<p>I’ve been accepted as a Finance major to the School of Management. Where will most of my Freshman classes be? Will my schedule be full of mandatory freshman courses or will I actually take business courses? I expect to have some AP credits (god willing) in Calculus, English, and History…</p>
<p>-The Freshman Coot66</p>
<p>i'm in SMG too. are you doing honors?</p>
<p>I've typed quite a bit on what the course structure is, so I recommend that you do a search.</p>
<p>The only business courses you take freshman year are SM121 and SM122, which are part one and part two of the Management as a System series. They are also more than enough to keep you busy. They are 6 credits each and will take up a significant portion of your time. Both classes are held in SMG. The other three courses you take each semester will be electives in CAS, which are usually held in the CAS building, but can be elsewhere (the Kenmore Classroom Building, the Psych Building, etc.). </p>
<p>Also, to clarify, you are a business major with (potentially) a concentration in finance. SMG does not have a finance major.</p>
<p>For your first semester you will have one management class at the SMG building (SM 121). This course touches on all of the concentrations that we have here. Ex. You do a couple weeks of marketing, a couple weeks of finance, a couple weeks of organizational behavior...etc. The rest of your classes will be core requirements probably located in CAS, Psycology building, and maybe some random ones.
With 4's or 5's on AP's you may be able to take care of some of those but definately not all. We have enough core requirements to easily really tack a minor on. Some people I know are doing a language. I'm doing a Psych minor. </p>
<p>And to anticipate a question you might have, you can ONLY take SM 121 freshman year. You can't move ahead. You'll take one each semester as a freshman, two each as a sophomore, CORE in fall of Junior year. And after that it's open season, you can take whatever you want.</p>
<p>Oh you beat me to it. :-)</p>
<p>Read some other posts on the topic, along with the two helpful answers I received here, and feel a bit more educated on BU's School of Management. Understandably, all my new knowledge lead to more questions.
1. Can you get a concentration in more than one area? Does that have anything to do with BUCOP program?
2. You apply to the BUCOP program sophomore year, but is there anything an ambitious freshman can do to help ‘smoothen’ the process?
3. If you don't get in the Honors Program as an high school applicant, can you still be "recruited" after a successful freshman year? If so, what are the qualifications?</p>
<p>-The Smooth Coot66</p>
<ol>
<li> You can certainly concentrate in more than one area. I think most people do. It may require a bit of planning, but it's generally not very hard, as a concentration is only made up of four courses.<br></li>
</ol>
<p>BUCOP is a bit different. When you double concentrate, you are still just getting one degree--a B.S.B.A. (Bach. Science in Bus. Admin.). You will get one diploma and it will not mention your concentrations (although it will be on your transcript). Everyone in SMG fulfills the same general requirements, but have the option to change their four concentration courses to fit their desired concentration. </p>
<p>If you were in another school--take CAS as an example--you would be working toward a degree (a B.A.) with a major in an area (i.e. psychology, chemistry, etc.). The difference (between a major and a concentration) is that you will have to fulfill the major requirements in addition to the degree requirements. Major requirements are much more involved than concentration requirements (at least 8 courses). If you were to double major, you would fulfill the requirements for the degree plus the requirements for each major. Majors do appear on your diploma. If you were to double major, you would get one diploma with both majors listed.</p>
<p>BUCOPing involved getting dual degrees. You get a business degree (BSBA) plus a degree from another school (i.e. a B.A. from CAS, a communications degree from COM, etc.). This is much more difficult, as you have to fulfill the degree and major requirements for two schools.</p>
<p>To give you an example of what I did, I BUCOP'd in SMG and CAS and received a BSBA with concentrations in accounting and finance and a BA in psychology. I had to fulfill the requirements for SMG, take the accounting concentration classes, the finance contration classes, fulfill the degree requirements for CAS and then fulfill the major requirements for psych. It may not be as challenging as it sounds--it varies from person to person, depending on AP credit situations and the selection of degrees.</p>
<ol>
<li> Not yet. Meet with Norm Blanchard in the UPO during your freshman year to discuss your interests if you really want to BUCOP and he will go through the requirements with you step by step. If you just want to double concentrate, you don't have to do anything until your junior year after CORE (you can't declare a concentration until then--it's extremely easy to declare a second concentration if you want to).</li>
</ol>
<p>Wow, Ryan. Thanks.
2 more minor things.
[quote]
3. If you don't get in the Honors Program as an high school applicant, can you still be "recruited" after a successful freshman year? If so, what are the qualifications?
[/quote]
Think you missed that one as I edited my post a little later.
Also, is there a limit to how many courses I can take per semester? </p>
<p>-The Limited Coot66</p>
<p>There is absolutely a limit on courses. Freshman are not permitted to load up; most classes are 4 credits and there is a limit of 18 per semester. If you have a high enough gpa as a sophomore - which isn't terribly high - you can take up to 20 credit hours, meaning 5 classes. The restrictions drop as you reach senior year so people can catch up on credit hours if necessary. If you take more than the limit, you have to pay more but that's in the future. The goal is to make sure that freshman succeed.</p>
<p>I would make sure that you get all the credit you've earned for AP, etc. The more credits, the fewer distribution reqs you may need to fulfill for any degree or major or minor.</p>
<p>I think you can apply for the honors program as a sophomore. I'm not sure it will make much of a difference in your undergrad experience if you are in the honors program or not, so I wouldn't sweat not being placed into it. Essentially, (note I only know second-hand) you have the option to take honors sections of certain courses (i.e. micro and macro econ), you take an extra .5 credit seminar for a couple semesters and you get to wear an extra cord during graduation.</p>
<p>To expand on what Lergnom said about credit limits:
All SMG freshman take 18 credits 1st and 2nd semester (normally the standard limit). You can get a waiver to take an extra .5 credit PDP class (i.e. dance, karate, basketball). That's about all you can do freshman year and that's all you want to do. You're going to spend too much time in out-of-class team meetings to really balance additional courses.</p>
<p>After that, you have the ability to take up to 18 credits without any questions asked. If you have greater than a 3.30 (I believe), you can take 20 credits without paying extra. I took 20 credits during my last three semesters and was ok with it.</p>
<p>From my S's experience, the bureaucracy involved in BUCOP is a real pain. He is majoring in political science in CAS and public relations in COM. It was really tough to coordinate all the paperwork and meetings with the two different advisors.</p>