Stony Brook University Business Management

Degree Requirements

Many Business courses must be taken for a letter grade and do not offer students a G/P/NC option. See the courses without G/P/NC option course list for a full list of courses that do not offer a G/P/NC option.

Acceptance to the Major in Business Management

Qualified freshman and transfer students who have indicated their interest in the major on their applications are accepted directly into the major upon admission into the University. Students who did not apply for the major and those who were not accepted into the major when they entered the University may apply to the major provided that their cumulative grade point average (including, for transfer students, college coursework complete at other institutions) is 3.2 or higher. Applications must be submitted to the College of Business Office of Student Services in accordance with the Registrar’s deadlines for processing major/minor declaration forms. Application forms are available on the College of Business website.

Requirements for the Major

The major in Business Management leads to the Bachelor of Science degree. Completion of the major requires 57 credits.

Transfer Credit Policy for students in the Business Major

Students may apply a maximum of 21 transfer credits toward the Business Major. Of the total 21 credits, only 6 credits may used to fulfill an area of specialization.

Core Courses

• ACC 210 Financial Accounting 3 credits
• ACC 214 Managerial Cost Analysis and Applications 3 credits
• BUS 215 Introduction to Business Statistics 3 credits
• BUS 220 Introduction to Decision Sciences 3 credits
• BUS 301 Business Communications 3 credits
• BUS 326 Organizational Behavior 3 credits
• BUS 330 Principles of Finance 3 credits
• BUS 340 Information Systems in Management 3 credits
• BUS 346 Operations Management 3 credits
• BUS 348 Principles of Marketing 3 credits
• BUS 353 Entrepreneurship 3 credits or BUS 383 Social Entrepreneurship 3 credits or BUS 441 Business Strategy 3 credits
• BUS 446 Ethics: Critical Thinking through Film 3 credits or BUS 447 Business Ethics 3 credits
• ECO 110 Introduction to Microeconomics 3 credits
• ECO 111 Introduction to Macroeconomics 3 credits
• MAT 122 Overview of Calculus with Applications 3 credits or MAT 123 Precalculus 3 credits or MAT 119 Foundations for Precalculus 1 credit, AND MAT 123 Precalculus Credits: 3 credits or a higher level calculus course

Area of Specialization

One of the following specializations must be chosen at the start of the junior year. The details are available in the College of Business Office of Student Services.

Choose one specialization from the following areas:

Accounting

Required courses

• ACC 310 Intermediate Accounting I 3 credits
• ACC 311 Federal Income Taxation I 3 credits

Select one from the following

• ACC 313 Intermediate Accounting II 3 credits
• ACC 314 Federal Income Taxation II 3 credits
• ACC 400 External Auditing 3 credits
• BUS 488 Internship 0-3 credits (must be taken for 3 credits to fulfill Specialization requirement)

Note: For business majors, successful completion of the accounting minor will satisfy the accounting specialization requirement. However, only the accounting minor will be reflected on the student’s academic transcript.

Finance

Select four from the following:

• BUS 317 Estate & Financial Planning 3 credits
• BUS 331 International Finance 3 credits
• BUS 332 Entrepreneurial Finance 3 credits
• BUS 336 Mergers & Acquisitions 3 credits
• BUS 355 Investment Analysis 3 credits
• BUS 356 Financial Analysis, AI, Excel 3 credits
• BUS 365 Financial Management 3 credits
• BUS 366  Money and Financial Institutions 3 credits or ECO 360 Money and Banking 3 credits
• BUS 367 Python for Finance 3 credits
• ECO 383 Public Finance 3 credits
• BUS 406 Real Estate Finance 3 credits
• BUS 488 Internship 0-3 credits (must be taken for 3 credits to fulfill Specialization requirement)

Marketing

Required courses

• BUS 358 Marketing Research 3 credits
• BUS 359 Consumer Behavior 3 credits
• BUS 448 Marketing Strategy 3 credits

Select one from the following:

• BUS 302 Social Media Marketing Strategy 3 credits
• BUS 334 Integrated Marketing Communications 3 credits
• BUS 357 Principles of Sales 3 credits
• BUS 362 Principles of International Marketing 3 credits
• BUS 363 Brand Management 3 credits
• BUS 378 Marketing Ethics, Public Policy, and Social Change 3 credits
• BUS 449 Marketing in Action 3 credits
• BUS 488 Internship 0-3 credits (must be taken for 3 credits to fulfill Specialization requirement)

Operations Management

Select four from the following:

• BUS 370 Lean Practices in Operations 3 credits
• BUS 371 Supply Chain Management 3 credits
• BUS 372 Quality Management 3 credits
• BUS 375 Data Mining 3 credits
• BUS 393 Principles of Project Management 3 credits
• BUS 488 Internship 0-3 credits (must be taken for 3 credits to fulfill Specialization requirement)

Note: BUS 475, BUS 476 Undergraduate Teaching Practicum I, II, and BUS 487 Independent Research will count toward the total University credit requirement, but not toward the business major.

Upper-Division Writing Requirement

BUS 301 contains the necessary writing components which satisfy the Upper Division Writing Requirement for the business major, and also satisfies the Stony Brook Curriculum learning objectives SPK and WRTD. This course must be taken at Stony Brook.

Grading

All courses taken to satisfy the business management major requirements must be taken for a letter grade. All students accepted to the business management major must complete all BUS courses, ECO 110,ECO 111 and MAT 122with a grade of C or higher in order to satisfy the requirements for the major.

Business Honors Program (BHP)

Qualified students may graduate with honors in the College of Business.

Admission requirements for the honors program are:

• A-minus or better in BUS 215: Introduction to Business Statistics or BUS 220: Introduction to Decision Sciences.
• An overall GPA of 3.5 or above.
• Admission committee decisions.

To graduate with honors requires:

• A cumulative GPA of 3.5 or better, fulfillment of the courses (BUS 380, BUS 495, BUS 496),
• A student presentation during the Undergraduate Research & Creative Activities Celebration of Undergraduate Research & Creativity (an annual event organized by the URECA Program that showcases undergraduate research, open to all SBU undergraduates conducting faculty-mentored research and creative projects).

Sustaining Program Eligibility 

• Students who earn below a B-minus in BUS 380 cannot progress with BHP (i.e., these students will be automatically dropped from the BHP).
• Students have to maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or above before graduation.
• Students who have been found guilty of academic dishonesty, regardless of having completed the Q course, may not graduate with University honors. No exceptions to this policy will be made for students graduating with majors in the College of Business.
• Students’ progress and performance will be monitored throughout the program. Students who perform poorly (below a cumulative 3.5 GPA) in their academic studies will be counseled and warned that they are in jeopardy of being dropped from the BHP. Following at least one warning, such students will not be permitted to continue in the BHP.
• Students entering as a business major, either as an existing Stony Brook student or transfer student, will be evaluated under the same criteria for curriculum and admittance to the BHP. 

Required Courses (each 3 credits):

A 3-semester sequence of courses

• BUS 380 Honors: Emerging Topics in Business (Required)
• BUS 495 Business Honors Program Thesis (Capstone Experience)
• BUS 496 Business Honors Program Thesis (Capstone Experience)

Program Structure

• Junior-year training
  • BUS 380 - Honors: Emerging Topics in Business (Students must earn a B-minus or better in BUS 380 to progress with the BHP)
• Senior-year track options
  • BHP students take the BUS 495/496 sequence below by selecting one of two tracks:
• Track 1 (Research)
  • Academic or applied research Work with a business faculty member on an academic/applied research project based on shared interest in research topics.
• Track 2 (Experiential)
  • Experiential learning and societal impact fieldwork  The experiential learning experience includes team-based consulting projects for Broadridge, a Fortune 500 company (or other select partner firms), designed to add value to the partner firm and integrate mentorship from senior executives. The societal impact fieldwork includes team-based projects to create societal impacts on the University or local communities. Both are guided teamwork advised by a faculty member..

Acceptance to the Business Honors Program

• Applicants must complete the BHP application. The deadline is Oct 15; however, applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Select students may be interviewed by the program director or co-directors. Students are encouraged to apply prior to Oct 1.

Please contact the Office of Student Services at cobundergraduate@stonybrook. edu with any questions regarding the Honors program.

SBC Courses

This table illustrates major courses that can also be used to fulfill SBC requirements. (See Note 1 & Note 2)

SBC Category	Required Major Courses	Optional Major Courses (see Note 3)
ARTS
GLO
HUM
LANG (see Note 4)
QPS		MAT 122, MAT 123
SBS	ECO 108, ECO 110, ECO 111
SNW
TECH	BUS 340
USA
WRT
STAS
EXP+		BUS 449, BUS 475, BUS 476, BUS 488, BUS 496
HFA+
SBS+
STEM+	BUS 220
CER	BUS 446, BUS 447
DIV (see Note 5)	BUS 326
ESI		BUS 358, BUS 365
SPK	BUS 301
WRTD	BUS 301

• 1 Note1 : Some course information may be subject to change. Please contact your major advisor for additional consultation.
• 2 Note2 : For majors that require study in a related area or completion of a minor, visit the respective program’s “Major SBC Courses” page to view expanded SBC options. 
• 3 Note3 : Denotes any course in which students can choose from more than one option. These may include, but are not limited to, major electives, concentration/track/specialization courses, or calculus/physics/chemistry sequences.
• 4 Note4 : CEAS majors, the Athletic Training major, the Respiratory Care major, and the Clinical Laboratory Sciences major are exempt from the LANG learning objective. Students enrolled in the major in Social Work are exempt from the LANG learning objective, but are required to enroll in and pass with a letter grade of C or higher the first semester of an elementary foreign language course numbered 111, or satisfy through alternate methods.
• 5 Note5 : Students are responsible for completing the general education requirements published in the Bulletin that was current as of the first semester of matriculation (or rematriculation). The following student groups must satisfy the DIV learning objective as part of their degree requirements
  • Freshmen who matriculate in the Fall of 2019 or later
  • Transfer students who matriculate in the Spring of 2020 or later
  • Students who rematriculate in the Fall of 2019 or later

Sample Course Sequence

Sample Course Sequence for the Major in Business Management