Business

The Mendelson Center: 

Department website: The Mendelson Center

Faculty Director: Amir Ziv

Program Manager: Jocelyn McArthur-Chouloute

email contact address: MendelsonCenter@gsb.columbia.edu

The collaboration between the faculty of Arts and Sciences and Columbia Business School offers students access to the ideas and expertise of the faculty of a top-ranked professional school recognized for its excellence in graduate business education through a series of elective courses. These courses, designed by Business School faculty specifically for undergraduates, build upon the strong liberal arts education at Columbia. Students learn how finance is directly connected to the fundamental principles of economics; that marketing utilizes concepts from psychology; and how management depends upon principles developed in psychology and sociology.

Students can take advantage of the opportunity to enhance their experience by participating in co-curricular activities, such as Business School faculty lecture series, industry panels, informal mentoring/networking activities with MBA students and alumni, in addition to research opportunities with Business School faculty.

This curricular and co-curricular programming capitalizes on the Business School’s ability to connect academic theory with real-world practice, providing students with the opportunity to develop key leadership skills, an entrepreneurial mindset, and the ability to innovate.

Eligibility: 

• To be eligible to earn a Special Concentration in Business Management, students must apply to the program in the spring semester of their sophomore or junior years, and they must be accepted through a process governed by the Columbia Business School. Beginning with the Special Concentration cohort of 2017-2018 (i.e., students accepted via the application process of Spring 2017), the program will accept up to 45 qualified candidates each year. The size of the program may be reviewed from time to time by Columbia College and Columbia Business School and adjusted, if desired by both schools.

• For students who entered Columbia College or General Studies in, or before, Fall 2016: Students who have not been accepted into the Special Concentration program may have the option to “shadow” the Special Concentration in Business Management by taking the required courses if space is available in those courses. Students who “shadow” the program will not be given priority registration in any courses that count toward the Special Concentration. If a student is able to take all of the courses and earns a 3.0 or higher grade-point average in the prerequisite, core, and elective courses, she or he will be allowed to declare retroactively the Special Concentration and have the program noted on their transcript.
• The shadowing option is no longer available for students who entered Columbia College or General Studies in, or after, Fall 2017.

Application Requirements

To apply for the special concentration in business management, students must meet these three requirements:

1. Sophomore or junior standing;
2. Have a cumulative GPA of 3.4 or higher;
3. Have received a B+ or better in at least one, but preferably two, of the following three prerequisite courses, i.e. in statistics, economics, and psychology. Students who completed only one prerequisite at the time of application must be currently enrolled in at least one other; acceptance is conditional on achieving a grade of B+ or higher in the second course.

   Course List

   Code	Title	Points
   Statistics Prerequisite
   Select one of the following:
   STAT UN1001	INTRO TO STATISTICAL REASONING
   STAT UN1101	INTRODUCTION TO STATISTICS
   STAT UN1201	CALC-BASED INTRO TO STATISTICS
   PSYC UN1610	STATISTCS-BEHAVIORL SCIENTISTS
   SOCI UN3020	Social Statistics
   Economics Prerequisite
   ECON UN1105	PRINCIPLES OF ECONOMICS
   Psychology/Sociology Prerequisite
   Select one of the following:
   PSYC UN1001	THE SCIENCE OF PSYCHOLOGY
   PSYC UN1010	Mind, Brain and Behavior
   SOCI UN1000	THE SOCIAL WORLD

Application Components

1. Application form
2. Current class schedule, including a brief description of how all concentration requirements will be completed
3. Official transcript
4. Resume

Benefits for Admitted Students

The following benefits are available to students admitted through the application process:

1. Guaranteed enrollment in popular undergraduate business courses (must reserve in advance through program manager);
2. Access to special guest speaker presentations at the Business School, including business leader or faculty presentations exclusively for admitted students;
3. Formal and informal networking opportunities with Business School students, faculty, and alumni.

Current Faculty

Edward Li

Haran Segram

Len Sherman

Jenny Fernandez

•  

Guidance for Undergraduate Students in the Department

Program Planning for all Students

Eligibility

To apply for the Special Concentration in Business Management, students must meet three requirements:

• Be of sophomore or junior standing

• Have a cumulative GPA of 3.4 or higher

• Have received a B+ or better in at least one, but preferably two, prerequisite program courses in the following three required areas: statistics, economics, and psychology. Students who have completed only one prerequisite at the time of application must be currently enrolled in at least one other; acceptance is conditional on achieving a grade of B+ or higher in the second course.

Guidelines for all Business Management Special Concentrators

The business management special concentration is not a stand-alone concentration: it is intended to complement the disciplinary specialization and methodological training inherent in a major. In addition to the special concentration requirements, students must complete a major or a full concentration.

The business management special concentration is not a stand-alone concentration: it is intended to complement the disciplinary specialization and methodological training inherent in a major. In addition to the special concentration requirements, students must complete a major.

Students who matriculated at Columbia in Fall 2012 and beyond must earn a minimum GPA of 3.0 in prerequisite, core, and elective courses. Students who matriculated before Fall 2012 must either adhere to the above requirement or previous requirement of B+ or better in at least two of the prerequisites and a minimum GPA of 3.0 in core and elective classes.

Students who do not meet course prerequisites or who do not receive a passing grade do not receive credit for that course towards the special concentration. All courses must be taken for a letter grade. Only prerequisites may be double counted for other majors or concentrations. The core classes cannot be double counted. Electives may be double counted if a student's major allows double counting. 

For information about this special concentration, including the application process, visit Undergraduate Concentration | Columbia Business School Academics

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Special Concentration in Business Management

Please read Guidelines for all Business Management Special Concentrators above.

The requirements for the special concentration in business management are as follows:

Course List

Code	Title	Points
Prerequisites
Select one of the following Statistics courses:
STAT UN1001	INTRO TO STATISTICAL REASONING
STAT UN1101	INTRODUCTION TO STATISTICS
STAT UN1201	CALC-BASED INTRO TO STATISTICS
PSYC UN1610	STATISTCS-BEHAVIORL SCIENTISTS
SOCI UN3020	Social Statistics
Select the following Economics course:
ECON UN1105	PRINCIPLES OF ECONOMICS
Select one of the following Psychology/Sociology courses:
PSYC UN1001	THE SCIENCE OF PSYCHOLOGY
PSYC UN1010	Mind, Brain and Behavior
SOCI UN1000	THE SOCIAL WORLD
Core
Select one of the following Financial Core courses:
ECON GU4280	CORPORATE FINANCE
BUSI UN3013	FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING
Select two of the following Managerial Core courses:
BUSI UN3701	STRATEGY FORMULATION
BUSI UN3021	MARKETING MANAGEMENT
BUSI UN3703	LEADERSHIP IN ORGANIZATION
Electives
Select two of the following courses:
BUSI UN3702	VENTURING TO CHANGE THE WORLD
BUSI UN3704	Making History Through Venturing
ECON UN2257	THE GLOBAL ECONOMY
ECON UN3025	FINANCIAL ECONOMICS
ECON UN3265	MONEY AND BANKING
ECON GU4415	GAME THEORY
ECON BC2010	The Economics of Gender
ECON BC3013	Economic History of the United States
POLS V3615	Globalization and International Politics
PSYC UN2235	THINKING AND DECISION MAKING
PSYC UN2630	SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
PSYC UN2640	INTRO TO SOCIAL COGNITION
PSYC UN2650	INTRO TO CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY
PSYC BC1136	Social Psychology
PSYC BC1138	Social Psychology
PSYC BC2151	ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
SOCI UN2240	ECONOMY ＆ SOCIETY
SOCI UN3000	SOCIAL THEORY
SOCI UN3265	SOCIOLOGY OF WORK ＆ GENDER
SOCI UN3490	MISTAKE, MISCONDUCT, DISASTER
SOCI W3670	Culture, Markets, and Consumption
SOCI UN3677	The Organization of Diversity
SOCI S3675Q	Organizing Innovation
SOCI G4032	Sociology of Labor Markets
BIOT GU4201	SEM-BIOTECH DEVPT ＆ REGULATION
HIST BC2101	HISTORY OF CAPITALISM
MATH UN3050	DISCRETE TIME MODELS IN FINANC
SDEV UN2320	ECON ＆ FIN MTHDS FOR SDEV
URBS UN3550	Community Building and Economic Development

NOTE: Students may not receive credit for two or more of PSYC BC1136 Social Psychology, PSYC BC1138 Social Psychology, and PSYC UN2630 SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY.