Degree Requirements

The master of business administration degree program at Columbia Business School, for the class of 2016 onward, consists of 18 credits of required core coursework and a minimum of 42 credits of elective courses. No transfer credits from other institutions may be applied toward the MBA program. For the class of 2015, the program consists of 19.5 credits of required core coursework and a minimum of 40.5 credits of elective courses.

Students who exempt out of core courses replace them with electives to fulfill the MBA requirement of 60 academic points taken in residence at the School. Fifty-four of these credits must consist of Business School courses. Students may only take electives while enrolled in or after having completed their first semester core. Students may count a combined maximum of six credits of independent study, cross-cultural seminar, and courses from other Columbia schools toward the MBA degree. Note that a course must be 4000-level or higher to count toward MBA requirements. Courses below the 4000-level will not count toward degree requirements. 

MBA and Dual-Degree students who are accepted into the J-term cohort must take classes in the summer as this is their regularly scheduled second semester.

A failed core course must be repeated; a failed elective cannot be repeated and must be replaced by another elective if additional credits are required to graduate.

Review our academic standards for minimum GPA requirements.

Requirements differ for dual degree programs.

Both domestic and international one-term exchange programs are offered to third- and fourth-term full-time MBA students through the Jerome A. Chazen Institute for Global Business.

Students must pay for and be enrolled in 4 semesters of study. MBA students are limited to 18 credits in their first semester and up to 21 credits in each subsequent semester if qualified, however students cannot exceed 58.5 total credits in their third paid semester.