Course options outside of the core and established electives can add depth and flexibility to your MBA studies.
Independent Studies are 1-3 unit courses designed to support students who would like to research an area of interest that is not currently covered in an existing UC Berkeley course. Independent Study courses:
- Must be taken for a letter grade.
- Cannot be dropped once approved and enrolled.
Applying for an Independent Study would be ideal if:
- Your study plan is distinct from other courses offered at UC Berkeley.
- You have an academically-focused research question you’d like to explore.
- You have clear academic learning objectives related to your MBA education.
- You have received verbal confirmation from a faculty member to sponsor your study plan.
- You are comfortable working in a mostly self-directed capacity (or you want to build skills in this area).
Independent Study would not be appropriate if:
- You want to receive academic credit for a consulting project, unpaid or paid professional work, co-curricular or club project work.
- Your study plan duplicates or continues existing university coursework.
Any student after their first semester can apply for an Independent Study. If you’re interested, please find information and templates/examples here (must log in with your berkeley.edu account).
Student-initiated courses are 1-unit, attendance-based courses that compliment the MBA curriculum by providing an opportunity for attendees to get a deep-dive introduction to an industry or topic. Many student-initiated courses take the form of speaker series, which bring in speakers from a variety of companies in a given industry or who are experts on the course topic, so they also provide an excellent opportunity for networking. You may count a maximum of two of these one-unit seminars toward the 51-unit graduation requirement.
Any student, after finishing their first semester, can also apply to organize a student-initiated course for their peers. If you’re interested organizing one, take a look at the Organizer Overview.
All students hired as first-time graduate student instructors (GSI) must complete a GSI pedagogy class given by the department/school in which they are teaching. The Haas School’s course is MBA 375. If your first GSI assignment is in another department or school, you must take its course, e.g., Economics 375. GSI pedagogy units do not count toward your graduation requirement.
Some EWMBA courses are cross-listed with the full-time program courses, allowing students from both programs to enroll. Courses are cross-listed when they are mutually beneficial to both groups of students. An example is when demand does not justify a course being scheduled in only one program but does through joint enrollment. Full-time MBA students also can enroll in EWMBA elective courses that are not cross-listed on a space-available basis, with the instructor’s approval. The following rules apply to taking EWMBA courses:
- You may not take an EWMBA elective if the same course (or a substantially similar one) is being offered in the FTMBA program that semester.
- You may take no more than two EWMBA courses during your time in the FTMBA program.
- You are responsible for the cost of textbooks and hard-copy readers, same as your FTMBA electives.
With the permission of the MFE and MBA Program Directors you may take courses in the MFE Program and have the units count toward your degree requirements. Please note that the MFE Program’s academic calendar is not the same as the MBA Program. Learn more about the MFE Program.