<p>I was reading Barron's Guide to Graduate Business Schools and realized that some schools, like Purdue and UC Irvine, require 60 and 92 credits (respectively) to graduate with an MBA. Meanwhile, the University of Chicago, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, and U. of I - Chicago only requires half that number or less. Does that mean those MBA programs are less rigorous and thus easier to graduate from? Or does it have anything to do with their semester/quarter calendar?</p>
<p>Well, i know UCI goes by quarter for undergrad, so that might explain the 60 credits, and Purdue goes by semester for undergrad, i think..</p>
<p>Does anyone else know?</p>
<p>MIT-Sloan requires something like 185-190 credits (both elective and core) to graduate.</p>
<p>That's an absolutely ridiculous number of credits, you might say. Well, it's not so ridiculous when you realize that a typical class at MIT (not just at Sloan, but MIT-wide) has 9-12 credits, and that students generally carry 40-50 credits in a typical semester. </p>
<p>What that goes to show you is that not only does the semester/quarter calendar play a role in determining how many credits you need to graduate, but also how a particular school defines a 'credit'. Every school has its own definition of what a 'credit' really is, so you cannot simply conclude that a school is less rigorous just because they require less credits.</p>