Business Management*

The collaboration between the faculty of Arts and Sciences and Columbia Business School offers students access to the ideas and expertise of the faculty of a top-ranked professional school recognized for its excellence in graduate business education through a series of elective courses. These courses, designed by Business School faculty specifically for undergraduates, build upon the strong liberal arts education at Columbia. Students learn how finance is directly connected to the fundamental principles of economics; that marketing utilizes concepts from psychology; and how management depends upon principles developed in psychology and sociology.

Students can take advantage of the opportunity to enhance their experience by participating in co-curricular activities, such as Business School faculty lecture series, industry panels, informal mentoring/networking activities with MBA students and alumni, in addition to research opportunities with Business School faculty.

This curricular and co-curricular programming capitalizes on the Business School’s ability to connect academic theory with real-world practice, providing students with the opportunity to develop key leadership skills, an entrepreneurial mindset, and the ability to innovate.

Eligibility:

• To be eligible to earn a Special Concentration in Business Management, students must apply to the program in the spring semester of their sophomore or junior years, and they must be accepted through a process governed by the Columbia Business School. Beginning with the Special Concentration cohort of 2017-2018 (i.e., students accepted via the application process of Spring 2017), the program will accept up to 45 qualified candidates each year. The size of the program may be reviewed from time to time by Columbia College and Columbia Business School and adjusted, if desired by both schools.

• For students who entered Columbia College or General Studies in, or before, Fall 2016: Students who have not been accepted into the Special Concentration program may have the option to “shadow” the Special Concentration in Business Management by taking the required courses if space is available in those courses. Students who “shadow” the program will not be given priority registration in any courses that count toward the Special Concentration. If a student is able to take all of the courses and earns a 3.0 or higher grade-point average in the prerequisite, core, and elective courses, she or he will be allowed to declare retroactively the Special Concentration and have the program noted on their transcript.
• The shadowing option is no longer available for students who entered Columbia College or General Studies in, or after, Fall 2017.

Application Requirements

To apply for the special concentration in business management, students must meet these three requirements:

1. Sophomore or junior standing;
2. Have a cumulative GPA of 3.4 or higher;
3. Have received a B+ or better in at least one, but preferably two, of the following three prerequisite courses, i.e. in statistics, economics, and psychology. Students who completed only one prerequisite at the time of application must be currently enrolled in at least one other; acceptance is conditional on achieving a grade of B+ or higher in the second course.