MBA Program Degree Requirements

Pre-Program Proficiency Requirements
All applicants, including those with an undergraduate degree in business, must meet the following pre-program requirements:

  • Computer proficiency
  • Demonstrated written communication skills
  • Business Calculus/Applied Calculus (MAT 102)
  • Statistics (BA 201)

Prerequisite Course Requirements for the MBA
Students must have satisfactorily completed the following courses, totaling 24 hours of undergraduate coursework:

  • MGT 300 Management for Organizations*
  • ACC 200 Intro to Financial Accounting*
  • ACC 220 Intro to Managerial Accounting*
  • ECO 201 Principles of Macroeconomics**
  • ECO 202 Principles of Microeconomics**
  • MGT 325 Operations Management*
  • MKT 300 Principles of Marketing*
  • FIN 300 Principles of Finance*

Please review the program Information Packet for more details regarding the undergraduate prerequisites.

These courses may be completed at Southern Miss, or at another accredited university or college, including community colleges.  Courses listed above with a * are offered online by the Southern Miss College of Business at least once per year.  Courses marked with ** are available online through the Mississippi Virtual Community College (www.msvcc.org).  The Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College equivalents to 100- and 200-level prerequisites are listed at http://www.usm.edu/business/students/mccte.php 

Applicants will need to provide transcripts as proof of the satisfactory completion of prerequisite courses.  Also, courses taken at other colleges and universities will need to be approved for prerequisite credit.  Specifically, the courses must cover the same material at the same level of study.

Students who apply without having their prerequisites reviewed by an Advisor will have their application package deferred until all prerequisites are completed.

MBA Core Course Requirements
The required courses for the MBA program are listed below, totaling 33 hours of graduate coursework.  The 600-level courses may not be taken until all pre-program and core prerequisite requirements are satisfied.

  • MBA 600 Organizational Behavior and Leadership
  • MBA 605 Marketing Management
  • MBA 610 Analytical Decision Making                      
  • MBA 611 Managerial Accounting
  • MBA 620 The Global Economy 
  • MBA 640 Financial Management 
  • MBA 650 Global Business Systems
  • MBA 660 Strategic Management 
  • 3 MBA Approved Graduate Electives*                        

The MBA 660 course is a capstone course to be taken in the final semester of the MBA program.  Therefore, admission into MBA 660 is subject to departmental approval.  Prior to graduation, all MBA candidates must take a final comprehensive exam, which is administered in the MBA 660 course.


* Approved graduate electives are courses offered by the College of Business.  Requests for approval of out-of-College graduate electives must be submitted in advance, and will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.