MBA Majors & What You Need to Know

During your undergraduate years, the top question from friends and relatives may have been, “What’s your major?” It’s an expected question for a bachelor’s degree, but what about for the MBA? MBA programs take different approaches to structuring their curriculum and we’re going to take a closer look at MBA majors in this piece. We dig into the purpose of majors, which business schools offer them and more.

What’s a Major?

A major, which some MBA programs call a concentration or track or specialization, is a structured, specialized area of focus within the curriculum. Majors have specific requirements in both credits and courses of study.

Clear Admit Co-founder Graham Richmond explains, “Majors/concentrations/tracks have two main purposes: First, they allow a student to gain deep expertise in a subject matter that they are passionate about; from finance or investing to healthcare management, sustainability, and entrepreneurship. Second, a major is something that one can place on the resume and mention during the recruiting process as a way to signal a higher level of focus and preparedness to a target employer.”

That said, if a school does not offer majors, candidates will still have adequate coursework to prepare for their post-MBA careers. Often, the entire second year (or more) of an MBA program can be dedicated to elective courses and students can tailor their studies accordingly. This flexibility allows students to explore a range of topics and address their individual weaknesses to develop a more well-rounded skill set. For example, if you already have a heavy finance background, not having to choose a major can free up your time to explore other topics like business development or operations. Schools like Chicago Booth, Dartmouth Tuck, HBS, INSEAD, LBS and Georgetown McDonough have numerous elective options in a given field, but do not offer dedicated majors.

MBA Majors in Admissions

When it comes to the MBA application, few schools directly ask about an applicant’s intended major. Some may ask area of focus in the data form and, of course, it may come up in an admissions essay for schools asking “why our program?” Another exception may be a specialized course of study, such as Wharton’s Healthcare Management program.

Richmond adds, “Candidates should absolutely consider expressing an interest in a particular course of study when describing their interest in the target program, and that may very well include a declaration of an intended major, concentration, or track. Doing so will certainly help the admissions reader to better understand the candidate’s plans and the extent to which that candidate has researched the program.”

Majors at Top MBA Programs

The following charts list MBA majors and which leading business schools offer them in their programs. Please note: Programs may have different nomenclature, e.g. specializations, concentrations, etc. We use majors as a catch-all phrase, but have also included a list of schools’ terminology at the end of this page. The MBA Major column identifies specific majors; additional business schools’ offerings within that discipline are added next to the school names.

Business School Terminology for MBA Majors

Concentrations
ASU Carey
Babson Olin
Cambridge Judge
CMU Tepper
Duke Fuqua
Emory Goizueta
IESE
Michigan Ross
Rice Jones
Texas McCombs
UNC Kenan-Flagler
UVA Darden
Vanderbilt Owen

Majors
Northwestern Kellogg
Notre Dame Mendoza
SMU Cox
The Wharton School
Toronto Rotman

Specializations
HEC Paris
Minnesota Carlson
NYU Stern
Rochester Simon
Washington Foster
UCLA Anderson
UMD Smith
Yale SOM

Other
Johnson – Immersions
MIT Sloan – Tracks
OSU Fisher – Pathways