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Full-Time MBA Curriculum
To say we emphasize the analytical doesn’t mean we just focus on computation. It means we challenge you to think rigorously and deeply about the drivers of any given situation.
James N. Doyle, Sr. Professor of Entrepreneurship
An Innovative MBA Curriculum
Simon Business School has long been regarded as a world leader in quantitative, economics-based education. Our MBA curriculum integrates analytics-based academics with hands-on opportunities to prepare for your career. Courses are designed to provide you with the tools to understand, explain, and predict business behaviors—while staying at the forefront of the global business marketplace.
Newly launched in fall 2019, our curriculum allows you to:
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Take more electives in the first year, and take them earlier in your program of study.
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Travel through your curricular experience with a cohort of students with similar career interests.
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Enter the workforce as a polished professional by taking two required breadth electives designed to prepare you with the skills employers desire.
Option for STEM Designation
Each of our Full-Time MBA specializations offers an option for STEM designation. Graduating with a STEM-designated MBA can give you a leg up in the job search, as corporate recruiters often see STEM designation as validation of a program’s rigor. For international students, there’s an additional benefit: the opportunity to extend Optional Practical Training (OPT) by 24 months, for a total of three years without H1B visa sponsorship, if hired into a STEM-eligible role.
It All Starts at the Core
At the heart of our academics is the Simon core: nine required courses, a Communicating Business Decisions sequence, and a client project aligned with your future career interests, which together act as the foundation for the rest of your education. The core curriculum (twelve required courses) defines the Simon MBA and distinguished our graduates distinct from the crowd.
The Simon core courses:
Hover over each tile below for a brief course description.
ACC 401
Corporate Financial Accounting
The primary focus of the course is developing the skills required to interpret and analyze financial information.
CIS 401A, CIS 401B
Information Systems for Management
This course focuses on the theoretical foundations underlying management information systems and their vital role in the modern business environment.
FIN 402
Capital Budgeting and Corporate Objectives
This course provides an introduction to financial analysis and capital budgeting with an emphasis on the valuation of real investment projects.
GBA 401
Structured Problem Solving in Teams
The First-Year Project Experience is a live project helping a client at a real organization answer an important question or achieve a significant business objective.
GBA 411
Business Modeling
This course develops the ability to frame business decisions and trains in fundamental quantitative analysis techniques.
GBA 412
Data Analytics
This course provides an introduction to using data and data analytics to inform decision-making.
MKT 402
Marketing Management
This course is our introduction to marketing from the viewpoint of a manager making marketing decisions in a variety of competitive and institutional settings.
OMG 402
Operations Management
The course develops a managerial perspective of the operations function and an appreciation of the role that operations plays in creating and maintaining a firm’s competitive edge.
STR 401
Managerial Economics
The primary objective of the course is to train students to think in economic terms, to identify the relevant economic issue in a given situation.
STR 421
Competitive Strategy
This course provides tools for analyzing decisions companies make and for designing business strategies that help firms make above-normal profits in the long run.
MGC 401
Professional Communication: Persuasion in Business Relationships
This course teaches the rhetorical principles of logic and persuasion, and the interactional approach to communication in groups and professional relationships.
MGC 402
Influence in Interpersonal Interactions
This course applies the concepts of persuasive communication to a widened range of workplace settings.
Distinguish yourself with skills companies demand.
You’ll also enrich your studies by choosing managerial breadth electives designed to bolster professional skills employers desire. We require students to choose at least two breadth electives in order to satisfy the Managerial Breadth degree requirement, select a real-world project class, and successfully complete an internship with a US company. We want to ensure every Simon MBA enters the workforce positioned to make an immediate impact.
Core electives—choose two of the following:
Hover over each tile below for a brief course description.
GBA 441
Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility
This course deals with business ethics and the social responsibility of business organizations.
GBA 442C
Elements of Leadership
This course approaches leadership as a set of learned skills that are subject to personal intention and choice.
GBA 435
Negotiation Theory and Practice: Bargaining for Value
This course surveys negotiation practices and develops skills that enhance the ability to capture value in cooperative and competitive bargaining scenarios.
STR 403
Organization and Strategy
This course teaches how to approach and solve a wide range of organizational design problems, whether as manager at any level, entrepreneur, or consultant.
STR 427
Organizational Behavior
This course presents behavioral concepts that influence individual, group, and organizational effectiveness.
Project Class—choose one of the following:
Hover over each tile below for a brief course description.
MKT 441
Brand Management Workshop
This course focuses on scanner data analysis and discusses timely brand management topics. Includes a team project performed for a major consumer packaged goods firm.
MKT 450
Product Management Workshop
This course provides students an opportunity to apply previous skills and experiences, along with new Simon skills, to a real client project.
FIN 450
Finance Project: Investment Portfolio Analysis
Design, execute, and present a team project in a finance topic area: investments, corporate finance, fintech, etc. Also includes broad finance industry overview and exposure to Bloomberg.
CIS 461
Strategy and Business Systems Consulting Practicum
This consulting strategy course includes a live project helping a client at a real organization answer an important question or achieve a significant business objective.
Required Internship:
Hover over the tile below for a brief description.
GBA 490
American Business Practice
Year 1 Summer Semester
This course is designed to apply business-management theories learned in class while assigned as an intern (minimum of six weeks) with a US company.
Add a Dimension to Your MBA
Customize your MBA toward your career goals by choosing a specialization. Our 10 specializations, arranged in three tracks, will give you the opportunity to take a deep dive into an area of study. We are the first MBA program in the US to offer a STEM-designated option to students in any specialization, which signals analytical and quantitative rigor to employers.
10 Specializations
Our specializations take a deep dive in one area of focus. Your coursework will be linked to co-curricular and career-search activities that align with your short-term career goals. Or, you can follow our General Management track to choose from a broad selection of courses.
Finance
Asset Management
Banking
Corporate Finance
Venture Capital & Private Equity
10 Minors
Complement the coursework in your specialization with a minor, which will round out your skills and functional training.
Cross-Functional
Analytics
Entrepreneurship
Global Business
Health Sciences Management
Leadership
Functional
Accounting
Consulting—Operations and Technology
Consulting—Strategy and Pricing
Finance
Marketing
MBA Requirements and Course Descriptions
To earn the Master’s of Business Administration degree, a full-time student must complete 68 credit hours of study with a minimum 3.0 grade-point average. Although not required, a student may complete a specialization or minor. For students interested in the STEM-designated MBA, 50% or more of their total credits earned must come from STEM-designated classes.
Simon 2020–2021 Course Catalog
Download our course catalog below to explore all requirements and full course descriptions for our full-time MBA program.
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