Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (BSBA)

Contact

For contact information, please visit the Questrom UDC website.

Students who begin Questrom in their first BU year complete, alongside their other degree requirements, two required business courses: Business, Ethics, and the Creation of Value and Measuring Financial Value. The intent of these two courses is to provide a philosophical, economic, and applied foundation for ethical decision-making in finance and business. Collectively, the courses are designed to launch the development of the student’s writing, presentation, and team skills along with their understanding of the complexities of business.

In their sophomore year, students develop the analytical tools of financial and managerial accounting, management information systems, and statistics; study organizational behavior; develop their business communication skills; and learn the institutional realities of business law. Informed by their first-year experience, students more readily comprehend the importance of these analytical tools, see the need to extend their team skills, and recognize the practical importance of the institutional perspective of business law.

Juniors at Questrom devote an entire semester to SM 323 The Cross-Functional Core. The Core is one of the key elements differentiating Questrom’s undergraduate curriculum. The unit consists of four courses—Marketing, Operations, Finance, and Business Analytics—which are integrated into a unique one-semester sequence through a common semester-long team project focused on new product or service development.

During the senior year, students take the final core business requirement—a course in strategy, innovation, and global competition—and business electives. To graduate, students must take their remaining business electives, along with any remaining non-business electives.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of the BSBA program, students will be able to demonstrate:

  • An ethical perspective
    • Identify ethical issues in their personal, local, and global business environments.
    • Demonstrate that they understand the impact of business on society through their ability to use common frameworks and decision-making analysis to develop ethical decision-making skills as an engaged contributor, manager, and leader.
    • Recognize conditions and strategies for acting effectively on values.
  • Core business knowledge
    • Demonstrate basic knowledge of accounting, marketing, operations and technology management, finance, organizational behavior, information systems, law, quantitative analysis, and strategy.
    • Apply critical and analytical thinking to management situations/challenges.
  • Core business skills
    • Discuss with or present to diverse audiences the results of analysis in cogent and concise oral presentations.
    • Use basic business application software.
    • Write to diverse audiences a clear, concise, and complete summary or analysis.
    • Use self-assessment and professional exploration frameworks to develop a specific, personal career development strategy.
  • Leadership and collaboration
    • Understand and assume leadership responsibility.
    • Give and receive constructive feedback to enhance performance.
    • Participate effectively and efficiently in collaborative activities with diverse team composition.
  • A systems perspective
    • Demonstrate that they have considered cross-functional issues when developing solutions to business problems or challenges.
    • Identify and manage risk when developing solutions to business problems or challenges.
  • A global perspective
    • Demonstrate that they have considered global cultural, regulatory, managerial, and ethical issues when developing solutions to business problems or challenges.
  • An innovative approach
    • Recognize the role of innovation in value creation and its impact on firm and industry.

Requirements

All first-year, first-time students will pursue coursework in the BU Hub, a general education program that is integrated into the entire undergraduate experience. BU Hub requirements are flexible and can be satisfied in many different ways, through coursework in and beyond the major and, in some cases, through cocurricular activities. Students majoring in Business Administration will ordinarily, through coursework in the major, satisfy BU Hub requirements in Quantitative Reasoning and the Intellectual Toolkit as well as some of the requirements in Scientific and Social Inquiry; Diversity, Civic Engagement, and Global Citizenship; and Communication. Remaining BU Hub requirements will be satisfied by selecting from a wide range of available courses outside the major or, in some cases, cocurricular experiences.

The following requirements apply to students who enter their first year at Questrom School of Business beginning in or after the Fall 2018 academic year. Students who entered the school prior to Fall 2018 should see the Bulletin archive for the specific policies and curriculum requirements pertaining to them.

The Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (BSBA) requires that students complete coursework in business and the liberal arts, as well as seminars in career development, and that they complete no fewer than 133 credits while also meeting all requirements of the BU Hub. Students normally take four academic courses each semester. Though there are many ways to progress through the Questrom Undergraduate curriculum, ultimately every student must complete the same graduation requirements. These courses are distributed as follows:

  • 16 required courses in the Questrom School of Business:
    • QST AC 221 Financial Accounting
    • QST AC 222 Managerial Accounting
    • QST FE 323 Financial Management
    • QST IS 223 Introduction to Information Systems
    • QST LA 245 Introduction to Law
    • QST MK 323 Marketing Management
    • QST MO 221 The Dynamics of Leading Organizations
    • QST OM 323 Operations and Technology Management
    • QST QM 221 Probabilistic and Statistical Decision Making for Management
    • QST QM 222 Modeling Business Decisions and Market Outcomes
    • QST QM 323 Business Analytics
    • QST SI 422 Strategy, Innovation, and Global Competition
    • QST SM 131 Business, Society & Ethics
    • QST SM 132 Measuring Financial Value (2 cr)
    • QST SM 275 Management Communications (4 cr)
    • QST SM 303 Cross-Functional Core (0 cr)
  • Three required courses in career development:
    • QST ES 110 Explore Your Career (1 cr)
    • QST ES 210 Build Your Career Toolkit (1 cr) [or QST ES 215 (2 cr) to replace ES 110 and 210 if student did not enter in their first year]
    • QST ES 310 Implement Your Career Plan (1 credit)
  • Four business concentration electives (used in fulfillment of a functional concentration)
  • Four required liberal arts courses:
    • CAS EC 101 Introductory Microeconomic Analysis
    • CAS EC 102 Introductory Macroeconomic Analysis
    • CAS WR 120 (or equivalent) First-Year Writing Seminar (or other level of writing course as determined by the CAS Writing Program)
    • CAS MA 121 Calculus for the Life and Social Sciences I or CAS MA 123 Calculus I
  • 20 credits from the College of Arts & Sciences (CAS)
  • 12 credits from outside of Questrom
  • 8 credits from any school/college within Boston University
  • In some cases, additional electives to ensure the minimum 133 credits necessary to graduate or to meet remaining BU Hub requirements
  • Three electives (may fulfill BU Hub requirements (12 cr total))

Note: Students must successfully earn a minimum grade of “C” in five of the following courses, and no less than “C–” in the sixth course, in order to apply these courses toward their BSBA major and advance into 300-level Questrom courses:

  • CAS MA 121 or MA 123 (4 cr)
  • QST SM 131 (4 cr)
  • QST SM 132 (2 cr)
  • CAS EC 101 (4 cr)
  • CAS EC 102 (4 cr)
  • CAS WR 120 (or equivalent) First-Year Writing Seminar (4 cr)

Functional and Multidisciplinary Concentrations

The Questrom School of Business offers flexibility in the Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (BSBA) program, allowing students to customize the degree by choosing from concentration options from within and across a number of disciplines.

Questrom students must all complete at least one Functional Concentration; Functional Concentrations present a deep exploration of a specific functional area in the study and practice of business. Functional Concentrations include:

  • Accounting
  • Business Analytics
  • Finance
  • Independent Concentration
  • Information Systems
  • Innovation & Entrepreneurship
  • Law
  • Management & Organization
  • Marketing
  • Operations & Technology Management
  • Strategy

Students may also choose to complete a Multidisciplinary Concentration, which provides a breadth of exposure regarding a particular industrial sector or an area of business, through a cross-section of related courses from within Questrom and across the University. Multidisciplinary Concentrations include:

  • Global Business
  • Health & Life Sciences Sector
  • Real Estate
  • Retailing

Note that a student can count no more than one course, one time, toward multiple concentrations.

Concentration requirements are in addition to the courses required as part of the basic program of study. Students use their four business electives to fulfill the concentration requirements. Students may also use their free electives to fulfill concentration requirements. See concentration sections below for those concentrations also having CAS requirements.

FUNCTIONAL CONCENTRATIONS

MULTIDISCIPLINARY CONCENTRATIONS