Coming into the UofA MBA program, I planned to take mostly quantitative classes because of my Engineering background and work experience. As a result, I decided to pursue the Natural Resources Energy & Environment (NREE) specialization since it was a logical continuation of my prior work experience. The NREE specialization is highly quantitative with mandatory courses such as Risk Management, Corporate Finance, Financial Valuation and Operations Management.
I wasn’t surprised that these classes were filled with mainly Engineers so I felt right at home and on the right path. Upon completing my first year I realized how much more I learned and enjoyed some of the other qualitative classes.
It’s my final semester (drum rolls!), so here are some of my favorite classes:
- Organizational Strategy | Prof: Vern Glaser | Course code: SMO 502
Reasons I love this course:
- This course helped me understand the importance of strategy and provided me with several frameworks that serve as guidelines for strategy formulation.
- The course was very interactive and there was a weekly case discussion where we analyzed how management decisions can drive competitive advantage for businesses.
- Professor Vern used a unique approach to help us think more strategically. He constantly challenged us to move away from convergent thinking which unleashes our creativity. I have been able to apply some of the class concepts working on case competitions.
- Risk Management | Prof: Felipe Aguerrevere | Course code: FIN 654
Reasons I love this course:
- The course explores the concepts behind derivatives and how derivatives are used for hedging. Derivatives are widely used in different kinds of businesses and not only the financial sector. This is something I didn’t know prior to this class! Derivatives are a difficult concept to grasp for beginners, however, Professor Felipe did an excellent job breaking it down for us.
- I learned about various financial instruments such as forwards, futures and options which are essential tools organizations use to mitigate financial risks.
- Being very comfortable with numbers, I enjoyed this course because it is highly quantitative.
- Managerial Economics | Prof: Dick Beason | Course code: BUEC 503
Reasons I love this course:
- I enjoyed the course because it helped me better understand the monetary policies in Canada. We covered several macroeconomic concepts and topics such as the theory of money, consumer theory and consumer behavior.
- The Prof. made the course easy to understand for everyone especially folks like me without a business background.
- Business Ethics | Prof: Madeline Toubiana | Course code: BUS 505
Reasons I love this course:
- Coming into this class I thought I was well versed with several ethical scenarios since I had already taken an ethics exam as part of the requirements to obtain my professional Engineering designation. However, I was shocked about my lack of knowledge on various ethical theories.
- The course goes in depth in exploring both social and ethical issues organizations face. The Prof. ensured we approached each ethical scenario through various ethical lenses. It was definitely worthwhile learning about different ethical dilemmas and how they were handled by organizations.
I hope sharing a few of my favourite classes will be useful to prospective and current Ualberta MBA students!
Written by Kike Mosuro (MBA Candidate, 2018)
UAlberta MBA Blog 