MBA Curriculum

General Questions
  • Posted by Gustavo G on 04/14/15 9:07pm

    Hello Thomas,

    First of all congratulations on your work,

    I am an bachelor in Business from Brazil and currently doing an extensive research on MBA programs focusing on triple accredited European Schools that offer max. 1 year length programs.

    I currently work in a media company and have always worked with Marketing and Strategic Planning related areas despite having also interest in Sustainability subjects. The point is I am really not into the finance and accounting field and from what I notice so far that is always an relevant part in the core curriculum.

    I´d please like to know if you have any knowledge on which Programs really permit to build a customized curriculum. Of course I know I´ll have to attend a few classes that are not on my field (including basic finance and accounting) in order to have an general perspective but I´d really like to apply to programs that the main focus is on the electives.

    At the moment HEC Paris sounds interesting with the "Customized Phase" (but there is still an heavy load of core courses) and also IE.

    I am sorry if my message was not clear but I would really appreciate your help here.

    Many thanks!
    Gustavo

    • Posted by Thomas Graf on 04/15/15 12:15am

      Hi Gustavo,

      all MBA programs have a fixed core curriculum that covers the most important business functions. Accounting usually is just one course, but finance may be more. So, you may want to search for a program where finance is covered within one course only.

      As you found out already, the advanced parts of the programs allow for a customized curriculum. Here the differences among programs are whether this customization includes "just" electives (and then the programs differ as for how many electives are offered and in what disciplines) - or whether the program offers a concentration. A concentration - e.g., in marketing - means that you specialize in the advanced parts of your studies (instead of choosing an elective in one area and another one in a different area).

      Best wishes
      Thomas

      By Thomas Graf
      Owner MBA Compass
      Author of the MBA&MIM eBook