About the program
The Master of Business Administration (MBA) program at Seattle Pacific University is a management degree that provides you with the skills and knowledge necessary to excel in today’s complex and changing business environment.
The MBA program enhances your past academic work and professional experience, preparing you for higher levels of responsibility. It is intended primarily for the working professional who has achieved a meaningful level of career success following the baccalaureate degree. As you now recognize the need to develop and expand your knowledge and expertise in the management area, this program enables you to become more effective in current responsibilities or to open opportunities for new responsibilities.
Seattle Pacific’s School of Business, Government, and Economics is committed to providing you with an applied, experiential, and collaborative learning environment in which business and Christian faith, ethics, and character are integrated. The objectives of the program are to develop your abilities to do the following:
- Provide values-based leadership from a general-management perspective.
- Think and act strategically under conditions of rapid change and uncertainty.
- Effectively manage organizations through developing people and integrating business processes with information technology.
- Apply in-depth knowledge in one of the following areas: management of business processes, human resources management, finance, information systems management, or e-business.
- Communicate effectively, work in teams, use information technology, and self-assess personal abilities, strengths, and weaknesses.
Curriculum
The MBA curriculum consists of pre-MBA foundations courses, advanced courses, and elective courses. All MBA courses are 3 quarter credits. A minimum of 36 credits in the MBA program (12 courses) must be completed at SPU.
Advanced courses
Your advanced courses will total 30 credit hours and develop a whole enterprise view. You may not fulfill these courses by undergraduate coursework; transfer credit from other institutions will be given only for graduate-level courses covering the same body of knowledge. You may transfer a maximum of three courses (9 credits) from other institutions with the approval of the SBGE associate dean for graduate programs.
Elective courses
By selecting specific sets of elective courses, you can tailor the degree to meet your individual needs, whether more integrative or more functional specialization oriented according to career stage. Current emphasis areas include Management, Finance, Human Resource Management, International Business, Technology Management, Information Systems Management, and Social and Sustainable Enterprise.
Pre-MBA foundation courses
Pre-MBA foundation courses (27 credit hours) cover business fundamentals that you must understand to achieve the program’s objectives. In the following circumstances, your coursework completed at the undergraduate level prior to admission to the program may fulfill one or more pre-MBA courses.
If you earned a bachelor’s degree within seven years* of admission to the program that included courses covering the same body of knowledge as foundations courses:
- Courses in which you earned a minimum grade of “B” may fulfill foundation courses with comparable content.
- A course taken for pass/no credit cannot fulfill a foundation course requirement.
- To fulfill the BUS 6170 requirement, a course must have been completed with a minimum grade of “B” within three years of admission to the MBA program.
If you completed a bachelor’s degree more than seven years prior to admission to the program, or if the grade in the undergraduate course is below “B” but not below “C+”:
- You may take a competency examination in the subject.
- Competency tests must be completed within the year following your date of admission to the program.
- If the competency examination is successfully completed, the applicable foundation course will be considered fulfilled.
- If you do not successfully complete the competency exam, you must take the graduate course or complete it via credit by examination for which tuition and an examination fee are charged.
Admission requirements
Generally, you must have at least a 3.0 GPA in your undergraduate studies, at least a 500 GMAT total score (25V, 30Q, and 4.4AW) and evidence of at least one year of continuous, full-time, substantive work experience after receipt of the bachelor's degree on your résumé.
To apply to the MBA program, you must submit the following:
- Online application and $50 application processing fee.
- Current rèsumè as evidence of a substantive work experience. You will need at least one full year, continuous full time, post-bachelor’s degree experience at the time of application. More is preferred. This is a significant factor in the admission decision process. Applicants with less than 1-year of post-baccalaureate professional work experience, but who are otherwise strong candidates and are currently employed in a meaningful professional role may be considered.
- Official transcript from colleges or universities attended. Include the transcript from the institution that granted your bachelor’s degree with the posted degree appearing on the transcript. Also send official transcripts for all institutions attended following your undergraduate degree, as well as any other schools where you earned credits that may be used to request waivers of pre-MBA courses.
- GMAT (Graduate Management Admission Test) scores. GMAT scores above 500 (25 verbal; 30 quantitative; 4.4 analytical writing) are preferred. For the GMAT, the SPU school code is C9FD273.
- The GMAT requirement is waived for applicants with a cumulative GPA of 3.7; a cumulative GPA of 3.25 or above and five years of post-baccalaureate professional work experience (or three years managerial experience); or, a cumulative GPA of 3.0 and at least 10 years of post-baccalaureate professional work experience. The GMAT is also waived for applicants already possessing an advanced degree from an accredited university.
- Two professional letters of recommendation listed in the online application (optional).
- Personal statement (3-4 pages) responding to the essay questions listed in the online application.
International applicants
In addition to the above requirements, international students must also submit:
In addition to the evaluation report, all official transcripts must be submitted in English. International applicants are responsible for all costs associated with this service.
Conditional admission
You may request conditional admittance into the School of Business, Government, and Economics under these conditions:
- You are a student who needs an F-1 visa to study in the United States.
- You have graduated from an accredited four-year institution. Your transcript must show completion of a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution.
- You have achieved at least a 3.0 GPA on the US 4.0 scale.
- You have a minimum of at least one year, continuous full-time, post-bachelor’s degree experience at the time of application. You will be required to submit a résumé with job titles, duties, start date and end date (month and year). Internships and job training are not accepted as full-time employment.
If approved, you will receive a Conditional Letter of Admission from SPU. Conditional admission assures that you will be considered for admission, if you satisfy all admission requirements at the time of your intended enrollment.
Please complete this form to request conditional admission to a graduate program in the SPU School of Business, Government, and Economics.
Application deadlines
Your application for admission, application fee, and personal statement must be received by the dates listed below. Recommendation letters, transcripts and test scores must arrive before an admission decision can be made.
- Autumn Quarter: August 1
- Winter Quarter: November 1
- Spring Quarter: February 1
- Summer: May 1
International applicants with F1 visa
International applicants who do not need an F1 visa may adhere to the above deadlines. The following deadlines apply to those who do require an F1 visa.
- Autumn Quarter: June 1
- Winter Quarter: September 1
- Spring Quarter: December 1
- Summer: Admission not available
Pre-qualified students
Qualified individuals may take up to three Pre-MBA core courses if they have an undergraduate degree (as evidenced by an official transcript from an accredited institution); a minimum cumulative undergraduate grade point average (GPA) of 3.0; and a minimum of one year full-time post-baccalaureate work experience (as evidenced by a current résumé).
Pre-qualified students may not take advanced or elective courses. If they wish to continue in the graduate program after taking three core courses, they must apply for admission. Pre-qualified status does not guarantee full admission at a later date.
Contact
Admission materials should be directed to Graduate Admissions. If you have questions, please contact the SBGE graduate program coordinator: