Curriculum

The McCombs curriculum prepares students to lead, build, and manage enterprises that create value for stakeholders and constituencies in a dynamic, global economy. The hallmarks of the Texas MBA include a common educational experience that prepares all students for success, a collaborative rather than competitive learning environment, market-driven concentrations, and program flexibility.

• The Basics
• Flexibility
• The Core

The Basics

Our goal is to give all MBAs the same grounding in the fundamentals of business and to endow them with general management competence. Through the core, the faculty seeks to instill these essential business skills and values:

• A contemporary, real-world managerial perspective
• Business ethics
• Teamwork and leadership skills
• Cross-functional problem solving
• Effective written and oral communications
• The ability to manage change, risk, and crises
• The ability to manage human resources and diversity
• Personal presentation skills

Flexibility

Unlike many programs, our students are not required to choose a concentration. You have the option of customizing your own program based on your unique strengths and interests, your perceptions of what employers want, and your own conclusions about how best to prepare yourself for a successful career. And whether or not you pursue one of our established concentrations, our MBA academic advisors can help you chart the course of your degree program.

The Core

The core consists of ten required classes (28 hours) taken during the first, second, and third semesters of the MBA program. Our students will have the opportunity to take three electives in the spring semester of their first year to begin to customize their degree.

 

First Year, Fall Semester

Statistics/Decision Analysis (3 hours)

Presents a unified approach to basic concepts in collection, analysis, and interpretation of data, emphasizing capabilities of different statistical methods and business applications. Students are introduced to statistical software packages.

Financial Accounting (3 hours)

Covers concepts and issues in the preparation and interpretation of financial statements and the use of financial information in evaluation and control of an organization.

Financial Management (3 hours)

Examines the theory and practice of corporate finance. The focus of the course is on investment and financing decisions. Major topics include risk and return, valuation, asset markets and market efficiency, capital budgeting, capital structure, dividend policy, agency considerations, and derivative securities.

Managerial Economics (3 hours)

Composed of two segments: microeconomics and macroeconomics. The microeconomics component covers how individuals and firms make economic decisions. The macroeconomics component examines how changes in global economy impact managerial decision making.

Marketing Management (3 hours)

Studies three distinct marketing issues – market analysis, developing a marketing strategy, and constructing the appropriate marketing mix for a product. The course highlights the development of action strategies, development of products and services, establishment of effective pricing, determination of distribution intensity, and promotion of business solutions.

Career Development (1 Hour)

Guides students through MBA-level career choices and teaches job-search and transition skills that will help students both in school and career. Covers self-assessment, career choice, behavioral and case interviewing, successful marketing and networking techniques, job research tools and company-specific research, business writing, business etiquette and offer negotiation.

First Year, Spring Semester

Strategic Management (3 hours)

Examines topics like the role of the general manager, formulating business and corporate-level strategy, managing strategic change, strategy implementation, and developing general managers. The focus is on the function and responsibility of the general manager, whose primary tasks include developing and managing an overall strategy.

Operations Management (3 hours)

Provides an introduction to the issues and decisions involved in the production of goods and services. More specifically, the course focuses on designing, operating, controlling, and improving the systems that accomplish production.

Plus a choice of Three elective courses (9 hours)

 

Second Year, Fall Semester

Accounting Information for Managerial Decision making (3 Hours)

Illustrates the essentials of managerial planning and control with an emphasis on the improvement of the decision-making process through a systematic, theory grounded and pragmatic approach. This course examines topics like short-term and long-term decisions, activity based costing, transfer pricing and performance measurement.

Managing People (3 hours)

A choice of one of the following “Managing People” courses:

• Art and Science of Negotiation
• Creating and Managing Human Capital
• Managing People and Organizations: Consultant’s Perspective

Plus A choice of three elective courses (9 hours)

Second Year, Spring Semester

A choice of five elective courses (15 hours)