Looking to advance your career? Wish there was a local MBA program tailored to small and mid-sized businesses?
The new Community MBA program at Concordia University Chicago allows business owners and business professionals from the River Forest/Oak Park area to pursue their master's degree as a group.
Tailored for you: Unique approach addresses issues you face everyday as a small or mid-sized company. Learn how your peers are handling challenges in their business.
Networking: Build your professional network while attending class with peers in your community. Small class sizes allow for personal interaction with professors and fellow students.
Convenience: Classes are held on our River Forest campus, in the evening, once a week. Students are able to complete their degree in only two years, while still maintaining their full-time job or running their business.
Experienced faculty: Our talented faculty members offer personalized attention and are eager to share their business experience with you. They teach in a practical, not theoretical, manner. Learn more about our faculty.
"We are excited to offer this new program to colleagues in the area. The Community MBA is a great way for business professionals in the Oak Park/River Forest area to pursue their graduate degree in an accelerated format, while building strong relationships with peers." --- GeorgeVukotich, PhD and Dean, College of Business
The information provided below applies to students admitted to attend Concordia University Chicago in the 2011–2012 academic year.
Students can choose from the following class formats:
MBA courses are $650 per credit hour. Most courses are worth three credits. Thirty-nine credits are required to complete the MBA program. Payment is due at the start of each term. Financial aid is available.
Our unique cohort system groups students together throughout their educational experience. You will complete the program in a predetermined sequence.
These classes are available in the classroom or online.
Examine interpersonal behavior related to organizational performance. Behavioral science motivation, social perception, group decision-making, ethical leadership and multicultural behavior.
Introduction of key financial accounting concepts. Analysis of a firm’s historical, current and prospective financial condition and performance. Emphasis on investment and credit decision.
Developing and evaluating brand strategies over the life of the product. Strategies for introducing brands and reviving brands. Includes basic marketing principles of product, price, promotion, environment and customer.
Focus on basic microeconomic principles of the firm and relevance in business decisions. Covers supply and demand and its relationship to market outcomes and economic determinants of consumption, savings, and labor behavior.
Basic statistical concepts and analytical tools for data driven decision making. Introduction to concepts of frequency, distribution, variation and normal curve correlations with application to business decisions.
Decision making, negotiations and ethics. Cultural impact on management strategy. Create value, motivate resources, leading and creating high performance teams. Integrating performance across business units.
Focus on creation of money, function and roles of financial institutions, fiscal and monetary policy and the Federal Reserve system. Covers economic theory of financial markets and impact of government policies, determinants of national income, employment, investment, interest rates, inflation and exchange rates.
Analyze policies in human resource management and organizational design, recruitment, selection hiring, development promotion and incentive based pay.
Concentrates on strategic decisions surrounding the production and delivery of goods and services. Value-added activities that transform resources into product. Covers process analysis, quality, inventory control, capacity planning and location decisions.
Corporate budgeting, working capital management and financial analysis. Corporate decision-making regarding complex capital structures and how these decisions impact incentives of claimants.
Accounting information used in decision-making. Why firms are adopting activity based costing, economic value-added and balanced scorecard decision models. Budgeting, cash flow and incremental analysis.
Understand the legal environment which impacts all businesses. Legal aspects of business relationships and business agreements. Forms of business organizations, duties of officers and directors, intellectual property, antitrust, contracts, employment relationships, criminal law and debtor-creditor relationships including bankruptcy.
Evaluate principles that guide strategic decisions. Includes game theory and strategic moves, industry analysis, basic game theory and competitive interactions. Recognize barriers to brilliant decision-making including biases and decision traps. Develop frameworks for scenario analysis and making sound decisions.
This experience is designed to integrate the knowledge and skills gained from the MBA program and apply them in a real world business environment. Students will learn how to use teamwork to solve authentic business challenges.
Our unique cohort system groups students together throughout their educational experience. You will complete the program in a predetermined sequence. This collaborative environment accelerates learning and builds strong peer relationships that last a lifetime. We also host occasional networking events for our MBAs, which allows them to interact with other cohorts and alumni.
We facilitate a close working relationship between students and faculty. Group work is often part of the curriculum, which helps prepare students to work collaboratively in the business world. Student discussion is encouraged as the MBAs learn from each other’s diverse backgrounds.
At the end of the program, students will complete a capstone course. This class integrates the knowledge and skills gained from the MBA courses and applies them to a real business environment. Students will work as a team to solve an authentic business challenge.
Students should apply online at http://www.cuchicago.edu/applynow.
In addition to the application, students must submit an objective statement, academic transcripts, two letters of recommendation and a professional résumé. Complete MBA admission requirements are detailed here.
No. Concordia-Chicago does not require a GMAT score for admission to its MBA program.
No. There is no application fee for the MBA program.
Applicants who do not possess a cumulative grade point average above 2.85 or who have earned a master’s degree with a 3.0 GPA or higher may receive provisional or probationary admission. Please see GPA Requirements in the MBA Admission section of this Web site for a full description.
Your objective statement should capture the essence of who you are and give the reader information about yourself that may not be represented on a résumé. The content is completely up to you. It should provide information on your future educational goals and/or objectives and their relationship to pursuing graduate work at Concordia University Chicago.
Please see International Students in the MBA Admission section of this Web site.
Students do not need to be admitted to their degree program to register for their initial semester. Students are placed on pending/student-at-large guest status until all required documentation has been received and then may attend classes for one semester. The pending/student-at-large status does not apply to international students. See Pending Status in the MBA Admission section of this Web site for more information.
On-campus classes meet at our River Forest campus, located at 7400 Augusta St., River Forest, IL 60305. The campus is ten miles west of downtown Chicago.
Seven years.
Currently we only offer MBA courses in River Forest or online. We may begin offering classes in downtown Chicago, based on demand. Please let us know if you are interested in taking classes in Chicago.
Undergraduate courses will not count toward your MBA. Graduate courses from another school will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis by our Graduate Admission staff.
MBA courses are $650 per credit hour. Most courses are worth three credits. Thirty-nine credits are required to complete the MBA program.
Payment is due before the start of each course.
Yes. A financial aid advisor will be happy to discuss your options and go over the application process with you. Contact Ethan Muench by phone at (708) 209-3234 or by email atEthan.Muench@CUChicago.edu. For more information online, read and print out out Steps to Apply for Financial Aid on our Web site.
Currently there are no university scholarships available for MBA students. Students are sometimes able to obtain scholarships from an outside party.
No. Online students will complete all coursework and discussions through Blackboard, which is a Web-based program that includes file posting, discussion boards, a calendar and grade posting, among other tools.
Students should be able to use whatever home computer they already own, whether a Mac or PC. You do not need to purchase a specific type of computer.
Students with technology problems or questions should call CougarNet. CougarNet is a collective group of technology services on Concordia University Chicago’s campus serving faculty and staff, as well as residential, off-campus and online students. Contact the CougarNet Helpdesk at (708) 209-3131 if you need assistance.