MBA students may select as many as four elective classes during spring semester of their first year. This provides students the opportunity to take classes that they feel will prepare them to be successful in their summer internship. Students may choose to take additional elective classes during the summer in lieu of an internship.
The second-year of the MBA program is intended to be customized to suit student’s interests and career goals. The remaining required units can be earned by:
- Taking elective coursework – Marshall offers close to 100 elective courses for MBA students in any given year;
- Designing an individualized program of study that cuts across several functional areas*;
- Completing an independent study project*; and/or
- Selecting courses from other graduate schools within the university*- students may take up to nine elective units at another USC graduate school
*Available to second year MBA students who have completed all core curriculum and are in good standing (minimum 3.0 GPA)
Students are eligible to select from a wide range of graduate elective courses offered by the USC Marshall Academic Units which include:
- Accounting
- Finance & Business Economics
- Data Science & Operations
- Marketing
- Management and Organization
- Business Communication
- Entrepreneurship
Please note course offerings are not guaranteed and students should consult the Schedule of Classes for courses offered during any given term.
Featured Elective Courses
Negotiation and Deal Making
The purpose of this course is to understand the theory and processes of negotiation as it is practiced in a variety of settings. The course is designed to be relevant to the broad spectrum of negotiation problems that managers face. Considerable emphasis is placed on simulations, role-playing and case studies.
Strategy and Operations through CFO Lens
This class addresses the strategic and operational issues that companies face in multiple industries, and the responses of chief financial officers who are responsible for the accounting and financial planning and decision making. The class includes guest speakers, CFOs who present how they view the business as a whole and measure performance effectively.
