Coles MBA

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The Coles MBA program is made up of core courses and elective courses – for a total of at least 36 semester credit hours of graduate course work. All students complete 21 credit hours of prescribed core courses and at least 15 credit hours of elective courses. Applicants admitted to the MBA program are advised in their acceptance letters which foundation requirements, if any, must be satisfied.

Foundation Requirements

Foundation requirements are the knowledge and skills of a broad set of business disciplines including accounting, finance, and statistics/math. Academic preparation in these disciplines is necessary prior to advanced study in business. A bachelor’s degree in business or accounting typically satisfies all foundation requirements. As an alternative, the Coles College of Business offers modular programs in each of these areas. The modules are non-credit, self-paced, Internet-driven programs. Completion of a module satisfies the foundation requirements for that area. The modules required are determined for each student based on a thorough analysis of college transcripts showing prior academic course work, and are communicated in the acceptance letter. This table summarizes the business foundation requirements and options for satisfying them.

Foundation requirements are satisfied by successfully completing …	… or by completing undergraduate course(s) with a grade of “C” or higher in …	… which is the KSU equivalent of …
Accounting Foundations	Financial accounting and managerial accounting	ACCT 2100 and ACCT 2200
Finance Foundations	Finance principles	FIN 3100
Statistics and Math Foundations	Inferential statistics and algebra	ECON 2300 and MATH 1101

NOTES:

Undergraduate courses used to satisfy the foundation courses must be from an institution accredited in a manner acceptable to the Coles College of Business;
Foundation requirements must be satisfied at the beginning of the MBA program, typically within the first semester of study;
Enrollment in 8000-level graduate courses is restricted, based on foundations required, until foundation requirements are met;
Admission to the MBA, MAcc, or WebMBA program is required to enroll in these courses;
Students may choose to take the equivalent undergraduate business courses in order to meet Foundation requirements.

Core Requirements (21 Credit Hours)

Core requirements are the knowledge and skills of the common body of business that, collectively, are essential to managing and leading organizations. Core requirements are satisfied by:

MGT 8999 is to be taken near or in the final semester of study. Fifteen credit hours of core courses and at least nine credit hours of elective courses must be completed prior to taking this capstone course. All students must request permission to register for MGT 8999. For permission to enroll, students should send a request to MBAAdvisor@kennesaw.edu.

Elective Requirements (15 Credit Hours)

Elective requirements are the knowledge and skills of a generalized cross-section of business areas or of a more narrowly defined area of study. Students will select and complete at least 15 credit hours of elective courses that best fit their professional and personal goals. Any 8000-level elective (i.e., non-core) courses offered in the Coles College of Business may be selected.

Students are advised to consider elective options early in their graduate studies and to make considered and deliberate choices. Academic advisors, faculty members, professional colleagues, mentors, and others are helpful resources to consider when choosing electives. Students are also encouraged to be flexible in their choices of electives due to evolving professional interests, course availability, or other influences that may emerge during the graduate experience.

Possible areas of study include, but are not limited to, accounting, business information systems, economics, entrepreneurship, finance, general management, human resource management, international business, marketing, and operations management.

One of the electives (3 credit hours) must be an international course from the list below:

Students may use one business-relevant three-credit-hour course may be taken in a Kennesaw State University graduate program outside of the Coles College of Business in their degree programs. Written permission from the director of the program and from the academic coordinator of the Coles College graduate programs prior to taking the class is required.

The following parameters apply to MBA students who wish to take 8000-level accounting courses as their MBA electives: (See the Master of Accounting section of this catalog for more details.)

Must complete ACCT 8000;
Must complete undergraduate accounting prerequisite courses for each 8000-level course;
May take ACCT 8990 as an MBA elective after completion of 12 hours (four 8000-level graduate courses) including ACCT 8100 and ACCT 8400;
May not use ACCT 8990 to satisfy MGT 8999.

Program Total (36 Credit Hours)

(12 graduate courses)