The Questrom Undergraduate Program
Real Business Problems and Real Intellectual Engagement
Beginning with your first day at Questrom, you will tackle business problems, work in teams with classmates from around the world, and interact with managers and alumni. Throughout your first year, you will learn about how businesses and markets operate and the importance of their roles in society. In your second or third year, you will write a full business plan for a product that you and your classmates will research and propose. In each of your four years, the undergraduate program will support your ability to explore ideas within Boston University, to understand fields of business at Questrom, and to achieve depth of knowledge in at least one business field of your choosing.
Professional Preparation
Along the way, you will complete a series of career support courses (a ‘careers journey’) that will train you to explore internship and job opportunities, help you develop professional networks, and prepare you for internship and job interviews. Nearly all of our students obtain meaningful work experiences during their time as undergraduates. The collaborative aspects of our coursework and our focus on student extracurricular activities help our graduates become exceptionally professional. Over the past few years, 99% of Questrom graduates have reported obtaining a job (or a position in graduate school) within six months of graduation. When you complete the Questrom BSBA degree program, your business expertise, professional skills, and ability to collaborate will give you substantial advantages relative to your competition in your ability to contribute to the workplace.
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.
Degree requirements for the full-time, four-year BSBA program include 19 core courses and 13 electives. 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 a year-long foundation program through SM131, Business, Ethics, and the Creation of Value, and SM132, Measuring Financial Value. These courses are organized by cohort, so that students will have an opportunity to develop personal and professional connections with colleagues and to thrive during their early academic experiences.
Other early-stage curriculum requirements include Microeconomics (EC101*), Calculus (MA121 or MA123) Writing Seminar, (WR120), Probabilistic & Statistical Decision-Making for Management (QM221), advanced quantitative methods (QM222 or BA222) and The Dynamics of Leading Organizations (MO221). These are typically taken during students’ first or second years in the program.
After completing these courses, students are eligible to take the cross-functional CORE sequence of courses in Sophomore or Junior year. The sequence includes Finance (FE323) Marketing (MK323), Operations Management (OM323), and Business Analytics (QM323). These courses are all taught in a single semester by a coordinated team of faculty and they are paired with a signature experience in which students are placed in teams that design a product from scratch, conduct market research, plan operations and manufacturing, analyze financing, develop a business plan, and, ultimately, pitch their business idea to colleagues, faculty, and experienced professionals.
A number of required courses can be taken flexibly, i.e., anytime after their prerequisites have been satisfied. These include Managerial Accounting (AC222), Information Systems (IS223), and Law (LA245).
Following CORE, students’ only required Questrom class is the Undergraduate Program’s capstone course (SI422). This is typically taken in Junior or Senior Year.
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
Foundational Courses (* indicates Gateway courses)
*SM131
*SM132
*EC101
*MA121 (or MA123)
*WR120
QM221
QM222 or BA222
MO221
SM275
Core
FE323
MK323
OM323
QM323
Floating Requirements (which can be taken anytime after the Gateway Suite)
AC222
IS223
LA245
EC102
Capstone & Concentrations
SI422
Plus four concentration courses
Career Journey
*ES110
*ES210
ES310
* transfer students take ES215 instead of ES110 & ES210
BU Hub Requirements, Courses Outside of Questrom, & Free Electives
This is Boston University’s novel program in General Education (link here). Many Questrom courses count for HUB credit.
5 Courses in CAS
3 Non-Questrom Courses
2 Free Electives that can be taken anywhere at BU, including Questrom
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 four advanced courses. 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. Many concentrations have courses that can be taken before you complete the Cross-Functional Core semester and other courses that build directly upon the knowledge you receive in “Core.”
- 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.