The Foster Hybrid MBA curriculum builds a strong foundation in business essentials, while giving students the opportunity to enhance their degree with Hybrid MBA elective courses. This MBA for working professionals emphasizes evidence-based challenges, so students can learn a concept one day and apply it at work the next. Taught by Foster’s world-class MBA faculty, course content is grounded in executive management, strategy and leadership principles, theories, and frameworks. Hands-on case analysis allows students to examine real-world business problems and learn how to best evaluate a situation by applying concepts and strategies acquired throughout the program. Visit the Student Experience page to learn more about the online and in-person Hybrid MBA experience.
5% In-person
The beginning of each quarter sets the stage for engaged and connected learning with mandatory 4–5 day intensive, on UW Seattle campus immersion.
Our in-person Foster Together immersions create opportunities for quality connections among students and faculty, both through academics and professional networking and social events.
95% Online
A combination of dynamic live online classes and guided independent work, supplemented with virtual team-driven projects.
Students engage with their classmates and faculty during weekly Foster Live sessions (a 90-minute interactive session on Tuesdays and many Wednesday evenings with Foster faculty and Hybrid classmates) and optional Thursday evening online review sessions.
Curriculum Overview
Curriculum for this two-year program is comprised of 50 credits of core courses and 12 credits of Hybrid MBA electives. Due to the unique online and in-person format, Hybrid MBA electives are exclusive to the Hybrid MBA program.
Analysis of Global Economic Conditions
Credits: 4
This course covers both the domestic and global aspects of macroeconomics, and provides tools to understand the key elements of economic growth, inflation, unemployment, business cycles, fiscal policy, monetary policy, trade policy, and current economic developments.
Building Effective Teams
Credits: 1 each (2 total, both required)
This core requirement is delivered in two separate courses, each for 1 credit, offered at different points in the program with different content.
The courses cover tools you will need to build a highly effective Hybrid MBA Team. While the main focus is on Hybrid MBA Teams, the tools are crucial whenever and wherever you must assemble a team to accomplish an objective.
Capstone
Credits: 4
This class is cross-functional and integrated in approach (including strategy, marketing, leadership, finance, accounting, operations, decision modeling and economics). You will “learn by doing” through two major projects, including a case competition presented to a company client.
Competitive Business Strategy
Credits: 4
Provides students with frameworks to think about business strategies that outperform the competition. Leverages learning from other courses in marketing, microeconomics, and finance.
Corporate Finance
Credits: 4
Covers the foundations of finance with applications vital for corporate managers and investors. Topics include investment decisions, valuation, risk and return, market efficiency, and capital structure.
Decision Modeling
Credits: 2
Introduces management science concepts, applying mathematical modeling and analysis to management problems. Teaches skills to build and evaluate models and understand model-based reasoning.
Ethical Leadership
Credits: 2
Explores ethical aspects of business. Provides frameworks to recognize and address ethical issues in management, provide ethical leadership, and conduct business responsibly.
Financial Reporting & Analysis
Credits: 4
Provides an understanding of the numbers side of business. Students learn to use financial information in management situations to impact business decisions.
Global Strategy
Credits: 2
Prepares managers to develop organizations that operate and compete effectively worldwide, appreciating differences and similarities among markets and business practices.
Leading Teams & Organizations
Credits: 4
Takes a strategic view of how organizational behavior can enhance effectiveness, providing fundamental principles of leading teams and organizations.
Managerial Accounting
Credits: 4
Covers costing, transfer pricing, profit planning, and performance measurement in varied contexts. Cases emphasize universal principles rather than calculations, with focus on real-world applications.
Microeconomics for Managers
Credits: 4
Explores cost-benefit frameworks to make production, pricing, and resource allocation decisions under different market conditions. Reinforces an “economic way of thinking.”
Operations Management
Credits: 4
Examines how goods and services move through inter-related operations to match supply with demand. Focuses on designing, investing in, and controlling operations for strategic advantage.
Probability & Statistics
Credits: 2
Covers descriptive statistics, probability, and methods for dealing with uncertainty in decision-making. Students learn to analyze and interpret data in business contexts.
Strategic Marketing Management
Credits: 4
Develops marketing strategies using evidence-based theories and tools to analyze market forces, design strategy, and align the marketing mix across the customer journey.
Analytics Consulting Lab
Credits: 4
Hands-on consulting experience applying analytics to real-world business problems.
Behavioral Finance
Credits: 2
Examines investor and executive behavior, focusing on (seemingly) irrational decisions in finance and economics.
Business Analytics Tools for Big Data
Credits: 2
Introduces analytics techniques and software (Tableau, R) to generate insight and value from large datasets, with applications across business functions.
Digital Marketing Strategies & Systems
Credits: 2
Provides a framework for understanding how digital marketing systems interconnect and how to build programs aligned to business objectives.
Leading Organizational Change
Credits: 2
Focuses on evidence-based models and methods for enhancing leadership and guiding organizational change. Includes a personal leadership development plan.
Marketing Analytics
Credits: 2
Teaches advanced methods (regression, segmentation, logistic regression, RFM analysis) to drive marketing strategies, with case studies from major companies.
Mergers & Acquisitions
Credits: 2
Advanced finance course covering valuation, negotiation, structuring, closing deals, and integration in the M&A process.
Product Management
Credits: 2
Covers frameworks, tools, and techniques for effective product management across the lifecycle, including planning, forecasting, production, and marketing.
Real Estate Finance & Investments
Credits: 2
Focuses on income-based valuation methods for property, including capitalization and discounted cash flow techniques.
Successful Negotiations
Credits: 2
Provides strategies and psychological frameworks for negotiation in professional and personal contexts. Emphasizes experiential learning.
Sustainable Design of Global Supply Chains
Credits: 2
Teaches strategic and operational decisions in supply chain design, including sustainability, risk management, legal/tax considerations, and global coordination.
**NOTE: Curriculum is subject to change.