Yeshiva University puts you at the center of business.
Yeshiva Sy Syms Customized Online MBA Program Curriculum
The rigorous Customized Online MBA curriculum at Yeshiva University’s Sy Syms School of Business is built on three core pillars to ensure that you can adapt to an ever-changing business landscape: Entrepreneurship, Essential Business Skills and Relationships. From data to marketing to accounting, you’ll experience all aspects of business and have the freedom to dive deeper into your interests—all through the lens of an entrepreneurial mindset.
You can pursue a general MBA or choose from the following concentrations:
- Business Analytics
- Marketing
- Accounting
- Real Estate
- Entrepreneurship and Strategy
- Finance
With a full, well-rounded skill set and business perspective, you’ll graduate with a timeless vision to lead in any organization.
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Are you ready to accelerate your career or take on a new challenge with a master’s degree? Yeshiva University’s Sy Syms School of Business offers an innovative online MBA program designed for busy professionals.
Complete the form to download a program brochure for Yeshiva University's online MBA program.
Customized Online MBA Curriculum
Build cross-functional mastery of business skills with nine core courses covering topics from business law to corporate finance, marketing strategy, and managerial accounting. Then, customize your degree with elective courses on entrepreneurship, negotiations, crisis management, or data and analytics topics. All courses are seven weeks in length except the capstone, which is 14 weeks in length.
Core Courses (15 Credits)
Statistics and Data Analysis (3 credits)
This course introduces the student to statistical and analytical techniques which are directly applicable to business.
Financial Reporting and Analysis (3 credits)
This course will help students answer critical questions from financial statements about a business—whether it is a large multinational company like Apple or a single-owned business such as a software consulting company, a restaurant or retail store. At the end of this course, the student should be able to evaluate a company’s current and future profitability, growth potential and solvency.
Marketing Management (3 credits)
Marketing activity is the core of an operating business. It provides the managerial focus for interfacing with customers and the source of intelligence about customers, competitors, and the general environment. Managers must identify and measure consumers’ needs and wants, assess the competitive environment, select the most appropriate customer targets, and then develop marketing programs that satisfy consumers’ needs better than the competition. Further, marketing focuses on the long-run relationship of a company to its customers as well as short-run sales and profits.
Financial Management (3 credits)
The purpose of the course is to provide an introduction to the basic concepts and tools of modern financial analysis in the Customized Online MBA curriculum. In the course, the student learns how to assess and value investments, on both the corporate and personal level. This includes loans, leases, mortgages, and small business financing. It also shows how to approach investment in the stock and fixed-income markets.
Leading with Emotional and Moral Intelligence (3 credits)
This course will introduce students to the conceptual frameworks, interpersonal skills and values that are essential to effective leadership in business. The historical and philosophical context of leadership will be explored, as well as emotionally intelligent skills and values critical to successful engagement and maintenance of a constructive alliance with colleagues, supervisors and clients.
Capstone (6 credits)
Capstone (6 credits)
In this capstone for the Customized Online MBA curriculum, students will coalesce the multidisciplinary foundation developed during the program and apply it to real-world problems. More details to follow upon enrollment.
Elective Courses (18 credits required)
Business Analytics Concentration
Data Visualization (1.5 credits)
In our increasingly data-reliant and data-saturated society, the ability to understand how to leverage data to generate insights has become extremely important. Data visualization and storytelling are crucial skills within the fields of business and data analytics, as well as within more traditional fields such as accounting, finance and marketing. With the advent of visualization tools that do not require coding, data visualization and storytelling are attainable skill sets for those with varying levels of analytical and technical skills. This hands-on course will teach students how to develop meaningful data visualizations that reveal visual insights accessible for relevant audiences.
Data Mining for Business Analytics (1.5 credits)
The goal of this course is to provide a solid understanding of the opportunities, techniques and critical challenges in using data mining and predictive analytics in a business setting. The focus is on the ability to understand and translate business challenges into data science problems. There will be discussion of the data science methodology as is necessary to understand the fundamental concepts. This course will provide the student with a hands-on experience using a variety of real-world datasets. After mastering this course, students should be (i) literate in data science and able to perform basic data science techniques, (ii) ready to interact with data scientists, and (iii) ready to evaluate data science proposals from a business standpoint.
Business Analytics I (3 credits)
The course begins with an introduction to big data and the machine learning process, followed by exploratory data analysis and dimension reduction techniques. Topics covered in the course include data visualization, linear regression, logistic regression, regression tree and classification tree. Practical examples and case studies will be present throughout the course and students will gain hands-on experience working with data.
Business Analytics II (3 credits)
The course builds on the topics and skills introduced in the prerequisite course, Business Analytics I, and dives deeper into the technical aspects of the models and methods introduced in the previous course. Main topics include autoregressive and moving average models, seasonality, long memory ARMA, reinforcement learning and ensemble methods (boosting, bagging and random forests). The course will also explore applications of the learning algorithms to industry-specific questions of finance, marketing and operations.
Marketing Concentration
Marketing Through New Technology (1.5 credits)
Brand success comes from recognizing the product’s experience, the benefits and the emotional value it delivers. In the face of rapidly evolving technology, relying only on the product’s features (functional values), instead of the brand’s emotional value, can result in becoming obsolete. Using real-life examples of brands, this course will explore the key characteristics necessary for brands to successfully adapt and adjust to technological changes.
Sustainable Marketing (1.5 credits)
This course teaches skills and strategies to re-align marketing for long-term wellbeing of people and the planet. Students learn to inspire brands for positive change, understand marketing’s impact on people and the environment, and influence behaviors and identities. They engage in discussions on growth, greenwashing and consumption. By the end, students grasp key elements of successful sustainable marketing strategies and branding, and review global trends affecting sustainable products.
Leveraging AI for Marketing (1.5 credits)
This course focuses on equipping future marketing leaders with a deep understanding of how generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) can be leveraged for strategic advantage. Students will explore specific applications such as personalized marketing campaigns, content creation, enhanced marketing research tools and new business ideas with GenAI. Through a blend of academic research and real-world case studies, students will gain insights into both the opportunities and challenges GenAI presents in the marketing sphere. This course offers a practical, hands-on approach to understanding how GenAI can drive innovation and efficiency in marketing strategies, preparing students to be at the forefront of technological advancement in the business world.
Science of Influence in Marketing (3 credits)
Course description to come.
Accounting Concentration
Accounting Information System (3 credits)
Course description to come.
Contemporary Topics in Accounting (3 credits)
In this course, students will explore present-day accounting topics that will have a profound impact on careers and the accounting field at large. This course will cover three discrete areas: (1) blockchain and cryptocurrency, (2) accounting research based on the FASB Codification database, and (3) academic research. These three areas of learning will provide students with the contemporary knowledge, hands-on accounting research skills and academic vision to be successful and entrepreneurial leaders in the evolving business world.
Accounting Ethics (3 credits)
This course begins with a general introduction to business ethics, emphasizing the gap between what ought to be and what is, as well as what it means to be a professional accountant in today’s world. Next, the course examines case studies that show the huge costs to investors and to society associated with earnings management, accounting frauds and audit failures. It also highlights the importance of whistleblowing in such cases. The course moves on to examine the present and future of corporate accountability by examining the ethical limits of cost-benefit analysis and the current trends of ESG or sustainability accounting. It concludes by imagining the future of corporate accountability and the expanding and singular role of the accounting profession in next-stage capitalism.
Real Estate Concentration
Real Estate Capital Finance (1.5 credits)
This course provides the student with more advanced exposure to the risks and rewards of real estate finance in the context of capital markets building on the introductory course. It expands fundamental techniques pertaining to residential and commercial real estate and contemplates more complex financing instruments. It will consider senior, subordinate and mezzanine notes; derivative tranched structures; risk evaluation techniques for relative value; risk assessment; portfolio construction; and optimization. It will consider the role, cost and benefits of real estate derivatives such as RMBS, CMBS and REITs to society and their role in the built environment.
Real Estate Law (1.5 credits)
This course will cover real estate functions within a complex set of legal and ethical considerations, from acquiring property and obtaining capital to construction and negotiating lease and sales agreements. Students will develop a working knowledge of federal, state and local rules, regulations and laws affecting real estate development, investment and ownership. Ethical considerations are examined across the spectrum of real estate roles and transactions.
Urban Development Land Use and Planning (1.5 credits)
There are many opportunities and risks in redeveloping urban real estate projects. Such properties often have locational, transportation, sustainability and infrastructure advantages, but may also have market, environmental and community challenges to overcome. In this course, students will learn the basis of zoning and land use regulation, as well as economic development techniques that help improve opportunities for jobs and affordable housing in urban neighborhoods.
Sustainable Development (1.5 credits)
Developing truly sustainable real estate projects requires incorporating energy efficiency, site selection and planning, and the use of natural assets throughout design, construction and operations. In this course, students will learn to identify the costs, benefits and options of environmentally responsible and high-performance systems as well as to manage risk and plan for resilience.
Entrepreneurship and Strategy Concentration
NYC Residency in International Business (3 credits)
Combining classroom work, visits with innovative companies and team projects, these courses give students an intensive education in how companies can innovate in a fast-changing world. International orientation is emphasized, along with how a new technology is turned into a product and how to scale on a global basis.
Entrepreneurship and the Management of Change (3 credits)
This course provides students with critical entrepreneurial strategies, skills, knowledge, techniques, methods, and hands-on experience needed to create businesses which utilize processes, practices, talent, operations, services, and resources in a sustainable and responsible manner.
Negotiations (1.5 credits)
In business, almost all situations involve negotiations. In this course, students will examine tactical, structural and legal elements of deal-making and acquire practical skills and techniques for navigating difficult tactics and pursuing interest-based negotiations. From structuring high-stakes deals and mediating complex disputes to resolving intractable problems and strengthening difficult relationships, students will learn methods for being successful in business negotiations.
Crisis Management (1.5 credits)
Crises can strike any organization, anytime and anywhere. No organization is crisis-immune. But while some organizations suffer irreparable damage during a crisis, others manage to keep their reputation intact and their customers loyal in the face of any adverse situation. In this course, students will develop real-world crisis management and learn to implement an enterprise-wide crisis management program.
Finance Concentration
Corporate Finance (3 credits)
The purpose of this course is to provide an understanding of the main issues of modern corporate finance. The focus is on understanding how corporations operate, on improving decisions at all levels and, to some extent, on current issues in corporate financing debates. It builds on the foundations taught in the introductory course. In particular, it will review: Why do IPOs seem to leave money on the table? How should firms finance their operations? What should one look for in the debt prospectus? What happens in bankruptcy and why should one care about it? Why did dividends disappear and then come back? Are mergers good and for whom? And finally, what is wrong with corporate governance?
Entrepreneurial Finance (1.5 credits)
By their nature, startup ventures need to raise financing ahead of their revenues. Students will learn the details, structure and trade-offs of various forms of financing, including seed and angel financing, venture capital, venture debt, crowdsourcing, mezzanine financing, and IPOs. In addition, students will learn about valuation criteria and how to position the company for success in its fundraising.
Real Estate Finance and Investment (3 credits)
In this course, students will synthesize entrepreneurial, economic, financial, legal and analytical structures and processes involved in real estate investment and development. By the end of this course, students will have a basic understanding of the real estate industry including finance, accounting, legal and regulatory considerations.
Investments (3 credits)
The course provides the student with an intense overview of the canon of quantitative techniques used throughout the investment industry, with particular emphasis on portfolio construction. The course combines seminal theoretical insights and practical implementation techniques pertaining to the risk/reward framework, efficient security selection and optimal portfolio construction. Work including the capital asset pricing model and extensions, variance/covariance portfolio optimization, APT and others based on the works of Markowitz, Sharpe, Treynor and Ross and others, and their corresponding quantitative implementations, will all be considered.
Remaining Electives
International Business–Emerging Markets (3 credits)
Combining classroom work, visits with innovative companies and team projects, these courses give students an intensive education in how companies can innovate in a fast-changing world. International orientation is emphasized, along with how a new technology is turned into a product and how to scale on a global basis.
Decision Models and Management Controls (3 credits)
This course introduces the use of a managerial accounting information system for planning, controlling, and decision-making. It is intended for management consultants, senior managers, and/or individuals who run their own business. The lectures will emphasize working through problems of the kind found in practice.
Business Law, Regulation and Ethics (3 credits)
This course provides an intensive study of the legal and ethical issues faced by business enterprises and their managers. The course provides a practical overview of laws and regulations including business crimes, contracts, torts, consumer protection, employment relationships, dispute resolution, intellectual property, and business formation and management, with a primary focus on U.S. federal and state laws. The course will also examine the sources of moral, legal and ethical norms in the business world and how they inform business decisions. By the end of the course, students will think proactively with regard to the law as a tool to protect rights and property interests.
The Founder’s Dilemmas (1.5 credits)
Within high-potential ventures, the biggest source of failure is “people problems”: the tensions among the founders, or between the founders and the non-founders who join them. In this course, we will examine critical dilemmas that span the lifecycle of a venture, regarding the choice of cofounders and hires, splitting the roles and equity within the team, whether and how to involve investors, why and how founders are replaced, and exit dilemmas.
Forensic Accounting (3 credits)
This course will introduce students to the functions of the forensic accountant in preventing, detecting and investigating financial statement fraud, employee fraud and bankruptcy fraud. The course will also explore the forensic accountant’s role in the litigation process as an expert witness.
Entrepreneurship
We maintain strong ties to the entrepreneurial communities in New York City and Israel and foster connections between students, alumni, businesses and government officials who support entrepreneurship. You will also enjoy the option to participate in a five-day residency with an Israeli or New York-based tech company. Through this elective course, you will encounter issues surrounding innovation, product development, and scaling for a global marketplace.
Essential Business Skills
The YU Syms Customized Online MBA ensures your success in the job market by equipping you with the leading-edge hard business operations skills that today’s successful professionals should possess. In particular, our analytics-focused courses prepare students to thrive in the fields of finance, accounting and marketing.
As a Syms Customized Online MBA student, you will master business fundamentals, gain insight into current global business practices, and develop analytical tools and frameworks for strategic management and ethical decision-making. Our Customized Online MBA courses are tailored to help you excel in any business environment.
As a Syms Customized Online MBA student, you will master business fundamentals, gain insight into current global business practices, and develop analytical tools and frameworks for strategic management and ethical decision-making. Our Customized Online MBA courses are tailored to help you excel in any business environment.
Relationships
Our Customized Online MBA courses are designed to facilitate true connections and meaningful personal and professional relationships. Online discussions help you create business connections even with classmates who are thousands of miles away.
Core courses on leadership and emotional intelligence, and entrepreneurship and change management, help you leverage your personal values as you build business relationships. Upon graduation from the Customized Online MBA program, you'll find both the Sy Syms network of business decision-makers and the broader Yeshiva University community to be crucial allies in your career journey.
Core courses on leadership and emotional intelligence, and entrepreneurship and change management, help you leverage your personal values as you build business relationships. Upon graduation from the Customized Online MBA program, you'll find both the Sy Syms network of business decision-makers and the broader Yeshiva University community to be crucial allies in your career journey.
Admission Dates and Deadlines
Jun
13
Priority Application Deadline
June 13, 2025
Fall 2025
Aug
13
Application Deadline
August 13, 2025
Fall 2025
Sept
2
Next Start
September 2, 2025
Fall 2025
Questions? Let’s Connect.