Advanced standing

Advanced standing shortens the MBA by dropping required credits, usually because of prior graduate work or a professional credential. It is not a waiver that you replace with electives. Boston College’s part-time MBA allows up to 15 advanced-standing credits (B or better, ten-year window). The degree gets smaller. Equivalency does not (BC Carroll; AACSB Std 6).

Is advanced standing the same as transfer credit?+

Close, not identical. Transfer posts another school’s course onto this transcript. Advanced standing reduces the credit total, sometimes from undergraduate work, a CFA, or a CPA, without a course-by-course posting. Both shrink what you take here. AACSB still expects this school to deliver a majority of the business learning that counts toward the degree.

Standing vs waiver

Device	Degree credits fall?	You still sit in class?	Source / date
Advanced standing	Yes	No, for those credits	BC Carroll
Equivalency / core waiver	No	You take an elective instead	BC Carroll
Foundation waiver	Often N/A (pre-core)	You skip the catch-up course	IU bulletin pattern
Transfer credit	Yes, incoming course posts	No, for those credits	AACSB Std 6

BC’s full-time MBA uses equivalency (up to three cores) rather than shrinking the degree. Same prior coursework, two products. Part-time students can actually finish fewer credits. Full-time students swap.

Example: CPA, part-time MBA, 55-credit catalog, 15-credit standing cap. You graduate at 40 if the school applies the cap. Same CPA into the full-time lockstep: you skip accounting core and pick an elective. Still 55. The catalog line “waivers available” hid that.

Common errors

• Reading “waiver” as “shorter MBA”
• Stacking standing high enough to violate AACSB’s majority-here rule
• Assuming a CFA always drops credits rather than a core
• Using standing to skip a residency the program still requires

FAQ

Does advanced standing change the diploma?+

No. It changes how many credits this registrar requires. The degree name stays. AMBA hour floors are the school’s problem to still meet; a heavily shortened MBA can become an AMBA conversation.

Can undergraduate business majors skip the MBA core?+

Sometimes via standing or waiver, with a grade and recency test. Many full-time two-year programs refuse to shrink, because the core is the cohort. Part-time programs are the usual home of credit reduction.

Will I pay less?+

If tuition is per credit, yes. If tuition is a program fee, maybe not. Ask whether standing changes billed tuition or only the course list.