Questrom: Business Administration

Below is an example of a four-year plan for CGS students continuing to Questrom School of Business with a focused on a particular concentration. Students will work with their CGS academic advisors and the Questrom School of Business to plan their own pathway to a business administration degree.

* Students who participate in the CGS London semester will complete the QST XP 301 Global Experience requirement (1 unit). Students who participate in the CGS New England summer semester will work with QST advising to ensure the requirement is met prior to graduation.
** QST SM 131 is open to non-Questrom students who have completed one full-time term at Boston University.
*** Possible additional course required based on specific concentration
^† Or co-req QST SM131 + soph standing

Below is an example of a four-year plan of a College of General Studies student pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (BSBA) at Questrom School of Business and planning to study abroad. Students will work with their CGS academic advisors and the Questrom School of Business to plan their own pathway to a business administration degree.

Note: There may be an additional cost when taking more than 18 units.

* Students who participate in the CGS London semester will complete the QST XP 301 Global Experience requirement (1 unit). Students who participate in the CGS New England summer semester will work with QST advising to ensure the requirement is met prior to graduation.
** QST SM 131 is open to non-Questrom students who have completed one full-time term at Boston University
*** Possible additional course required based on specific concentration
^† Or co-req QST SM131 + soph standing

Students who need additional guidance should consult Sally E. Ward, Assistant Director, Suite 104, 595 Commonwealth Avenue, 617-353-2650 or seward@bu.edu. Also, please visit the Undergraduate Development Center (UDC) website.

Upon completion of the CGS program, students must have earned credit towards the following 10 courses:

• Humanities: 3 courses
  • Choose two from CGS HU 103, CGS HU 201, or CGS HU 202
  • CGS HU 104*
• Natural Sciences: 2 courses
  • CGS NS 201 and CGS NS 202
• Rhetoric: 2 courses
  • CGS RH 103 and CGS RH 104*
• Social Sciences: 3 courses
  • Choose two from CGS SS 103, CGS SS 201, or CGS SS 202
  • CGS SS 104*

The CGS required courses will cover Questrom liberal arts electives (5 courses), non-business electives (3 courses), and free electives (2 courses).

*Required course taken during the Summer term.

Degree Requirements

The requirements for CGS students pursuing the Bachelor of Science in Business Administration program are as follows:

• 13 required four-unit courses:
  • QST AC 221 Financial Accounting
  • QST BA 221 Introduction to Data and Business Analytics (formerly QST QM 221)
  • QST BA 222 Modeling Business Decisions and Market Outcomes with Spreadsheets and Statistical Programming or QST BA 223 Business Modeling with Spreadsheets (formerly QST QM 222) (students may only take one of these courses for units)
  • QST FE 223 Introduction to Corporate Finance
  • QST IS 223 Information Systems and Emerging Technologies in Business
  • QST LA 245 Business Law, Contracts & Regulation
  • QST MK 223 Marketing: Concepts to Consumers
  • QST MO 221 Leading People & Teams
  • QST OM 223 Creating Value with Operations & Supply Chain Management
  • QST SI 422 Strategy, Innovation, and Global Competition
  • QST SM 131 Business, Markets & Society
  • QST SM 275 Critical & Analytic Thinking for Business
  • QST XP 298 Innovation Project
• One Global Business Experience:
  • QST XP 301 Global Business Experience (1 unit)
• Two required courses in career development:
  • QST ES 215 (2 units)
  • QST ES 310 Implement Your Career Plan (1 unit)
• Two required courses that may be taken either in the Questrom School of Business or CAS:
  • QST BE 101 Introduction to Microeconomics for Business & Strategy (4 units) or CAS EC 101 Introductory Microeconomic Analysis (4 units) (students may only take one of these for units)
  • QST BE 102 Introduction to Macroeconomics for Business & Strategy (4 units) or CAS EC 101 Introductory Macroeconomic Analysis (4 units) (students may only take one of these for units)
• One required CAS course:
  • CAS MA 121 Calculus for the Life and Social Sciences 1 or CAS MA 123 Calculus 1 (students may only take one of these for units)
• Elective coursework:
  • Five Questrom electives (20 units) (used in fulfillment of a concentration)
• One writing course required by the BU Hub:
  • CGS RH 104 Rhetorical Practices from The Industrial Revolution through the Digital Revolution

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 concentration. Concentrations present a deep exploration of a specific functional area in the study and practice of business.

Concentrations consist of five courses. Details of these concentration requirements will be published on the UDC website as soon as they are available and in the 2026–2027 University Bulletin. Under that curriculum, students will use their five Questrom business electives to fulfill the concentration requirements. Students may also use their free electives to fulfill concentration requirements.

Accounting

Accounting is the science of business information. The accounting concentration focuses on providing students with the skills and knowledge necessary to derive and interpret this business information for sound decision making in an increasingly complex and interconnected world, and do so in ways that are informed, ethical, and dynamic.

Business Analytics

There is a vast array of opportunities to explore within Business Analytics. You may choose to work in a variety of careers including Data Analytics, Pricing and Revenue Analytics, Risk Management, Marketing Strategy and Analytics, etc.. Business Analytics is a nice complement to any concentration.

Finance

There is a vast array of opportunities awaiting you in the finance industry. You may choose to work in corporate finance, commercial banking, insurance, real estate, investment banking or money management. Finance is a nice complement to any concentration; some of our more popular choices include Accounting, Business Analytics, Information Systems, or Strategy.

Global Business

Global Business is a multidisciplinary concentration which means it must be paired with any functional concentration of your choosing. A multidisciplinary concentration 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.

Independent

An Independent Concentration is designed for students with unique needs and/or interests that may not quite fit or be encompassed by existing concentration options. The Independent Concentration allows students to construct a program of study specifically tailored to helping them gain knowledge, skills, and experiences relevant to their future goals, vision, or direction.

Information Systems

As an IS professional, your employment opportunities are innumerable. You might work within a specialized industry such as health care, telecommunications, retail, financial services, or in one of the many technology-related products and service companies. For exposure to a variety of different industries, consider working as a consultant at one of the major consulting firms.

Innovation and Entrepreneurship

This concentration is designed to bring the best of innovative thinking and the entrepreneurial spirit to students who are interested in bringing their creative, constructive, and value-creation skills to the next level. Operating in conjunction with Innovate@BU, this concentration offers a powerful set of courses, mentoring, and hands-on experience to students pursuing this concentration.

Law

The Business Law Concentration is a rigorous course of study that focuses on issue spotting, decision-making, and logical thinking. It also increases your understanding of key business law issues, such as intellectual property, practical contracts and contract negotiation, employment law, Uniform Commercial Code, and real property, and has a strong focus in ethics.

Management and Organization

In Management & Organizations, students learn about how organizations and individuals behave. In order to affect the practice of management and leadership, students gain skills to analyze the individual, the group, the organization, and the environmental context, and recognize the crucial interactions across all four domains.

Marketing

A concentration in Marketing can lead to many career paths including brand management, product planning, cause marketing, and marketing communications, among others. In the marketing concentration, you will learn about methods and theories that provide insight into consumers’ purchase and consumption behavior as well as their pain points.

Operations and Technology Management

A concentration in Operations and Supply Chain Management (OSCM) offers a wide range of career opportunities including management consulting, production management, service management, lean and six sigma, production and inventory planning, sourcing/procurement management, and distribution management.

Real Estate

A multidisciplinary concentration in Real Estate encompass a wide range of areas including: finance, marketing, management, construction, and sales. Having a multidisciplinary concentration allows you to pair your industry interest and knowledge with combined skills to compete in a specific area within the larger Real Estate sector.

Strategy

The Strategy concentration builds the skills needed to formulate and implement an organization’s key strategies. The concentration can help prepare students in a variety of careers such as: strategy consulting, management consulting, business development jobs, leadership or rotational program positions, or business-analyst roles.

Questrom School of Business students may transfer up to two preapproved business courses at another college or University post-matriculation. Current students wishing to complete coursework at another US institution must have the courses preapproved by the specific department and their CGS academic advisor prior to registration.

Business courses not pre-approved for direct equivalency on Transferology must go through the appeals process. Students can use the Questrom Webform for this appeal. Please note that a syllabus is required to appeal the course.

The following courses are eligible for transfer:

• QST AC 221, QST AC 222, QST BA 221, QST BA 222, QST BA 223, QST FE 223, QST IS 223, QST LA 245, QST MK 223, QST MO 221, QST OM 223, and QST SM 275.

The following courses are not eligible for transfer:

• QST SM 131, QST XP 298, QST XP 301, QST SI 422, QST ES 110, QST ES 210, QST ES 215, QST ES 310, and courses used to fulfill concentration requirements.

Microeconomics (CAS EC 101), Macroeconomics (CAS EC 102), and Calculus 1 (CAS MA 121 or CAS MA 123) are required for continuation to Questrom, but are not considered business courses. If a student transfers any of these courses, they would not count towards the limit of two business transfer courses that can be applied to the major or minor.

Transfer Students: External Transfer Students can transfer up to two business courses post-matriculation to BU, even if they have approved business transfer credit from their previous institution. External Transfer Students are still limited by the 68 transfer units that can be applied to the BU degree and cannot exceed this total.

Courses must be taken for a letter grade and receive a grade of “C” or better to be considered for transfer units. Courses taken externally do not carry any HUB requirements.

• Completion of CGS required courses and appropriate electives
• Cumulative GPA greater than or equal to 2.00
• Mandatory Information Session: All students who intend to continue from CGS to QST must attend a mandatory information session prior to their junior year.
• Completion of Questrom’s suite of gateway courses having earned a minimum grade of C in four of the following courses, and no less than C- in the fifth course – CGS RH 104 (WR 120), CAS MA 121 or CAS MA 123, CAS EC 101, QST SM 131 and QST AC221
  • If you do not earn a C (or C- in one of the courses) you may retake the course(s) one time
• Students will not be accepted for continuation with any incomplete grades (‘I’ grades) in academic courses on their transcript

• BU Hub requirements
  • Students continuing from CGS to Questrom will ordinarily, through coursework in CGS, fulfill the following Hub areas: First-Year Writing Seminar; Writing, Research and Inquiry; Critical Thinking; Philosophical Inquiry; Aesthetic Exploration; Historical Consciousness; Scientific Inquiry I; Scientific/Social Inquiry II; The Individual in Community; Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy (1 requirement satisfied by CGS SS 104); Writing Intensive Course (1 requirement satisfied by CGS SS 202). All other Hub requirements will be satisfied through the required Questrom curriculum.

• Questrom major requirements
  • Mathematics requirements: The Questrom curriculum assumes a mathematics background, which includes three to four years of high school/secondary school mathematics (pre-calculus/calculus recommended). Completion of CAS MA 121 or CAS MA 123 is required, unless one has AP or college credit for an equivalent calculus-based math course.

• Minimum grade requirement
  • Students need a grade of C- or better for all required courses towards the degree. This is in addition to the grade requirement for the suite of courses required to continue to Questrom.