Pre-Term
MATH PROFICIENCY
STAT 611
Basic Mathematics Review
Description: All students take a mathematics proficiency exam at the beginning of Pre-Term to ensure they are prepared for the core curriculum. Many students pass the test based on their prior experience. For those candidates who feel their mathematical skills need refreshing, Wharton offers STAT 611: Mathematics for Business Analysis. STAT 611 covers basic arithmetic and algebraic skills (manipulation of exponents and other symbols, expressing and plotting of functions, solving simultaneous equations, etc.) and the basic notions and techniques of differential and integral calculus. The theme of the course is the notion of a mathematical function. Included in the survey of techniques and ideas is a preview of how they appear in later courses.
Format: Lecture and discussion
Materials: Text and class handouts.
STAT 612
Advanced Mathematics Review
Description:This course is a fast paced review of the basic required math concepts, with particular emphasis on business applications. Students with good general math skills, including calculus, may find this course more suitable than Stat 611.
PRE-TERM PROFICIENCY
Wharton’s Pre-Term program is designed to prepare entering students, who come from very diverse backgrounds, for the common experience of the MBA core curriculum. Pre-Term offers courses in financial accounting, microeconomics, and statistics, each at different levels. Courses at the review level (numbered 603 and 604, respectively) generally cover material that is assumed in the core classes. Courses at the waiver prep level (numbered 608) are designed to help students take waiver examinations in the three Pre-Term subjects if they have the knowledge, but not the credentials, to waive the respective core courses. Pre-Term also offers additional courses in Business History (MGMT 605) trading simulation, and coursework in languages. All Pre-Term courses are non-credit; i.e., they do not count towards graduation requirements and their grades are not recorded on students’ transcripts.
FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING
The objective of the core requirement in financial accounting is to teach the basic concepts, standards, and practices of financial reporting so that students can read and understand published financial statements. Students have diverse backgrounds in financial accounting and may fulfill
the core requirement by taking either the full-semester core course (ACCT 620) or the half-semester core course (ACCT 621).ACCT 620 is intended for students who have little or no background in financial accounting. ACCT 621 is intended for students who have the knowledge associated with the successful completion of at least one university level course in financial accounting, but not enough knowledge to waive the financial accounting core requirement. Both ACCT 620 and ACCT 621 cover the same material. The distinction is the amount of time allotted to each topic and the presumed starting knowledge of the students.
A placement examination is given at the end of Pre-Term to determine each student’s eligibility for the half-semester financial accounting course (ACCT 621). Placement into ACCT 621 is also possible by credentials. In addition, a separate waiver examination is given at the end of Pre-Term to determine each student’s eligibility for waiving the entire financial accounting core requirement. It is also possible to waive the entire financial accounting core requirement by credential. Please refer to the Fnancial Accounting Section of the Waiver Information Guide for official policies governing the waiver and placement process.
The Pre-Term course offerings are designed to prepare you for the appropriate pathway through the financial accounting core requirement. The following are brief course descriptions of the three levels of Pre-Term financial accounting courses.
ACCT 603
Financial Accounting
Review Course
Description: Upon completion of this course, the student should be prepared to take the full semester Introductory Financial Accounting course, ACCT 620. ACCT 603 is designed for students who will be taking ACCT 620 and have no familiarity or experience in financial accounting. This course will meet for approximately 12 hours during the August Pre-Term. Topics covered in this course include the double-entry accounting system, accounting for common transactions, and income statement and balance sheet preparation. While these topics will be briefly reviewed again in ACCT 620 from a financial statement user’s perspective, ACCT 603 provides the technical details of accounting from a preparer’s perspective. Students without any accounting background should take ACCT 603. Students with some accounting background who intend to take ACCT 620 should consider taking ACCT 603 as a refresher course.
Format: Lecture/problem solving in class.
Requirements:Assigned problems (no grade); Final diagnostic test.
ACCT 604
Financial Accounting
Placement Course
Description: This course will meet for approximately ten hours during the August Pre-Term. It is not a class for individuals who have had no prior exposure to financial accounting; rather it is a class for those students who have had some prior training in financial accounting but have not been able to place by credential into the half-semester financial accounting course, ACCT 621. In addition, students who have placed into ACCT 621 by credential are also strongly advised to take this course, because the knowledge of all material covered in this course will be presumed in ACCT 621. ACCT 604 will review fundamentals of double-entry bookkeeping, basic terminology of statements, and recording of basic financial transactions. In addition, ACCT 604 will review revenue recognition concepts, preparation of the statement of cash flows, and the interpretation of financial statements. It is presumed that the student taking this course has previously studied most of this material. Upon completion of this course, the student should be prepared to take the Placement Exam.
Format: Lecture/problem solving in class. Assigned problems (no grade assigned).
Prerequisites: None.
ACCT 608
Financial Accounting
Waiver Prep Course
Description: This course is designed for those who have had substantial prior exposure to financial accounting but were not able to waive the financial accounting core requirement by credentials. The course will review the material in ACCT 620 in order to prepare students to take the waiver exam.
Requirements: Assigned problems (no grade assigned).
Prerequisites: Previous background in accounting required.
FINANCE
FNCE 604
Corporate Finance
Placement Course Course
Description: This course is intended for those students wishing to prepare for the placement exam for FNCE 621. The FNCE 621 course will fulfill the core requirement in financial analysis in six weeks, instead of the usual full semester required by FNCE 601. Only students with some prior knowledge of financial analysis (either by course work or by practical experience), or with strong analytical backgrounds should consider taking this course and the placement exam. Together FNCE 604 and FNCE 621 form the foundation for subsequent courses in corporate finance, security analysis, investments and speculative markets. Their purpose is to develop a framework for analyzing a firm's investment and financing decisions. FNCE 604 will provide an introduction to present value and capital budgeting techniques under certainty. FNCE 621 will begin where FNCE 604 end, and will cover capital budgeting techniques under uncertainty, asset valuation, the operation and efficiency of capital markets, and the optimal capital structure of the firm.
Format: Lecture, optional problem sets and the placement exam
Prerequisites: Since the emphasis is on the fundamental concepts underlying modern finance, the approach in both FNCE 604 and FNCE 621 will be analytical and rigorous, and requires some familiarity with accounting, mathematical and statistical tools.
MICROECONOMICS
MGEC 603
Managerial Economics
Basic Course
Description: This course covers the basic theory of microeconomics (supply, demand, consumer behavior, market price and output, production, cost, simple competitive market equilibrium, simple monopoly pricing and output determination, price discrimination, and bundling). MGEC 603 provides the fundamental concepts required for the core course MGEC 621. Please note: The material covered in MGEC 603 will not be covered again in MGEC 621. Students taking MGEC 621 will be expected to be proficient in these foundation materials covered in MGEC 603. The last two lectures of MGEC 603 (price discrimination and bundling) will be treated as MGEC 621 material for exam purposes.
Format: Primarily lecture and discussion. Assigned and graded exercises
Prerequisites: Basic algebra and introductory calculus.
MGEC 608
Managerial Economics
Waiver Prep Course
Description:: MGEC 608 highlights the material to be covered in the MGEC 621 waiver examination, i.e., sophisticated monopoly pricing (price discrimination, two part tariffs, bundling, transfer pricing), oligopoly markets, expected utility, game theory, auctions, externalities, asymmetric information. This course is designed to review material to which the student has been previously exposed. It is not designed to teach the material for the first time. Thus, MGEC 608 is not a substitute for MGEC 621.
Requirements: Previous exposure to intermediate microeconomics.
Prerequisites: Basic algebra and introductory calculus.
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS FOR MANAGEMENT
STAT 603
Statistical Analysis for Management
Basic Course
Description:This course introduces statistical ideas as they apply to managers. It is designed for students with no prior experience with statistical analysis. Two key ideas dominate the material: summarizing and describing data, and modeling variability and randomness using probability models. The focus of the presentation is on understanding the rationale for modern statistical methods and developing critical judgment in the use of these methods. Extensive use of computer software replaces much of the standard demand for calculation and frees time for interpretation and evaluation. Topics covered in the course include: randomness and variability, graphical summarization, quality control, probability, sampling, estimation, confidence intervals, and hypothesis tests. Please note: The material covered in STAT 603 will not be covered again in STAT 621. Students taking STAT 621 will be expected to be proficient in the foundation materials covered in STAT 603. Lecture and discussion.
Requirements: Assigned and graded exercises and a final exam.
Prerequisites: Basic algebra and introductory calculus.
STAT 608
Statistical Analysis for Management
Waiver Prep Course
Description: This course prepares students to take the waiver exam for STAT 621. As such, it is a highly condensed review of the key topics which are described in more detail in STAT 621. The lectures focus upon multiple regression. Computer software is used extensively to compute and display statistical results. The waiver prep course is designed for students who have recently completed a statistics course covering topics through multiple regression. The lectures are intended to remind students of statistical methods once learned but forgotten. Most class time is spent interpreting results of statistical analyses; it is assumed that basic concepts and methods such as hypothesis testing are known but somewhat forgotten. The rapid format of the course makes it very difficult for students who have not studied this material previously to learn it sufficiently well to pass the waiver examination.
Format: Lecture and discussion. Lectures focus on a series of data analysis applications. The course does not have a grade or required assignments. Its sole purpose is to prepare for the STAT 621 waiver exam.
Prerequisites: Previous exposure to intermediate statistics.
MGMT 605
Business History
Description: This course describes the emergence of the modern corporate economy in American history. The course begins with a brief overview of the economic values that characterized the founding of the nation, then turns to the evolution and practice of business enterprise from the activities of colonial merchants in the Boston area in the early 17th Century through the formation of the large industrial firm at the end of the 19th Century. In the latter, the actions of such historical figures as Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller are noted, as is the so-called “robber baron” debate that accompanied the rise of the large corporation at that time. This focus on entrepreneurial personality is contrasted with the underlying development of technological and infrastructural change that paved the way for large-scale enterprise.
The course then turns its focus to the 20th Century and the development of modern business practices. In this era, the focus of management shifted from a product-driven philosophy to a market-driven one, and as well the American firm began to expand its operations abroad in conjunction with America’s growing global presence. The relationship of the corporation with government is also emphasized here, as is the emergence of the concept of “corporate social responsibility” – and its limitations – within this relationship.
The last part of the course reviews the collapse of the American management model in the post-World War II era as foreign enterprise (primarily from Japan) increasingly overtook U.S.-based firms. We then turn to the renaissance of American business in the past twenty years as a shift from “old economy” industries to the so-called “New Economy” brought unprecedented success to American business in the form of a renewed focus on entrepreneurialism and wealth creation. The course concludes with a survey of recent events in the realm of globalization” and the dot.com crash, and the future of American business in the 21st Century.Format: Lectures and discussions.
Prerequisites: No prerequisites or prior background required.