3 Gies iMBA students named to P&Q’s Best & Brightest

Three Gies College of Business iMBA students were named among the Best & Brightest Online MBA students in the Class of 2020 by business education publication Poets&Quants. Jamie Xinos, JaeB Kim, and Rebecca Radney were among 52 MBA students worldwide chosen for the honor. Gies’ three representatives on the list tied for the most among all business schools.

Originally from Spring Bay, IL, Jamie Xinos now resides in Vancouver, BC where she serves as executive vice president at Achieve Life Sciences, Inc. She says her favorite part about the Gies iMBA program is the ability to immediately apply what she learned to real-world business challenges, something 95% of iMBA students say they’re able to do. “I was introduced to new technologies, ideas, and ways of thinking that helped to identify solutions and make an immediate impact on my organization,” said Xinos. [READ JAMIE’S FULL PROFILE]

JaeB Kim, who already holds a PhD, works at Samsung Biologics in South Korea and cited Gies’ unique flexibility as his primary reason for choosing the program. “The flexibility of the Gies Business program was the most attractive part of applying for the iMBA, so that I did not have to leave my job to pursue an MBA,” he said. “Also, it is administered by a renowned institution, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, with qualified faculty. The [$22K] tuition also fit my budget.” [READ JAEB’S FULL PROFILE]

Flexibility was also a key motivator for Rebecca Radney. Radney, who lives in Dallas, TX and works as a director of brand training at AT&T, was intrigued by the ability to complete the program from anywhere in the world. “I happened to be completing a Coursera course and the iMBA program popped up,” she said. “I started doing a little bit more research around cost, program requirements and having conversations with enrolled students. It almost seemed too good to be true. I chose this program due to the reputation of the university and the program, along with the cost and the available areas of concentration. I was a little worried about it being online and not on campus. However, it was the best decision I ever made.” [READ REBECCA’S FULL PROFILE]

The Gies College of Business iMBA program offers a career-focused curriculum that delivers content the way professionals use it every day. The program delivers business mastery plus leadership skills that prepares learners to successfully adapt to a rapidly changing world. iMBA students are mature professionals with an average of 11 years of work experience, and they’re chosen through a highly selective admission process.

All students complete a rigorous core curriculum focused on critical teamwork and decision-making skills, and then choose from a series of Specializations to help them dig deeper into particular areas of interest. Gies students possess an uncanny ability to work under pressure, develop great time management skills by successfully managing a work-home-school balance, and they learn to solve real-world problems.

Courses are taught by world-class University of Illinois faculty with decades of experience – some of the greatest minds in economics, marketing, organizational behavior, consumer behavior, finance, accounting, and strategy. With a 97.5% student satisfaction rate, the results speak for themselves; iMBA students graduate with deeply developed leadership skills and vision concerning the forces shaping the future – digitalization, globalization, and innovation.