General Education Requirement

Students in the School of Business Administration must satisfy the General Education Requirements. Students may use one catalog for the general education requirements and another for the specific degree requirements. Students enrolled prior to fall 2021 may choose to satisfy either the general education requirements listed in this catalog or those in the catalog of the academic year in which they were initially admitted to Oakland University (or any catalog during the interim), provided that catalog is not more than six years old at the time of graduation. The general education requirements may be summarized as one course from the approved lists in each of the following categories:

• Writing: This category includes:

  1. course and its prerequisites;

  2. an intensive writing course in other general education requirements. This category is normally covered for business majors by course Business Writing or course; and

  3. an intensive writing course in the major. This category is normally covered for business majors by course Management Strategies and Policies, course or course.

• Formal Reasoning: This category is normally covered for SBA majors by the required course or course or course.

• Knowledge Explorations: The social science requirement in this category is normally covered for SBA majors by (course or course) or course. The global perspective requirement in this category is normally covered for SBA majors by course or course. The rest of this category is covered by one course each in the arts, foreign language and culture, literature, natural science and technology, and Western civilization.

• Knowledge Application: This category is normally covered for business majors by course or course.

• Capstone course: This category is normally covered for business majors by course, course, or course.

• U.S. diversity: Select a course that meets one of the other knowledge exploration general education requirements and has the required diversity section.

SBA students are encouraged to increase their background in ethics by taking course Introduction to Ethics, to satisfy the university’s Western Civilization general education knowledge exploration requirement.

Pre-Core Requirements

As preparation for the various majors of the business administration program, students must complete the following courses in writing, speech communication, mathematics, business modeling with computers, economics, accounting and statistics with minimum grade of C in each course. 

The required writing and pre-core courses are:

In addition, students admitted to the SBA as pre-business or undecided business majors are required to meet the 0 credit ACHIEVE courses required for major standing (course, course).

*If a student places into and completes course or course with the required minimum grade, course or course is not required (students who meet this criterion under a previous catalog will be able to waive course or course). 

*If a student receives transfer credit for course or course,  course or course is not required (students who meet this criterion under a previous catalog will be able to waive course or course). 

** course and course can substitute for course. Students who have taken course and course under a previous catalog may use these courses as substitute for course. Even though the math department will allow course to serve as the prerequisite for course, this does not satisfy the SBA prerequisite requirement for course or course.

***If a student does not place into course or course, course and course or course and course or course and course must be completed with the required minimum grade.

****Students who have taken course or course under a previous catalog may also use these courses as a substitute for course.

The freshman and sophomore years of study for students pursuing the business administration program will be devoted to the writing, general education and pre-core course requirements. Special emphasis should be given during the freshman year to the completion of the university writing requirement and steady progress in the mathematics sequence. Once sophomore status has been achieved (28 credits), students will begin work on the accounting and statistics requirements. The student’s specific mathematics and statistics sequence will depend on the student’s math placement results but can include course, course, course, course, course and course). Steady progress in the mathematics and statistics sequence is defined as one course in the sequence in each fall and winter semester until the sequence is completed. 

Admission to Major Standing in Business Administration

Students are strongly recommended to apply for major standing during the semester they are completing their pre-core classes and have the minimum grade-point average. Major Standing is required to complete course, may be required for some 3000 and 4000 level courses within a student’s major and is required in order to be awarded an undergraduate business degree. Applications are available on line and can be filed with the Undergraduate Advising Office, 232 Elliott Hall.

Students who do not apply for major standing during the semester that they are completing the pre-core requirements run a high risk of registration and major completion difficulties. To be eligible to take 3000 and 4000 level business courses for which major standing is a pre-requisite, business majors must be admitted to major standing in the School of Business Administration. Admission to major standing is selective. The minimum requirements for consideration are:

1. Student’s admissibility to and retention in the university;

2. Completion of the writing requirement;

3. A minimum grade-point average of 2.6 in all courses taken at Oakland University (with a minimum of six credits completed at Oakland University);

4. A minimum grade of C in each of the following pre-core courses or their equivalents: course, course; course or course or course or course or course,((course and (course or course)*; course; (course, course if required by the math placement); course, course; course and course;
   *Students cannot receive credit for both (course or course) or course.

5. Submission of an “Application for Major Standing” for the desired major;

6. Completion of course, course and Major 3990 for all SBA students admitted to Oakland University after 2008-2009 for First Time in Any College (FTIAC) students and after 2009-2010 for transfer students.  Students who entered under a previous catalog should follow these requirements.

A student is classified as pre-business upon admission to Oakland University if they have a cumulative GPA of 2.80 or above and four years of college preparatory math. Transfer students are classified as pre-business if they have a cumulative transfer GPA of 2.80 or above and math through intermediate algebra. A student is classified as Direct admit into their business major if they have a high school cumulative GPA of 3.7 or higher. All other students are classified as undecided business and these students cannot register for most 3000- and 4000-level courses until they obtain pre-business or major standing status within the SBA. Undecided business students may register for all SBA pre-core courses and general education requirements.

To maintain pre-business status before obtaining major standing within the SBA, an OU student must maintain a cumulative GPA set by the SBA. Any pre-business student (SBA students not yet having major standing) who does not maintain an OU cumulative GPA (as set by the SBA) at the end of any term is classified as an undecided business student. During the 2022-2023 academic year, the GPA set by the SBA for pre-business status is 2.6.

Core Program

Each of the business major programs require the completion of a common core of courses introducing students to the functional areas of business. Most of the 3000-4000 level business courses in the core program (i.e., course, course, course, course, course, course, and course) require a student to be coded as pre-business or be in major standing (see Admission to Major Standing in Business Administration for requirements to be coded as pre-business).  All core courses require a minimum grade of C.

 *Students who have taken this course under a previous catalog will be able to use this course to satisfy course.  

**course requires major standing and only business majors may take this course.

Major Programs

Students take 15-24 additional credits specified in their major area. The junior and senior years will be devoted to the successful completion of the requirements of the core and major. Majors from which business administration students may choose are detailed below. Certificates of additional majors are permitted in all areas except general management. No more than four credits of independent study (4996) courses may be used to meet the major elective requirement. Courses numbered 3800 and 4900 may be repeated for up to eight credits provided the topics are different. Students will be required to complete course or course or course or course or  course or course or course or course or course as part of their major program. (These courses require major standing and are interchangeable if a change of major occurs).  All major courses require a 2.6 GPA or better or major standing to take these courses (excludes Economics and non-SBA major courses).

Free Electives

Students complete their program by taking a course or courses of their choice to yield a total of 124 credits. While the General Education Requirements of the degree program provides students with the range of knowledge that is the essence of an educated person, the free elective portion of the program allows students to make choices concerning coursework that responds to their individual interests and/or needs.