a guide from the cohort · updated 5 Oct 2026
Inside Temple’s Executive DBA, from the students in it
the short answer
Temple University’s Executive Doctor of Business Administration at the Fox School of Business brings senior professionals from very different fields into one cohort. It runs on residency weekends in Philadelphia with coursework and group projects in between, and research milestones build toward a dissertation tied to each student’s industry. This page collects what students, faculty and alumni have said about it on the show.
Who is in the room
Classmates who have sat at our table include the City of Philadelphia’s Senior Director of the Nighttime Economy, a global marketing vice president at LANXESS, a consultant who runs data and digital transformation programs for multinationals, a marketing and PR leader who flies in from Ohio, an IT strategy consultant who once walked away from medical school, and a former celebrity stylist who interned at Atlantic Records at 19.
The executive part matters. As one student put it on the show, admission comes with credentials, and your research is expected to line up with your industry (After Dark 03, 5:20).
How the weeks work
The program meets in person on residency weekends in Philadelphia, with online coursework in between. A typical stretch between residencies mixes discussion boards, quizzes, a group business case, a white paper and “hit the field” interviews (After Dark 03, 6:52). Research milestones are staged as RP1, RP2 and RP3 (After Dark 04, 6:13). Some gaps between residencies are long: one weekend, the group knew it would be about five months before they met in person again (After Dark 04, 26:36).
The classes people talk about
Statistics is the one that surprises people, with SPSS waiting at the next residency (After Dark 04, 23:11). Qualitative research gets real weight too. Dr. Lynne Andersson, who teaches the first-year qualitative research methods class, is glad the program treats it as equal to quantitative work (Episode 02, 22:45).
The cohort is the program
Students describe group members checking in on each other between residencies (After Dark 04, 7:01), alumni who brief each new class at the start (After Dark 04, 10:46), and second-year students who share what is ahead (After Dark 04, 11:52). One group member even had pens made with “DBA” on them for everyone (After Dark 04, 27:09).
PhD students in the same room
The Fox School is increasing contact between its PhD and DBA students. PhD students present at DBA residencies and stay to hear DBA students’ work, and the school tries to pair people researching similar topics (Episode 01, 50:05).
When the plan breaks
When a group of DBA students was in Dubai as the war with Iran broke out, Temple and a third-party evacuation company worked to get them home, a story our hosts tell in full on After Dark 02 (After Dark 02, 40:21).
The wider DBA world
Dr. Lynne Andersson also sits on the Executive DBA Council, the association of executive doctoral programs, which was reworking its mission as a wave of new DBA programs launched (Episode 02, 40:13).
Cohort in Progress is made by students in the program, not by the university. For admissions requirements, schedule and cost, see the Fox School’s official Executive DBA page.
