DeGroote School of Business
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Curriculum

The full-time MBA program consists of 4 academic terms. The full-time with co-op MBA program consists of 4 academic terms and 3 work terms. In the first 2 academic terms, all students complete required core business courses. In the second year, students take 2 required courses and 8 electives.

Students in the accelerated program are admitted directly into second year. They take the two required second year courses and 8 electives.

Required Courses

All graduate students at McMaster must complete two online SGS training modules within the first month of the program.

First Year

The program’s first year has been redesigned with your needs in mind. We’ve streamlined classes, coursework, and schedules to offer an uncompromised education and a balanced workload. We emphasize experiential learning, giving you more hands-on opportunities in real-world scenarios. ​

In the first academic term, students start by taking six required courses to help make sure everyone understands core business principles.

  • A610 – Financial & Managerial Accounting
  • B610 – Organizational Behaviour
  • D610 – Essential Business Skills
  • F610 – Managerial Economics
  • O610 – Business Analytics
  • P615 – Management Consulting (Full-Time MBA only)
  • K610 – Digital Transformation (Full-time MBA with Co-op only)

During the second academic term, students complete the remaining six required first year courses.

  • F611 – Corporate Finance
  • M610 – Marketing
  • O611 – Operations Management
  • P620 – Core Business Skills
  • C610 – Health & Society (Full-Time MBA with Co-op only)
  • P610 – Sustainability Leadership (Full-Time MBA with Co-op only)
  • K610 – Digital Transformation (Full-Time MBA only)
  • P615 – Management Consulting (Full-Time MBA only)

Second Year

During first semester of year 2, students take the required P700 course, and four second-year electives.

During second semester of year 2, students take the required P720 course, and four second-year electives.

SGS Training Modules

McMaster graduate students (including all MBA students) are also required to complete two online training modules during the first semester:

  • SGS 101 – Academic Research Integrity
  • SGS 201 – Accessibility for Ontarians with Disability Act

 

Helpful Resources

Understanding Course Codes

First year courses have 600-level codes.

Second year courses have 700-level codes.

Frequently Asked Questions

“Reserve Capacity Criteria”

  • Although a course may appear to have seats available, the seats in the allotted “reserve capacity” that you have access to may be full at this time.
  • Oftentimes, faculties release a specific number of seats to students outside of their faculty. Once faculties are certain that there are enough seats for their students, these seats will be released.
  • We encourage you to try enrolling in a different section (if available) or a different elective with space and continue to try to swap into your preferred elective on Mosaic once the reserved seats are released.
  • To confirm the reserved seat release date, you must reach out to the home faculty of the course offered.

“Pre-requisites Not Met”

  • Please refer to the course website (Course Descriptions and Outlines – MBA Program (mcmaster.ca)) to view the prerequisites.
  • If you do meet the prerequisite, reach out to us at askmba@mcmaster.ca so we can investigate this for you further. Please include your full name and student number in your inquiry.

“Department Consent Required”

  • This error message means this course is currently full.
  • Course enrollment will be monitored carefully.  Please try back often to see if a seat has become available.
  • In the meantime, we also suggest you register in an alternate course.

Note: You may get the “Department Consent Required” message even when the course does not appear to be full. This means someone has dropped the course and a seat is being given to the next student on the wait list.

Our Academic Advisors continue to support students virtually through the Zoom platform and appointments can be made on OSCARplus:

  • Log into OSCARplus with your MacID and password.
  • On the left-hand side, click DeGroote School of Business.
  • Select Appointments.
  • Click MBA and book an appointment using the View Calendar option.
    • Please leave a detailed comment describing how an Academic Advisor can best assist you.
  • Upon booking, you will receive a Zoom link to connect with the Academic Advisor at the date/time of your appointment.