MIT Bulletin: Sloan School of Management

The Sloan School of Management offers opportunity for graduate study leading to the degrees of Master of Business Administration, Master of Science in Management, and Doctor of Philosophy.

Entrance Requirements for Graduate Study

Applications are welcome from college graduates in all areas of concentration–the humanities, social sciences, physical sciences, and engineering–but matriculants must have completed formal subjects in calculus and in economics. The minimum level of preparation is normally a one-year subject in economic theory and a one-year subject in calculus. If these subjects have not been taken in a previous academic program, they may be covered by formal subjects prior to enrollment.

All applicants, including those from foreign countries, must take the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT). Information is available from the Graduate Management Admission Council, Educational Testing Service, Princeton, New Jersey 08541. The January test is the latest one appropriate for admission the following September. GRE scores may be used in place of GMAT scores only for the doctoral program and for LFM applicants applying through the School of Engineering.

Master of Business Administration and Master of Science in Management

The Sloan School M.B.A. Program offers a course of study in graduate business education, leading to a master's degree in Business Administration (M.B.A.) or Master of Science in Management (S.M.). Degree candidates are admitted in September to a program of study extending over two academic years. M.B.A. degree candidates must complete a required core plus 144 units of H- or G-level elective subjects. There is a minimum residency requirement in the program of three academic terms, although residency for four academic terms is expected.

The M.B.A. curriculum is designed for maximum flexibility, allowing students to create an individual program best suited to their needs and career interests. During the first term, students take a sequence of subjects that introduce three perspectives on management. These subjects show students the power of behavioral, mathematical, and economic understanding and tools in the analysis and solution of business problems. Students should view these subjects as ways of structuring complex problems and as aids to decision-making. In addition, students take courses in accounting, strategy, and communications.

After the first term, students can complete the program in one of two ways. Students may join a specific management track providing in-depth preparation for a chosen management career. Alternatively, students who prefer to create an individualized program may choose a self-managed track. In addition, students choose their own set of electives, from over 100 subjects offered each term.

Interdisciplinary management tracks prepare students for well-defined career paths. Management tracks differ from traditional majors or areas of concentration by their depth and breadth and by their explicit relationship to career opportunities. Tracks provide students with cutting-edge competency in a management specialty that is related to a career path of interest to both students and the management community. Tracks are based on faculty coalitions, with participation from both disciplinary and functional areas. Current tracks include Financial Engineering, Financial Management, Strategic Management and Consulting, New Product and Venture Development, Operations Management, eBusiness, Information and Technology, and Business Transformation.

A management track includes approximately 8-10 additional subjects. Students choose these subjects from many related offerings covering a variety of functional areas. Those students choosing an individualized program will follow the more traditional alternative of focusing on a smaller number of applied studies in a specific area. The Sloan School offers an unusually wide range of fields, including Applied Economics, Finance, Human Resource Management, Industrial Relations, Information Technologies, Marketing, Operations Management, Operations Research and Statistics, Organization Studies, Strategy and International Management, System Dynamics and Technology Innovation. The M.B.A. Program allows a high degree of flexibility, including an optional thesis, which offers students, in close conjunction with their faculty advisors, the opportunity to explore in-depth a single topic of particular interest. Students who complete a 24-unit thesis may elect to receive the M.B.A. or S.M. degree.

Practical exposure to management takes place in the Sloan School through a variety of activities. Students in the M.B.A. Program are expected to spend the intervening summer working in some activity that contributes to their understanding of and effectiveness in dealing with management problems. During the academic year, some master’s candidates work as paid research assistants for members of the faculty, or become involved with them in the consulting activities that they carry on for government, firms, and other public and private organizations. In addition, many students choose topics for their master’s theses or track-based project work that involve research in the practice of management in particular organizations, industries, or sectors. Corporate leaders are often invited to work with students, either through guest lectureships in various classes, through track activities, or through interaction with one of the over 45 Sloan student organizations such as the Finance Club, the Marketing Club or the New Ventures Association.

Master of Science in Engineering and Management

The System Design and Management (SDM) program is MIT's first degree program to be offered with a distance learning option in addition to a full-time in-residence option. Please refer to the description of the SDM program in Chapter VI and to the Engineering Systems Division in Chapter VII.

Leaders for Manufacturing Program: Simultaneous Master’s Degrees in Management and Engineering

The Leaders for Manufacturing Program (LFM) combines graduate education in engineering and management for those who aspire to leadership positions in world-class manufacturing companies and who have generally three or more years of work experience. This rigorous 24-month program combines subjects in advanced technology and management, and includes a six-and-a-half month internship. The internship provides opportunity to conduct research on site with one or more major manufacturing companies–generally an LFM partner–or with a smaller affiliated company. The program is offered jointly through the Sloan School of Management and the Departments of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Chemical Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Materials Science and Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Ocean Engineering in the School of Engineering. General requirements and application procedures are described in Chapter VI. Refer also to the description of the Engineering Systems Division in Chapter VII.

Doctor of Philosophy

The purpose of the Sloan School’s doctoral program is to prepare students for careers in teaching and research or, to a lesser extent, for nonacademic positions requiring advanced research and analytical capabilities. The doctoral program provides the opportunity to combine in-depth work in theory with work in broadly defined "applied" or "functional" fields.

A candidate entering with a bachelor’s degree should be able to complete the program in four or five years. The first year is devoted to work in the basic disciplines of management and to preliminary work in the student’s major and minor fields. The second year is primarily devoted to the major and minor fields. Finally, two or three years are required for the doctoral dissertation.

Major and Minor Fields

Candidates must master the literature, theory, and application of a major field of concentration as well as a minor field. Successful completion of this requirement is determined by General Examinations. The major fields currently available in the Sloan School are the following (although individually constructed majors are possible):

Accounting and Control
Financial Economics
Industrial Relations
Information Technologies
Management of Technological Innovation
Marketing
Operations Management
Organization Studies
Strategy and International Management
System Dynamics

Doctoral students enter the program with a clear idea in mind of a major field of concentration. An appropriate minor field is then selected–typically a theoretical discipline that provides a foundation for research in the major field. Major fields such as accounting or marketing usually have economics as a minor field, while organization studies has behavioral science.

The subject requirements for the major and minor fields are not rigid. There are normal groups of subjects for the standard fields, but substitutions of other subjects and independent study are possible. Regardless of the major and minor fields chosen, a plan of study designed to prepare the student for General Examinations is worked out by the student and his or her faculty advisor(s).

The General Examinations normally are taken in the fall semester of the third year of study, after completion of major and minor field coursework and a research paper (see below). The exact form of general exams varies and may involve written examinations, critiques of research papers, or review papers on prescribed topics. In all cases, the last stage is an oral examination.

The Sloan School is committed to research, and the philosophy and structure of the Ph.D. program reflect this professional commitment. There are two separate research requirements: the second-year research paper and the thesis.

A substantial part of the student’s work in the latter half of the first year and in the second year is devoted to an independent research project. The topic, design, and execution of the project are left to the student, while advice and criticism are provided by a research advisor and other interested faculty. Upon completion of the project, the student prepares a document that is referred to as the "second-year paper."

The doctoral dissertation consists of significant scholarly research in some area of management. Close working relationships with faculty are established early so that the thesis can be defined as a manageable project as early as possible. Candidates typically require two or three years of full-time work to complete their theses.

There is no language requirement in the Sloan School’s doctoral program, although in some cases the student and his or her advisor decide that further study of a foreign language is necessary if the student is to work effectively in his or her major field. This is usually true, for example, in the field of Strategy and International Management.

Teaching and Research Assistantships

All doctoral students in the Sloan School are eligible to apply for the approximately 100 part-time research and teaching assistantships available each year.

Inquiries

For M.B.A. brochures and applications, call (617) 253-0449; for M.B.A. information, (617) 253-3730; and for doctoral information, (617) 253-7188, or (617) 253-8957. Additional information concerning graduate programs, admissions, and financial aid may be obtained from the M.B.A. Program Office, Room E52-101, or the Doctoral Program Office, Room E60-321, Sloan School of Management, MIT, 30 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA 02139. For Leaders for Manufacturing brochures, call (617) 253-1055.

Master’s Degree Programs for Executive Education in Management

MIT Sloan Fellows Program

Each year, the MIT Sloan Fellows Program admits approximately 55 mid-career executives who have demonstrated potential for filling positions with general and senior management responsibility. These men and women are sponsored by private and public organizations. Approximately one-half of the participants selected are from outside the United States.

The 12-month program is designed to broaden and develop each participant's leadership, analytic, and decision-making competence. A rich core curriculum and electives taught by Sloan School faculty cover five major areas: policy formulation, external environment, managerial decision-making, organizational and human factors in management, and applied research in the thesis. Courses are combined with close contact with business and government leaders here and abroad during the Seminar in Leadership and three field trips.

The program leads to the degree of Master of Science in Management or Master of Business Administration.

For Sloan Fellows Program information and applications, contact the Program Office, MIT Sloan School, 50 Memorial Drive,
E52-126, Cambridge, MA 02142-1347, telephone (617) 253-7166, fax (617) 252-1200, e-mail [email protected],
web site http://mitsloan.mit.edu/sf/.

Management of Technology Program

The strategic management of technology and innovation has become critical to organizational success, and technology leadership has been recognized as a specialized skill, requiring a different education than the general management business program can offer. Whether organizational needs focus upon technology transfers, strategic alliances, or utilizing technological advances, most organizations need highly skilled technology managers to guide the way. The MIT Management of Technology (MOT) Program was initiated in 1981, in response to the worldwide demand of industry and government for strategic leaders for their organizations.

The individuals selected for the program have had extensive managerial experience, in addition to a scientific or engineering education. They bring, on average, 10 years of work experience to the classroom. Participants come from both private and government institutions. Many possess advanced degrees in other fields, and over half come from countries other than the United States.

This twelve-month master’s program was the world’s first advanced degree program to focus directly on the management of technology. While offered jointly by the Sloan School of Management and the MIT School of Engineering, studies are required in five major areas, each linked to the technology-based organization: Strategic Aspects of Technology Management; Human and Organizational Factors in Technology Management; Managerial Decision Making; Managing Product/Process Development; and Applied Research (The Thesis).

The program begins in June. Information and application materials are available only from the Program Office, Room E52-126, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02142-1347, telephone (617) 253-3733, fax (617) 253-3154, e-mail [email protected]. On the World Wide Web, see http://web.mit.edu/mot/.

Inquiries

Detailed information about these programs may be obtained from the Office of Executive Education, Room E52-126, Sloan School of Management, MIT, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA 02142, telephone (617) 253-7166, fax (617) 252-1200, (617) 253-3154, e-mail [email protected].

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