demand: An Introduction to Operations Management, 4th edition, McGraw Hill, 2018
About the Author
Christian Terwiesch is the Andrew M. Heller Professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is a Professor in and the chair of Wharton’s Operations, Information, and Decisions department, co-director of Penn’s Mack Institute for Innovation Management, and also holds a faculty appointment In Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine. His research on Operations Management and on Innovation Management appears in many of the leading academic journals ranging from Management Science to The New England Journal of Medicine. He is an award winning teacher with extensive experience in MBA teaching and executive education.
Professor Terwiesch is the co-author of Matching Supply with Demand, a widely used text-book in Operations Management that is now in its third edition. Based on this book, Professor Terwiesch has launched the first Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) in business on Coursera. By now, well over half a million students enrolled in the course.
His first management book, Innovation Tournaments, was published by Harvard Business School Press. The novel, process-based approach to innovation outlined in the book was featured by BusinessWeek, the Financial Times, and the Sloan Management Review and has lead to innovation tournaments in organizations around the world. His latest book, Connected Strategies, combines his expertise in the fields of operations, innovation, and strategy to help companies take advantage of digital technology leading to new business models. The book has
26
been featured as the cover story of the Harvard Business Review and has been featured by Bloomberg / BusinessWeek as one of the best books in 2020.
Professor Terwiesch has researched with and consulted for various organizations. From small start-ups to Fortune 500 companies, he has helped companies become more innovative, often by implementing innovation tournament events and by helping to restructure their innovation portfolio. He holds a doctoral degree from INSEAD and a Diploma from the University of Mannheim.

MBA
ALBERTA SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

Master of Business Administration 1
Your path
to leadership
extends beyond
borders
With world-class faculty and a proven dynamic
curriculum, the Master of Business Administration
degree at the University of Alberta is the path to the
skills and knowledge to advance your career.
University of Alberta:
Founded in 1908
Home to 40,000+ students
Top 5 in Canada
Top 150 in the world
Alberta School of Business:
Founded in 1916
900+ Graduate Students
31,000 alumni
AACSB accredited
Rankings of Business faculty, University of Alberta and/or MBA program ranking
(www.ualberta.ca/business/about/rankings.html)
2 Alberta School of Business
Alberta
Since 1908, the University of
Alberta has established itself
as a leading research-intensive
university, one of the top five
universities in Canada and
amongst the top 150 universities
worldwide. The U of A is home to
more than 40,000 students enrolled
in 500 graduate programs and 200
undergraduate programs. Programs
and courses are developed and
led by internationally renowned
professors drawn here by an
academic culture that is open,
exploratory and supported by
an innovative and fully involved
business community.
Edmonton
The capital city of Alberta,
Edmonton is the fifth-largest
municipality in Canada with a
metropolitan area population
over one million. Home to a
vibrant economy, Alberta’s capital
region enjoys a stable business
environment with strong long-term
growth opportunities.
Famed for its entrepreneurial spirit,
Edmonton is a place where people
come together to build, create and
change things for the better. It is
defined by an entrepreneurial spirit
not only in business, but also in the
arts and in social activism aimed
at ensuring opportunity for all. It is
a place where good ideas have the
best chance to become reality.
40K+ students
enrolled
Alberta School of Business
The Alberta School of Business is one of Canada’s leading business schools,
offering undergraduate, graduate, doctorate, and executive education
programs. The school opened in 1916 as the School of Accountancy and
graduated its first MBA class in 1966. Today it is consistently ranked among
the best in the world for research, teaching, and community involvement.
The Alberta School of Business is also the first and longest continuously
accredited business school in Canada. Accreditation by the Association to
Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) represents the highest
standard of achievement for business schools worldwide and stands as
a testament to the diversity of programs, research strength and career
development of alumni.
Master of Business Administration 3
4 Alberta School of Business
More than one
way to earn
your MBA
MBA graduates
emerge equipped with
current knowledge
and pragmatic, highlysought-after skills they
need to succeed.
Apply Yourself Full-Time
Through a blend of lecture, case
studies, and applied learning, the
full-time MBA program will help
you transform over 20 challenging
months. Focused, inspiring and
effective, the core curriculum will
give you an integrated grounding in
management essentials. You can
choose to complete one of the U of A’s
established career tracks, or tailor your
degree with a mix of elective courses
suited to your own interests.
Master of Business Administration 5
Work and Study Part-Time
Earning your MBA part-time allows
you to improve your career path in
the evenings. While most students
choose to complete two courses
per term, you do have the flexibility
to choose how light or heavy of a
course load you take. Most students
complete their MBA part-time, in
three to four years, but you will have
up to six years to meet the MBA
degree requirements.
Anywhere, Anytime, Online
Over the course of 36 months, the
Online MBA Program is designed
to fit around your work schedule so
you can balance work, school and
personal commitments. Courses
are offered asynchronously and
have been specifically designed
to maximize learning outcomes.
With course materials and lectures
available on demand, you can learn
at your own pace from anywhere.
6 Alberta School of Business
AMBER MYLES
MBA (2023)
The past couple
of years, I’ve been
involved in Net
Impact. The program
looks to mobilize next
generation leaders to
use their skills and the
power of business to
really make a positive
impact for social
and environmental
sustainability.
Master of Business Administration 7
Get on the FastTrack
Designed for individuals holding
a bachelor’s degree in business
from a North American university,
the FastTrack MBA offers you
the opportunity to complete your
MBA in just one year. Rather than
forcing you to re-learn business
fundamentals, the program focuses
on advanced management topics
and implementing leadership skills
you’ll need to take your career to
the next level.
By completing senior MBA elective
courses, you’ll connect with other
students from a wide range of
backgrounds. You can complete the
program either full-, or part-time,
taking a minimum of 12 courses.
Combined Degrees
Leveraging the academic strength
of the university, the U of A MBA
allows students to complete a
combined degree. The Alberta
School of Business currently offers
the following combined degrees:
· MBA/JD (Law)
· MBA/PharmD (Pharmacy)
· MBA/MEng (Engineering)
· MD/MBA (Medicine)
· MBA/MAg (Agriculture)
· MBA/MScPT (Physical Therapy)
· MBA/MF (Forestry)
· MBA/MScOT (Occupational Therapy)
· MBA/MLIS (Library &
Information Studies)
8 Alberta School of Business
Class profile
Total # of students 500across all MBA programs
FULL-TIME
MBA PROGRAM
35%
14
6 years
3.35
630
35%
12
9 years
3.43
630
% of women:
Average work experience:
Average GMAT:
Average
undergrad GPA:
# of countries
(represented by citizenship):
29 Average age: 33
PART-TIME
MBA PROGRAM
Master of Business Administration 9
10 Alberta School of Business
Master of Business Administration 11
A curriculum
as flexible as
it is strong
The MBA program is designed to give you a
solid grounding in business and the opportunity
to create a schedule that fits
your career focus.
When you begin your journey toward earning your MBA at the
U of A, you’ll have the option of taking classes in person, online
or a combination of both. Whichever you choose, prepare to
learn, grow and be challenged.
MBA CAREER TRACKS
You can tailor your MBA to your
career goals with one of five
career tracks. Much like a major
or specialization, these tracks
supplement your core courses.
In the latter half of your program,
personalized electives help you focus
and sharpen your career course.
Energy Finance will prepare you
for a role with financial institutions,
advisory firms, energy and oil and
gas companies, and within the
public sector.
Innovation and Entrepreneurship
focuses on all levels of innovation
management from idea generation,
through feasibility studies, and finally
to market launch.
Operations and Business Analytics
will give you the technical training
and know-how to excel in operations
management, supply chain, logistics
and business analytics while
building the higher-level strategic
and managerial mindset needed
to lead organizations forward.
Public Sector and Healthcare will
prepare you to pursue a career in
municipal, provincial, or federal
government, provincial health
bodies, or non-profit organizations.
Strategy and Consulting will give you
the strategic tools, frameworks and
industry-specific knowledge you’ll
need to help organizations progress
and succeed.
12 Alberta School of Business
Master of Business Administration 13
ELECTIVE COURSE EXAMPLES
BUEC 611:
Real Estate Asset Strategies
SEM 631:
New Venture Creation
BUS 640:
Strategic Supply Chain Management
SEM 633:
Managing Organizational Change
FIN 615:
Trading and Financial Markets
SEM 686:
Women and Leadership
MARK 630:
Marketing Communication
and Branding
SEM 656:
High Tech Business Development
OM 620:
Predictive Business Analytics
SEM 636:
Management Consulting
OM 604:
Bargaining and Negotiation
SEM 638:
Corporate Sustainability
14 Alberta School of Business
Careers and
work integrated
learning
Whether you’re looking to switch industries,
move up through your organization or build
on your skills, we’ll provide personalized
support to ensure you’re positioned for
success. Resources and support include
speaker events, personalized coaching,
networking events, online resources,
workshops and seminars, mock interviews
and career development.
The career and work
integrated learning
team is here to support
you in every aspect
of your career journey
as you make your
way through the
MBA program.
Master of Business Administration 15
CAREER WORKSHOPS
You’ll have access to a mix of workshops and seminars on topics tailored
to your career needs.
LinkedIn
Profiles that perform and using them
effectively for your job search
StrengthsFinder
Optimizing your own and your team’s
strengths
Networking with purpose
Even introverts can do it
Level Up
Understanding how to position
yourself for promotion
Storytelling
Building your compelling story and
how it relates to brand
Wellness
How are you feeling? Mental wellness
at work
Building resilience
How to manage change in the
new world
PERSONALIZED SUCCESS COACHES
To make sure you reach your full potential, International
Coaching Federation certified coaches will meet and work
with you on a regular basis. With tactical advice from your
assigned coach, you’ll develop your own personal brand and
career goals with the help of personal assessments and
meaningful conversations. No matter what the challenge, your
coach is there with advice on anything and everything – from
setting your career direction to preparing for an interview.
INTERNSHIPS
Once you begin to transition into your career, the Career and
Work Integrated Learning team will make sure you have the
skills you need to put what you’ve learned in the classroom
to work in the real world. By participating in a four-month
summer internship, you’ll gain valuable work experience,
build your professional reputation, and start to expand your
network. For many MBA graduates, these internships turn
into full-time, permanent positions.
WORK IN CANADA
International students are eligible for a three-year
post-graduation work permit.
of MBA grads are
employed within three 94% months of graduation
16 Alberta School of Business
Master of Business Administration 17
It’s opened my
eyes to how many
incredibly cool things
are happening in the
business community
in Alberta and
around the world. It
also taught me how
important it is to
keep learning from
others, putting myself
out there, and keep
up with trends and
current events.
LYNDSAY GERMAIN
MBA (2022)
18 Alberta School of Business
APPLICATION CRITERIA:
Undergraduate degree
• GPA of 3.0 or higher based on last
60 credits or two years of study.
• FastTrack applicants: GPA of 3.2
or higher.
Resume
• Minimum of two years of full-time,
post-grad work experience.
• FastTrack applicants: minimum
of 3 years of full-time, post-grad
work experience.
Standardized test
(if required)
• GMAT or GRE
English Language
Proficiency (if required)
• IELTS, TOEFL, Duolingo
Letters of reference
• All applicants must provide two
professional references.
Statement of Intent
• A 1–2-page document outlining
career goals and what you will
contribute to the program.
Admission
Requirements
Master of Business Administration 19
TUITION
Canadian citizens and
permanent residents
• 2022/23 Instructional fees:
$2,462.40/3-credit course
• Non-instructional fees:
~$1,800.00/year with
• Total program fees = ~$54,000*
International Students
• 2022/23 Instructional fees:
$28,281.60
• Non-instructional fees are
~$1,800.00/year
• Total Program Fees = ~$60,000*
* Fees based on a standard 60-credit 2022/23
MBA program in Canadian dollars and are
subject to change.
Entrance awards and
scholarships
Every MBA student is automatically
considered for entrance awards ranging
up to $10,000. Once enrolled in the
program, you can apply for scholarships
based on your academic success,
program involvement and extracurricular
clubs and activities. These scholarships
range up to $15,000.
20 Alberta School of Business
Application
Deadlines
Master of Business Administration 21
FULL-TIME MBA
Applications open October 1, closes March 1 (International
applicants) or May 1 (domestic) for Fall intake.
PART-TIME AND ONLINE MBA
Applications open October 1 and close May 1 for Fall intake.
Winter intake opens August 1 and closes November 1.
FASTTRACK MBA
Applications open October 1 and close May 1 for Fall intake.
Winter intake opens August 1 and closes November 1.
APPLICATION PROCESS
1. Initial review
Confirmation of all required documents have been received
2. Academic evaluation
Evaluate prior academic performance as well as
GMAT/GRE scores
3. Experience evaluation
Evaluate professional work experience, references, and statement
of intent.
4. Interview Stage
First interview is conducted virtually and consists of a short
online recorded interview. The second interview will be a longer
face-to-face interview.
5. Final Decision
After the two interviews, your application will be sent on to the
Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research for final approval into
the program.
22 Alberta School of Business
STEFANIE FISCHER
MBA (2023)
Your MBA helps
you understand
all aspects of
business and it’s
helpful navigating
that day-to-day, but
also insight into
the high level of
the organization.
Global study tours
International study tours are a chance for you to travel with
your peers and experience the business environment outside of
Canada firsthand. Study tours combine pre-trip lectures with a
one-to-two-week study trip that incorporates international company
visits, local lectures, and cultural site visits. Destinations change
year-to-year but have included Europe, China and South America
in recent years.
International educational exchanges
Learning exchange opportunities offer unique opportunities to
study from two weeks to eight months at a partner university abroad.
In most cases, you’ll only pay your University of Alberta tuition while
on the exchange. If you are looking for international experience, but
can’t commit to a semester abroad, several short-term courses are
also offered over the summer. The Alberta School of Business has
direct bilateral exchange agreements with 40+ institutions in
25 countries around the world.
Global
Opportunities
Master of Business Administration 23
24 Alberta School of Business
Double-down with
a dual degree
The dual degree option lets you
earn two degrees in two years of
study while gaining international
credentials and experience. You will
complete the first year of your MBA
at the University of Alberta, then
spend your second year at a partner
institution abroad.
Dual Degree partner institutions
EDHEC Business School
(Lille or Nice, France)
WHU Otto Beisheim School of
Management (Vallendar, Germany)
Nagoya University of Commerce
and Business (Nisshin, Japan)
Business on the Front Lines
This six-credit course gives you
the opportunity to work with
partner organizations to create
lasting fundamental changes in
frontier markets all while gaining
life-changing front-line global
experience.
Master of Business Administration 25
Top off your MBA with
a capstone course
As part of the MBA Capstone
Course, you’ll work as part of a
team with an outside organization
to help them face strategic issues.
You will identify the issue, provide
potential solutions, recommend
a course of action, and develop
an implementation plan for your
client. As the capping course of the
program, it is your opportunity to
apply what you’ve learned and gain
first-hand real-world experience.
Creative Destruction
Lab (CDL)
This seed-stage program for
massively scalable, science and
technology-based companies takes
an objectives-based mentoring
process with the goal of maximizing
equity value creation. Selected CDL
ventures are supported by MBA
students working with venture
founders to develop financial
models, evaluate potential markets
and fine-tune strategies for scaling
over the course of the program.
26 Alberta School of Business
Net Impact
With industry guidance from
KPMG, this extracurricular club
offers the chance to participate
in consulting projects and
experience the dynamic world
of management consulting.
Partnering with not-for-profit and
sustainable organizations, you
can make a meaningful social and
environmentally sustainable impact
in your community.
Get involved,
expand your
network
MBA Games
The largest competition in Canada,
MBA Games offers the opportunity
to connect with other MBA
students across Canada, share
ideas and compete in a series of
athletic, academic, and team spirit
events. The games are hosted
in a different city every year and
competitors raise awareness and
funds for a given charity.
Master of Business Administration 27
Inclusion and diversity club
This club provides opportunities to
build connections and community
through events and activities that
increase awareness of issues
students face. Members become
allies and help create an inclusive
and supportive environment for
all MBA students.
28 Alberta School of Business
NOTES

MBA
Master of
Business Administration
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Master’s & Professional Programs
Room 2-30 Business Building
University of Alberta
Edmonton Alberta
Canada T6G 2R6
uab.ca/mba
Email: mba@ualberta.ca
Phone: 780.492.3946
Toll free: 1.866.492.7676

Because business
is the greatest
platform for
change
The future
belongs to
those who …
At the Desautels Faculty of Management, we take pride
in our reputation for outstanding teaching and innovative
research. Year after year, rankings of the world’s top business
schools affirm the calibre of talent and achievement within
our programs. Yet there is nothing that fills me with greater
pride than witnessing the contributions of individual
students. They come from more than 75 countries around
the world in pursuit of a vision that extends far beyond
the bottom line. More than any other generation before
them, they recognize the unlimited potential of business to
help people flourish. At Desautels, we aim to equip these
students with the skills and experiences they need to make
lasting impact. Before they graduate, they tackle complex
challenges in data analytics and other expanding areas of
management. They learn to make decisions based on what
is sustainable, not just what is profitable. They leverage their
entrepreneurial skills to found businesses that disrupt entire
industries. They achieve extraordinary success, because they
dare to do things differently—and the future belongs to those
who dare.
Dean Morty Yalovsky
03 mcgill.ca/mba
05 mcgill.ca/mba
to launch
the next phase of
your career
In business education, as in business, what works today
will not necessarily work tomorrow. There’s nothing
traditional or expected about the way we have redesigned
our MBA program. There can’t be, if we expect our
students to compete at the highest level in a rapidly
changing business environment. We recognize that each
one of the 80 students in our incoming MBA classes
comes to us with a diverse background, skill set, and vision
for the future. The mid-career student who aims to move
to a higher rung of leadership within her organization
will have distinctly different needs from the student who
seeks to leverage his MBA to blaze a new career path
in a new country. Our one-year and two-year program
options take this diversity of need into account. We also
recognize that employers are hungry for a set of skills
that most MBA programs have historically neglected to
teach, like AI, financial technology, data analysis, and
design thinking. When the market speaks, we listen. With
new, flexible specializations, our students can personalize
the content of their degrees to gain a competitive
edge. In redesigning our MBA program, we have charted
our own course because we expect our students to do
the same.
MBA Director John-Paul Ferguson
Our newly
redesigned
MBA program
06 mcgill.ca/MBA 07 mcgill.ca/mba
Build a professional
network. Learn new
perspectives.
International
12%
Rest of Canada
3%
Toronto
19%
66%
Montreal
Summer 2019
Internship by
Geographic Area
Make an impact on
the business world.
Our MBA students land competitive internships
in a diversity of settings, from major international
companies to growing local startups. With the
support of our Career Services team, they discover
unique opportunities to explore their career
options while contributing to a larger mission.
97% of full-time MBA students seeking
employment were employed for a
Summer internship
It’s not enough to hone these skills in the months
leading up to graduation. From interviewing
for internships to leveraging connections from
networking events, you need them from day
one. Our new, mandatory Leadership and
Professional Skills course brings in coaches,
researchers, and other industry experts to help
position you for professional success.
Integration classes provide a unique opportunity
to apply core skills by partnering with a real
company to solve a current problem.
Our new Real-time Decisions class pairs you with
a company to make a strategic decision. You’ll
have several weeks to research the company’s
business problem before diving in.
Experiential learning brings
learning to life in a real-world setting
10-day international study trip → Improve
your global fluency through company visits and
networking events in a foreign context.
Exchanges → Gain a new perspective by studying
at another top business school overseas.
Practicum → Complete a specialized project
under the guidance of an accomplished faculty
member.
Internships → Build practical work experience
to leverage in your future career.
One year or two? Choose between our 48-credit and 54-credit programs, keeping
in mind that every student begins at the same time and takes the same number
of classes. The difference in credits comes down to the time you spend in the
internship, not the classroom. The 48-credit program can be completed in 12
months. The 54-credit takes 20, though many students accelerate it to finish in 16.
Base camp
Our intensive, one-week workshop ensures
that everyone begins their MBA with a
basic level of quantitative competency.
→ Business Math
→ Financial Accounting
Select a specialization
Align your program with your passion by
choosing up to two specializations:
→ Business Analytics
→ Entrepreneurship
→ Finance
→ Global Strategy & Leadership
→ Marketing
The core
Diversify your learning experience
Interactive lectures and case studies form the basis of foundational courses:
Business Fundamentals Leadership & Professional Skills
MODULE 1
Accounting
Economics
IT
Operations
Statistics
MODULE 2
Finance
International Economics
Marketing
Organizational Behaviour
Strategy
MODULE 3
Effective Communication
Ethics
Leading with Empathy
Self-awareness
Team Dynamics
Length Fall Winter Summer
1 Year
48 Credits Core Electives Electives
Fall Winter
2 Year
54 Credits Core Electives Internship* Electives Electives
*Internship can be completed any time after the core.
to chart your
own course
09 mcgill.ca/mba
Our students
Dare to learn
differently
“I’ve chosen to pursue an MBA in
order to move my career in a more
meaningful direction. Desautels
is helping me prepare for a future
in consulting, where I plan to help
companies build a more diverse,
inclusive culture. I’ve appreciated
the ways that my classes, especially
in finance, have bridged the
practical and the theoretical to
provide a test-run for the next
stage of my career. The experiential
opportunities have also been
extremely valuable. From
travelling internationally for a case
competition to having lunch with
the CEO of a major Canadian bank,
I’ve experienced things I never
would have dreamed of in my time
at Desautels.”
Yuan Chu Zi Lao (Canada)
FINANCE
“While my engineering experience imparted a
certain level of proficiency in analytics, I was
eager to expand my knowledge and grow
professionally at Desautels. From courses that
focus on developing competence in analytical
tools and software to hands-on experience in
consulting projects, my MBA program has given
me a great deal of experience in a short period
of time. The program provides unparalleled
opportunities to learn in a very flexible,
collaborative environment and leverage what
I’m learning in the workplace.”
Guillermo Simonet Romero (Chile)
ANALYTICS
“Today’s MBA students are tomorrow’s
leaders. We are the ones who will ultimately make
decisions to lead the transition to renewable
energy, fair employment practices, gender parity,
and lower carbon emissions. It’s important to make
sustainability the norm now so that these decisions
become second nature. Otherwise, we will stick
the next generation with problems we neglected
to solve because the solutions didn’t directly
contribute to next year’s bottom line. Pursuing
long-term sustainability requires patience,
persistence, and quite a bit of grit. Fortunately,
Desautels prepares leaders to take on the
challenge.”
Jackie Hudspeth (USA)
SUSTAINABILITY
“My STEM background gave me an excellent
foundation for solving problems, but I had tunnel
vision. I didn’t understand what was involved in
making decisions and leading people. In a short
time, my MBA experience has retrained my
brain to think differently. Engineering is a very
black-and-white world, so I have had to learn to
accept that there’s not always one right answer in
business. As I discover all the facets that go into
making complex decisions, and have countless
opportunities to put that knowledge into practice,
I’m preparing to become a leader in my industry.”
Ugo Umeano (Nigeria)
STEM
Our Students
11 mcgill.ca/mba
Sustainability
“Desautels MBA helped me achieve
fluency in strategy, finance, analytics,
and other key aspects of business.”
I first became mindful of sustainability issues while
teaching English to students in a small village in
Cameroon through the PeaceCorps. I quickly
realized that because of the unreliable power
grid, my students didn’t have enough electricity
to complete their homework at night. From that
point onward, I started thinking about access to
different kinds of energy. But while my interest
in renewable energy sources was piqued, I didn’t
have any background in business. What my
Desautels MBA helped me achieve is fluency in
strategy, finance, analytics, and other key aspects
of business. I also had the opportunity to complete
a project comparing the business growth of two
solar companies. The earlier MBA students can
reflect on sustainability issues through projects like
these, the better prepared we will be to assume
leadership roles. Today, I spearhead business
development efforts for a leading global player
in the solar, biofuels, lithium-ion battery, and
energy storage sectors. My company helps other
companies and their employees invest directly in
renewable energies. Not long ago, I read that by
2050, 50% of global electricity will be generated
by renewable energy sources. The world will look
entirely different 30 years down the road, and I’ll
be equipped to make decisions in that new world.
Justin Park (USA)
MBA’18
Finance
“I came to Desautels to
invest in my future, and
it’s paying off.”
Finance is embedded in so many parts of our
lives. We use finance to quantify funding needs,
help businesses through stages of growth, and
prioritize investments that make a positive impact
on the community. My Desautels MBA enables me
to analyze and solve problems by looking at the
world through the lens of finance. In retrospect,
I wish I could have taken even more courses than
I did during my time at McGill. I directly apply
the strategies and perspectives I learned from
classes like Pensions Investing in my current
role as an investment analyst for a large pension
plan. Outside of the classroom, I had the opportunity
to participate in case competitions to devise
solutions for pressing social and environmental
challenges. It was an unforgettable experience to
bring home the Net Impact Sustainability challenge
trophy after competing against teams from all
over North America. Ultimately, this real-world
experience equipped me with the skills, network,
and confidence to transition out of student life into a
successful career. The fact that I learned alongside
an international group of students with diverse
viewpoints only added to the experience. Thanks to
my peers, I graduated with a better grasp of what
leadership looks like in dozens of countries around
the world. I came to Desautels to invest in my future,
and it’s paying off.”
Mehreen Haider (Pakistan)
MBA’19
Alumni
who
13 mcgill.ca/mba
Analytics
“At Desautels, I gained the
tools I needed to fill in the gaps
in my knowledge.”
In every company, you need someone who can
analyze data in order to make predictions, automate
and optimize processes, and solve any number of
problems to make things run smoothly. I decided to
pursue an MBA at Desautels when I was working for
an energy company in an analytics role. I had some
skills in manipulating data, but most of my work was
very industry-specific. I knew I had so much more
to learn. At Desautels, I gained the tools I needed
to fill in the gaps in my knowledge. Each one of my
analytics classes equipped me with technical skills
and challenged me to apply them to case studies
and projects in creative ways. One of the most
rewarding parts of the MBA experience was the
opportunity to solve problems in groups. Some of
my classmates had a background in programming,
others in strategy. Everyone brought something
different to the group and benefited from each
other’s expertise. While the Business Analytics
concentration at Desautels is still relatively new,
there are already several cohorts of analytics
students who have gone on to land fantastic
jobs. After graduation, I accepted an offer from
Amazon to work in the field of supply chain
management. Thanks to my MBA, I’ve developed
the skills and background to take on a new
challenge. I’m seeing results.
Anastasia Budaeva (Russia)
MBA’20
Entrepreneurship
“Becoming an entrepreneur
has been the most fulfilling
experience of my life.”
I discovered my passion for retail innovation
and entrepreneurship at Desautels. As an MBA
student, I co-founded a startup called Turbodega
to help small grocers in emerging countries
track their daily sales in real time. From value
creation to marketing strategy, the content I
learned in my MBA classes has been incredibly
useful in this venture. I’m currently applying a
methodology I learned in one of my courses
to improve the efficiency of my company’s
marketing activities. Outside of class, access to
the McGill Dobson Centre for Entrepreneurship
helped me and my team to refine our product
and value proposition. The Dobson Centre went
above and beyond to connect us to a network of
alumni, mentors, investors, and customers. Today,
Turbodega serves more than 1,000 bodegas. Using
our software management tool, our customers
enjoy a lower cost of goods, access to fair working
capital lines of credit, and data-backed business
advice. Becoming an entrepreneur has been the
most fulfilling experience of my life.
Julio Castañeda (Mexico) Alumni
MBA’19
who
14 mcgill.ca/MBA 15 mcgill.ca/mba
to make
your mark in
Montréal
There’s a reason Montreal claims the title of
best student city in North America year after
year. A thriving arts and cultural scene, low cost
of living, low level of crime, and plentiful job
opportunities attract students from all over the
world. No matter what their background or creed,
newcomers encounter the welcoming, tolerant
vibe of a city that embodies “joie de vivre” and
prioritizes a high quality of life. They join a young,
diverse population of 1.7 million people who shape
the city into a more appealing destination every
year. Montreal has long enjoyed a reputation for
being an artistic and culinary hotspot, but it has
more recently evolved into a hub for technology,
artificial intelligence (AI), and entrepreneurship
as well. As the island pulses with the energy of
constant growth and change, students have a
unique opportunity to change and grow with it.
Mont Royal
Montreal’s largest public park
offers nearly 500 acres of green
space to exercise, picnic, and enjoy
free entertainment. Walk, cycle,
blade, or ski to the summit for a
skyline view of the city.
Igloofest
Every January, tens of thousands
of Montrealers bundle up for an
outdoor electronic music festival
over four consecutive weekends.
Iconic Restaurants
Montreal’s culinary scene lives up to the
hype. Head to St. Viateur Bagel for some of
the world’s best bagels, Schwartz’s Deli for
traditional Montreal smoked meat, and La
Banquise for a heaping plate of poutine.
Underground City
The largest underground city network in the world
features 32 kilometres of restaurants, shops, metro
stations, and entertainment venues to explore.
Montreal Canadiens
Also referred to as the Habs, Montreal’s
professional ice hockey team packs large,
passionate crowds into the downtown Bell Centre
for home games.
Lachine Canal
Once a major industrial hub, the Canal is now
a haven for recreational boaters, runners, and
cyclists along 14.5 kilometres of waterways
and trails.
Place des Arts
Canada’s largest cultural and artistic complex is
a mecca for fans of music, theatre, dance, and
contemporary art.
Old Port
Old-world charm meets new-world culture in the
streets of the Old Port. Head down to the river to
grab a drink at a rooftop bar, ride the Ferris wheel,
or catch a performance of Cirque du Soleil.
17 mcgill.ca/mba
Employment
by functional areas
2019 Employment
statistics
Our placement rate of 85% within
three months of graduation reflects our
commitment to helping students invest
in their future careers from the first day
they arrive on campus.
Our MBA employment results
Placement within 3
months of graduation1 85%
As a Desautels
student, you will
benefit from virtually
endless opportunities
to prepare for a career
of impact:
→ One-on-one coaching sessions
→ Interactive workshops on topics
like resume and cover letter writing,
interviewing, and networking.
→ Company information sessions
with industry professionals
→ Advanced psychometric testing
→ In-person networking opportunities
through Faculty-led Toronto
trip, Montreal career panels, and
recruitment fairs.
→ Prep programs in Consulting,
Corporate strategy and Finance
→ Online platform to connect with
alumni and mentors
1 85% placement based on 96%
reporting.
Technology
7%
Other
5%
Operations/Production
4%
Marketing/
Business
Development
13%
General
Management
24%
Finance
27%
Consulting
11%
AI / Analytics
9%
Launch a
career that
matters
Business
for change
Ask about our
$2M+
in scholarships
Desautels Faculty of Management
McGill University
Donald E. Armstrong Blg.
3420 McTavish
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 3L1
T 514 398 4066
@desautelsmcgill
mcgill.ca/mba
mba@mcgill.ca
Admissions requirements
→ Two years minimum of relevant full-time post-graduate work experience
→ Transcripts from undergraduate and other graduate degrees
→ Two professional letters of reference
→ TOEFL or IELTS (when applicable)
→ Three essay questions
→ GMAT or GRE
→ Curriculum vitae
→ Interview (by invitation)
Take the next step
Submit your application by the following dates:
ROUND 1 November 1
ROUND 2 January 15
ROUND 3 March 15 Final deadline (International students)
ROUND 4 May 1 Final deadline (Canadian citizens / Permanent residents)

NotiAcontecer