Welcome to the Carlson MSBAi Program

Join us for an upcoming admitted student event:

Carlson MSBA Admitted Student Q&A

January 30, 2026 | 8:30–9:30 AM (Central Time, U.S.)

via Zoom

Registration not required – All admitted and confirmed students will be auto-registered and will receive email notifications, calendar invitations, and reminders.

At this panel session you will meet and hear from:

• MSBA Career Coach
• Director of Carlson Analytics Lab (experiential learning)
• Associate Director of Admissions
• Current Student & Alumni Ambassadors

Bring any questions you still have about the program and student experience to ask us live via the Zoom Q&A function, or simply join and listen to others' questions.

Carlson MSBA Up Close

Date and Time TBA

Virtual via Zoom

Join us for a special 2-day event to meet your future colleagues and learn how best to utilize the coming months before you dive into the exciting, rigorous year ahead. Throughout the event you will:

• Hear from our Academic Affairs & Student Engagement Team (AASET) about their dedicated support services and your major summer to-do list
• Gain crucial advice from our MSBA Career Coach and MSBA alumni on early career preparation and summer musts
• Learn from your predecessors as MSBA alumni share ins-and-outs of the student experience
• Connect with your fellow future classmates and begin building your MSBA network

This section will be updated throughout the admissions cycle and in the time before the start of the program.

Have any questions you'd like to ask a current MSBA student directly? Our student ambassadors are here to share their student perspectives:

Click here to request a connection with an MSBA Student Ambassador (requires login)

Would you like to talk over the phone, chat over Zoom, or meet in person with an MSBA admissions staff member? We are here to help with any questions you still have about the program. Log into your application portal and use the calendar link in your status page to register for a date and time that work best for you. Slots will continue to be added and available through Spring and Summer 2026.

Log into your application portal to sign up for an advising appointment

Meet your fellow MSBA Fall 2026 Admitted Students

• Carlson MSBA Fall 2026 Admitted Students - LinkedIn Group (Request to join with your existing LinkedIn account)

Follow Us on Social Media

• Carlson Analytics Lab on LinkedIn
• Carlson Business Career Center (CBCC) on LinkedIn
• Carlson School of Management on LinkedIn
• Carlson School of Management on Instagram
• Carlson School of Management on YouTube

Stay Up to Date on All Things Carlson

• Minnesota Carlson News

Log into your application portal to confirm your attendance for Fall 2026!

You will need to use your email and password from your online application. Please note that your confirmation deadline will depend on the round you submitted your application. See your admission letter in your portal for your exact deadline.

To confirm enrollment, within the portal you will need to:

• Respond to your offer (Accept, Request Deferral, or Decline)
• Submit your non-refundable confirmation deposit payment of $1,500 

This deposit is applied to your tuition for the first semester of the program, once all items on your application portal checklist are complete, including submission and receipt of your official transcripts.

After completing both steps, you may move on to the rest of the checklist items below.

All international students requiring an F1 visa to study in the U.S. should submit the I-20 Request form found in your application portal as soon as you have confirmed your intent to enroll, and after you have determined (and have proof of) your funding sources for your year of study. You will be able to submit your I-20 Request directly after you confirm enrollment and pay your deposit. 

It takes our University's Graduate Admissions office approximately 1-2 weeks to process each I-20 request. After receiving your finalized I-20, the process to register with your local consulate/embassy for a visa interview can be a longer timeline. We recommend working on your I-20 request as soon as possible after confirming your enrollment in our MSBA program. 

Have questions about your I-20 request or finalized I-20 form? Visit our University's International Student and Scholar Services (ISSS) office's Getting a Visa: Frequently Asked Questions webpage. Are your questions not answered there? Contact our University's Graduate Admissions Office ([email protected]), who process and manage MSBA student I-20s.

You may find more information about visas and travel from the U.S. government travel site; and more information about being an international student at the University of Minnesota from our International Student and Scholar Services (ISSS) office. 

Information for Current F1 Visa Holders

University of Minnesota Students:  Contact the ISSS office to update your I-20 degree level for the MSBA.

UMN MSBA Dual-Degree Students:  Contact the ISSS office to update your I-20 listed major and to make any other required changes.

Students at Other U.S. Universities:  Complete the I-20 Request form in your application portal, and wait to hear from our University's Graduate Admissions Office with further instructions on how to transfer your SEVIS record from your current institution. You do not need to submit a transfer release form.
 

In your application portal, you will also be prompted to review, acknowledge, and provide a signature for the Carlson School of Management Honor Code. All members of the Carlson community are expected to engage in behavior that promotes the student academic experience, displaying respect, integrity, leadership and individual responsibility. Please complete this step at your earliest convenience after confirming enrollment.

After confirming enrollment, and before the start of the program, you will need to submit your official transcripts/credentials and proof of degree(s) to the University of Minnesota. Please visit the following page for detailed instructions, by country: 
https://grad.umn.edu/admissions/application-instructions/official-transcripts-credentials

IMPORTANT: If you will graduate in the late Summer 2026 semester and will not be able to submit your official transcripts and/or proof of degree before your enrollment in the MSBA program, our AASET team will work with you after you arrive on campus. Our Graduate Admissions Office will automatically grant you a one-semester extension to submit your official materials; however, note that your tuition deposit will not be applied toward your tuition bills until your official transcripts are submitted.

If you have not completed all of your application portal checklist items by the fourth week of the first semester, a hold will be placed on your student record preventing you from registering for courses for the second semester, and your tuition deposit will be withheld. Once all application checklist items are complete, the hold on your student record will be removed, and your tuition deposit will be credited toward your tuition bill.

If you have any questions regarding your official transcripts/credentials, please contact the Office of Graduate Admissions at [email protected]. If you are unable to mail your official documents ahead of time, you may bring them with you when you arrive to campus in August to submit in-person at the Graduate Admissions Office.

You will also hear directly from our Graduate School with a collection of online resources to give you a better sense of the state of Minnesota, the University system, and graduate student life. Be sure to look out for emails about Gear 1: a set of interactive audio and video slides with a full transcript and links to a wealth of important University information. 

Our Academic Affairs & Student Engagement Team (AASET) will be in touch with you over the spring and summer 2026 months, closer to the start of the program, through a series of emails reminding you of your checklist items and other steps to take as you prepare to travel to Minneapolis and start our program.

MSBA Orientation is mandatory, and all incoming students must attend the entire orientation in person on campus. Orientation will begin August 21, 2026 and students should plan to be in Minnesota prior to this date. Orientation will include dates in the following week and will vary by program, so please do not plan any travel or other commitments between August 21-August 28 until full schedules are released. 

The goal of the Carlson MSBA Orientation is to meet your cohort and to be introduced to the university, Minnesota Carlson, and the MSBA program. You will meet professors, preview the curriculum, learn more about the many services available to our students, and participate in fun social activities before classes begin.

The Academic Affairs & Student Engagement Team (AASET) recommends that all students arrive in Minneapolis and secure housing ahead of time. You will need ample time to complete all critical new student "to-dos" and avoid a stressful transition into this rigorous full-time program. Our International Student & Scholar Services (ISSS) office recommends arriving at least 2 days before the start of orientation.

Learn more about housing options in the Admitted & Confirmed Student Resources section below.

Please note that laptops are required for the MSBA program. Each student must have a laptop available before the program begins. Below are the recommended laptop specifications: 

• i5 or higher processor
• 8GB of RAM at minimum, but 16GB is strongly recommended.
• Solid State Drive (SSD) of 256GB or above is recommended (hybrid drives with SSD cache is fine but will not perform as well as SSD drives).
• Windows 10 or 11
• Intel wireless card would be helpful
• M​​​​inimum 4 hour battery life
• Working microphone and webcam

Note: For students who prefer Apple laptops, Boot Camp Assistant or Parallels Desktop are recommended.

Your cost of attendance will be a combination of tuition costs, student fees, books and supplies, housing, transportation, and all general cost-of-living expenses throughout your time in the MSBA program.

For a full breakdown of per-credit and total tuition, as well as student fees, visit the Tuition, Fees, and Costs section of our MSBA website. Updates for the 2026-2027 academic year will be announced in late Spring 2026.

For an estimated breakdown of some cost-of-living expenses for Carlson students, visit our University's Cost of Attendance webpage.

Domestic students applying for need-based financial assistance should fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) online form. The form for the 2026-2027 academic year will open on December 1, 2025. Note that the University of Minnesota financial aid staff will not be able to discuss your financial aid options until they receive your FAFSA information.

International students do not qualify for FAFSA, and the University of Minnesota does not offer non-U.S. co-signed loans. However, many low-interest loan options are available. Here are some options that have helped our international students financially in the past:

• Prodigy Finance - You can find Carlson program-specific information online
• MPower Student Loan - You can find details about The MPower loan program at:https://mpowerfinancing.com/borrow

Once you have activated your student ID, you may visit One Stop for information about eligibility and applying for financial aid and full details on billing and payment, financial aid timelines, payment plan options, budgeting, and much more. You will also be able to use the MyU "My Finances" tab as your personal financial portal, to check your payment history, how much you owe, due dates, and all things related to your finances.

Additional Financial Aid Resources:

• Minnesota Residency Information
• Reciprocity Program Information

After confirming enrollment (typically over the summer months), you will receive an email from our Academic Affairs & Student Engagement Team (AASET) with instructions to activate your UMN student account, also known as your "MyU account." The email will contain your seven-digit student ID number that you will need to activate your account.

After activating your account, make note of your Internet ID and the password you will have created. You will use this Internet ID and password to log into your University email. This email will be the primary means of communication from the MSBA, Minnesota Carlson, and University community, so expect to monitor this account regularly starting now through the duration of your program.

You will use your student account for secure logins, accessing university emails and announcements, viewing grades, managing financial information and payments, and reviewing other student resources in the MyU Portal and other Carlson and MSBA sites.

If you have any difficulties setting up or accessing your MyU account or email, please contact the University's technology helpline at (612) 301-4357 or [email protected]. 

Before the start of orientation, our Carlson Business Career Center will be in touch with several pieces of pre-work to help jump-start your career preparation before orientation.

After you have activated your student ID and UMN email address, we welcome and encourage you to begin reviewing our career resources on the Carlson Business Career Center (CBCC) website.

If you are not yet completely sure what you would like to do after you complete your MSBA, now is an excellent time to continue exploring!  To start, visit the CBCC's Career Exploration webpage. 

You will be notified in the summer once you are able to begin formally working with the CBCC staff (including the MSBA career coach). If you have any career-related questions before then, you may email [email protected] (note: "g" is not a typo here). 

Our Academic Affairs & Student Engagement Team (AASET) will be in touch in early July with an invitation to complete mandatory programming pre-work to ensure students are ready to dive into the programming-heavy curriculum in September.

For those admitted students who are newer to object-oriented programming, or for those who have not applied their object-oriented programming skills for some time, we strongly urge you to take time before the program begins to work on professional or personal projects utilizing Python and R. This will not only help you feel more comfortable with your classes, but will further boost your resume as you prepare for your post-program career.

Our MSBA Career Coach recommends, for example, completing a data analytics or data science related internship, and/or participating in some Kaggle projects to boost your skills, resume, and to add to your GitHub. 

More information about mandatory pre-work / bootcamps is forthcoming.

Please note that our AASET staff will register all students for classes before the start of each semester. You will not be required to register yourself.

If you would like to preview the tentative schedule for the upcoming academic year and read detailed course descriptions, visit our MSBA Curriculum and MSBA Course Descriptions webpages.

Housing location is a very individual choice for each student. Most, if not all, Carlson graduate students live off-campus, in apartment buildings close to campus. There are a variety of apartment buildings within a 5-10 minute walk of the Carlson School of Management building where most of our MSBA students tend to live together.

Join our LinkedIn group for admitted students (see "Ways to Connect with Us" section at the top of this page) to gain access to the student-run MSBA admitted student WhatsApp group, where you may discuss housing choices with your future classmates. You may also ask our student ambassadors about their housing choices and opinions by requesting a student ambassador through your application portal.

Please note that students must arrange their own accommodations. The MSBA program office does not have any contacts with local apartment buildings or other off-campus housing options.

Learn more about housing below:

• Graduate On Campus Housing  (limited, competitive, and not guaranteed)
• Off-Campus Living (majority of all grad students)
• ISSS Office's Tips and Advice on Finding Housing (for international students)
• International Student Early Arrival Housing (offered for any period between July 27-August 22, 2025)
• Living in Minneapolis (general information)

Students have many options to get to, from, and around our University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus! Visit our Parking & Transportation Services website for all things related to your commute and on-campus travel.

Also visit the MetroTransit website's University of Minnesota page, about public transportation lines connecting to and running through our Twin Cities campus.

• Bus and Light Rail - Our University has free Campus Connector shuttles to take you anywhere on campus, while public transit provides over 30 direct routes to campus from all around the Twin Cities. In fact, as an MSBA student, you will be able to use your UCard (student ID) as a Universal Transit Pass, for unlimited access to regional public transit (buses, light rail) in the Twin Cities metro area.
• Bikes & Scooters - Our University and the Twin Cities are known for our excellent and accessible bike lane system. Whether you have your own bike or prefer to use our city's bike share system, there are plenty of areas for safe and secure bike parking across campus. We also have a wide variety of scooter share companies available across campus and around Minneapolis.
• Walking - Walking is the easiest, most convenient way to get to and around campus. Our buildings on each campus are connected by a series of tunnels and skyways, called the Gopher Way, to get around by foot in any weather. The University also offers a free 24/7 security escort service called 624-WALK available to all students any time of year.
• Parking - Across campus, students will find a wide variety of ramps, garages, and on-street meters to park their vehicles. Parking is paid by meter, by hour or day (via ticket), or via full-semester contract. Public (ramps, garages, on-street meters -- open to all) & Contract
• Car-Sharing - For those who do not have a car on campus, but would like the convenience of driving a vehicle from time to time, there are two intertwined services on campus that students can sign up for to access a car as needed.

Health Insurance

All MSBA students are eligible for our University's Student Health Benefit Plan. Please visit the Student Health Benefit Plan Enrollment webpage for more details on eligibility, waivers, and more.

Domestic Students:  During open enrollment, you will be prompted to declare your health insurance in the MyU Student Center. If you would like to enroll in the University-sponsored Student Health Benefit Plan (SHBP), select the option “Enroll Me.” If eligible, you will be enrolled in the University-sponsored plan and a charge will be added to your account. More details can be found on the Student Health Benefit Plan webpage.

International Students: All international students are required to have health benefits from the University and should not purchase any other health insurance. More details can be found on the Student Health Benefit Plan webpage.
 

Healthcare Clinic

Boynton Health is the comprehensive health clinic located directly on the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus, and accepting most insurance plans, including the Student Health Benefit Plan. They provide comprehensive services through appointments, walk-in urgent care, and quick clinic services, as well as a 24-hour Nurse Line for anytime assistance.

Immunization Requirements

All students are required by Minnesota law to be immunized against measles, mumps, rubella, tetanus, and diphtheria. Review the immunization requirements on our University's Boynton Health website. We strongly recommend completing the online or printable immunization record forms on the Boynton Health website with your personal doctor before the start of the MSBA program. If you cannot locate your immunization records, our Boynton Health immunization clinic can test your immunization status and help with any required vaccinations you are missing.

International students: It is strongly recommended that you meet with your primary physician in your home country to complete the required immunization forms prior to arrival in the U.S.

COVID-19 Vaccine

As of May 2023 , the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention no longer requires travelers arriving in the U.S. to show proof of a negative COVID-19 test.

All MSBA students will have the opportunity to join clubs and organizations both through our Carlson MBA Association (MBAA) and through the greater University of Minnesota. You will learn more about these opportunities from our AASET team and from a variety of fairs on campus, but feel free to browse available clubs and organizations in the meantime.

• Clubs and Orgs Specifically for Carlson Graduate Students
• All University of Minnesota Clubs and Orgs

The University of Minnesota Twin Cities One Stop Student Services is the comprehensive resource for all students to track and make updates to their academics and finances, from registration status, exam timelines, and academic transcripts to tuition, financial aid, budgeting, and much more.

Our space is being transformed to support student learning. Find more information about Connecting Carlson.

• Carlson Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
• UMN Office for Equity and Diversity
• UMN Disability Resource Center
• UMN Department of Public Safety

You will continue to receive comprehensive lists of resources, updates, and information from our AASET team, Minnesota Carlson, Graduate School, and University of Minnesota both leading up to orientation and throughout the school year. Please feel free to contact us anytime at [email protected] with any questions that arise.