Course Requirements
Rider University's MBA Program requires a core of 31.5 credit hours of Breadth (Advanced) Course Requirements and 9 credit hours of Elective Courses. Students may also be required to take up to an additional 19.5 credit hours based on their academic record and course waivers.  A student must complete between 40.5 and 60 credit hours for an MBA, depending on the number of pre-program courses waived. Electives may be used to concentrate in the areas of entrepreneurship, global business, finance, management, computer information systems, corporate accounting for managers, or forensic accounting to enrich the MBA. Concentrations, which are an optional part of the MBA degree, may be completed by choosing specific electives that will be offered primarily on Rider’s Lawrenceville Campus.

Elective Courses
(9 semester hours)
Students are required to complete 9 credit hours of electives to complete the program requirements.

The Master of Business Administration (MBA) —
Waiver of Courses
A waiver of a course from pre-program requirements may be granted under the following conditions: 

1. The pre-program courses may be waived if the student has graduated from an AACSB-accredited business program within five years prior to semester admitted, and the student has achieved a “B” or better in the equivalent course or sequence of courses.
    
2. One or more pre-program courses may be waived if the student has achieved a “B” or better in an equivalent undergraduate course (at an accredited four-year institution) or an equivalent graduate course within six years prior to the semester admitted.
    
3. One or more pre-program courses may be waived based on a combination of previous education and work experience at the discretion of the Assistant Dean of Graduate Programs.
    
4. With the approval of the Assistant Dean of Graduate Programs, students may take proficiency exams to test out of the pre-program requirement courses if the above criteria are not met. A grade of “B” or better is required on proficiency exams. Within the first year of matriculation, a student is able to take any of the proficiency exams in the subject areas on the specified exam dates. Students may not repeat any proficiency exams. 

If a student is granted a waiver for any pre-program requirements, the student is responsible for a satisfactory level of competency with the representative material. If necessary, the student should review and/or seek tutoring support for the waived material in preparation of advanced courses. Any appeal of a waiver decision based on previous course work must be made to the Assistant Dean for Graduate Programs within the first semester of the program.

It is possible for students to substitute an elective for an MBA Breadth Course in the following situations, so as not to duplicate course work that may have been done as an undergraduate: 

1. Students with an undergraduate degree in Marketing who graduated in the last five years with at least a 3.0 in their marketing courses will not need to take PMBA 8260 Marketing Analysis and Decision Making. In its place, students must take an elective from the MBA program.
    
2. Students with an undergraduate degree in Accounting who graduated in the last five years with at least a 3.0 in their accounting courses will not need to take PMBA 8220 Strategic Accounting for Managers. In its place, students must take an elective from the MBA program. 
    

Preliminary Course Schedule 
Academic Year 2013/2014

Beginning in the Summer 2013, MBA courses will be offered in a variety of locations, including the Bank of America Hopewell Campus, Rider's Lawrenceville Campus and online. This scheduling is structured to enable students to take the majority of courses at Hopewell, complemented by selected online courses. MBA courses offered on Rider University’s Lawrenceville Campus also are open to BofA employees.

• For individuals whose educational background is outside of business or who need to take the majority of the pre-program foundation courses, starting in the Summer 2013 Cohort I is recommended. 
• For individuals with an academic background in business and who will not need to take many of the pre-program foundation business courses, starting in the Summer Cohort II is recommended. 

Students can accelerate the completion of their degree by taking courses on both the Rider and the Hopewell Campuses. For ease of scheduling, students starting the MBA program with the cohorts will be given initial preference for registering for the BofA Hopewell Campus classes. 

Each student will be assigned an academic advisor to plan his/her specific course of study and class schedule. 

The MBA program will be offered on the BofA Hopewell Campus on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings from 5:30–8:30 p.m. Each academic semester (fall and spring), summer session (summer I and summer II) and winter break term (J-Term) will have course work available for students, one night a week. Online courses are offered to facilitate the timely completion of the degree.