Admission

Admission to the MBA program is granted to students who show high promise of success in postgraduate business study and who hold bachelor’s degrees from regionally accredited institutions.

Previous academic training in business is not required for admission to the MBA program. Students may have backgrounds in such diverse fields as engineering, liberal arts, education and health related areas. The specific content of a student’s previous education is less important than the evidence that the student has sound scholarship, strong personal motivation, and the ability to develop the skills necessary to assume positions of leadership.

Admission decisions are based on the following:

1. Graduate Management Admission Test/Graduate Record Examination (GMAT/GRE) scores — overall score and component (i.e., verbal, quantitative and analytical writing) scores are evaluated. The GMAT/GRE must have been taken within the last six years;¹
2. Personal Goals essay that clearly articulates the applicant’s reasons for seeking admission (500 words maximum);
3. Two reference forms completed by faculty, employer or suitable referee;
4. Current resume (career-based work experience is desirable but not required); and
5. International students are required to have a minimum score of 570 (paper-based), or 88 (internet-based) on the Test of English as a Foreign Language, or an overall band score of 7.0 on the IELTS, or a score of 65 on the PTE-Academic.

Final admission of qualified applicants may be based on space available in the MBA program.

Applications for degree admission are reviewed twice a year, in the fall and spring. Deadlines for submitting applications to the Graduate School are July 1 for consideration for fall admission and December 1 for spring admission. International applicants living outside the United States must submit their applications by April 1 for fall admission consideration and August 1 for spring admission consideration. Applicants who apply after these deadlines are considered in the order in which their completed application materials are received.

¹

GMAT exceptions:

• Three years or more of managerial work experience, evaluated by the Office of Graduate Studies in Business; or
• WSU graduate with a GPA of 3.500 or higher in the last 60 credit hours; or
• Business degree from an AACSB accredited school and a GPA of 3.500 or higher in the last 60 credit hours; or
• A U.S. master’s degree or equivalent.

Advanced Standing

Students with strong backgrounds in business administration may be granted advanced standing in the MBA program through equivalent credit for background preparatory courses for which a minimum grade of C was received in an undergraduate or graduate program. Most students entitled to such credit hold bachelor’s degrees in business administration from accredited institutions.

Students may be granted equivalent credit for any or all of the preparatory courses, depending on the depth of their undergraduate or previous graduate preparation. The MBA program may consist of as few as 36 credit hours for students who have no deficiencies in prerequisites and who receive equivalent credit for all of the background fundamentals.

Students Not Receiving Advanced Standing

Students with bachelor’s degrees in non­business fields usually will not have backgrounds warranting the granting of advanced standing through equivalency credit. There are some exceptions. Some students, for example, may have had enough coursework in economics or statistics to be granted credit for these courses. Determination regarding equivalency credit will be made following admission to the program. A minimum grade of C (2.000) or better is required for the prerequisites MATH 144 and ECON 231.

MBA Course Prerequisites

¹

These courses are to be taken only if a specific deficiency exists.

²

With approval of the program director, equivalent credit may be granted for courses of equal content taken in an undergraduate or graduate program. See Advanced Standing section above.

MBA — Business Data Management Concentration 

The MBA with business data management concentration is designed to provide graduate students with knowledge and skills to effectively analyze large amounts of corporate data and information to support decision making and business performance management. This concentration aims to supplement the MBA core courses that discuss how managers and executives make their decisions in different business functions. To make such decisions, it is imperative that managers have the skills and knowledge to acquire appropriate data/information and transform it to actionable tactics and strategies. Applications of modern business analytics techniques, data visualization tools and sound database management design processes will be incorporated into the curriculum to give hands-on experience on viewing and manipulating data to make key business decisions such as inventory management, launching new products, acquiring new customers and others. Topics of how to properly acquire, store, manage and manipulate data in today's businesses are included. The concentration will train managers to develop and maintain a culture of data-driven decision making in the organization. The curriculum also aims to bridge the knowledge gaps between IT and non-IT workforces.

The following is a list of the required courses in common with the general MBA degree:

Applied Learning

Students in the MBA program are required to complete an applied learning or research experience to graduate from the program. The requirement can be met by completing two core graduate courses: MKT 803/ MGMT 803 and MIS 874. These courses provide opportunities to gain applied learning experiences through projects.