MBA Program of Study
Please note: the MBA curriculum has been revised as of Academic Year 2009: see
• MBA Program of Study (detailed Graduate Catalog description)
These revisions apply to students beginning their studies as of Academic Year 2009, or to students returning after a leave of absence from their studies of one year or more.
Students admitted before AY 2009 are not subject to the revision, but the prerequisites for some advanced courses have changed, and you may need registration assistance during the transition period.
MBA Minimum Requirements : 33 SH , depending upon advanced standing. Students with no advanced standing and one or no concentration complete 48 SH; those choosing the double concentration option complete 57 SH.
Categories I & II: Students without sufficient prior coursework in the Business disciplines to qualify for advanced standing, complete 24 SH of Basic MBA courses.
Category III: advanced standing in these courses does not reduce the degree credits.
Category IV : All MBA students complete at least three (3) elective courses (9 SH). A general MBA, without a concentration, is earned by selecting any 3 courses from elective lists A-H. See MBA Concentrations & electives for more information.
Category V: All MBA students (admitted as of Fall 2009) must complete both Capstone courses, either concurrently or in separate terms. Before enrolling in a Capstone course, students must complete all required Basic and Advanced MBA courses (Categories I, II and III).
All advanced courses (Categories III-V) must be taken at MSU.
MBA Concentrations & electives
All MBA students complete at least three (3) elective courses, for a minimum of 9 SH. A general MBA, without a concentration, is earned by selecting any 3 courses from the MBA elective lists (see below).
It is possible to declare a single or double concentration in the MBA. A concentration is composed of at least 3 courses (9 SH) from a designated electives list. Students declaring the double concentration option take 3 elective courses in each discipline, for a total of 18 SH.
Students may declare an MBA concentration in one or two of the following areas:
Management Information Systems
You may change, add, or drop a concentration from your MBA program at any time before filing for Final Audit. To do so, download and complete a Change of Concentration form, and submit it to the MBA Office: it will be reviewed and signed by the MBA Coordinator, Jonida Dervishi, and sent to the Graduate School along with a revised program worksheet.
If you have any questions about how this might affect your degree requirements, or would like to discuss the various concentration options, please call the MBA Office, at 973-655-4306, to set up a phone advising appointment.
Saturday-only MBA at Brookdale
This accelerated MBA program is designed for busy professionals who can commit the time and effort to complete a degree in just two years, through an intensive cohort sequence of Saturday-only classes. This program has one start each year, in the Spring, and wraps up in the Spring two years later.
The Saturday-only MBA is not offered on the main Montclair campus, but features the same curriculum and the same SBUS graduate faculty. Classes are held at Brookdale Community College in Lincroft, NJ - a few minutes away from Exit 109 on the Garden State Parkway.
For complete details, see Saturday-only MBA Program.
MBA Advising & Student Support
An initial advising appointment with the MBA Program Coordinator, Ms. Jonida Dervishi is optional for new MBA students: see MBA Initial Advising. After the acceptance letter is mailed to you, you will receive an e-mail from the MBA Office with the information to help you register for your courses.
If you have questions on any MBA matter, you can call the MBA Office at 973-655-4306, or send an email to mba@mail.montclair.edu. You can also contact Jonida Dervishi, the MBA Coordinator, directly at youngbloodj@mail.montclair.edu.
These may be phone appointments, or in our office, at your convenience.
Current MBA students may set up phone advising appointments rather than in-office appointments.
To schedule a phone advising appointment with Ms. Dervishi, call Ms. Marilyn McAllister at 973-655-4306: she will work with you to find a convenient time.
We publish 'Semester At A Glance' preliminary schedules as soon as these are available, both for our main campus MBA and the Saturday-only MBA at Brookdale.
As a general rule, each MBA required course (see MBA Degree At A Glance) is offered every Fall and Spring semester, and may appear in the Summer session as well (Summer is a voluntary term for both students and faculty). MBA elective courses vary in frequency, but typically are offered once in any academic year. (See prior schedules for more details.)
As we are notified of scheduling changes, we will pass that information along to you by e-mail, and through web updates.
The online WESS system is used for all course registration, and can be reached through the Student Toolbox icon or the Quick Links on MSU web pages, and through Blackboard.
The MSU Schedule of Courses for any semester will go live on WESS about one month before registration begins:
• for Spring semester, registration begins in November;
• for the Summer and Fall, registration begins in April.
Students are assigned a registration priority, the date and time at which they can begin registering. To check your registration priority in WESS :
• Select "Registration & Schedule"
• Select "Registration Status"
• Select the appropriate term/semester
You can begin registering at this time on this date, not before. If you try to register before your assigned registration time and date, WESS will display the message "Student not eligible to register on the web."
Every course section each term is assigned a 5-digit unique identifier, its call number. To register for classes:
• Select "Drop and Add Classes"
• Select the term for which you would like to register
• Enter the call numbers for the classes you have selected.
If you have trouble with registration, or you need a registration permit, please call the MBA Office at 973-655-4051 or e-mail mba@mail.montclair.edu. Please provide ALL the following information, so that we can resolve your problem as quickly as possible:
• your full name
• your CWID
• the course number and section [example: ACCT 501-02]
• the course CALL number
• and a brief description of the problem, or the error message you see in WESS.
Please note these common registration issues:
• Cross-listed courses [for example, INBS 511 / MGMT 511] are not very clearly identified in WESS; if in doubt about a cross-listing, check the preliminary MBA course schedules. Half the seats will be found under each title of any cross-listed course, so check both listings before you assume the course is closed (and remember, you can apply a cross-listed course to either relevant concentration).
• "Department Permission required": contact the MBA Office, not the academic department.
• Substitute Electives [SE] - if you have been granted any Substitute Elective waivers, you won't see any notation in WESS. If the waived course is a prerequisite for a class you want, contact us about a permit when you're ready to register. Even if you don't need a permit, notify us that you've exercised your SE option: we'll put the adjustment into the system that eventually will make this visible in WESS.
If you'd like a pre-registration advising appointment (in person or by phone) with Ms. Dervishi, please contact Ms. Marilyn McAllister at 973-655-4306 or mba@mail.montclair.edu.
The end of the first week of classes for full-term courses is also the end of the Add/Drop period, and the 100% refund deadline for course withdrawals. The 50% refund for withdrawal is 4 weeks after this date, and the final withdrawal deadline in any semester is in the 9th week of classes. Please consult the Schedule of Courses for specific deadlines in each academic term.
To drop a course, login to the WESS system:
- Select "Drop and Add Classes"
- Select the term for which you would like to drop a course(s)
- Enter the call number(s) for the course(s) you would like to withdraw from.
The call numbers can be found in the preliminary MBA course schedules, or in the Course Section Search function of WESS. If you have any problems with this procedure, please contact the Registrar: call 973-655-4376, or e-mail registrar@mail.montclair.edu.
Students may also submit written withdrawal requests to the Office of the Registrar: complete a Course Withdrawal form and submit it by fax to 973-655-7371, or by mail to:
Montclair State University
Office of the Registrar
1 Normal Avenue, College Hall Room 204
Montclair NJ USA 07043
After you are admitted to the MBA Program, you will receive a personalized program worksheet, detailing your eligibility (if any) for advanced standing and outlining your degree requirements, including any concentration(s) you have declared.
This worksheet is the official record of your program. It may differ from what appears in the Analysis of Academic Progress screen of WESS, for a number of reasons:
• WESS, as it is currently configured, does not correctly display double concentrations. In some cases, it labels courses in the second concentration as not required for this program.
• Substitute elective waivers, noted on the program worksheet as SE , will not show in WESS until the substitution has been entered into the system by an MBA advisor [see Substitute Electives].
When you set up an MBA advising appointment, or change your program of record by adding or dropping a MBA concentration, we will update this program worksheet to document the changes, and e-mail it to you.
If you have any questions about your academic progress, please contact the MBA Office for an advising appointment, or to receive an updated program worksheet.
Graduation Requirements & Events
When you have completed all the requirements for your MBA work program in good academic standing (at least a 3.0 GPA and no more than two C-level grades), you are eligible to graduate [see Final Audit ].
If you have any questions about your academic progress and readiness to graduate, please contact the MBA Office for advising support.
Students may graduate in May, or August, or January. Please note, however, that Commencement Exercises and the the Graduate School Convocation are held only once a year, in May. Students who have graduated the previous January or August are welcome to participate in these ceremonies.
Commencement Exercises for all Montclair State University programs are held on a Friday morning in May at the Izod Center (formerly known as Continental Airlines Arena) in East Rutherford, NJ. Tickets are not required, so you may invite whomever you wish.
MBA students also are invited to participate in the Graduate School Convocation, usually held in the week before Commencement, at the Amphitheater on campus. This event includes the individual acknowledgment of each successful graduate degree recipient, by name and program.
Unfortunately, tickets for this event are limited by space, so we recommend that you respond as soon as possible through the online Convocation RSVP site when that opens (usually mid-April).
MSU diplomas are mailed about three months after final audit to those students who are academically cleared and have no outstanding financial obligations to the University. You are then eligible to become part of the Montclair State University MBA Alumni Network!
Graduation - Final Audit of Academic Progress
To be evaluated for completion of your MBA degree (i.e., the requirements of your work program), students nearing the end of their studies must file an Application for Final Audit with the Registrar's Office, by the following deadlines:
- June 1 for graduation the following January [completing final courses in the Fall term]
- October 1 for graduation the following May [completing final courses in the Spring term]
- March 1 for graduation the following August [completing final courses in the Summer term]
You will be mailed a copy of the final audit of your MBA degree, listing requirements that still must be completed in order to meet the intended date of graduation. You should receive this before the end of the Add/Drop period of your last term, so that you can make appropriate changes to your course schedule if required.
If you have any questions about your academic progress and readiness to graduate, please contact the MBA Office for an advising appointment.
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