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Master of Business Administration (MBA)

McKenna Hall
sbge-grad@spu.edu | 206-281-2753
spu.edu/sbge

Faculty

The MBA program at ºù«ÍÞÊÓƵ is a management degree that provides you with the skills and knowledge necessary to excel in today’s complex and changing business environment.

The MBA program enhances your past academic work and professional experience, preparing you for higher levels of responsibility. It is intended primarily for the working professional who has achieved a meaningful level of career success following the baccalaureate degree. As you now recognize the need to develop and expand your knowledge and expertise in the management area, this program enables you to become more effective in current responsibilities or to open opportunities for new responsibilities.

Seattle Pacific’s School of Business, Government, and Economics (SBGE) is committed to providing you with an applied, experiential, and collaborative learning environment in which business and Christian faith, ethics, and character are integrated. The objectives of the program are to develop your abilities to do the following:

• Provide values-based leadership from a general-management perspective.
• Think and act strategically under conditions of rapid change and uncertainty.
• Effectively manage organizations through developing people and integrating business processes with information technology.
• Apply in-depth knowledge in one of the following areas: management of business processes, human resources management, finance, information systems management, or e-business.
• Communicate effectively, work in teams, use information technology, and self-assess personal abilities, strengths, and weaknesses.

PROGRAM CURRICULUM

The MBA curriculum consists of pre-MBA foundations courses, advanced courses, and elective courses. All MBA courses are 3 quarter credits. A minimum of 36 credits in the MBA program (12 courses) must be completed at SPU.

PRE-MBA FOUNDATION COURSES

Pre-MBA foundation courses (27 credit hours) cover business fundamentals that must be understood to achieve the program's objectives. In the following circumstances, coursework completed at the undergraduate level prior to admission to the program may fulfill one or more pre-MBA courses.

• If you earned a bachelor's degree within seven years* of admission to the program that included courses covering the same body of knowledge as foundations courses:

• Courses in which you earned a minimum grade of B may fulfill foundation courses with comparable content.
• A course taken for pass/no credit cannot fulfill a foundation course requirement.

*In order to fulfill the BUS 6170 requirement, a course must have been completed with a minimum grade of B within three years of admission to the MBA program.

• If you completed a bachelor's degree more than seven years prior to admission to the program, or if the grade in the undergraduate course is below B but not below C+:

• You may take a competency examination in the subject.
• Competency tests must be completed within the year following your date of admission to the program.
• If the competency examination is successfully completed, the applicable foundation course will be considered fulfilled.
• If you do not successfully complete the competency exam, you must take the graduate course or complete it via credit by examination for which tuition and an examination fee are charged.

ADVANCED COURSES

Advanced courses total 30 credit hours and develop a whole enterprise view. These courses may not be fulfilled by undergraduate coursework, and transfer credit from other institutions will be given only for graduate-level courses covering the same body of knowledge. You may transfer a maximum of three courses (9 credits) from other institutions with the approval of the SBGE associate dean for graduate programs.

ELECTIVE COURSES (15 credit hours)

By selecting specific sets of elective courses, you can tailor the degree to meet your individual needs, whether more integrative or more functional specialization oriented according to career stage. Current emphasis areas include Management, Finance, Human Resource Management, International Business, Technology Management, Information Systems Management, and Social and Sustainable Enterprise.

ADMISSION

You must have at least a 3.0 GPA in your undergraduate studies, at least a 500 (25V, 30Q, and 4.4AW) and evidence of at least one year of continuous, full-time, substantive work experience after receipt of the bachelor's degree on your résumé.

• The GMAT requirement is waived for applicants with a cumulative GPA of 3.7; a cumulative GPA of 3.25 or above and five years of post-baccalaureate professional work experience (or three years managerial experience); or, a cumulative GPA of 3.0 and at least 10 years of post-baccalaureate professional work experience. The GMAT is also waived for applicants already possessing an advanced degree from an accredited university.
• Applicants with less than 1-year of post-baccalaureate professional work experience, but who are otherwise strong candidates and are currently employed in a meaningful professional role may be considered.

A of 90 or above on the iBT version is preferred for international (ESL) applicants.

Submission of two letters of recommendation from employers and a three- to four-page personal statement that responds to essay questions available from the School are optional, but strongly encouraged.

PRE-QUALIFIED STUDENTS

Qualified individuals may take up to three Pre-MBA core courses if they have an undergraduate degree (as evidenced by an official transcript from an accredited institution); a minimum cumulative undergraduate grade point average (GPA) of 3.0; and a minimum of one year full-time post-baccalaureate work experience (as evidenced by a current résumé).

Pre-qualified students may not take advanced or elective courses. If they wish to continue in the graduate program after taking three core courses, they must apply for admission. Pre-qualified status does not guarantee full admission at a later date.

APPLICATION DEADLINES

The school admits students for all four academic quarters. You must submit your application for admission, $50 application fee, and personal statement (essay) by the dates listed below. Recommendation letters, transcripts, and test scores must all arrive before an admission decision can be made.

CONTACT

Admission materials should be directed to the Graduate Center. If you have questions, please contact the SBGE Graduate Program Coordinator:

• Phone: 206-281-2753
• Fax: 206-281-2733
• Email: SBGE-grad@spu.edu, or make your request at spu.edu/sgbe.

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