The Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) degree program offers you a collaborative atmosphere centered on pursing industry-relevant applied research. This advanced graduate program crosses traditional boundaries and provides you the opportunity, under the guidance of Washington University faculty, for structured course work along with focused, independent scholarly reading and research on important issues relating to business.
The Olin DBA is a 72-credit hour doctoral degree designed for individuals with a serious interest in research who wish to pursue graduate study either on a part-time or full-time basis. A Doctor in Business Administration is an advanced graduate degree that differs from a traditional PhD and extends beyond the fundamental foundation of a master’s degree to develop the necessary skills to conduct applied research. The DBA differs from a master’s degree and a PhD in a number of ways, including the scope of study, the approach to research and essentially the definitive outcome.
The Olin DBA is a practitioner’s doctoral degree designed to meet the needs of the researching professional, rather than the professional researcher. While a PhD is intended for those who wish to pursue research careers in academia, the DBA is extended graduate study beyond a master’s degree for those who wish to pursue careers in corporations, consulting firms or government agencies that can benefit from advanced research skills in analyzing business problems. The research capabilities developed in the DBA program are of a more applied nature, with more immediate real-world applicability than typical research pursued in the PhD program. Unlike the PhD program, the DBA program is aimed at those who are working in industry and may continue to work during their enrollment in the DBA program.