What Does MBA Stand For?

MBA stands for three ideas in one title

The word "administration" matters. An MBA is less about one narrow skill and more about seeing a whole organization at once. That is why classes jump from accounting to leadership to supply chains in the same term. The degree began in the United States in the early 1900s and spread around the world after that.

What does MBA stand for in college catalogs?

When a student asks what MBA means in college, the answer is a program offered by a business school, the graduate arm of a university. The first year is usually a core of required courses, and the second year lets students pick electives or a concentration.

• Core subjects: accounting, finance, economics, statistics, marketing, operations and organizational behavior.
• Common concentrations: finance, marketing, health care management, entrepreneurship, human resources and data analytics.
• Hands on work: case studies, team projects and often a summer internship between the two years.

Admission often asks for a bachelor's degree, transcripts, essays, recommendations and sometimes a graduate entrance test score. Many programs also value work experience.

Full time, part time, executive: MBA formats

The MBA degree stands for the same title in every format, but schools deliver it in different ways so that people at different stages can fit it in.

• Full time: about two years on campus, often with an internship.
• Accelerated: one intense year for students who already know the basics.
• Part time or evening: classes after work, often three years or more.
• Executive MBA (EMBA): for experienced managers, with weekend or modular sessions.
• Online: the same title earned mostly through remote classes.

Writing MBA after a name and in a sentence

The everyday form is three capitals with no periods. Older or very formal style may show M.B.A., and both are correct, but the period free form is far more common today. Because the first sound is "em," use an before it: an MBA student, an MBA program.

• "Jordan Lee, MBA" on a business card or email signature.
• "She finished her MBA at night while working full time."
• "The firm hires a few MBAs every summer."
• "He is weighing an MBA against a master's in finance."

On a résumé, list it under Education with the school and the year you graduated. You do not need to spell out the full form there, since hiring managers know it on sight.

MBA compared with other degree letters

Letters after a name can blur together. A few that sit near MBA:

• MA and MS: Master of Arts and Master of Science, master's degrees in a single subject such as history or chemistry.
• PhD: a research doctorate, a longer degree built around original research.
• DBA: in schools, Doctor of Business Administration, a doctorate one level above the MBA. In business filings, DBA means "doing business as," a trade name.
• CPA: Certified Public Accountant, a license earned by exam, not a degree.

For more letters seen in offices and on pay stubs, see the business acronyms section.

Other things the letters can mean

Almost every time, MBA means the degree. In a few corners of life the same three letters show up with another sense. Mortgage lenders in the United States have a trade group called the Mortgage Bankers Association. If the setting is school, jobs or a résumé, read it as Master of Business Administration.