The William & Mary Online MBA
It takes a true revolutionary to lead effectively in today’s organizations. The complex, global problems that define contemporary business resist conventional solutions, and only the most flexibly minded and resourceful professionals can approach them in a way that prepares their team for success.
The Online MBA program from the Raymond A. Mason School of Business imparts the essential business knowledge and builds the dynamic mindset necessary to lead in today’s challenging and rapidly changing business environment. It's no wonder over 97 percent of our alumni rate their satisfaction with the program as "very high" or "high."1
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Get more details about our Online MBA program, learn how to submit a strong application and read more about the online experience.
Online MBA by the Numbers
Start Your Revolution With Design Thinking
By choosing the Online MBA at William & Mary, you are opting to pursue an essential element of revolutionary leadership: design thinking. Design thinking is a method of tackling problems that does not presume a solution. It replaces a linear mindset that prioritizes completion over innovation with an iterative approach aimed at constant refinement and open to unexpected discoveries.
Design thinking is introduced in the Online MBA program’s first course, Renaissance Manager, through a framework derived from the Renaissance ideal of Leonardo da Vinci. Adapted for the modern business world, this ideal informs the decisions of effective design thinkers by driving them to:
- Approach new challenges with voracious intellectual curiosity
- Bring deep expertise in an enabling field to their work
- Develop and maintain broad knowledge and interests to transcend limitations
- Think systematically and logically to focus on creative, well-reasoned solutions
When you embrace design thinking as it is taught throughout the Online MBA curriculum, you will build the mental agility to accept new information openly, collaborate generously and innovate perpetually in search of meaningful improvements rather than finite solutions. You will join the revolutionary leaders who have graduated from our Online MBA program in focusing diverse ideas into sound strategy and facing a changing business landscape with confidence and poise.
Renaissance Manager was a phenomenal way to start the program. I really liked how it addressed the major challenge impacting every business today—disruption
The Wicked Problem: Your Roadmap to Revolutionary Leadership
Threaded throughout your Online MBA coursework is a “wicked problem” which you will select during the introductory Renaissance Manager course and explore in each subsequent course, up to and including the culminating Revolutionary Leader Practicum.
A wicked problem is defined by the following characteristics:
- An unknowable set of potential solutions
- No definitive agreement on the nature of the problem itself
- No way to know with absolute certainty that a chosen solution is best
By their very nature, wicked problems are best approached through design thinking, as their resistance to clear paths and easy answers demands an approach that seeks neither of those things. Instead, you will work to refine and improve a set of possible solutions, viewing each as a beta test and none as an endpoint.
Each course of the Online MBA program helps you add new skills and knowledge to your management toolkit which you can incorporate into your design thinking mindset, whether they be rooted in finance, marketing, business analytics or other business disciplines. As you progress through the program, you will compile a wicked problem portfolio to track your iterative engagements with your problem; this portfolio is shared with your classmates to provide opportunities for collaborative problem-solving and mutual growth.
This journey concludes with the Revolutionary Leader Practicum in which each Online MBA student delivers a TED-style “Tribe Talk” detailing ways they engaged with their wicked problem across their time in the program. By summarizing the steps you have taken toward unraveling your problem and identifying potential solutions, you will demonstrate the growth mindset required to lead with vision, openness and limitless potential.
How wicked is your problem?
Online MBA Courses Overview
William & Mary's academic calendar offers three unique start dates throughout the year, so you can enroll when the time is right for you and complete the Online MBA in as few as 24 months. All courses are accessed through our engaging online learning platform, which makes it easy for students to track their assignments, connect with faculty and peers, submit coursework, and view lectures—and all that’s required is an internet-connected computer or a mobile device.
We require that all admitted students complete a quantitative refresher course covering accounting, economics, finance, statistics and spreadsheets prior to entering the program to ensure preparedness for the quantitative coursework you will encounter throughout the MBA curriculum.
Waivers for this course are available to qualified students. Contact an Admissions Advisor for more information.
Year 1 Courses
BUAD 5017: Renaissance Manager (4 credits)
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BUAD 5107: Financial and Managerial Accounting (4 credits)
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BUAD 5507: Organizational Behavior (4 credits)
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BUAD 5707: Business Analytics (4 credits)
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BUAD 5607: Operations (4 credits)
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BUAD 5947: Global Managerial Economics (4 credits)
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Year 2 Courses
BUAD 5307: Finance (4 credits)
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BUAD 5407: Marketing (4 credits)
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BUAD 5227: Integrated Technology (4 credits)
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BUAD 5517: Leadership for the 21st Century (4 credits)
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BUAD 5907: Strategy (4 credits)
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BUAD 5967: Revolutionary Leader Practicum (4 credits)
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Optional Foundations in Business Analytics Certificate Courses
BUAD 502A: Probability and Statistics I (3 credits)
BUAD 502B: R Programming (1 credit)
BUAD 502C: Python Programming (1 credit)
BUAD 502D: Linear Algebra for Business Analytics (3 credits)
BUAD 5112: Competing Through Business Analytics (4 credits)
Please note: Course list and sequence are subject to change.
I am extremely surprised with the level of rigor the program entails. During a given week you will have numerous readings, quizzes, individual reflection papers and group project work.
Dive deep into the Online MBA.
Give Your Online MBA an Analytics Focus
We recognize that many motivated professionals today wish to build a set of technical skills that fall outside of our standard Online MBA curriculum’s focus. For this reason, we’re excited to offer two options to accommodate our students’ demand for more robust programming and analytics courses.
As an Online MBA student, you may either:
- Register for BUAD 502B R Programming and/or BUAD 502C Python Programming from our Online MSBA curriculum to augment your Online MBA with knowledge of these languages
- Complement the Online MBA program with our Online Foundations in Business Analytics Certificate to add hands-on technical experience to your leadership toolkit over a five-course (12-credit) curriculum
Both of these options can be integrated seamlessly into your Online MBA program sequence, allowing you to build these additional skills without extending your time to degree. Contact an Admissions Advisor for more information.
Not interested in our Online MBA? View all of our program options.
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Discover the Value of Cohort Diversity
Our Online MBA cohorts have historically represented more than a hundred undergraduate universities and an impressively diverse selection of ethnicities, career fields and professional histories. The story these statistics tell is that this program is one in which a variety of voices come together to develop their skills while also contributing to the personal and professional growth of others.
Gain invaluable exposure to a varied group of peers with new and important perspectives, and let their insight help you navigate the challenges and opportunities created by the wicked problems of modern business.
Average Cohort Data and Statistics
179+
undergraduate institutions represented
10
average years of work experience
3.2
average undergraduate GPA (on a 4.0 scale)
83%
ages 26-45
26%
U.S. minority
33%
female
22%
from financial services background
18%
from military background
8%
from government background
9%
from technology background
NOTE: Statistics are based on cumulative self-reported W&M Online MBA Student Profile Data collected from all cohorts between Spring 2016 and Spring 2018.
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- Based on a limited sample of self-reported data from alumni of W&M’s Online MBA program from graduating cohorts between 2016 and 2020