How an Accelerated MBA Works
Earn your MBA on an accelerated timeline. Our Full-Time Accelerated MBA and Online Hybrid Accelerated MBA are designed for students with an undergraduate business background.
How The Accelerated MBA Differs From Other Tepper MBA Programs
Candidates are eligible for the Accelerated MBA programs if they have earned an undergraduate business degree or have taken core business courses in the last 10 years. They receive credit for their acquired business knowledge and take refresher coursework in their first semester. Here are the 5 courses we need for transfer credit, and their descriptions to help confirm you have the required coursework:
Accounting
This course provides the knowledge and skills necessary for the student to understand financial statements and financial records and to make use of the information for management and investment decisions. Topics include: an overview of financial statements and business decisions; the balance sheet, the income statement, and the cash flow statement; sales revenue, receivables, and cash; cost of goods sold and inventory; long-lived assets and depreciation, and amortization; current and long-term liabilities; owners' equity; investments in other corporations; an introduction to financial statement analysis and international issues dealing with financial statements.
Finance
Firms create value by making good investment decisions. Finance is the field of management science tasked with making this happen. It is a set of tools with which firms identify good investments and decide how to pay for them. Paying for them ultimately involves getting money from households. Therefore, finance also describes the investment decisions of households and the resulting allocation of the economy's resources across firms and time. This course is the introductory finance course in the undergraduate business program. The main topics covered in the course are Financial Markets, Net Present Value, The Objective of the Firm, Discounted Cash Flow, Portfolio Theory and the Cost of Capital, The Efficient Markets Hypothesis, The Capital Structure of the Firm, and Business Valuation. Time permitting, the course will also provide an introduction to option markets and derivative securities. Upon completing the course a student will be able to consider a large and complex business problem, make some assumptions, structure the firms' cash flows in a spreadsheet, calculate the value of different solutions to the problem, and make a decision.
Marketing
This course is an introduction to the nature and fundamentals of marketing and consumer behavior. Topics include an analysis of the economic and psychological factors influencing buyer behavior, marketing research, market segmentation, and the development of marketing programs (new product, price, advertising and distribution decisions).
Microeconomics
This course introduces microeconomic principles and how to think like an economist. Market and policy outcomes are largely a function of individual decisions. These questions typically take the form: how much and what combination of things should I buy? When do we want businesses to go bust? Should the government fund student tuition? It's my hope that you'll also start to think about everyday questions from an economic lens: why were bicycles so hard to find this past summer? Is Uber surge pricing just a rip-off? Is illegal streaming bad for consumers? Throughout the semester, we will build a toolkit to allow us to understand how these decisions interact and explain market successes, market failures, and the role of government in the marketplace. Toward the end of the semester, we'll change a few underlying assumptions and address a variety of questions related to strategic interaction. Some of the topics we will begin to introduce include credible threats, commitment problems, and the strategic use of information.
Operations
This course is an introduction to production and operations management that covers both manufacturing and services. It deals with strategic issues (design of flexible supply), planning issues (capacity management), and operational issues (inventory management and information). The linkage between strategy and tactics will be emphasized. The students will learn concepts and tools that will help them to manage from the "boardroom" to the "toolroom."
If you are missing a class or some of your coursework does not meet the transfer requirements, you are able to take the course needed before the start of the program. Please reach out to our admissions team to discuss in detail so we can help determine if there is a path to eligibility.
All Tepper School MBAs are required to complete 192 units (typically 6 units per course) to graduate. Full-Time Accelerated MBA and Online Hybrid Accelerated MBA students expedite their MBA by transferring 48 units into the program and completing 144 units while at the Tepper School, giving them an even greater return on their investment in their MBA.
- Full-Time Accelerated MBA: Three semesters instead of four semesters of tuition (144 units to complete degree after courses are transferred in)
- Online Hybrid Accelerated MBA: Six semesters instead of eight semesters of tuition (144 units to complete degree after courses are transferred in)
Please visit our Carnegie Mellon Tuition and Financial Aid Information page to learn more.