The Fuqua School of Business at Duke University has just announced a new master's program designed to provide basic entry-level business skills to recent college graduates and advanced degree holders with no prior full-time work experience.
The new Master of Management Studies in Foundations of Business (MMS) program includes 12 business courses taught over four six-week terms. The program's curriculum will cover all of the basic areas of business training: finance, accounting, marketing, strategy, operations, decision analysis and management. All courses will be taught by the same Fuqua faculty that teaches in the core MBA program. The first MMS class will enter Fuqua this fall.
The MMS program requires no previous business studies, although a basic knowledge of calculus, statistics and computer skills is required. For those who enter the program with no training in these areas, "boot camps" in statistics and computer skills are available. It's noteworthy that, while the majority of the MMS program's students will be recent college grads, it is actually designed for anyone with little or no work experience, including Master's degree and PhD holders.
While there is no single rule that can be applied to everyone, we usually tell our MBA admissions clients that they will get the most out of their business training if they have at least a couple of years of full-time work experience under their belts. However, there may very well be a place for programs such as MMS in the education market.
If you are just graduating from college and think you will one day want to earn an MBA, then we recommend getting two to five years of work experience before applying to business school. However, if you don't plan on pursuing an MBA and want a basic level of business training in order to get your professional career started, then the Master of Management Studies program may be a good fit for you.
