MBA Non-BBA
Requirements

College Admissions
Requirements

Dean's Executive
Advisory Board

College Web Site

College of Business Administration
Master of Business Administration (Non-BBA Option)

Degree Requirements

All M.B.A. candidates must demonstrate competence in finite mathematics, calculus, and algorithmic processes through course work at the college level. If college courses have not been successfully completed in each of these areas prior to admission, students must include these courses in the degree program. Courses offered at the University of Houston that meet these prerequisite requirements are the following:

MATH 1313 and MATH 13141

or

DISC 4381, which may be used in place of both of these courses

DISC 2373

1MATH 1313 and MATH 1314 require credit for or placement out of MATH 1310.

Prerequisite hours are not included in the number of hours required for the degree and may be waived based on previous equivalent college course work.

Graduate-Level Courses

All students entering the Master of Business Administration program are required to have a four-year undergraduate degree (or the foreign equivalent) from an accredited institution. The undergraduate degree may be in any discipline.

A minimum of 54 semester hours at the graduate level is required, excluding prerequisites. There are two categories of course work: core courses and electives.

Core courses (30 semester hours) for the M.B.A. degree

ACCT 6331	Financial Accounting
MANA 6332	Organizational Behavior and Management
FINA 6387	Managerial Analysis
DISC 6341	Information Systems
DISC 6360	Statistical Methods for Business
MARK 6361	Marketing Administration
GENB 6330	International Environment of Business
FINA 6335	Managerial Finance
DISC 6301	Production and Operation Management
MANA 6383	Corporate Strategy and Policy
or
MANA 7366	Organization and Policy Formulation for Multinational Operations
	(MANA 6383 and MANA 7366 are not offered during the summer.)

Electives (minimum 24 semester hours)

M.B.A. candidates are not required to state an area of concentration for electives, although that opportunity is available. Of the 24 semester hours of elective courses, no more than 12 hours (four courses) may be in a single discipline. Areas of study include accounting, finance, international business, management, management information systems, marketing, operations management, statistics and operations research, strategy, and taxation.

Students who choose to concentrate in one area, except for accounting or taxation, should take no more than four elective courses in the selected field. Within the remaining nine hours of electives, three hours must be in international business.

Students who wish to concentrate in statistics and operations research must take the following courses: DISC 7350, DISC 7358, DISC 7370, and one additional 7000- or 8000-level course in Statistics and Operations Research.

Students who choose to concentrate in international business must substitute MANA 7366 for MANA 6383 (all students may take only one of the following courses for credit toward the degree: INTB 7366, MANA 7366, or MANA 6383); and complete four INTB elective courses.

Before certification for graduation with an international business area of concentration, a student must demonstrate proficiency in a foreign language other than English at the intermediate level. (Note: this excludes computer languages.) Testing can be scheduled through the College of Humanities, Fine Arts, and Communication in the following languages: French, German, Spanish, Italian, Greek, Russian or additional approved modern languages when the capability for testing can be demonstrated.

Students who choose accounting as a concentration must complete 15 specified elective hours in that field: ACCT 6376, ACCT 6377, ACCT 7376, and two of the following three courses: ACCT 7336, ACCT 7368, and/or ACCT 7373. Similarly, those concentrating in taxation must complete 15 elective hours in that field of study. In addition, nine hours of electives outside the concentration must be completed (with three hours required in international business). Students who concentrate in accounting or taxation must take six hours of electives outside the Department of Accountancy and Taxation. Concentration in the areas of accounting or taxation results in a 57-hour M.B.A. program.

Students must select elective courses at the graduate level (numbered 6000 and above) and within the college. Students may petition to include a maximum of two electives from outside the college in the M.B.A. degree plan. Approval for this exception may be granted if the requested course is graduate level and consistent with the advanced study of business administration, and if the course is not available within the college. Automatic or after-the-fact approval for this inclusion should not be assumed. Students may petition the Office of Student Services for approval of an outside elective at least two weeks in advance of registration. A course description and/or syllabus must be attached to the petition.

Waiver/Transfer Policy for Previously-Completed Courses

Students who have completed college course work equivalent to the core courses may have a maximum of 18 semester hours of core courses waived without substitution. In addition, students who have completed graduate-level courses equivalent to the college's graduate-level core courses or electives may have a maximum of nine semester hours transferred to the M.B.A. program. All degree candidates, however, must complete at least 36 semester hours of graduate work in the College of Business Administration. Both the waiver and the transfer of course work are based on the following guidelines:

1. Courses used for the purpose of waiving or transferring graduate course work must have grades of B or higher.

2. Electives may not be waived.

3. Transferred work must be at the graduate level and may not be more than five years old at the time of graduation with the M.B.A. degree from UH.

4. Students may transfer no more than six semester hours of work from a completed advanced degree.

5. The total of waived and transferred hours may not exceed 18 semester hours.

6. Both the individual department and the Office of Student Services must approve the waiver/transfer request. Final authority for the approval of all waiver/transfer requests rests with the Office of Student Services.

7. Requests for either transfer or waiver of courses should be made during the first semester of attendance as a graduate student in the college. Credit is not given for either professional experience or professional development courses.

Waiver with Substitution

Students in certain academic cases may choose a waiver with substitution of an elective for a required course. Students may substitute an elective in the same area for a required course either if they have previously completed one or all of the specified electives in their area of concentration or if the grade requirements for waiver of a course without substitution are not met.

Waiver with substitution is also possible if the maximum allowable waivers without substitution have already been taken. The selected course must be at the graduate level and in the same area as the required course.

Waiver with substitution possibilities should be discussed with the graduate advisors in the Office of Student Services. If a course is waived with substitution, the number of hours needed for the M.B.A. is not reduced.

Time Limitation

Students who have a degree plan of 36 semester hours must complete the degree program within five years. Any transferred course that a student includes in the M.B.A. program may not be more than five years old at the time of graduation. Students who have a degree plan of more than 36 semester hours must complete the degree program within seven years; however, the last 36 semester hours must be completed within the five-year period preceding the students' graduation.

Continuous Enrollment

Unless students petition for a leave of absence, they should maintain continuous enrollment during the fall and spring semesters. Students who are out of the program for more than one calendar year will be under the jurisdiction of the catalog in effect at the time of the students' reentry. Students who fail to maintain continuous enrollment for more than two calendar years must reapply for admission to the program, must pay the CBA application fee, and must meet the admission requirements in effect at that time.

Effective Semester of Admission

Admission is granted only for a specific semester. If students wish to postpone enrollment, they must secure approval from the Office of Student Services. The first semester in which students, as graduate students, complete graduate-level work that applies toward a degree, is the effective semester of admission.