Academics

Academics Learn more about the MBA curriculum below.

As a Merage School MBA student, you will have a unique set of experiences and opportunities that will set you apart and distinguish you as a leader in a digitally driven world. No matter your background, you will learn to thrive as a leader in a technology-intensive global economy through a combination of innovative coursework, real-world experiences and career development.

  • Cultivate your business acumen during the first year of the program
  • Build your expertise in the second year by customizing your MBA through electives and MBA immersions
  • Benefit from a distinct curriculum, delivered by strategic thought-leaders who will teach you to think creatively and anticipate strategic opportunities in the next decade
  • Put your business knowledge and leadership skills to the test through experiential learning opportunities, study abroad, global immersions, competitions, extra-curricular opportunities, internships and more
  • Simultaneously focus on your career through a unique series of workshops focused not only on preparing you for your post-MBA job, but for life-long career resiliency
  • 37 for Faculty Rank in the U.S.
  • 18-21 Months to Complete
  • 7 Centers of Excellence
Merage School Academics Strategy Professor Margarethe Wiersema on Transforming Curricula

Program Schedule

Year 1

Quarter Courses
Quarter
Fall
Winter
Spring
Summer
Courses
Business Analytics: Decision Making, Financial Reporting for Management, Marketing Principles, Managerial Finance, Career & Professional Development Seminar
Organizational Leadership for Management, Microeconomics for Management, Competing in the Digital Age, Elective, Career & Professional Development ProSeminar
Operational Excellence: Processes, Models & Analytics, Strategy: Foundations & Dynamics, Electives, Career & Professional Development ProSeminar
Internship

Year 2

See Academic Areas for Faculty & Course Descriptions

MBA Immersions

Digital Transformation
Healthcare Management and Policy
Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Real Estate and Urban Development

Digital Transformation

The specialization in Digital Transformation prepares students to lead their organizations to success in the digital economy. Digital technologies are appreciating in power at incredible rates and changing the business environment in profound ways. Digital Transformation is the reinvention of businesses to reflect the digital world. The economics of the digital world are fundamentally different from those of the physical world, and imply new rules of competition. They change business strategy, structure and practices in profound ways. You will learn how to analyze technology-enabled change broadly and how to leverage digital technologies across businesses, from the perspective of both incumbents and startups. Completion of the MBA specialization requires 4+ academic courses and participating in the Center for Digital Transformation’s annual Road to Reinvention conference.

Learn More about the specialization in Digital Transformation

Healthcare Management and Policy

The specialization in Healthcare Management and Policy prepares you to excel in today’s complex healthcare business environment. Developed and administered with the Merage School’s Center for Health Care Management and Policy, this specialization builds on the Center’s mission to engage its partners in collaborative education, research and community service programs. You will develop a deep understanding of not only the underlying economics of healthcare, but also the policies, regulations and institutions that impact healthcare markets. Students at the Merage School can earn the MBA specialization in Healthcare Management and Policy by successfully completing a set of key electives and participating in the Center’s annual Health Care Forecast Conference.

Learn More about the specialization in Healthcare Management and Policy

Innovation and Entrepreneurship

The Beall Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship provides you with academic and practical training to gain a solid understanding of launching and/or growing a business in today’s competitive environment. The specialization in Innovation and Entrepreneurship prepares students who are either planning to or have already embarked on a career as an entrepreneur (innovating to form new companies) or an intrapreneur (innovating within existing companies). Earn the MBA specialization in Innovation and Entrepreneurship by participating in the Merage School New Venture Competition and completing key electives focused on entrepreneurship and innovation.

Learn More about the specialization in Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Real Estate and Urban Development

The Center for Real Estate provides world-class resources and research to future leaders and entrepreneurs working in real estate. To that end, the Center focuses on the pursuit of emerging best practices in the real estate profession. The MBA specialization in Real Estate and Urban Development provides you the practical skills and theories needed to succeed in an ever-changing marketplace. It takes a holistic approach to real estate, drawing from the lessons of past cycles and current trends in order to best prepare you for your career in real estate. Earn this MBA specialization through successful completion of five academic courses focused on real estate.

Learn More about the specialization in Real Estate and Urban Development

Curriculum

Successful leaders see the world through a global lens. Build your hands-on global perspective with international learning opportunities and immerse yourself in the business of another country through our week-long International Residentials. These are faculty-directed in-country courses where you are immersed in business and cultural experiences with your Merage School classmates. Recent Full-Time MBA residentials have taken our students to cities such as Amsterdam, Ho Chi Minh City and Dubai as well as countries like Japan, Cuba and Colombia.

The Merage School curriculum offers you the high-caliber, holistic preparation you will need to become an effective leader in a digitally driven world. Core and elective courses now examine how technology is disrupting all aspects of business across a diverse range of industries, from manufacturing and finance to healthcare and retail. Our focus on innovation allows you to prepare now for the career of tomorrow. We offer between 50-60 electives annually across all disciplines. Below is the current elective list:

Accounting

  • Driving Profitability Through Managerial Accounting
  • Financial Statement Analysis and Valuation I
  • Financial Statement Analysis and Valuation II
  • International Accounting
  • Cybersecurity Risk Management
  • Intro to Data Analytics for Accounting (MPAc)

Finance

  • Bonds and Fixed Income
  • Derivatives
  • FinTech and The Digital Economy
  • Programming and Data Analysis for Business (MFin)
  • Investments
  • Multinational Finance
  • Venture Capital and Private Equity

Information Systems

  • Technologies & Analytics Consulting (MSBA)
  • Business Intelligence
  • Data & Program Analytics
  • Digital Strategies
  • Software Thinking for Managers
  • Advanced Data Analytics (MSBA)
  • Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies
  • Data Architecture (MSBA)
  • Deep Learning Applications (MSBA)
  • Python for Management
  • Big Data Analytics with Hadoop (MSBA)
  • EDGE
  • Big Data Management Systems (MSBA)

Interdisciplinary Studies

  • Analyzing Organizations from the Inside
  • Applied Game Theory
  • Business Law
  • EDGE
  • Intrapreneurship
  • Media & Entertainment
  • Merage Consulting Projects
  • Sustainability & Competitive Advantage

Marketing

  • Consumer Behavior
  • Brand Management Simulation
  • Insight Marketing
  • Marketing on the Internet
  • Marketing Research
  • Social Media Marketing
  • Sales Management
  • Digital Marketing for Business Analytics (MSBA)
  • Micromarketing with Digital Footprints

Economics & Public Policy

  • Business of Medicine
  • Macroeconomics
  • Understanding Risk in Health Care

Operations and Decisions Technologies

  • Analytical Decisions Models
  • Predictive Analytics
  • Supply Chain Management

Organization and Management

  • Global Negotiations
  • Managing Performance in 21st Century
  • Negotiations
  • Organizational Change
  • Strategic Communication

Real Estate

  • Applied Real Estate Security Analysis and Portfolio Management
  • Introduction to the Real Estate Process
  • International Real Estate
  • The Real Estate Development Process
  • Introduction to the Real Estate Process
  • Mixed-Use Community Land Development
  • Real Estate Capital Markets
  • Seminar in Management of the Real Estate Enterprise

Strategy

  • Competitive Intelligence
  • Corporate Strategy
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Networks, Platforms, and Ecosystems in Business Strategy
  • Practice of General Management
  • Strategy in a Digital Age
  • Media & Entertainment

Sample Course Descriptions for Electives that Prepare You For the Digital Age:

Media & Entertainment

Inter-disciplinary course provides a detailed understanding of the overall ecosystem, the path to monetization and the impact of digital disruption.

Industries examined in the course include gaming, the music industry, publishing and the film industry. The course explores the impact of digital distribution as well as trends in development and marketing driven by digitization and big data.

Networks, Platforms, and Ecosystems in Business Strategy

This course provides a rigorous, economics-based and real-world-grounded development of the theory of networking effects and standards competition, platform economics, ecosystems management and regulatory impacts.

You will study models, synthesize strategies and apply the tools to contemporary and historical situations via class discussions, problems and assignments.

Strategy in a Digital Age

This course examines continuing digitization, including Blockchain transaction control, digital manufacturing, cheap robotics and automation, and the application of artificial neural networks to large data sets.

We focus on applying the unchanging basic principles of strategy, economics and organization to these new developments.