So, you’ve read online the names of courses you’ll be taking when you start at Fuqua, but what do they really entail? And how nervous should you be if it’s been five or more years since your last economics exam? Prepare to dive into a recap of the Fall Term 1 courses you’ll see as a first-year MBA—the workload, the topics covered, and the benefits you’ll get from each.

Probability and Statistics

Need a refresher on probability? How about learning it with M&M’s to help put things in perspective? In this course, you’ll be exposed to everything from the central limit theorem to regressions. It may sound daunting, but these skills will be invaluable when you’re asked to forecast something on day one of your summer internship. With weekly online quizzes to ensure you’re keeping up with the material and team cases that teach you a number of skills, such as how to build confidence intervals to ensure your company is targeting the right market, you’ll be ready for any data analysis thrown your way.

Leadership Communications

This was probably my favorite course at Fuqua during the first few terms. Not all schools take the time to prepare you for the real-world skills you’ll need in your summer internship—and in your career to follow. Need to present to your vice president? How about the CEO? Leadership Communications teaches you, and more importantly gives you the opportunity to practice, public speaking skills that will help you rock your final summer internship presentation. In this course, you do everything from on your feet improvised speaking to formal group presentations.

Financial Accounting

You want to be a CEO so you’re just going to rely on your CFO to manage all the accounting of your firm. Yeah right. Financial Accounting teaches you the basics needed to read and (this part is important) understand financial statements. You’ll cover topics like leases, bonds, income taxes, inventory, and much more. And the best part is that our professors here at Fuqua actually make this stuff interesting! Our professors used Target’s annual report in every class to bring the course content to the real world and have a current financial statement that we could practice our new skills on.

Managerial Economics

Last but certainly not least, Managerial Economics. Ever wonder how Disney World prices their bundled tickets? Or how a flight can cost one price on Monday and a different price on Tuesday? Want to tell your friends you understand Game Theory? Did you know companies are using private auctions to get costing bids from vendors? You’ll learn all of this and much more from some of the most-loved professors at Fuqua. This course is full of in-class discussion so come ready to speak your mind.

Together, these four courses set you up for success in Fall Term 2, your summer internship, and beyond. Specifically, they each teach you skills that you’ll build upon during your time here at Fuqua. But most importantly, they will challenge you in a fun learning environment that you’ll never forget!