Degree Requirements

Professor Phil Evers
Describes the New
Undergraduate Curriculum

At the Smith School of Business, a minimum of 120 credit hours are required to complete a Bachelor of Science degree. Besides the specific Smith School of Business requirements listed below, a student must complete the University's CORE General Education Requirements (see online undergraduate catalog for details) and sufficient lower and upper level elective credit to accumulate a total of 120 credit hours. A minimum of 57 credit hours of the required 120 hours must be in 300-400 (upper) level courses. Additional Smith School of Business degree requirements are listed below.

As noted in the requirements below, freshmen entering the University of Maryland beginning in Fall 2011 will be required complete BMGT110, BMGT391 and BMGT499 in addition to our traditional business core requirements. External transfer students will be required to complete these new core requirements beginning Fall 2013.

If you are pursuing your degree at College Park, please download complete degree outlines specific to a student's desired major. If you are pursuing your degree at Shady Grove, visit this Web page, for more details.

Freshman-Sophomore Smith School Requirements Credits
MATH 220, 130 or 140 - Elem. Calculus I or Calculus I 3-4
BMGT 110 - Introduction to the Business Value Chain (effective Fall 2011) 3
BMGT 220 & 221 - Principles of Accounting I & II 6
BMGT 2301 or 2312 - Business Statistics 3
ECON 200 & 201 - Principles of Micro & Macro Economics 8
COMM 100, 107 or 200 - Foundations of Speech Communications, Speech Communication, or Critical Thinking and Speaking 3
Total 26-27

1 The following courses are approved substitutes for BMGT230: BIOM301, ECON321, EDMS451, GEOG305, PSYC200, and SOCY201.
2 The following courses are approved substitutes for BMGT231: ENEE324, ENME392, or STAT400.

Junior-Senior Smith School Core Requirements Credits
BMGT 301 - Introduction to Information Systems (see note below) 3
BMGT 340 - Business Finance 3
BMGT 350 - Marketing Principles 3
BMGT 364 - Management and Organization 3
BMGT 367 - Career Search Strategies in Business 1
BMGT 380 - Business Law 3
BMGT 391 - Leadership in Action (effective Fall 2011) 1
BMGT 495 - Business Policies 3
BMGT 499 - Advanced Business Topics (effective Fall 2011) 1
Total 21

Note: BMGT301 requires knowledge of Excel or other spreadsheet tool. Students who do not have experience in Excel may choose to take BMGT202 or BMGT201 equivalent as an elective to prepare for BMGT301. While CMSC 102 also covers spreadsheets, its overall content is not recommended for business majors. Students can also prepare for BMGT301 by completing online Excel tutorials which are offered by many educational software companies.

Major and Economic Requirements Credits
Major Requirements (course requirements specific to major) 18-24
Upper Level Economics Requirements (options depend on major) 3-6
Total 21-27

Additional Degree Requirements
"C" or higher in all courses required by the Smith School of Business (Currently for courses taken at UM, a "C-" is a 2.000 equivalent and satisfies the "C" or higher requirement. However, for many institutions that offer a +/- grading system, a "C-" is below a 2.000; therefore, a “C-“ in a college requirement from an institution other than UM is not acceptable towards the degree or the satisfactory progress review, unless demonstrated that it is equivalent to a 2.000.)
50% of the required BMGT credit hours must be completed at the University of Maryland, College Park
45 credit hours required in BMGT coursework
57 credit hours required in Upper Level courses (effective Fall 2011)
Final 30 credit hours of degree earned at the University of Maryland, College Park
Minimum cumulative 2.000 grade point average
Minimum of 60 credit hours earned at a 4-year school
120 total credit hours