A Solid Foundation
The Core Curriculum is designed to provide students with the fundamental principles of business that every manager needs to know and is delivered over five terms within the first academic year. It provides students enhanced and systematic opportunities to practice teamwork, leadership, critical thinking and creative problem solving. Furthermore, the Core Curriculum provides opportunities for students to define and develop their professional identity and explore major career paths and industry-specific and functional insights that are critical to securing a meaningful summer internship.
In Term 4, student-teams participate in a consulting project with a Los Angeles-based company, developing solutions for real-life business problems, using fundamental business tools they have learned in the program. In Term 5, students also begin to explore global business through the Global Context of Business course followed by the PRIME overseas experience. USC Marshall’s signature PRIME overseas experience is an experiential opportunity that allows students to travel abroad to one of a select number of countries to gain first-hand knowledge of how business is done globally. During the 10-day PRIME trip, students visit domestic and multinational companies and governmental institutions, develop business insights and complete projects that take into consideration the cultural, financial, regulatory, political and other constraints and opportunities of the country.

The Core Curriculum
Term 1
- GSBA-511: Microeconomics for Management
- GSBA-540: Contemporary Issues for Competitive Strategy
- GSBA-541: Foundations of Your Professional Value
- GSBA-542: Communication for Management
Term 2
- GSBA-510: Accounting Concepts and Financial Reporting
- GSBA-524: Data Science for Business
- GSBA-527: Structured Analysis for Unstructured Problems
- GSBA-548: Corporate Finance
Term 3
- GSBA-509: Marketing Management
- GSBA-510: Accounting Concepts and Financial Reporting (Cont’d)
- GSBA-524: Data Science for Business (Cont’d)
- GSBA-548: Corporate Finance (Cont’d)
Term 4
- GSBA-504a: Operations Management
- GSBA-533: Organizational Behavior and Leadership
- GSBA-552: Problem Solving and Decision Making: An Integrated Approach
- Electives
Term 5
- GSBA-503: Contemporary Issues in Competitive Global Strategy
- GSBA-580: The Global Context of Business: PRIME
- Electives