STEM and Concentrations


With Olin’s STEM-designation option and our five MBA career platforms, your studies will prepare you to become the expert you’re meant to be.

Our STEM MBA

As an Olin MBA, you’re able to dive deep into your studies through our STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) MBA option—take just five additional STEM credit hours beyond the core to earn a STEM MBA. Of the 33.5 STEM hours required, 28.5 are completed in our rigorous MBA core curriculum. That gives you ample electives remaining to pursue a concentration, experiential learning and more.

You can focus on specific functional areas with courses such as Financial Tech, Methods & Practice; Analytics-Driven Brand Management; and Operations Management in the Service Industry. 

See STEM course list

 

Optical Practical Training (OPT)

Beyond the value of a tech-forward degree, international students who earn a STEM-designated degree can apply to extend their OPT from 12 months to up to 36 months. Read more at dhs.gov.

MBA Concentrations


WashU Olin offers Full-Time MBA degree concentrations in five critical business disciplines to focus your degree and hone your skills in that area:

  • Consulting
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Finance
  • Marketing
  • Operations and Supply Chain

By choosing a concentration, you go beyond recommended coursework to include cocurricular activities, alumni networking and job search strategies. This sets you up for success as you interview with recruiters for internship and full-time employment.

The platform advisor and WashU Career Center help you understand the opportunities each concentration provides and the impact on your future. Student clubs also play a central role in the platform experience, creating opportunities for you to demonstrate your leadership in front of key influencers in your chosen field.

Olin gave me the opportunity to reflect, focus and dream about my career. I gained confidence in subjects I was unfamiliar with before choosing finance and consulting. I also was given opportunities to lead student organizations and challenged with classes to help me grow as a business professional.

—Justin Matthews, FTMBA 2023
Read Justin’s story

Our Concentrations: A Closer Look


  • Consulting
    Gain in-depth insight into how consultants solve problems. Learn how to look for solutions across a range of functional areas. How to dig deep, learn quickly and formulate solutions with buy-in from a wide and varied constituency. The MBA in consulting platform prepares you for a range of careers in consulting and management.

    Specific concentrations within the MBA consulting platform include:
    • General Management and Internal Consulting
    • Business of Healthcare
    • International Management
    • Strategy Consulting
    • Human Capital Consulting

    Platform Director: Patricia Gorman, Professor of Practice, Organization & Strategy
    Club/Organization: Olin Strategy and Consulting Association (OSCA)
    Credit Requirements: 15.5 credits - 8 foundation credits (3 of those are experiential learning credits) and 7.5 concentration credits.

    Read more about consulting concentrations (PDF).

  • Entrepreneurship

    WashU Olin’s top-ranked entrepreneurship program works because students are challenged to do more. By enrolling in our MBA entrepreneurship platform, you learn to fall in love with a customer’s problem, how to do something about it, and how to leverage our entrepreneurial ecosystem in St. Louis and around the world.

    With more than two dozen courses dedicated to teaching the entrepreneurial spirit, and a host of hands-on opportunities, we give you the tools to solve vexing business problems.

    Entrepreneurship Fellowship

    The Entrepreneurship Fellowship is aimed at students seeking to influence business and society in areas including sustainability/environmentalism; social responsibility; global impact; and equity, diversity and inclusion. Fellows receive full tuition remission, networking opportunities, one-on-one mentorship and more.

    Platform Director: Doug Villhard, Professor of Practice in Entrepreneurship and Academic Director of Entrepreneurship
    Club/Organization: Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital Association (EVCA)
    MBA Platform Requirements: 15.5 credits - 9.5 foundation credits (3 of those are experiential learning credits) and 6 concentration credits.

    Read more about the entrepreneurship concentrations (PDF).

  • Finance

    This is where imagination meets the spreadsheet. Want to know how to move the wheels of capitalism? Stop right here. Get in deep as a specialist in an institution or firm that acts as a provider of capital or as a user of capital. Discover the options the MBA finance platform offers, and learn how money moves markets and the world.

    Concentrations within the Corporate Finance and Investments platform include:

    • Financial Management
    • Investment Banking – Corporate Finance
    • Private Equity and Venture Capital
    • Investment Banking – Capital Markets and Trading
    • Asset Management

    The foundational MBA finance courses prepare you for careers in any one of the above areas. Other, more focused courses delve deeper into each concentration. Enhance your career development by taking several recommended electives outside of finance.

    Platform Director: Timothy Solberg, Professor of Practice in Finance
    Club/Organization: Olin Finance Club
    Credit Requirements: 15.5 credits - 11 foundation credits (3 of those are experiential learning credits) and 4.5 concentration credits.

    Read more about finance concentrations (PDF).

  • Marketing

    Here’s where you discover it’s all about the brand—and why it’s important.

    Learn how to craft programs that make consumers want to buy. You learn how to direct consumer marketing efforts; and how to coordinate sales, advertising, design, operations, market research; and business analysis to get your product or service to market. You’ll discover the true meaning of the term “brand advocate” as you develop your skills in all areas of marketing.

    Choose MBA marketing concentrations based on your interests:

    • Brand Management
    • Product Management
    • Customer Analytics

    Platform Director: Michael Wall, Professor of Practice in Marketing
    Club/Organization: Olin Marketing Association
    Credit Requirements: 15.5 credits - 8 foundation credits, (3 of those are experiential learning credits) and 7.5 concentration credits.

    Read more about marketing concentrations (PDF).

  • Operations and Supply Chain Management

    Managing the supply chain from sourcing to delivery is complex, sophisticated and demanding. It’s a global, multi-dimensional challenge to meet rapidly changing consumer demand in a world changing even faster.

    The MBA supply chain management platform gives you the knowledge, understanding and analytical skills required to address modern challenges. And take advantage of opportunities. Your increased knowledge, in areas like information technology and risk management, puts you in a position to be a modern innovator. To develop new strategies to help employers remain competitive in the global marketplace.

    Concentrations within this platform include:

    • Operations/Supply Chain Management
    • Supply Chain Consulting

    Upon completion of this platform, you’ll be prepared for careers in consulting and strategy, as well as for positions such as product/process/project manager, consulting/engagement manager or COO.

    Platform Director: Sergio Chayet, Senior Lecturer in Operations and Manufacturing Management
    Club/Organization: Olin Supply Chain and Operations Association
    Credit Requirements: 15.5 credits - 8 or 9.5 foundation credits (3 of those are experiential learning credits) and 6 concentration credits.

    Read more about operations and supply chain concentrations (PDF).

Contact Us

Graduate Admissions

Olin Business School - Knight Hall
One Brookings Drive
St. Louis, MO 63130-4899

Office Hours:
Monday–Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Quick Links