Degree Requirements

To graduate, MBA and SM candidates for the classes of 2024 and 2025 must:

  • Complete the Fall MBA Core. No waivers or substitutions are allowed.
  • Complete 144 graduate level elective units in addition to the Core. If opting for an SM, 24 of these units must be thesis.
    • Students may register for no more than 54 units and no fewer than 27 units per semester in their elective semesters.
    • The Core electives (15.401 Managerial Finance, 15.761 Introduction to Operations Management, 15.814 Marketing Innovation, or 15.900 Competitive Strategy (9 units)) and the Certificate Seminars (15.S22/15.360 Introduction to Technological Entrepreneurship (3 units), 15.403 Introduction to the Practice of Finance (3 units), and 15.830 Enterprise Management (EM) Lab (3+6 units)) completed in the Core semester do count toward the 144 elective unit requirement.
    • Up to three non-Sloan graduate level courses at either MIT or via cross registration at Harvard can count toward the 144 elective unit requirement
    • Up to 12 units can be completed in each Independent Activities Period (IAP) in January.
  • Complete the SIP requirement.
  • Complete at least one course from the approved list of Leadership elective courses.
  • Attain a B GPA (4.0 out of 5.0) by the time of graduation.
  • Enroll in four consecutive semesters at MIT Sloan.

Undergraduate Course Credit

Approval for undergraduate level courses to count for graduate level credit, and thus fulfillment of Master Degree requirements, must be granted by both MIT Sloan Educational Services and the Faculty Director/Faculty representative of the student’s program. For approval, students must submit to MIT Sloan Educational Services:

  • Statement explaining how course meets student’s academic and professional goals
  • Proposed additional deliverable(s) beyond the standard course requirements
  • Signature of support from the course faculty outlining the additional deliverable(s)
  • Copy of course syllabus

MBA Leave of Absence and Degree Completion Policy

The MIT Sloan MBA Program requires MBA students to complete their entire MBA residency and degree requirements at MIT Sloan without interruption. Leaves of absence may be granted for extenuating circumstances. The MBA Program will carefully review requests for leaves of absence and withdrawals on a case-by-case basis. All requests for a leave of absence must be reviewed and approved by the Assistant Dean of the MBA Program.

There are three categories of leaves: Professional, Medical, and Personal Emergency (family, military service, financial hardship, etc.):

Professional leaves:

  1. require the student be in good academic standing
  2. can be in increments of one semester or full academic year.
  3. must be requested by August 1st for a fall semester start and December 1st for a spring semester start.

Medical and Personal Emergency leaves:

  1. may be considered at any point. 
  2. can be in increments of one semester or full academic year.
  3. Medical leaves require medical documentation and the approval of the MIT Office of Graduate Education (OGE).

The maximum time allowed for the completion of an MBA degree at MIT Sloan is five years from the time of the student’s first-year enrollment. A student wishing to return to MBA study from a leave of absence longer than this must reapply as a new student.

Requests for withdrawals from the MBA Program should be made to the Assistant Dean, MBA Program Office.