
Your MBA should accelerate your career trajectory
Your Academic Journey

Your first steps in your MBA experience set the tone for the next two years. We introduce you to academics and career preparation early in the summer months to provide you with a strong foundation for success.

Through nine core courses, develop a solid business foundation that will carry you through every stage of your career.

You choose your own academic journey of elective courses. Pursue one or more of our optional specializations, or build a customized elective path.

UCLA Anderson’s capstone field study project gives you hands-on client experience and allows you to research and recommend strategic solutions for some of the top companies in the world. You can opt for the Applied Research Management program or embrace the entrepreneurial spirit and launch your own company through the Business Creation Option.

Learn what it’s like to work with one of the top companies in the world, and gain insider knowledge of the business world with hands-on experience. Test your skills, apply what you’ve learned and explore career options, all while adding to your resume.
Global Options

With the help of true experts in their disciplines, you’ll gain an expansive view of key business fundamentals through our nine core courses. Our faculty are both tireless researchers in their fields and experienced L.A. business leaders, so you benefit from a broad set of perspectives.

Our specialized academic centers give you access to cutting-edge research, conferences and case competitions. You can also leverage their networks of alumni, industry experts and local business professionals to help you achieve your goals.
Course Waivers
Based on prior educational and work experience, you may decide that you would like the opportunity to waive out of some of your required core courses. To waive out of a course, you can take an exam that will test your mastery of the skills required for that class. The exams may employ a combination of multiple choice, paragraph-style, short essay questions or case analysis. While a course waiver excuses you from taking a core class, it does not reduce the minimum number of units required to earn your MBA degree, and at some point you will need to make up those units.
Waiver exams will take place in summer. Historically, exams have only been given for the core accounting, finance, economics and marketing courses. Students who are CPA holders will be able to waive accounting by presenting your CPA license. CFAs will still need to take the waiver exam, you cannot waive Foundations of Finance by certification.
Academic Preparation
Academic Calendar
Flexibility and Specializations

Electives can help you explore new directions and expand your worldview.
Below is a sample of some of our most popular electives.
- “Technology Management” by Terry Kramer
- “Persuasion and Influence” by Noah Goldstein
- “Negotiations Behavior” by Jennifer Whitson
- “Technology Analytics” by Keith Chen
- “Financial Technology: FinTech” by Andrea Eisfeldt
- “Emerging Technologies and Markets: Product Management” by Matthew Conroy
- “Urban Real Estate Financing and Investing” by Paul Habibi
- “Entertainment Business Model” by Sanjay Sood and Harry Sloan
- “Life Design for Happiness” by Cassie Holmes
See a Full List of Courses Offered
Right from the Start, You Are in Control
Below is a brief sample of some of the courses in our specializations. To read full descriptions of these courses, and for a list of all courses offered at UCLA Anderson, please refer to the UCLA General Catalog.
Sample Courses:
- Corporate Decision Making and Incentives
- Corporate Financial Reporting
- Financial Reporting and Equity
- Corporate Valuation
Sample Courses:
- Advertising
- Consumer Behavior
- Customer Assessment and Analytics
- Marketing Strategy
- Price Policies
- Persuasion and Influence
Sample Courses:
- Corporate Valuation
- Behavioral Finance
- Risk Management
- Takeovers, Restructuring and Corporate Governance
Sample Courses:
- Critical Milestones in Preparing for a Life of Leadership
- Innovation in Media and Entertainment Technology
- Intellectual Property
- New Product Development
- Persuasion and Influence
- Product Management
- Artificial Intelligence
- Technology Management
Sample Courses:
- Content Creation and Exploitation in the Digital Age
- Entertainment Business Models
- Content Distribution
- Entertainment Marketing
- Making Creativity Profitable in Entertainment and Technology
Sample Courses:
- Business Plan Development
- Business Law for Managers & Entrepreneurs
- Entrepreneurship and Venture Initiation
- Financing the Emerging Enterprise
- Managing Entrepreneurial Organizations
Sample Courses:
- Global Macroeconomy
- Global Operations Strategy
- International Business Strategy
- International Business Law
- International Financial Markets
Sample Courses:
- Business of Health Care
- Health Care Technology
- Health Law
- Quantitative Analysis for Health Systems
- Healthcare Ventures
Sample Courses:
- Fixed Income Markets
- Options Markets
- International Financial Markets
- Venture Capital and Private Equity
- Behavioral Finance
Sample Courses:
- Business and Environment
- Social Entrepreneurship
- Management in Public and Private Nonprofit Sectors
- Green Energy Entrepreneurship
Sample Courses:
- Customer Assessment and Analytics
- Data Analytics for Marketing and Finance
- Digital Marketing
- Tools and Analysis for Business Strategy
Sample Courses:
- Affordable Housing
- Cases in Real Estate Investments
- Real Estate Finance and Investments
- Real Estate Economics
- Real Estate Law and Taxation
- Urban Real Estate Financing and Investing
Sample Courses:
- Negotiations Behavior
- Managerial Decision Making
- Optimizing Team Performance
- Leading for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
Sample Courses:
- Business and Environment
- Impact Creation, Analysis and Evaluation
- Law and Management of Nonprofit Corporations
- Real Estate Social Entrepreneurship
- Social Entrepreneurship
Sample Courses:
- Managerial Decision Making
- Global Supply Chain Management
- Market Entry Strategy
- Tools and Analysis for Business Strategy (TABS)
- Business Analytics with Spreadsheets