Year One

At the University of Washington, "core" is not just a label for first-year classes; it's a reality — an integrated curriculum focused on fundamental business concepts, skills, and tools:

• Developed, correlated, and delivered by a team of faculty
• Continuously improved in response to evolutions in business practices and MBA student feedback
• Taught to students who work in teams to optimize learning
• Designed to equip students to make rigorous, analytically-grounded business decisions

Strategic thinking, leadership, and global business are fundamental to the MBA core. Relative to other programs, the UW MBA Program spends more time on strategy and global business in the core — both directly, in components on competitive strategy, global strategic management, and macroeconomics, and indirectly, in the choice of cases and projects.

For example, organizational behavior might focus on a company's global systems implementation. The Spring quarter case competition might be based on a Korean electronics manufacturer's plans for penetrating the U.S. market. The core's global strategic management component could include a panel of senior technology executives discussing outsourcing.