Business Minor for Non-Business Majors

Put your passion to work.

Do you have a passion in another academic program? Do you want to apply real-world principles to make it work for you professionally? Great—welcome to business!

The Business Minor will give you the knowledge, confidence, and resourcefulness to give your passion a professional boost. There are quite a few requirements, so read on to get started.

Here are a few things you must know.

• Be aware of the minor requirements. You don't want to get to the end of your senior year and realize that you forgot a requirement, you know?
• Students from across campus should be able to enroll into the four Prerequisite courses, but you'll experience registration restrictions when attempting to enroll into the required Business Minor Core and Elective courses. Only admitted Business Minor students have enrollment access into the Business Minor courses offered in the fall and spring semesters.
• Prerequisite courses may be completed off campus.
• You must earn all the minor's Core and Elective courses from the Urbana-Champaign campus. No exceptions for Transfer and Study Abroad courses to meet the requirements for the business minor.
• Credit/No Credit courses won't be applied to the minor, so keep that in mind.
• You have to be admitted into the Business Minor Program to earn the Business Minor.
• The Business Minor isn't available to students in the Technology & Management Minor
• The Business Minor isn't considered preparation for transfer into the College of Business.

Admission policy & practice changes to begin on January 1, 2014

• Applicants must submit their Business Minor Applications throughout the month of January.  All applicants will be notified of their admission decisions by Mid-February.
• The May Application Period will be eliminated.
• Applicants must complete at least 45 hours and all the Prerequisite courses by the end of the fall semester to become eligible for admission from the January Application Period.
• All admitted students will enroll into the summer sessions and fall semester Business Minor courses during the April Advanced Registration Period.  Admitted students will be strongly advised to begin the minor’s course requirements with enrollment into the summer session Business Minor courses. 

Of course, if you have questions about any of these requirements, just email busminor@business.illinois.edu. We'll get it cleared up for you.

So how do you get started, now?

• Have at least 60 hours completed by the end of the fall semester for the January Application period. Have at least 60 hours completed by the end of the spring semester for the May Application period.
• Applicants for the January Application period must have completed all of the Prerequisite courses by the end of December.  Applicants for the May Application period must have completed all of the Prerequisite courses by the end of May.  The UIUC approved Prerequisite course substitutes are listed at the bottom of this page.  Oh, and the Prerequisite courses (or substitutes) must have been completed with a Letter Grade, however, exceptions will be permitted for earned AP credits.
• Applicants must have a Cumulative GPA of 2.00 or higher for the Four Prerequisite courses to qualify for possible admission into the Business Minor Program.
• Applicants must be in Academic Good Standing (2.00 or higher Cumulative GPA).

Prerequisite Courses:

CS 105: Intro Computing: Non-Tech
ECON 102: Microeconomic Principles
MATH 234: Calculus for Business I
STAT 100: Statistics

• Complete step 1 of the University's Statement of Intent to Pursue a Campus-Approved Minor form. This is the official admissions application form.

The College of Business accepts admission applications January 1-31 and May 1-31. Applications must be submitted into 350 Wohlers Hall. You'll be notified of an admission decision by mid-February or mid-June. If you're officially admitted into the Business Minor, you'll be given enrollment instructions. Admission is competitive, based upon both the Cumulative GPAs and Prerequisite course's Cumulative GPAs of the pool of applicants. Planning to pursue the Business Minor does not offer special registration privileges.

Required Business Minor Core Courses:

Admitted students should enroll into the summer sessions Business Minor courses to better ensure their completion of the Business Minor before their graduations.

Business Minor students may fulfill the minor’s Fundamental of Accounting Core Course Requirement with either our campus’s ACCY 200 course OR the sequence for both the ACCY 201 and ACCY 202 courses.

The ACCY 200 course OR the ACCY 201 and ACCY 202 courses are the prerequisite for the FIN 221 course. ACCY 200 OR ACCY 201 and ACCY 202 must be first completed before enrollment into FIN 221.

Business Minor students will enroll into the FIN 221 course only in the spring semesters.

Suggested Schedule

Summer Sessions

Fall Semester

Spring Semester

Core and/or Elective

Core and/or Elective

FIN 221 and/or Core or Elective  

Core and/or Elective

Core and/or Elective

FIN 221 and/or Core or Elective

ACCY 200: Fundamentals of Accounting

It's designed for non-business majors, and shows you how to understand and interpret accounting principles as they're used in the real world.

BADM 310: Management and Organizational Behavior

It's management and org behavior from a systems point of view. So you'll study classical organizational theory and management, organizational behavior and management science, environmental forces, planning, organizing and control processes, motivation, incentives, leadership, communication, and interpersonal relations. You'll also discuss production, decision-making, and mathematical processes.

BADM 320: Principles of Marketing

An overview of marketing, this course will teach you how fundamental concepts are used in a management setting, including planning, organization, control, and decision making.

FIN 221: Corporate Finance

Learn how financial managers' choices add value to shareholder wealth through investment financing and operating decisions, in this introductory study of corporate financial management.

Minor Elective Courses:

You must select at least 2 of these elective courses to complete your minor requirements.

• BADM 300 - The Legal Environment of Business
• BADM 340 - Ethical Dilemmas in Business
• BADM 350 - Information Technology for Networked Organizations
• BADM 375- Business Process Management
• BADM 380 - International Business
• BADM 395 - Negotiations (N) section

Prerequisite Substitute Courses:

Prerequisite substitutes for CS 105:

• ACE 161
• CS 101
• CS 125
• CS 225
• ECE 190

Prerequisite substitutes for ECON 102:

• ACE 100
• ECON 101

Prerequisite substitutes for MATH 234:

• MATH 220
• MATH 221
• MATH 231
• MATH 241

Prerequisite substitutes for STAT 100:

• ABE 440
• ACE 261
• AE 370
• ANSC 440
• CEE 202
• CHLH 244
• CPSC 440
• ECE 313
• ECON 202
• EPSY 280
• EPSY 480
• FSHN 440
• GE 331
• GEOG 280
• IE 300
• MATH 161
• MATH 408
• MATH 461
• MATH 463
• NRES 440
• PSYCH 235
• PSYCH 301
• SOC 280
• SOCW 427
• STAT 200
• STAT 212
• STAT 400
• STAT 408
• STAT 451
• UP 116
•  

Substitute courses can also be determined using the web tool Transfer.org.

Still have questions?

Here are some FAQs that might help.

Can I take any of the Prerequisite or required Business Minor courses for Credit/No Credit?

No.

Can I take any required Business Minor courses off campus at another college or university?

Only Prerequisite courses can be completed off campus. ACCY 200, BADM 310, BADM 320, FIN 221 and the two Elective courses must be earned from the Urbana-Champaign campus.

What GPA do I have to earn in the Prerequisite courses to apply for the Business Minor?

Your Cumulative GPA for Prerequisite courses must be a 2.00 or higher.

Are there any students who are unable to receive a Business Minor?

Yes. Technology & Management Minor students aren't able to earn the Business Minor.

How do I register for required Business Minor courses after I'm admitted?

You'll be notified by the College of Business with enrollment instructions.

What's the timeline for Business Minor admittance?

Applications are only accepted in January and May. They'll be reviewed in February and June. You'll be notified of a decision by mid-February or mid-June.

Where can I obtain the Statement of Intent to Pursue a Campus-Approved Minor?

Right here: How to "Declare" a Minor