Degree Guidelines

The information below applies to future Business Administraton majors in graduating classes starting with the Class of 2023 and forward.  Graduating classes prior to the Class of 2023 should refer to the degree requirements found in the catalog under which they are registered. This information is intended only as a guideline. The undergraduate catalog lists the official requirements for the Business Administration major.

The Business Administration major at W&L is unique among our peers, as the Williams School is the only accredited business program offered at a top-tier liberal arts university. In addition to the major courses described below, Business Administration majors are strongly encouraged to continue taking classes in the arts, humanities, social sciences, mathematics, and natural sciences. The Business Administration major is made up of three preparatory courses, three business core classes, one capstone class, and seven elective courses.

Preparatory Courses

The following are required and should be completed during your first and sophomore years:

• ECON 100 - Introduction to Economics
• ACCT 100 - Introduction to Accounting
• INTR 202 - Applied Statistics* (Fall or Winter sophomore year)

*Students considering the Business Administration major are encouraged to enroll in INTR 202; however, any of the following statistics courses from other disciplines may be substituted for the INTR 202 requirement: SOAN 218, ECON 202, DCI 202, MATH 118, CBSC 250, or BIOL 201.

Business Core Courses

The following are required for all Business Administration majors.

• BUS 211 - Marketing Management
• BUS 217 - Management and Organizational Behavior
• BUS/FIN 221 - Managerial Finance

The 200 level courses (BUS 211, BUS 217, BUS/FIN 221) may be taken as early as the winter term of the sophomore year, when space permits. All core courses should be completed by the end of the junior year. Students must have completed all three core courses before they may take the capstone. During the senior year, students must complete one of the following two capstone courses:

• BUS 398 - Strategic Management OR BUS 399 - Entrepreneurship

Business Administration majors are also expected to complete four additional upper-level business administration electives and three additional upper-level related area electives. Of these seven upper-level electives, at least one must be a course focusing on international issues, at least one must be a course dealing with technology & information systems, and at least one must be a course addressing normative considerations. 

International Business, Information Systems, & Normative Requirements*

*Included in the 21 required credits of electives (12 BUS & 9 Non-BUS), a student must take at least one course from each of the following areas:

• International Business:  BUS 305, 332, 333, 335, 337, 357 (FIN 357), 372, 390, 391, 392 (GERM 392); ECON 270, 271, 272, 274, 275, 280, 317, 356, 382; GERM 302; JOUR 222; POL 227; SOAN 246, 252
• Information Systems: ACCT 310; BUS 306,  311, 312, 314, 315, 317, 321, 325
• Normative Considerations:  BUS 345, 346, 348; JOUR 345; POL 233; PHIL 242

Upper-level Business Administration & Finance Courses

Four required elective courses must be selected from Business Administration or Finance* courses numbered BUS 300 or above, excluding BUS 401, 402, 421, and 422.

*No more than two FIN courses may count towards the BUS major.

Upper-level Related Area Courses

Three required elective, non-BUS courses must be selected from an approved list of courses; which courses are offered from many departments across the University. For ease of course selection, the Business Administration Department has grouped these courses into the emphasis areas listed below. These emphasis areas, and the courses listed under these areas, are only suggestions developed by the Department. It is the responsibility of each student to work with their advisor to:  1) select courses that satisfy their intellectual interests; 2) select courses that satisfy the three non-BUS elective requirements; and 3) complete  any pre-requisites for those non-BUS courses.

Note: There is no guarantee that courses outside the Business Administration Department will be offered in a manner that fits into an individual student's specific schedule.  Furthermore, some courses may require a student to be simultaneously progressing in a different major/minor.  Put another way: not all courses that possibly count towards the Business Administration major are going to be available to every Business Administration student.

Advertising/Marketing/Communications

Art

ARTS 217 - Painting I
ARTS 218 - Painting II
ARTS 220 - Photography II
ARTS 224 - Color Photography
ARTS 226 - Introduction to the Book Arts
ARTS 227 - Printmaking I
ARTS 228 - Printmaking II
ARTS 231 - Introductory Sculpture: Materials and Methods
ARTS 232 - Intermediate Sculpture: Expanded Material Practice
ARTS 320 - Large Format Photography

Art History

ARTH 267 - Art Since 1945
ARTH 398 - Seminar in Museum Studies
ARTH 453 - Internship in Arts Management

Cognitive and Behavioral Science

CBSC 252 - Sensation, Measurement, and Perception
CBSC 254 - Attention
CBSC 262 - Gender-Role Development
CBSC 269 - Stereotyping, Prejudice, and Discrimination

Computer Science

CSCI 251 - Android Application Development

Dance

DANC 220 - Dance Composition

English

ENGL 202 - Topics in Creative Writing: Playwriting
ENGL 203 - Topics in Creative Writing: Fiction
ENGL 204 - Topics in Creative Writing: Poetry
ENGL 206 - Topics in Creative Writing: Nonfiction
ENGL 242 - Individual Shakespeare Plays
ENGL 349 - Middlemarch and Devoted Readers
ENGL 382 - Hotel Orient
ENGL 307 - Fresh/Local/Wild: The Poetics of Food
ENGL 308 - Advanced Creative Writing: Fiction
ENGL 309 - Advanced Creative Writing: Memoir

Journalism

JOUR 215 - The Magazine: Past, Present, Future
JOUR 220 - Social Media: Principles and Practice
JOUR 222 - Global Public Relations
JOUR 227 - Public Relations Writing
JOUR 270 - Digital Media and Society
JOUR 273 - Principles of Public Relations
JOUR 325 - Crisis Communications
JOUR 338 - The Documentary
JOUR 345 - Media Ethics
JOUR 371 - Reporting on Business
JOUR 372 - Reporting on the Economy
JOUR 377 - Media Management & Entrepreneurship

Politics

POL 255 - Gender and Politics

Sociology and Anthropology

SOAN 202 - Contemporary Social Problems
SOAN 212 - Theories of Social Psychology
SOAN 228 - Race and Ethnic Relations
SOAN 245 - European Politics and Society
SOAN 246 - Post-Communism and New Democracies
SOAN 252 - Language, Culture, and Communication
SOAN 265 - Exploring Social Networks
SOAN 280 - Gender and Sexuality

Theater

THTR 209 - Stage Management
THTR 220 - Playwriting
THTR 238 - 3D Printing & Desktop Manufacturing for the Theater
THTR 239 - Total Theater
THTR 251 - Introduction to Performance Design
THTR 253 - Digital Production
THTR 361 - Stage Directing 1

Banking/Finance

Accounting

ACCT 231 - Corporate Financial Reporting
ACCT 311 - Financial Statement Analysis
ACCT 320 - Intermediate Accounting I
ACCT 321 - Intermediate Accounting II
ACCT 332 - Intermediate Financial Reporting I
ACCT 333 - Intermediate Financial Reporting II
ACCT 373 - The Boardroom: A View Behind the Corporate Curtain

Economics

ECON 203 - Econometrics
ECON 210 - Microeconomic Theory
ECON 211 - Macroeconomic Theory
ECON 215 - Money and Banking
ECON 222 - Current Public Policy Debates
ECON 250 - Public Finance and Public Policy
ECON 270 - International Trade
ECON 271 - International Finance

Math

MATH 309 - Probability
MATH 310 - Mathematical Statistics
MATH 332 - Ordinary Differential Equations
MATH 333 - Partial Differential Equations

Ethics/Social Responsibility/Sustainability

Accounting

ACCT 303 - Sustainability Accounting
ACCT 304 - Anatomy of a Fraud

Art History

ARTH 398 - Seminar in Museum Studies
ARTH 453 - Internship in Arts Management

Cognitive and Behavioral Science

CBSC 269 - Stereotyping, Prejudice, and Discrimination

Economics

ECON 222 - Current Public Policy Debates
ECON 231 - The Economics of Race
ECON 234 - Urban Education: Poverty, Ethnicity, and Policy
ECON 235 - The Economics of Social Issues
ECON 236 - Economics of Education
ECON 237 - Health Economics
ECON 251 - Women in the Economy
ECON 255 - Environmental and Natural Resource Economics
ECON 257 - Economics of the Chesapeake Bay: Agriculture, Recreations, Fisheries, & Urban Sprawl
ECON 280 - Development Economics
ECON 286 - Lakota Land Culture, Economics, and History
ECON 356 - Economics of the Environment in Developing Countries

Environmental Studies

ENV 250 - Ecology of Place
ENV 295 - Special Topics in Environmental Studies
ENV 397 - Senior Seminar in Environmental Studies

Journalism

JOUR 220 - Social Media: Principles and Practice
JOUR 273 - Principles of Public Relations
JOUR 325 - Crisis Communications
JOUR 345 - Media Ethics

Philosophy

PHIL 240 - Contemporary Ethical Theory
PHIL 242 - Social Inequality and Fair Opportunity
PHIL 346 - Medical Ethics
PHIL 348 - Legal Ethics
PHIL 354 - Distributive Justice

Politics

POL 215 - International Development
POL 232 - Public Policy
POL 233 - Environmental Policy and Law

Poverty and Human Capability

POV 423 - Poverty and Human Capability: A Research Seminar

Sociology and Anthropology

SOAN 202 - Contemporary Social Problems
SOAN 212 - Theories of Social Psychology
SOAN 228 - Race and Ethnic Relations
SOAN 265 - Exploring Social Networks
SOAN 280 - Gender and Sexuality

International Commerce

Economics

ECON 239 - Exploring Childhood in Scandinavia: Comparing Policies and Practices to the U.S.
ECON 241 - Economics of War and Peace
ECON 246 - Caste at the Intersection of Economy, Religion, and Law
ECON 270 - International Trade
ECON 271 - International Finance
ECON 274 - China's Modern Economy
ECON 276 - Health Economics in Developing Countries
ECON 280 - Development Economics
ECON 281 - Comparative Institutional Economics
ECON 282S - African Economic Development
ECON 380 - Economics of Culture and Development

English

ENGL 382 - Hotel Orient

German

GERM 302 - Business German

Journalism

JOUR 222 - Global Public Relations

Politics

POL 215 - International Development
POL 227 - East Asian Politics
POL 232 - Public Policy
POL 245 - European Politics and Society (see SOAN)
POL 246 - Post-Communism and New Democracies (see SOAN)
POL 247 - Latin American Politics
POL 381 Seminar in International Political Economy

Sociology and Anthropology

SOAN 228 - Race and Ethnic Relations
SOAN 245 - European Politics and Society (see POL)
SOAN 246 - Post-Communism and New Democracies (see POL)
SOAN 252 - Language, Culture, and Communication
SOAN 264 - States, Data, and Population Policies in the Americas
SOAN 280 - Gender and Sexuality

Information Systems/Data Analytics

Accounting

ACCT 310 - Accounting Information Systems

Computer Science

CSCI 209 - Software Development
CSCI 211 - Algorithm Design and Analysis
CSCI 251 - Android Application Development

Economics

ECON 376 - Health: A Social Science Exploration

Engineering

ENGN 250 - Introduction to Engineering Design

Journalism

JOUR 220 - Social Media: Principles and Practice
JOUR 230 - Data-driven Storytelling

Sociology and Anthropology

SOAN 264 - States, Data, and Population Policies in the Americas