Thoughts from the Business School

I am out of the office, so today’s Daily Deac is a guest post by Dr. Betsy Hoppe, Executive Director, Undergraduate Business Program, and is tailored to families whose students are interested in the business school.

Wake Forest students apply to the business school in the spring of their sophomore year. To be eligible for consideration, students must complete four prerequisite classes (generally, the fourth prerequisite class is in progress at the time of application) making a C or better in all these classes and having a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.85. 

If a student does not already have AP credit, then the following two prerequisite requirements are most often taken in the first year:

ECN150 (Intro to Economics) 

For hopeful Accounting, Business and Enterprise Management (BEM), and Finance majors – MST111 (Calculus with Analytic Geometry I) or MST 112 (Calculus with Analytic Geometry II) 

For Mathematical Business majors – MST112 (Calculus with Analytic Geometry II)

These classes also fulfill divisional requirements.

ACC111 (Introductory Financial Accounting) is also required, and it is generally taken in the fall of sophomore year (a cumulative GPA of 2.85 is required to enroll in ACC 111), followed by BEM201 (Quantitative Analysis I) for BEM majors OR STA212 (Statistical Models) for Mathematical Business majors…in the spring of sophomore year.

Because these prerequisite classes are quantitative in nature, students who do not think that they are strong in this area should take advantage of the resources available to increase their chances for a positive outcome in the classes and, hopefully, in terms of their admission to the business school. Besides meeting with the professor during their office hours, students enrolled in an MST or STA class can visit the Math & Stats Center to meet with a tutor free of charge. Ample help sessions are offered for ACC111 students. Currently, any ACC111 student that attends three help sessions is eligible to request a tutor from the Learning Assistance Center at no charge. In addition, the undergraduate student affairs team in the business school is available to give advice to students tracking towards the business school. 

Many students will pursue careers in business – but not all students will pursue business majors. Two terrific summer programs, offered by the undergraduate business program, might be of interest to students who major in the liberal arts. The Summer Management Program (SMP) is a very popular “business boot camp” for non-business majors that is designed to increase a student’s marketability in the career search. In addition, the SportsBIZ Program is a “business boot camp” that is focused specifically on the business side of sports (this summer program also accepts business majors).

No matter your student’s academic path, we wish all of our students a successful journey at Wake Forest.