Can MEM Students Take Kellogg or Tuck Classes?
MEM access to Kellogg and Tuck electives has credit limits, approvals and registration conditions. Check the actual route before building your study plan.
Can MEM Students Take Kellogg or Tuck Classes?
Yes, MEM students can have access to business-school electives, but access is conditional. Northwestern's MEM does not provide unrestricted Kellogg registration; Dartmouth's MEM places approval and tuition limits on Tuck electives. Build your application around courses you can realistically take.
Three different rules govern course access
You need permission to register, space in the course and permission to count it toward your MEM. A course appearing in the university catalog settles none of those by itself. The rules below were checked September 12, 2026.
| Program | Published access boundary | What to verify |
|---|---|---|
| Northwestern MEM | The MEM curriculum limits courses from outside engineering to two | How your proposed business electives fit the degree plan |
| Kellogg registration | Non-Kellogg graduate registration permits one MBA credit unit per quarter, from the eligible list, subject to seats and home-school approval; no summer registration | The actual quarter's list, deadline and available seats |
| Dartmouth MEM | Program options cover two Tuck credits in MEM tuition; additional Tuck courses require approval and extra tuition | Instructor permission, MEM director approval and the credit value of each course |
Dartmouth distinguishes full-term Tuck electives, worth one credit, from half-term courses worth half a credit. Two covered credits therefore do not necessarily mean two individual classes.
Kellogg also says faculty cannot approve enrollment outside its non-Kellogg registration process. An encouraging conversation with a professor does not replace that process.
Check the course, permission and fallback
Before treating a business-school course as a reason to choose an MEM, create a small access worksheet:
- Learning need: identify the decision you want to learn to make, such as pricing a technical product.
- Course identity: record the course code, school and expected term, rather than a general reference to “MBA electives.”
- Registration route: check whether MEM students can request that course and whose approval is required.
- Degree treatment: confirm its credit value and whether it fits your remaining MEM electives.
- Fallback: identify another accessible course or project that addresses the same learning need.
Illustrative example: a Northwestern applicant wants three Kellogg electives. The MEM's two-course outside-engineering limit means that plan needs revision even before seat availability is considered. They identify two eligible choices and a relevant MEM alternative, then confirm the plan with the program. Their academic rationale survives an unavailable seat because it is about a learning need, not a famous classroom.
For timing, compare Northwestern's nine- and fifteen-month plans. For the larger degree decision, read our Dartmouth MEM assessment.
Does taking an MBA elective make the degree an MBA?
An elective is part of your MEM study plan. Describe the degree you are actually pursuing, and do not equate course access with access to every MBA recruiting service or activity. Ask the relevant office about those services separately.
Make the application specific without overpromising
Use professional master's purpose guidance to connect the resource to a real preparation gap. Follow the MEM prompt structure rather than filling every response with course names.
The professional master's SOP rubric and graduate statement review provide feedback on your applicant-written statement. The graduate essay hub collects related application guidance.
Get SOP Feedback
See how your statement of purpose scores on an application-specific rubric.