One-Year MBA FAQ

A One-Year MBA gives experienced professionals the opportunity to earn a rigorous, full-time MBA in 12 months. At Goizueta, the experience is designed to be more than a compressed two-year program. You’ll build a strong business foundation during the summer, then use the fall and spring to deepen your expertise, pursue your interests, and apply what you’re learning through hands-on experiences.

The value of an MBA goes beyond your next salary. A One-Year MBA can help you build the expertise and leadership capabilities to advance your career, pursue greater responsibility, and position yourself for increased earning potential—while spending just one year away from your career rather than two.

For professionals who already have a clear career direction, the accelerated format can also mean returning to the workforce sooner and putting your new skills to work faster. Combined with Goizueta’s strong career outcomes and personalized career support, the One-Year MBA is designed to deliver value both in the opportunities you pursue and the time you save getting there.

A One-Year MBA lets you accelerate your education and return to your career sooner without putting your professional growth on hold for two years. It can be an especially strong fit if you have a clear sense of where you want to go next and don’t need a summer internship to get there.

At Goizueta, you also have meaningful opportunities to make the experience your own. Choose from four distinct One-Year MBA options—Accelerated MBA, Global MBA, Healthcare MBA, or Real Estate MBA—then customize your experience through electives, concentrations, experiential learning, and leadership development.

The One-Year MBA is designed for experienced professionals who are ready to take their careers to the next level and have a clear sense of their goals. Students may be advancing in their current industry or function, developing specialized expertise, preparing for leadership, or pursuing a new direction.

The common thread is that you’re ready to make the most of an immersive, fast-paced MBA experience and don't want to spend two years away from your career.

If your career goals depend on using an MBA summer for internship-based exploration or recruiting, a Two-Year MBA may provide a better fit.

The biggest difference is how you use your time. One-Year MBA students complete the core curriculum during the summer, then use the fall and spring semesters to customize their experience through specialized coursework, electives, experiential learning, and leadership development.

The Two-Year MBA provides additional time for exploration, including a summer internship. The One-Year MBA is designed for professionals who are ready to move forward without that internship experience.

Goizueta welcomes applicants with undergraduate degrees from all majors. We look for students with diverse educational backgrounds and work experiences.

We encourage applicants to have at least two years of post-undergraduate, full-time work experience prior to the start of your MBA. Most of our students have between 3 and 7 years of work experience. Substantive work experience means you will be able to contribute more to classroom discussions and will have more focus with regard to personal and professional goals.

No, we do not accept transfer credits.

If you have earned a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) degree in the United States, you are not eligible to enroll in a Goizueta Business School MBA. Exceptions to this policy will be considered on a rare case-by-case basis if the degree is considered not comparable to the academic and experiential content of Goizueta Business School's MBA.

The One-Year MBA begins in early May. Domestic students should plan to arrive in the area at least one week prior to the start dates. International students should plan to arrive in the area at least two weeks prior to the start dates.

Your Goizueta experience begins with an immersive summer focused on the MBA core, giving you a strong foundation across essential business disciplines. But you won’t learn those disciplines in isolation. Throughout the summer, Goizueta emphasizes how finance, strategy, marketing, operations, economics, and other business disciplines come together to solve complex problems and make better decisions.

You’ll put that integrated learning into practice through two signature experiences. IMPACT gives you the opportunity to work with a real client on a pressing business challenge, while Boardroom Pitch serves as the culminating integration project of the summer core. Working in teams, you’ll analyze a publicly traded company through financial, strategic, operational, marketing, and economic lenses before delivering a boardroom-style recommendation to buy, sell, or hold its stock.

In the fall and spring, you’ll customize your experience through electives, concentrations, global immersions, and leadership development opportunities. The result is a rigorous, integrated MBA experience that moves from learning business fundamentals to applying them to real-world challenges—and developing the leadership skills to put them into action.

Goizueta offers four distinct ways to shape your One-Year MBA:

• Accelerated MBA: Build a highly personalized experience around your interests and career goals, with access to 26+ concentrations and 90 electives.
• Global MBA: Develop a global perspective through specialized coursework and immersive international experiences across five cities and four countries designed to prepare you to lead across markets and cultures.
• Healthcare MBA: Combine core business expertise with specialized opportunities to explore healthcare strategy, innovation, technology, and leadership.
• Real Estate MBA: Develop specialized expertise in real estate while building the financial, analytical, strategic, and leadership skills needed to succeed in a dynamic industry.

Each pathway provides a different lens for your MBA while giving you the rigorous business foundation and Goizueta experience you expect.
 

Yes. Being part of Emory University gives you opportunities to learn beyond the business school. Depending on your interests and program requirements, you may be able to take courses across the university and bring perspectives from disciplines such as healthcare, law, and public health into your MBA experience.

At Goizueta, business means action. You’ll have opportunities to put ideas into practice through real-world client projects, immersive experiences, global learning, and leadership development.

Your experiences can also complement your chosen One-Year MBA pathway, allowing you to connect classroom learning to the industries, challenges, and career goals that matter most to you.

The Goizueta student experience is personal and highly collaborative. You’ll learn alongside accomplished professionals who bring different industries, experiences, and perspectives to the classroom.

Because you’re moving through the program together at an accelerated pace, relationships develop quickly. Those connections become part of the Goizueta network you’ll carry with you throughout your career.

Yes, Goizueta's MBA degree does have STEM designation. The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) allows graduates of STEM programs on F-1 visas, who work for an E-Verify employer, the opportunity to work full-time in the US. In addition to the normal Optional Practical Training (OPT) period of 12 months for international students, a STEM degree makes possible a 24-month extension of post-completion OPT, offering total potential eligibility of up to 36 months.

Our program is very intense in the initial semesters. One-Year MBA students should not make any travel or employment plans for the summer they begin classes.

One-Year MBA students in our Global MBA will study abroad in the fall semester choosing from location: Hong Kong, Barcelona, or São Paulo. Other One-Year MBA students are not able to participate in a study abroad program. However, there is still an opportunity to travel abroad to explore the business and cultural environment of another country through Global Experiential Modules.

Emory offers graduate professional housing in venues on the edges of campus targeted to student's needs and desires. Emory provides shuttles to these units. In addition, the Emory area offers a wide variety of attractive and affordable housing options including apartment complexes and rental homes. Admitted students receive more information on housing following admission to the program.

At Goizueta, we know an MBA journey isn’t just about the student—it’s about the support system around them. That’s why we offer structured support and programming to engage partners and families, helping you stay connected, informed, and celebrated throughout the year. Our partner's club is quite active, and all partners and family are encouraged to participate at events throughout the program. We also provide access to Emory facilities include gyms and the library, enable families to be on student health insurance, and can provide guidance on house and child care options (with two child care options located near the business school).