Ph.D. in Business Administration FAQs

 

  • Yes, the Ph.D. in Business Administration is AACSB accredited. AACSB should be a critical consideration for someone entering a doctoral program seeking to become a university-level faculty member after completing his or her degree. When most AACSB accredited institutions post open faculty positions, one of the requirements for a tenure-track position is a doctoral degree from an AACSB accredited program. For more information about AACSB accreditation, please visit the AACSB website at https://www.aacsb.edu/
  • The Program can be completed in as little as three years. Most students take somewhere between three and four years to complete the Program. All requirements for the doctoral degree must be completed within five years.  Please see the Student and Alumni Profile for more information.
  • We currently offer five different concentrations: Accounting, Information Systems, Management, Marketing, and Risk and Decision Analytics. Most universities require their faculty to have a certain number of graduate credit hours in the specific discipline to teach in that area. Given the structure of the Ph.D. in Business Administration Program, the students’ chosen concentration will satisfy this requirement at most universities.

  • The Ph.D. in Business Administration Program is a full-time program. However, given the structure of the Program, students are still able to maintain employment during the Program. Specifically, the Program is designed to provide full-time content during intense residencies (3 days per residency with 10 residencies per year during the first 2 years of study).

    Given the level of professional experience that our students possess, leaving their current employer would not be feasible for the majority of them. We also feel that this level of experience enhances the learning environment.

  • To ensure the highest quality content is being delivered, we feel the best method to accomplish this is in a classroom setting. Therefore Ph.D. in Business Administration courses are provided only in a face-to-face environment.
  • Students may incur expenses for travel, lodging, and meals (outside of class time) during the Program. Depending on the type of dissertation project, additional expenses can occur for data collection.
  • There are TA and RA positions available throughout the University. However, the Program does not offer any specific TA or RA support for our students.
  • Please refer to the Admissions section of our website.
  • No, the Program does not require either of these admission tests.
  • No, the Program admits students from across the United States. We have also admitted people from outside of the United States. Currently, about 45% of our students are residents of Georgia.
  • Quality doctoral education takes an extensive amount of faculty resources. This includes faculty spending a number of one-on-one hours with each student during the dissertation stage of the Program.  Given the amount of faculty resources required to train each student properly, the Program chooses to focus on admitting a limited number of quality students into the Program. The Program typically will have fewer than 40 active students at any given point in time across the disciplines (fewer than 10 students per discipline, on average). Typically, a given discipline will admit up to 3 or 4 students per year.
  • We feel that a cohort-based Program offers a number of advantages over other program structures. First, students are admitted into the Program with a specific cohort where they form close bonds with other students across the disciplines. Second, the structure allows all students to take common courses together, including the methods and design courses. This allows students to see how other disciplines are similar and to an extent different. Of critical importance to note, the Ph.D. Program has a number of discipline-specific courses that are taught only to students within a given discipline. The discipline-specific courses allow our students to become experts in the content within their chosen field of study.
  • Ph.D. students in Business Administration are required to take a qualifying examination. Students must pass the qualifying exam before they are permitted to defend a dissertation proposal. The qualifying exam is composed of two parts. The first part assesses an understanding of statistics, theory, and basic writing structure. The second part assesses students’ ability to write in an academic format. 
  • Yes, a dissertation is required.
  • All degree requirements must be completed within five years of starting the Program.
  • Please email the program at ksuphd@kennesaw.edu or call 470-578-4798.
  • More Information
  • We begin accepting application for the following year on June 1st.
  • Priority Admissions Deadline is October 17, 2023 and regular admissions deadline is February 1 for consideration into the Fall Cohort.
  • Admitted students enter the Program in the Fall semester.
  • Admitted students can only enter the Program in the Fall semester. We do not admit students for a Spring semester start.
  • Yes, additional tuition and fees occur if the Program is not completed in 48-credit hours.
  • No, the PhD program is a premier program and is not eligible for TAP.

 

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