Career Platforms are an alignment tool that helps you make choices about your course work and decide what to do outside the classroom – extracurriculars, career services and alumni activities. As a full-time MBA, you take core classes in the first semester – courses that teach the broad-based, essential tools required of any good manager. You’ll gain the foundational knowledge necessary to be competitive. Then, over the next year and a half, you may focus on one of four Career Platforms, each of which has several concentrations:
- Consulting & General Management (PDF)
- General Management & Internal Consulting
- The Business of Healthcare
- Entrepreneurship
- International Management
- Strategy Consulting
- Human Resources Consulting
- Corporate Finance & Investments (PDF)
- Financial Manager
- Investment Banking - Corporate Finance
- Private Equity & Venture Capital
- Investment Banking - Capital Markets & Trading
- Asset Management
- Marketing (PDF)
- Brand Management
- Product Management
- Operations & Supply Chain Management (PDF)
- Operations/Supply Chain Manager
- Supply Chain Consultant
Along with your regular courses, at the start of the second semester, you take an industry seminar course that puts you face to face with seasoned professionals in your selected platform. You spend the summer learning more about your career platform through an internship. During your second year, you take courses in specified clusters, including an experiential learning course.
The Weston Career Center is staffed with full-time and adjunct advisors who have specialty and functional field experience that complements the four Platforms. Each Platform also has its own faculty director and an advisory board of 10 to 15 people — alumni and representatives from companies that recruit here. Interacting with them gives you the industry savvy you need to shine when it comes time to interview for jobs.
Market yourself for internships and full-time positions by pursuing specific career interests with our elective courses, or add specialized skills to your résumé.There's no competitive bidding process for elective courses here. We provide a wide range of relevant courses to choose from, and our smaller class size ensures very few filled sections.
Electives constitute two-thirds of our curriculum. You start them during the spring semester of your first year. And you can sample courses from any of Washington University's graduate programs – International Political Economy, Technology Entrepreneurship, Economics of Social Welfare and Environmental Law, to name a few. Many are pre-approved for MBA credit (PDF). That's not something many other MBA programs offer.
The MBA Student Affairs staff is here to guide you.
- Answer questions about our career platforms, courses and faculty.
- Suggest courses that refine your leadership, communication and negotiation skills.
- Help you take advantage of self-assessment, development and career planning tools each semester.
Following is a list of elective courses, or you may download MBA Course Descriptions (PDF).
Accounting
Advanced Business Analysis Using Financial Statements
Advances in Management Accounting
Advances in Planning and Control Systems
Auditing
Business Analysis Using Financial Statements
Federal Income Taxes
Financial Accounting B
Financial Accounting II (Intermediate Accounting)
Financial Accounting III (Advanced Accounting Problems)
Financial Issues in Leasing
Financial Reporting from the CFO's Perspective
Managerial Control Systems
Tax and Business Strategy: A Planning Approach
Finance
Advanced Corporate Finance I - Valuation
Advanced Corporate Finance II - Financing
Advanced Corporate Finance III - Frontiers of Valuation
Advanced Derivative Securities
Data Analysis for Investments
Derivative Securities
Financial Institutions
Financial Intermediation
Financial Issues in Leasing
Financial Markets
Fixed-Income Securities
International Finance
Investment Banking
Investment Praxis
Investment Theory
Mergers and Acquisitions
Mortgage-Backed Securities
Options & Futures
Real Estate Finance
Real Option Valuation
Risk Management
Venture Capital and Private Equity
Management, Policy and Human Resources
The Basics of Bio-Entrepreneurship
Business Plan for New Enterprises (The Hatchery)
Community Consulting Project (Taylor)
Corporate Strategy
Creating Exceptional Value: Performance Without Compromise
Decision Analysis and Modeling
Effective Managerial Communication
Ethical Issues in Managerial Decision Making
Global Management Studies
Healthcare Economics, Policy and Operations
Human Resource Strategy for General Managers
Independent Study in Management
Integrated Value Creation: The Wholonics Approach
International Business
Introduction to Entrepreneurship
Labor and Employment Laws
Labor Law & the Collective Bargaining Process
Law and Business Management
Legal Issues at Business Stages
Management and Corporate Responsibility
Practicum
Social Entrepreneurship
Strategic and Crisis Communication
Strategic Consulting
Strategic Management in Life Sciences
Topics and Case Studies in Ethical Decision Making
Managerial Economics
Compensation, Incentives and the Organization
Competitive Industry Analysis and Strategy Development
Econometrics and Forecasting
Economic Issues and the Management of Health Care
Economics of the Organization
Empirical Techniques for Industry Analysis
The Global Economy
Health Care Management
Market Competition and Value Appropriation
Money, Capital Markets and Economic Growth
Marketing
Brand Management: Creating and Building Brand Equity
Brand Management: Measuring and Managing Brand Equity
Creating and Marketing Innovative Products and Services
Data Analysis for Brand Management
Database Marketing
International Marketing Management
Marketing Research
Marketing Strategies for Innovative Products and Services
Marketing Strategy
Pricing Decision Making and Implementation
Pricing Strategies
Understanding and Influencing Consumer Behavior
Operations and Manufacturing Management
Advanced Operations Strategy
Foundations of Supply Chain Management
Information Technology and Supply Chain Management
Managing Business Process Outsourcing for Competitive Advantage
Operations Management in the Service Industry
Operations Planning and Control
Organizational Behavior and Strategy
International Negotiations
Leading Change
Managing Power and Politics in Organizations
Negotiation and Conflict Management