academics
My Colby-Sawyer Experience
“I'm a firm believer in getting students out of the classroom and into experiences in nature. If students get out of their element, in a new place that stimulates their senses, that's where the best learning happens.” - Nick Baer, Assistant Professor, Natural Sciences
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business administration curriculum
Building the Foundation
Business Administration majors may choose from a wide variety of courses. Initially, students take introductory courses in organizations and management. These courses provide a survey of the discipline and introduce the basic concepts of organization structure, management, and operation. During this time, business students also take liberal arts courses, which equip them with the broad perspectives so important to success in the business world. Students are exposed early in the major to the terminology, analytical techniques, and underlying concepts necessary to understand how organizations function. Read course descriptions.
Expanding Your Knowledge
From here students proceed to more advanced course such as Business Computer Applications, Economics, Financial and Managerial Accounting, Marketing and Business Law. In upper-level courses, case studies, simulation, and other techniques are used to help students become skilled in applying their knowledge to actual business situations while they study marketing, finance, accounting, human resource management, and organizational management. At the junior and senior levels, business students also enroll in elective courses in Finance, Human Relations Management, Management, and/or Information Management Technology. Read course descriptions.
Becoming a Professional
The Business Administration Department requires all students to complete an internship experience in a business setting. This internship takes place upon attaining junior level status and normally occurs in the summer between the junior and senior years. By this time, students will have acquired knowledge of the basic skills critical to business success, and the internship provides the opportunity to apply in a business setting what has been learned in the classroom. Learn more about student internships.
Senior Seminar
After completing an internship and attaining senior status, business students participate in the Senior Seminar. This course deals exclusively with analyzing what has been learned in the internship and preparing the soon-to-be-graduate for the job-search process. Students' resumes are prepared and several mock-job interviews with senior-level guest executives take place during this class. Executive-level guests visit the class to lead discussions on career experiences and strategies, as well as on interesting developments surrounding current business issues.
Putting it all Together
Business students take the Business Administration Capstone course, Strategic Management, during the second semester of their senior year. As a capstone, this course allows students to integrate the knowledge of the functional areas of business, such as marketing, finance, human relations, operations, and management in one setting.
This Capstone, driven by an advanced computer simulation, puts the student on a team, which runs business in a competitive market. Decisions must be made on financing methods, structure, marketing, marketing research and competitive analysis, operational analysis, business ethics, and human relations. This realistic experience gives students the opportunity to face complex business problems in a friendly environment and it creates an effective arena in which to apply, in a realistic fashion, those subjects they have studied for four years.
