School of Hotel, Restaurant, and Tourism Management
Robin DiPietro, Director
Degree Offered (30 Hours)
Master of International Hospitality and Tourism Management
The School of Hotel, Restaurant, and Tourism Management offers a program leading to the Master of International Hospitality and Tourism Management (M.I.H.T.M.). The M.I.H.T.M. is designed to prepare students for advanced careers in the hospitality and tourism field. Students best suited for the program are career-minded individuals, with previous management experience, who are seeking advancement to upper-level management positions. Graduates of the program may take advantage of emerging opportunities in senior leadership roles within the areas of hotels and resorts, club management, event management, tourism marketing, data analytics, hospitality education, hospitality and tourism research, and consulting. Students choose from one of two tracks, academic or professional. The program requires a minimum of 30 hours for completion.
Degree Offered (60 Hours)
The Ph.D. program in Hospitality Management
The School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management offers a Doctor of Philosophy in Hospitality Management focused on lodging, foodservice, and travel and tourism management. Graduates will be prepared to conduct both theoretical and applied research within the broad array of domains of hospitality and tourism management. In addition, graduates will be equipped with the skills to be effective teachers and mentors to students, as well as to be valuable resources for industry professionals. The program is based on a four year program of study consisting of 60 credit hours.
Admission Requirements
Admission requirements conform with the general regulations of The Graduate School and regional and national accreditation standards. Applicants must submit to The Graduate School an application along with a $50 nonrefundable application fee; official transcripts (mailed to the USC Graduate School) showing their complete academic record; two letters of recommendation; resume; statement of purpose; records of immunization (if born after December 31, 1956); and reports of examination scores on the GRE or GMAT.
The admission process involves evaluation of applicant characteristics in an attempt to determine intellectual ability and willingness to do the work required to complete the curriculum. Realizing that many admission decisions are somewhat subjective, anyone reviewing applications for admission to the Master of International Hospitality and Tourism Management program must consider the overall academic record (GPA; course of study; school[s] attended; degrees earned; GRE or GMAT scores and scores on any other standardized tests; performance in quantitative, hospitality/tourism, or business-related courses; work experience and level of responsibility; extracurricular and community activities; and letters of recommendation). These items may be supplemented by personal or telephone interviews at the discretion of the reviewer or when requested by the graduate director.
International applicants whose native language is not English are also required to submit a satisfactory score on the TOEFL or the IELTS Intl. Academic Course Type 2 exam. The minimum acceptable score on the TOEFL is 80 (internet-based). The minimum acceptable overall band score on the IELTS Intl. Academic Course Type 2 exam is 6.5.
Students wishing to enter the M.I.H.T.M. program should have completed business courses in the areas of personal computers, statistics, finance, marketing, and management principles and hospitality courses in food-service management, hotel operations, and tourism. Certain prerequisites may be waived for students who have demonstrated a high degree of competence in a related area.