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Student Resources

Helpful Advising Tips

Pre-Business Students

Focus on completing the pre-business classes first and foremost. They are designated by bold type on the bingo sheet. Fill in with other general education courses when you can’t fill your schedule with the bolded courses. Having some general education courses left to take toward the end of your college career is a good thing. It will provide you with flexibility in scheduling your junior and senior semesters.

As a Freshman you can take: ENG W131, COM 114, PSY 120, SOC S161, BUS K200-K213, MA 153 and MA 229. The rest of the pre-business courses can be completed as a sophomore. If you enter the university testing into higher level Math and English, you may be able to proceed through these courses more quickly – see your advisor.

Know your prerequisites! ECON E201 is a prerequisite for ECON E202 and BUS W204. MA 229 is a prerequisite for ECON E270. Plan accordingly so you are not delayed in completing your pre-business courses beyond the end of your sophomore year. Remember pre-business courses are to be completed as a prerequisite to admission to the bachelor’s program. Please refer to admission requirements for more information.

Students Officially Admitted to BSB with Declared Concentrations

You should complete M301, P301, F301, and Z302 during your junior year as they are prerequisites for most advanced courses. J401 is a capstone course and should be taken during your last semester. BUS J300 - in the semester that you sign up for this course you will be sent a letter listing the dates and times that speakers will be on campus. You may choose which speaker events you wish to attend. You do not have to complete all three in one semester, as long as you complete all three before you graduate. The most important item to remember is that if you sign up for J300 in any given semester, you must attend at least one speaker session or drop the course. If you do not, you will be given a grade of F.

  • Many of the upper-level courses are only offered in certain semesters. Make sure you know when they are usually offered and know what the prerequisites are for the course so that you will be ready to take it when it is offered.
Accounting Concentration

Your first semester as a business major should focus on taking A317 and A311 as they are prerequisites for other accounting courses.

Marketing, Management or Finance Concentration

Be sure to take the J301 course that corresponds to your concentration of choice right away because it will be a prerequisite for future required course.

Business Majors
  • OLS courses do not count toward the business degree – even when they are shown as approved courses for General Education.
  • Up to 4 credits of HPER courses may be used as elective credit.
  • Beware of overlapping course content! If courses are considered to have overlapping content, you cannot use credit for both toward your degree. Example: CS 106 overlaps with the BUS K200 series so we cannot use CS 106 for the BSB degree. See pg. 20 in the 2004-2006 Bulletin for a list of overlapping courses.
  • When choosing courses for the General Education Electives you may select any course from the list of approved courses for Areas 1-6 (except OLS). In addition any courses in foreign language, or from the following departments are acceptable: Anthropology, Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Communication, English, Film, Fine Arts, Folklore, Geography, History, Math, Music, Philosophy, Physics, Political Science, Psychology, Religious Studies, Sociology, Theatre, Visual Communication & Design, & Women’s Studies.
  • Additional important information about the Business degree program such as time limits, pass/fail options, transfer credit, etc., can be found on the DSBMS Policies page. Every student is responsible for knowing these policies.