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Master of Business Administration

For more than half a century, Lehigh's MBA program has been developing leaders for an ever changing global environment. Today, when creating innovation requires knowledge that crosses boundaries, Lehigh's MBA stands poised to provide our students with the tools for success.

What makes a Lehigh MBA distincitive?

Our graduates develop the entrepreneurial skills today's business requires through exposure to a world class faculty with a commitment to teaching, research, and service; joint degrees that combine business and practical skill; and a curriculum that transcends the ordinary.

The MBA core curriculum grew out of a faculty commitment to maintain excellence and relevance in graduate business education. By focusing on the business value chain and the way in which different functional areas come together to create a competitive advantage, students experience decision making from the perspective of the company as a whole. Core courses are designed to mirror business challenges and decision making in a dynamic and rapidly changing corporate environment. Industry field projects partner students with faculty members who have extensive teaching, research and business experience in their fields. These projects benefit the student and their corporate sponsors by giving each student exposure to a new area within their firm or with another corporate partner, and giving their companies involved an opportunity to pursue value-added projects.

This program includes courses that require real-time participation using our learning platform, Classroom LIVE, an integrated, web-based virtual environment that delivers programs in real time from classrooms on Lehigh's campus to students, in their homes, at their workplaces, or while traveling.   Other courses to complete program requirements will be available through Classroom ONLINE, an asynchronous online format that offers flexible scheduling and participation.

Innovative Structure

The 36-credit program begins with a mandatory one-day orientation and ends with a capstone course that draws upon the student's knowledge acquired during the core curriculum experience. The capstone course, MBA-406 Integrative Experience, emphasizes strategic management issues and solutions. Cross-core project teams are assigned a comprehensive case analysis of a company undergoing change. These teams closely resemble cross-functional corporate teams where each person has a different and valuable set of knowledge, skills and experience. By combining the industry projects, high-level class discussions, case analyses, and a computer simulation competition, this course exposes students to rigorous theoretical analysis while providing hands-on, simulated real world business experiences.

The industry project experience provides alternative methods for students to apply the knowledge acquired in the core towards their elective credit hours. Students are encouraged to design industry projects with their own firms or with a corporate partner. Lehigh's faculty will work with the student and a company supervisor to select a project and explore a new or existing business opportunity.

Accreditation

The Lehigh MBA is one of only a few programs in eastern Pennsylvania fully accredited by The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) International. Less than one-third of U.S. business schools and only 10% of business school programs worldwide meet the rigorous standards of AACSB International accreditation.

Academic Standards

To receive a master's degree from the College of Business and Economics, a student must achieve a grade point average (GPA) of at least 3.0 in graduate courses taken at Lehigh. A student may not receive more than four grades of C plus or lower. Master's degree candidates have six years to complete all required courses.

Graduate Management Admissions Test® (GMAT)

The GMAT is required of all entering applicants except of those who hold a terminal doctorate degree.

You may find a GMAT test center, test information and preparation materials by visiting the Graduate Management Admissions Council® (GMAC) website at www.mba.com

GMAT registration materials can also be obtained by contacting:
Pearson VUE
Attention: GMAT® Program
PO Box 581907
Minneapolis, MN 55458-1907
USA
Email: GMATCandidateServicesAmericas@pearson.com
Phone 1-800-717-GMAT (4628), 1-952-681-3680

Please use the proper program code shown below to have your official scores sent to Lehigh. Our office keeps GMAT scores on file for a period of two years. Official scores normally arrive at the MBA office two weeks after the exam has been taken.

If you have already taken the GMAT, you may order score reports to be sent to Lehigh through www.mba.com. The website provides instructions for ordering score reports online, by phone, by fax or by mail.

Prerequisites

Lehigh's MBA program accepts students from all academic backgrounds and an undergraduate degree in business is not required. There are no prerequisite courses required for admission to the MBA program; however, MBA 402-Managing Financial and Physical Resources and MBA 403-Managing Information require prerequisites of GBUS 401-Financial Accounting and ECO 401-Statistics.

Additionally, an undergraduate course in Principles of Economics and proficiency in Microsoft Office® Suite, including Access, are necessary. You may enroll in these courses after your application to Lehigh's MBA program has been accepted.

Statistics courses taken the past 5 years and completed with a B or higher may be used to waive the statistics requirement. Students who have taken a statistics courses more than 5 years ago, or have not earned a B or higher, must successfully complete a proficiency examination.

All students who have taken financial accounting at the undergraduate level in the last 5 years and earned a B or higher must pass a proficiency exam prior to enrolling in MBA 402-Managing Financial and Physical Resources. The Graduate Programs Office recommends that all students enroll in GBUS 401-Financial Accounting if this prerequisite is needed. Waiver exams in Finanical Accounting and Statistics are available.

Curriculum: Core Courses (21 credits)

The MBA core is a highly interactive process. Taught by faculty teams, the courses are specifically designed to mirror business problems and decision making in a dynamic and rapidly changing corporate environment.

MBA 401        Intro. to the Organization and its Environment (2)
MBA 402        Managing Financial and Physical Resources (4)
MBA 403        Managing Information (4)
MBA 404        Managing Products and Services (4)
MBA 405        Managing People (4)*
MBA 406        Integrative Experience (3)

Curriculum: Electives (15 credits)

Students will take 15 credits in electives to complete the degree and may take up to six credits of electives before completing the core courses. Students may take courses in a variety of disciplinary areas or design a concentration to best suit their career goals. Students may also take up to six credit hours of electives outside the College of Business and Economics but within Lehigh University. All elective courses must be at the 400 level.

Academic Contact

Jen Giordano

Interim Director of Student Recruitment and Admissions

Phone: 610-758-3418

E-mail: jlg210@lehigh.edu

For more information on the MBA online, please visit the website at http://www3.lehigh.edu/business/mba/default.asp.