Master of Business Administration

Overview

The Master of Business Administration program at Sam Houston State University is designed to develop candidates for positions of leadership in modern organizations. Managerial procedures and practices are continually changing. Therefore, the program emphasizes the integration and synthesis of various disciplines to develop a student’s ability to function in a dynamic environment and make sound administrative decisions that maximize the value and contributions of an organization. The M.B.A. program is suited for qualified students from any academic discipline. The program provides the candidate with a basic managerial background through the core requirements while providing individualized adaptation through elective courses.

The MBA requires 36 graduate hours including 27 hours of core courses and 9 hours of electives. Concentrations in Economics, Finance, Management, Human Resource Management, Project Management, and Supply Chain Management are currently offered in the MBA program.

Core and elective courses are available to complete our MBA program entirely online. Please see current schedule of classes for the course offerings.

The MBA program may be completed in as few as four semesters; however, it is not recommended that students who are working attempt more than six hours in a semester. A more realistic timeline would be approximately two years.

Admission Process Requirements

Complete the online graduate application form.
Pay the application fee.
Submit Official transcript(s) from all previous college work (except SHSU graduates).
Submit an official GMAT score.
Submit a current resume (emailed to graduate@shsu.edu).

International students must submit all of the above information plus:

Official TOEFL score of at least 79 (or IELTS score of at least 6.5).
English translations and evaluation of official transcripts.

Graduate Application Deadlines

U.S. Citizens

Fall - August 1 Spring - December 1 Summer - May 15

International Students

Fall - June 25 Spring - November 12 Summer - April 9

Admission Criteria

Degree from a U.S. university
- Meet or exceed one of the following admission formulas:
  - 200 (Undergraduate GPA) + GMAT Score > 1100*
  - 200 (Advanced Hours Undergraduate GPA) + GMAT Score > 1150**

Degree from a non- U.S. university
- Students who earned a baccalaureate degree from a university located outside of the United States must satisfy all of the following to be considered for admission into SHSU’s MBA program.

GMAT Waiver Requests

Undergraduate GPA* of 2.75 or higher allows for a comprehensive review of academic performance and consideration for a GMAT waiver.
Applicants who have an undergraduate GPA of at least 2.5 from their degree granting U.S. institution and have at least three years of significant managerial and professional experience may be admitted without a GMAT score, typically through a review of the applicant's resume. Normally, the required experience is earned after completion of the undergraduate degree. A committee will assist, if needed, in determining if the applicant's experience meets the "significant managerial and professional experience" threshold.
Applicants who have an undergraduate degree granted by a non-U.S. institution will not be considered for a GMAT waiver.

*The undergraduate GPA is the GPA from courses taken at the degree granting institution. Transfer grades are not used in the computation of this undergraduate GPA. **The advanced hours undergraduate GPA is the GPA from junior and senior (3000 and 4000) level courses taken at the degree granting institution. Transfer grades are not used in the computation of this undergraduate GPA.

Stem Requirements for Non-Business and Non-Accounting Graduates

The stem classes serve as prerequisites for the graduate business courses and are required for students who did not take the equivalent courses as part of their baccalaureate program or for students with a baccalaureate degree from a non-U.S. university. The graduate stem courses (5300s) do not apply to the 36-hour graduate credit hour requirement of the MBA degree.

Stem Course Requirements
ACCT 5300 Analysis of Accounting Information	3 hours
BANA 5300 Quantitative Tools for Business	3 hours
ECON 5300 Economic Principles and Policy	3 hours
FINC 5300 Business Finance Environment	3 hours
MGMT 5300 Foundations of Strategic Management	3 hours

Degree Plan

Item	Requirement	Options	Hours Required
1	Specified Courses	ACCT 5304 Accounting for Management BUAD 5310 Managerial Communication BANA 5368 Techniques of Statistical Analysis MKTG 5330 Marketing Management FINC 5310 Managerial Finance MGMT 5345 Seminar in Team Leadership MGMT 5390 Seminar in Strategic Management and Policy (This is a capstone course. A grade of "B" or better is required for graduation) MGMT 5315 Seminar in Operations Management	24
2	ECON Elective¹	Choose one* from:* ECON 5XXX (any 5000 level ECON course, excluding ECON 5380 and ECON 5300)	3
3	COBA Electives¹	Choose three from: General Electives (may choose three from: All graduate courses in the College of Business Administration - Excluding ACCT 5300, BANA 5300, ECON 5300, MGMT 5300 and FINC 5300)	9
TOTAL			36

¹MBA Concentrations

For those students that would like to concentrate on specific disciplinary areas, the ECON and COBA electives can target the following course options. Students wishing a second concentration would need to complete additional coursework beyond the minimum 36 hours required within the MBA program.

Concentration in Economics (Choose 4 from the following list.)

ECON 5301 – Mathematical Methods for Applied Economics
ECON 5305 – Microeconomics
ECON 5307 – Macroeconomics
ECON 5325 – Econometrics
ECON 5340 – International Economics
ECON 5348 – Topics in Development Economics
ECON 5350 – Applied Topics in Health Economics
ECON 5351 – Seminar in Managerial Economics
ECON 5352 – Energy Economics
ECON 5357 – Seminar in Managerial Economics
ECON 5360 – Economic Analysis of Strategy
ECON 5370 – Economic Theory
ECON 5373 – Urban Economics

Concentration in Finance (Choose 3 from the following list.)

FINC 5333 – Financial Statement Analysis
FINC 5340 – International Finance
FINC 5345 – Seminar in Investments
FINC 5370 – Problems in Administrative Finance

Concentration in Human Resource Management (Choose 3 from the following list.)

MGMT 5355 – Seminar in Human Resource Management
MGMT 5360 – Staffing Organizations
MGMT 5365 – Compensation Management

Concentration in Management (Choose 1 from the following list.)

MGMT 5316 – Supply Chain Management
MGMT 5318 – Quality Management
MGMT 5320 – Management of Innovation and Technology
MGMT 5323 – Tools of Project Management
MGMT 5325 – Project Management
MGMT 5330 – Operations Planning and Control
MGMT 5350 – Leading Organizational Change and Development
MGMT 5355 – Seminar in Human Resource Management
MGMT 5360 – Staffing Organizations
MGMT 5365 – Seminar in Compensation Management

Concentration in Project Management

MGMT 5325 - Project Management

Choose 2 from the following list.

MGMT 5318 – Quality Management
MGMT 5323 – Tools of Project Management
MGMT 5327 – Agile Project Management
MGMT 5330 – Operations Planning and Control

Concentration in Supply Chain Management

MGMT 5316 - Supply Chain Management