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What Unique Concentrations Should I Consider for My MBA Program?

Selecting an MBA concentration can make you more marketable in the business world. Our experts have found great examples of what graduate schools offer.

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If you’re interested in expanding your job prospects and working in the business world, pursuing a Master of Business Administration (MBA) is an excellent plan. Your next decision will be where to focus your studies. An MBA concentration allows you to tailor your degree to your interests and goals and helps you learn about a particular aspect or field of business in greater depth. Common concentrations include areas such as Accounting, Entrepreneurship, Finance, Management, and Real Estate. But many business schools offer especially unique concentrations. Here are a few examples and what each school's website has to say about them:

  • Business Strategy & Decision Making at DePaul University
    “Learn how to diagnose strategic positions, evaluate alternative courses of action, and make the best possible decisions. DePaul’s Business Strategy & Decision Making MBA will give you the framework for making business decisions in a disciplined and strategic way. This program is a fast-track career development option for managers who want the skills and abilities to make strategic economic decisions in a business environment."
  • Energy & Environment at Duke University
    “In an increasingly resource-constrained world, energy and environmental issues will present new risks and opportunities for businesses in all sectors. Understanding the dynamics of the new energy economy and balancing corporate sustainability considerations with business objectives requires managers who understand, anticipate, and act on energy and environmental challenges in innovative ways."
  • Entrepreneurship & Innovation at the University of Virginia
    “The Entrepreneurship & Innovation concentration prepares students to manage the innovation process, understand critical issues for multiple stakeholders in the context of innovation, and provide skills that are essential to managing uncertainty and ambiguity.  Whether in a startup or established organizational context, this series of courses will provide insight into the challenges, methods, and best practices for creating novel and useful innovations."
  • CleanTech at the University of Texas at Austin
    The CleanTech concentration prepares students for careers in renewable energy, energy efficiency, and emissions abatement. This field is one of the fastest-growing employment sectors for MBAs. Clean technology companies are seeking [graduate students] who not only have excellent business skills, but also a solid understanding of the technology and policy aspects affecting their industry as well as project and risk management skills. Accordingly, the CleanTech concentration at McCombs allows students to combine courses across various schools to best prepare for their career of choice."
  • Health Care Analytics at Carnegie Mellon University
    “Health Care Analytics uses analytical tools to offer insights into a broad range of problems in health care, including hospital management, insurance policies, patient records, medicine, diagnoses, and treatment. This concentration prepares students to apply their analytical skills to a wider range of problems in the health care domain. It draws from the health care analytics courses offered at the Tepper School as well as several courses related to health care policies and AI applications to health care from the Heinz School and the School of Computer Science.
  • Technology Entrepreneurship & Commercialization at North Carolina State University
    “The TEC curriculum provides graduate students from management and other disciplines across campus the opportunity to engage in all stages of a company’s formation and growth. Students studying Technology Entrepreneurship and Commercialization (TEC) within the Jenkins MBA Program can choose to focus on two paths: The commercialization of intellectual property—developing that into a product, good or service—or the traditional approach to entrepreneurship."
  • Pharmaceutical Management at Rutgers University—Newark and New Brunswick campuses
    Rutgers offers students a Customized MBA option on a case-by-case basis. MBA candidates can look through the school’s course offerings and curriculum, come up with a written proposal of courses, and submit the proposal to the department chair(s).

Connect with some of the featured colleges and universities mentioned in this Ask the Experts response below! 

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