Olin Business School


The Olin Business School is one of seven academic schools at Washington University in St. Louis. Founded in 1917, the business school was renamed for entrepreneur John M. Olin in 1988. The school offers BSBA, Master of Business Administration, MS in Supply Chain Management, MS in Finance, Masters in Accounting, MS in Business Analytics, MS in Leadership, Executive MBA, Doctor of Business in Finance and PhD degrees. In 2002, an Executive MBA program was established in Shanghai, in cooperation with Fudan University.
The Olin Business School includes the Simon Hall, whose 1986 construction was largely funded by a gift from John E. Simon; Knight and Bauer Halls, whose 2014 construction was largely funded by gifts from Charles F. And Joanne Knight and George and Carol Bauer; and the Charles F. Knight Executive Education and Conference Center, all on the Danforth Campus.
Olin has more than 20,000 alumni across the world.
On July 1, 2009, the school took over management of the Brookings Institute's executive management program.

Programs

BSBA Program

At Olin, undergraduate students are admitted directly into the BSBA program as freshmen.
To graduate, students must complete a minimum of 120 units of coursework. 40% of classes must be outside the areas of business. Students can choose from eight different business majors: Accounting, Economics and Strategy, Entrepreneurship, Finance, Healthcare Management, Marketing, Leadership and Strategic Management, and Operations and Supply Chain Management. Olin students can also minor in International Business, the Business of the Arts, the Business of Entertainment, or the Business of Sports Management.
Students declare their business administration major during their sophomore year. Students can also earn a second major or minor from one of the university's other schools, such as the College of Arts & Sciences, School of Engineering & Applied Science, or Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts.
Non-business students from other WUSTL schools also can minor in the following business fields: Accounting, Business Economics, Business of Sports, Business of the Arts, Entrepreneurship, Finance, General Business, Healthcare Management, International Business, Leadership, Marketing, Operations and Supply Chain Management, and Strategy.

MBA Program

Olin has four main rounds and after June they have rolling admissions.
Olin's MBA program was named the #4 global MBA program for women in the Financial Times. In 2019, the class reached near-gender parity with 49% female students. In October 2019, an Inc. Magazine ranking powered by Poets&Quants ranked Olin as the #1 MBA program in the world for entrepreneurship. In January 2020, Olin was named the Poets&Quants MBA Program of 2019 as a result of a series of radical changes to the program focusing on global immersion.
Students in the full-time MBA program experience a global immersion for the first semester of their experience. Students begin with an orientation in St. Louis before spending time in Washington, DC learning about the intersection of business and policy. They then spend time in Barcelona, consulting with local wineries, before spending two weeks in Shanghai studying entrepreneurship and the foundations of retail management and supply chain.
The MBA curriculum requires completion of 67 credit hours, nearly two-thirds of which are elective courses selected by the student. The fall semester of year one focuses on critical thinking, leadership, career strategy, and the major functional areas of business. During the spring semester of year one and throughout year two, students take mostly elective courses of their choosing, often following the guidelines of concentration areas that help students navigate the curriculum toward their career goals. Elective courses include semester-long courses, six week "mini" courses, and work-study positions. Olin MBAs can also take up to nine credits of approved coursework from other graduate programs at Washington University.

Exchange Programs

MBA students can choose to study one semester at Manchester Business School in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong University of Science & Technology in Hong Kong; Otto Beisheim Graduate School of Management at WHU-Koblenz in Koblenz, Germany; École Management de Lyon in Lyon, Paris Dauphine University, France; the Institute for Advanced Studies in Administration in Caracas, Venezuela; ESADE in Barcelona, Spain; Bocconi University in Milan, Italy or the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad and Indian Institute of Management Calcutta in India.

Executive Programs

The school's Executive Programs group, consisting of Executive MBA and Executive Education, is located in the Charles F. Knight Executive Education Center on the Danforth Campus. The school also maintains Executive MBA programs in Shanghai, and Mumbai.

Specialized Masters Programs

Specialized Masters business degrees can typically be completed in three semesters. Four programs — Master of Science in Supply Chain Management, Master of Science in Business Analytics, Master of Science in Finance-Wealth and Asset Management, and Master of Science in Finance-Quantitative Finance — hold STEM designations. The Master of Accounting can be structured to meet CPA exam eligibility requirements.

Doctoral Program

The PhD program emphasizes economics, quantitative methodology, mentoring by faculty, preparing students for careers in scholarship and teaching. There are usually 50 students enrolled in the Ph.D program. A DBA in finance also is offered for individuals pursuing applied research in corporations, banks, government and consulting.

Overall Enrollment (2018)

ProgramEnrollment
Masters1475
BSBA837
Doctoral82

Resources

Kopolow Business Library

The Kopolow Business Library offers Dow Jones Interactive, Lexis/Nexis, InfoTrac, and ABI, as well as databases provided by Moody's, Standard & Poor's, Hoover's, and Disclosure. The library also receives real-time stock and other market information through the Bloomberg and Bridge Information systems. It holds around 30,000 books and subscribes to more than 400 business journals, magazines, and newspapers.

Research centers