The Questrom Undergraduate Program
Curriculum Overview
The Questrom School of Business curriculum is balanced between a core of requirements and a broad variety of electives. Our aim is to provide a cohesive learning experience that enables students to develop competence with flexibility.
The full-time, four-year BSBA degree program offers 13 concentrations through 14 required 4-unit courses and 5 concentration courses. This includes the 4-unit, experiential Core Innovation Project course.
Required courses are distributed between the Questrom School of Business and the University’s other outstanding schools, as a result of Boston University’s innovative HUB Program for general education.
Upon completion of the BSBA program, students will be able to demonstrate:
- Fundamental business knowledge
- Expertise in at least one business area
- Frontier-level business skills
- Leadership and collaboration
- Expertise in business analytics
- A global perspective
- An innovative approach
- An ethical perspective
Course Requirements
The requirements for the Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree appear below. This is a sample curriculum and your actual path will depend on your concentration, your minor, study abroad, and transfer credits.
Students who begin as freshmen will engage in business coursework in their very first semester through SM131, Introduction to Business, Markets, & Society. Students will have an opportunity to develop personal and professional connections with colleagues and to thrive during their early academic experiences.
Other Academic Foundations and Business Essentials curriculum requirements include Microeconomics (EC101*), Calculus (MA121 or MA123) Writing Seminar, (WR120), Financial Accounting (AC221), Introduction to Data and Business Analytics (BA221), Modeling Business Decisions and Market Outcomes (BA222 or BA223), Critical & Analytic Thinking for Business (SM275), Leading People & Teams (MO221), Introduction to Financial Management (FE223), Information Systems and Emerging Technologies in Business (IS223), Business Law, Contracts & Regulation (LA245), Marketing: Concepts to Consumers (MK223), Creating Value with Operations & Supply Chain Management (OM223), and a 1-unit Global Business Experience (XP301). These are typically taken during students’ first or second years in the program, and several of these required courses can be taken flexibly, i.e., anytime after their prerequisites have been satisfied.
As early as the sophomore year, all students will engage in the Core Innovation Project (XP298), an action-based and experiential learning signature experience that will bring the real world to the classroom by engaging directly with corporate partners or executives. It is a semester-long project during which students will apply learnings from SM131 and MO221 on the creation, delivery, and capture of value for a real-world company. It will employ a “light touch” client-based project focused on innovation. Through this process, students will explore the strategic, financial, operational, and marketing components that go into the idea and business development process, and will learn to develop and execute a presentation on their recommendations to company representatives at the end of the semester.
The final required Questrom class is the Undergraduate Program’s capstone course, Strategy, Innovation, and Global Competition (SI422). This is typically taken in Junior or Senior Year. As well, all Questrom undergraduates must complete at least one concentration, which consists of five advanced courses, including an Action-Learning Project that is tied to a concentration. You can complete one of our twelve pre-designed concentrations (e.g., Finance or Marketing) or you can design your own using the Independent Concentration.
Along the way, students take the coordinated Career Journey sequence of courses (ES110*, ES210* (transfer students take ES215 instead of ES110 and ES210), and ES310). Students may choose to complete at least one concentration. They may take four courses in their consent at any time in the curriculum, though many concentration courses have prerequisites that arrive in the curriculum during sophomore and junior year.
Lastly, like all Boston University students, Questrom students must complete the innovative HUB courses in general education. Many of the Questrom required courses satisfy HUB requirements, but Questrom students will typically take eight non-business courses, five of which are required to come from the College of Arts and Sciences, and three of which may come from any school other than Questrom, and two more of which may come from any BU School, including Questrom. In total, Questrom students complete at least 133 credits during their time at Boston University.
Required Courses
Academic Foundations
Course Code: SM131
Required of all Questrom first year students in their first term. Open to non-Questrom students who have completed one full-time term at Boston University. SM131 provides students with a philosophical, economic, and applied foundation for understanding the functions of business and the role of business, markets, governments, and other stakeholders in society. It is the first course in the Questrom BSBA curriculum and is a required course for the Minor. It introduces the functions of business, explains the roles of businesses in markets, and explores the roles of business in society and the interactions between business and other economic actors. Along the way, the course introduces students to Questrom’s critical and analytic thinking, communication curriculum (including both written and verbal communication), teaming curriculum, and fosters civil discourse on issues related to the strategic conduct of business and the roles of business and markets in society. Effective Fall 2023, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Ethical Reasoning, Teamwork/Collaboration. Effective Fall 2025, this course fulfills a single requirement in each of the following BU HUB areas: Ethical Reasoning, Research and Information Literacy, Teamwork/Collaboration.
COURSE CODE: ac221
Sophomore requirement. Basic concepts underlying financial statements and accounting procedures used in preparing statements of financial position, income statements, and statements of changes in financial position. Stresses the interpretation, analysis and evaluation of published financial statements.
COURSE CODE: ec101
The first semester of a standard two-semester sequence for those considering further work in management or economics. Coverage includes economics of households, business firms, and markets; consumer behavior and the demand for commodities; production, costs, and the supply of commodities; price determination; competition and monopoly; efficiency of resource allocation; governmental regulation; income distribution; and poverty. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry I, Critical Thinking. In 2019-20 this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry I, Ethical Reasoning, Critical Thinking.
COURSE CODE: wr120
Topic-based seminar in critical reading and writing. Engagement with a variety of sources and practice in writing in a range of genres with particular attention to argumentation, prose style, and revision, informed by reflection and feedback, including individual conferences. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: First-Year Writing Seminar.
Gateway Courses
*SM131
*AC221
*EC101
*MA121 (or MA123)
*WR120
Business Essentials
COURSE CODE: ba221
Exposes students to business data and business analytics. Topics in business analytics include the fundamentals of probability and statistics, but the emphasis is on the collection, structuring, and analysis of data to support business decision-making. Topics include descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive analytics, as well as distributions, sampling, estimation, hypothesis testing, and chi-square analyses.
COURSE CODE: ba222
Examines the use of economic and statistical tools for making business decisions at an advanced level, and prepares students for future study in business analytics. Introduces programming for data analysis (no previous programming knowledge required) and links data analysis to decision making using both spreadsheet modeling and statistical programming. Topics include multiple regression, causal inference, forecasting, predictive analytics, machine learning, demand modeling, and optimization. Case studies apply advanced concepts to practical business problems.
COURSE CODE: mo221
COURSE CODE: sm275
Course Code: FE223
COURSE CODE: la245
Provides an overview of the Americanlegal system. Covers basic principles of law in addition to specificsubstantive areas such as torts, contracts, business organizations,employment law, and antitrust.
Course Code: MK223
Course Code: OM223
Prerequisite: QSTSM 131; CASEC 101 or QST BE101; QSTBA 221; sophomore standing. This course focuses on the elements of operations management that are of particular importance in the context of new product development, including product and process design, process analysis, supply chain configuration, inventory management, and capacity and production planning.
Course Code: XP298
Course Code: XP301
Floating Requirements
Taken anytime after the Gateway Suite
COURSE CODE: ac222
Introduction to basic principles, methods, and challenges of moden mangerial accounting. Traditional topics such as job-ordering, cost-volume-profit analysis, budgeting and variance analysis, segment reporting and profitability analysis, relevant costs for decision making, and cost-plus pricing. Emerging topics such as Activity-Based Cost (ABC) accounting and cost management; performance measurement for Just-In-Time (JIT) and Flexible-Manufacturing-Systems (FMS) environments; the cost of quality; and targeting costing. Material examined from the perspective of students preparing to use management accounting information as managers, to support decision making (pricing, product mix decisions, sourcing decisions, technology decisions) and short- and long-term planning, and to measure, evaluate, and reward performance.
COURSE CODE: is223
COURSE CODE: la245
Provides an overview of the Americanlegal system. Covers basic principles of law in addition to specificsubstantive areas such as torts, contracts, business organizations,employment law, and antitrust.
COURSE CODE: ec102
The second semester of a standard two-semester sequence for those considering further work in management or economics. National economic performance; the problems of recession, unemployment, and inflation; money creation, government spending, and taxation; economic policies for full employment and price stability; and international trade and payments. Carries social science divisional credit in CAS. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: Social Inquiry I. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry I, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy.
Concentration Courses and Capstone
COURSE CODE: si422
This course provides students with a powerful set of tools which will prepare them to analyze, formulate, and implement business unit and corporate-level strategy with the aim of attaining sustainable competitive advantage. MG 422 adopts the perspective of the general manager, challenging student knowledge in each functional area in the effort to create integrative strategies that serve the needs of shareholders, as well as other stakeholders inside and outside the company. The course includes conceptual readings, which elucidate the fundamental concepts and frameworks of strategic management, as well as case analyses, which enable students to apply their knowledge to real-world situations and managerial decisions. The class culminates with a final project, which requires student teams to perform a complete strategic analysis on a public company, considering its industry environment and dynamics, its strategic positioning and internal resources, and proposing a course of action for the firm to respond to its strategic challenges. 4 cr.
Plus five concentration courses including an Action Learning Project.
Career Journey
COURSE CODE: es110
COURSE CODE: es210
COURSE CODE: es310
*ES110
*ES210
ES310
* transfer students take ES215 instead of ES110 & ES210
BU HUB
The HUB program is Boston University’s novel program in General Education. Many Questrom courses count for HUB credit.
- 2 Free Electives that can be taken anywhere at BU, including Questrom
- 5 Courses in CAS
- 3 Non-Questrom Courses
Concentrations, Dual Degrees, and Minors
Dual Degrees
Dual degrees are available to Questrom undergraduates through numerous other undergraduate schools in the University. The most popular dual degrees for Questrom students include Economics, International Relations, and Communications. A variety of minors are also available to undergraduates, including Innovation & Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Energy, both of which have significant Questrom coursework and faculty involvement and leadership.
Explore the possibilities
Students wishing to pursue dual bachelor’s degrees may enroll simultaneously in the Questrom School of Business and another undergraduate school or college within Boston University.
Concentrations
All Questrom undergraduates must complete at least one concentration, which consists of five advanced courses including an Action Learning Project. This will serve as elective course satisfying a concentration requirement, which will involve a more extensive collaboration with a client or a deeper experiential foundation.
Students will not be required to complete an Action Learning Project for all concentrations they pursue, but will need to complete a minimum of one. Projects will be focused on solving a current real-world problem for an external client/business that will receive a report-out from student teams at the end of the semester.
You can complete one of our twelve pre-designed concentrations (e.g., Finance or Marketing) or you can design your own using the Independent Concentration.
- Accounting
- Business Analytics
- Finance (must choose a track), tracks include Banking, Corporate Finance, Investment Management, and General Finance
- Global Business
- Independent Concentration
- Information Systems
- Innovation & Entrepreneurship
- Law
- Management and Organizations
- Marketing
- Operations & Supply Chain Management
- Real Estate
- Strategy
Minors
Pursuing a minor is optional, but if you’re passionate about something beyond business, BU offers more than 90 minor programs. You can pursue a minor inside or outside of Questrom. A minimum of twelve credits must be unique to any minor and may not count toward the fulfillment of majors or additional minors.
Discover minor programs at BU
A list of minors can be found in BU’s academic bulletin.