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Pre-MBA Summer Programs

Pre-MBA Programming

Before you officially kick off the pursuit of your MBA, you’ll have the opportunity to engage in carefully designed learning opportunities and activities that will prepare you for success in the program. First, all enrolled students have access to our Math Foundations and Business Foundations programs (self-paced, online coursework) to prepare you with the math and analytical skills you’ll need most. Next, you’ll get ready for the career and recruiting process through Career FoundationsThen, you’ll participate in Orientation, where you’ll meet your new classmates, professors, and the key staff who’ll support you throughout the program – and well beyond!

Learn what it takes to join the UNC-Kenan Flagler Full-Time MBA program.

Skills to help you succeed

Analytical savvy and a working knowledge of probability and statistics, finance, and financial accounting are essential skills for those who wish to succeed in the business world, and our MBA program develops and hones those competencies. Our Math Foundations and Business Foundations programming gives you the opportunity to refresh your skills and bolster your knowledge of these concepts in an intensive, self-paced online program before beginning the MBA program.

2024 Dates

  • Business Foundations and Math Foundations (online, self-paced): Available to all enrolled students after January 2024.
    • Must be completed by August 19, 2024
  • Career Foundations (online):
    • Summer 2024, dates TBD
  • Orientation and Mod 1 classes begin (on-campus, required for all new students):
    • July 29 – August 16, 2024

MBA Business Foundations (required)

Business Foundations will introduce you to the foundational analytical and financial knowledge you need to start the MBA program with confidence. You’ll either refresh your memory of courses and concepts learned earlier in your academic career or become familiar with new essential topics, so you know where you stand and can identify concepts that you may need to develop further as you prepare to hit the ground running as an MBA student.

Business Foundations is offered in an asynchronous learning format, so you’ll learn through self-directed online coursework where you will watch videos, complete interactive practice problem sets based on the lecture content, and receive customized feedback. You will also have a chance to connect with your cohort before coming onsite through chats and discussion forums.

Building on over 10 years of experience in designing outstanding online learning experiences, this maximizes your opportunity to review content and materials in order to prepare for discussion-based live class sessions once you begin your core coursework in the fall.

Required for all incoming, enrolled MBA students, the Business Foundations experience includes courses in:

  • Analytical Tools/Business Statistics
  • Financial Accounting
  • Finance

“Finance provides us with incredibly useful tools to make good decisions within a firm, or as individual investors or consumers. However, it can be an intimidating topic for those who have not done it before! The Finance course in Business Foundations covers the basics of consumer finance products, such as mortgage loans, and introduces key stock and bond markets and investment knowledge, so you start your MBA with confidence in these critical finance topics no matter your background.”

Dr. Cami Kuhnen Professor of Finance and Sarah Graham Kenan Distinguished Scholar

MBA Math Foundations (optional)

Math Foundations is designed for incoming MBA students to ensure success in the classroom and give you confidence in the quantitative skills you’re expected to know and apply in your earliest classesMade available to all incoming, enrolled students at the same time as Business Foundationsthis self-paced, online program is offered at no cost, and covers several key concepts such as: balance sheet structure, algebra, calculating exponents and inverting powers, statisticslogarithms and basic regression. 

MBA Career Foundations

Led by our dedicated Career & Leadership experts, Career Foundations is designed to begin preparing you for a successful career search.  These career workshops allow our Career & Leadership team to get to know you and your career goals, increase your knowledge of career opportunities in specific areas of interest, develop  your understanding of what employers are seeking, and offer early access to the career coaching process. 

You’ll complete two career assessments prior to beginning Career Foundations, to help you look introspectively at your strengths, interests, and motivators to help identify, and ultimately, acquire, the career opportunities you’re most interested in. After you complete Career Foundations, your approved resume will be included in a resume book shared with employers.

“After 7 years away from a classroom, Kenan-Flagler's pre-MBA programs gave me the opportunity to knock the rust off. It was great to resharpen these skills with content taught by the same professors that we had in the first semester, in a less formal setting. The MBA core [curriculum] moves so quickly that I’m thankful I had time to readjust to the classroom in a low pressure atmosphere.”

Dave Shevlin MBA Class of 2019

Orientation

Orientation is the culmination of all your on-boarding activities before kicking off the fall semester. Required for all incoming students, it provides substantial preparatory material to ensure success in the program. It’s an important event and one that our students find enjoyable, useful, and inspiring.  

During this time, you’ll establish your foundations in leading and managing, as well as explore sessions focused on diversity, team building, leadership, and self-assessment.  

Additionally, you will initialize your career search through interactive and dynamic sessions that will ensure that you develop the knowledge and skills to succeed in your internship search and beyond. You will continue to learn about the outstanding career support you’ll receive from our Career & Leadership Team and the extensive resources available to you at UNC Kenan-Flagler.  

Finally, Orientation provides you with numerous opportunities to network and socialize with your fellow classmates, faculty and staff, where you’ll begin to develop the deep connections and relationships that will become a hallmark of your MBA experience here.

I’m interested.

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