Michael J. Coles College of Business

Academic Policies Specific to the Coles College of Business

A summary of some of the most significant admission, progression, and graduation policies for business majors is provided below. For additional information, visit the Business Undergraduate Advising Center on the fourth floor of the Burruss Building and check other sections of this KSU Undergraduate Catalog.

Requirements for B.B.A. Degree

All business majors should take the following courses as part of their KSU General Education requirements:

All business majors must take a calculus course, which is part of the Coles College Sophomore GPA Requirement (see later section) and also a prerequisite to several business courses. Most students will take the MATH 1111 and MATH 1160 sequence. Students with stronger math aptitudes or backgrounds, or students considering graduate school, should take MATH 1113 and MATH 1190. Students who can start with Calculus should meet with a Coles Professional Advisor to discuss which MATH courses to take. All students must take ECON 2300 (Business Statistics) and not MATH 1107.

International Business Majors have a 12-hour foreign language requirement involving the 2001, 2002, 3302, and 3303 courses in an approved language (Chinese, French, German, Italian, Korean, Portuguese, or Spanish).  If you need to start your language at the introductory level, you should take the foreign language 1002 course as part of your General Education requirements (Area B2).

Leadership and Career Program

The Leadership and Career Program is a sequence of three courses you must complete as part of your B.B.A. degree.  This program is designed to help you succeed in your Major and to effectively compete in the job market.  The three required courses are:

• BUSA 2150            Discovering My Major and Career
• BUSA 3150            Developing My Career Essentials
• BUSA 4150            Driving My Success

You should take BUSA 2150 as soon as you have completed its prerequisite of ENGL 1102.  Successful completion of this course is a requirement for admission to the Coles Undergraduate Professional Program (see later section).  The second and third courses cannot be taken until after you are admitted to Coles.  BUSA 3150 is a prerequisite for BUSA 4150.

Sophomore GPA Requirement

Before a business major can be admitted to the Coles College Undergraduate Professional Program and enroll in any upper-division business courses (3000-4000 level), she or he must meet the Coles Sophomore GPA Requirement. This involves earning an Adjusted GPA of 3.00 or greater for the following eight courses:

• Regardless of whether the courses are taken at Kennesaw State University or at another acceptable accredited institution, the grades earned will be used to check this GPA requirement. If any of these courses are transferred in and are not awarded three credit hours by KSU, that difference in hours will affect the GPA calculation. A course may be repeated if necessary. However, KSU has limits on the number of course withdrawals a student may have and on the number of times a student may repeat the same course.

Admission to the Coles College Undergraduate Professional Program

Admission to the Coles College Undergraduate Professional Program is separate from admission to Kennesaw State University. Students must successfully complete BUSA 2150 and the Coles College Sophomore GPA Requirement prior to application for admission to Coles. Details about other admission requirements may be obtained from the Business Undergraduate Advising Center (BB 431).

Business majors must apply for and be accepted for admission into the Coles Undergraduate Professional Program in order to take upper-division business courses and to graduate with a B.B.A. degree.  The application should be completed and submitted online through your OwlExpress account.

The B.B.A. degree will not be awarded to anyone who has not met the Sophomore GPA Requirement and been admitted to the Coles Undergraduate Professional Program, or to anyone who has not completed our required Leadership and Career Program.

Other KSU Requirements

In order to receive a degree from Kennesaw State University, a student must meet KSU’s residency, grade, and graduation requirements. Some of those requirements are summarized here for convenience. Students should check other sections of this KSU Undergraduate Catalog for a complete listing of KSU requirements.

Business majors must earn a minimum of 45 hours of credit in upper-division business courses. Business majors must complete at least 33 hours of business courses in residence at KSU. All business majors except for Accounting must complete at least 12 hours of their Major Field Requirements and Major Field Electives at KSU. Accounting Majors must complete at least 18 hours of their Major Field Requirements and Major Field Electives at KSU. All students must complete at least 20 of the last 30 semester hours immediately preceding graduation at KSU.

Certain B.B.A. courses must be taken at Coles, and there are restrictions on the business courses that may be taken via education abroad options. Students should check with a Coles College Professional Advisor about these restrictions prior to signing up for a study abroad course or semester abroad. Credit for courses taken at other colleges and universities (whether in the U.S. or abroad) will not be given if:

1. the institution does not have acceptable accreditation,
2. the courses were not taken at the same or higher level than comparable courses offered at Kennesaw State University,
3. the courses do not have substantially the same content and rigor, or
4. the courses are too old.

All business majors must earn a grade of “C” or higher in all business courses counted toward their degree.  All business majors must earn a grade of “C” or higher in any non-business courses counted in the Major Field section of their degree.  Accounting Majors must earn a grade of “B” or higher in ACCT 2100 and ACCT 2200.  International Business Majors must earn a grade of “C” or higher in all courses used to satisfy their Foreign Language Requirement and their Education Abroad Requirement.

Students must always meet current course prerequisites, regardless of when they first started at KSU. Always check the most recent KSU Undergraduate Catalog for current course prerequisites. Students will also be expected to meet the current admission requirements for the Coles Undergraduate Professional Program at the time of admission, regardless of when they first started at KSU.

Timeliness of Degree Completion

KSU requires all graduating students to meet the program requirements in a Catalog that is not more than ten years old at the time of graduation. Students who do not complete their degree within ten years of starting at KSU must move up to a more recent Catalog. If a student does not attend continuously and is required by KSU to apply for readmission in order to return, the student will have to move up to the Catalog in effect for the readmission term. In addition, KSU requires students who change majors to move up to the Catalog in effect in the term of change.

Coles requires business majors to successfully complete the B.B.A. degree requirements and graduate within no more than six (6) calendar years after first being admitted to the Coles Undergraduate Professional Program. If a student does not complete the degree within six calendar years, courses may have to be repeated and new B.B.A. program requirements may have to be met prior to graduation.