Essential pre-MBA courses

By: Nigel Evans, Edited by: Alec Surmani

Last updated: August 1, 2025

Earning a master's in business administration (MBA) degree may increase your earning potential and expand your career opportunities. If you're considering pursuing this degree, proper preparation may improve your chances of success.

Here are some essential courses to consider taking before starting an MBA program.

Seven essential pre-MBA courses

Here are some essential courses that you should consider completing before you enroll in an MBA program. Each course can provide you with key skills and valuable knowledge, providing you with a solid start.

Financial accounting

A financial accounting course would introduce you to the principles of accounting, which many people call the "language of business." You'll learn how to prepare or analyze financial statements and balance sheets, so you can evaluate how a company is performing and identify areas for improvement. You'll also be able to spot trends or irregularities in financial records, use financial data to make decisions, and talk the language of accounting with stakeholders.

Economics

It pays to have a basic knowledge of economics so you can understand how market behavior, economic policies, or other external forces could impact your business situation. With a course like this, you'll get a good understanding of microeconomics and macroeconomics and learn how to apply economic principles to a challenge in your real world. After all, economic changes that you cannot control can affect the long-term viability of your organization.

Mathematics for business

Take your number-crunching capability to the next level and understand that math can often be crucial for solving business problems. In this type of mathematics course, you could learn about hypothesis testing, linear programming, and break-even analysis. You could even build new mathematical models to help with business predictions and presentations.

Fundamentals of marketing

Product, price, place, and promotion make up the "Four Ps" of marketing, and it's crucial to understand these areas to drive business growth. In a marketing course like this, you will also learn about other foundational principles, such as customer lifecycles, brand management, and market segmentation. You'll also learn how to develop complete marketing plans and know how to identify customer needs in the wild, so you can respond with the best products or services.

Corporate finance

Round out your focus on the money side of things by taking a pre-MBA corporate finance course. You'll learn how to make the most out of your company's financial resources, manage risks, and invest wisely. You can also use evaluation techniques to assess projects, prepare capital budgets, and understand how your decisions can influence the fate of your organization.

Leadership

An organization is only as strong as its team, and your leadership skills could be pivotal to success. Here, understand how you can inspire, manage, and optimize the performance of your team. Also, learn how different leadership styles affect team performance, as well as how to resolve conflicts and manage cross-functional teams effectively.

Data analysis

Data is the lifeblood of modern commerce, and it'll help if you know how to gather, interpret, and use it. In a data analysis program, you'll discover visualization tools, such as Power BI, and learn how to build dashboards that you can present to strategic decision-makers. Also, you will be better able to use data to pinpoint opportunities or reduce inefficiencies in your organization.