Current Students

Major Requirements

  • BMGT350 Principles of Marketing (3)
  • BMGT351 Marketing Research Methods (3)
  • BMGT354 Consumer Analysis (3)
  • BMGT457 Marketing Policies and Strategies (3)s

Combined total of 3 courses (9 credits) from the list below:

  • BGMT357 Marketing Internship (3 credits max)
  • BMGT372 Intro to Logistics & SCM
  • BMGT450 Integrated Marketing & Communications
  • BMGT453 Retail Management
  • BMGT454 Global Marketing
  • BMGT455 Sales Management
  • BMGT456 Customer-Centric Innovation
  • BMGT458A, B, Q and R - Strategic Design Fellows (6 credits max)
  • BMGT458T Developing & Managing Customer Relationships
  • BMGT458U Digital Marketing Analytics
  • BMGT484 Digital Marketing

Degree Requirements     4-year Degree Plan

Experiential Learning

Experiential learning is an engaging learning method by which students learn course material from their professors followed by an opportunity to put the concepts into practice and reflect on the outcomes. Such opportunities include experiments, case competitions, internships, service learning, research, and other forms of hands-on learning. The Smith School Marketing Department values experiential learning as it encourages students to think critically, reflect and take accountability for their decisions, learn from their mistakes, and engage with educational material more creatively and curiously. Explore some of the ways undergraduate marketing students participate in experiential learning below.

SDF

The Strategic Design Fellows is a competitive program that encourages marketing and studio art students to learn as a cohort to view business from the lens of creativity and empathy while applying design thinking to real-world business problems. Courses are offered in the fall semesters of students’ junior and senior years. Students take courses on design and branding in marketing, design applications, and computer graphics. Individual projects include designing personal branding identities, creating retail concepts to pitch to real estate developers, and rebranding of nonprofits and businesses. Past clients include law firms, credit unions, sports teams and insurance companies. In the capstone course, students develop pitches for nationally sponsored case competitions.

Coming out of the program with knowledge of Adobe Creative Suite and Figma, along with a personal online portfolio, students have a competitive advantage in the creative business field. Past students have pursued careers as advertising professionals, creative consultants, graphic designers, product designers and more.

Open to Marketing and Studio Art majors. Preference is given to rising sophomores and juniors. Admission is capped at 35 students per year.

Learn More

“I’m very grateful for my time at Smith and how it prepared me for the career I have now in Innovation Strategy. I completed my time at Smith with dual degrees, one in Marketing and one in Operations Management & Business Analytics, which helped me develop a broad understanding of core business functions and allowed me to exercise both the analytical and creative sides of my brain. The Strategic Design fellows program was certainly the highlight of my college experience. The creativity, interactivity, and direct industry focus of the program is exactly what I needed to hit the ground running in my career and spark a lifetime of passion for creativity and strategy.”

John Coates, Class of 2017
Associate; Experience, Innovation & Engineering at Lippincott

“The Strategic Design Fellows program, supported by the core business curriculum out of the Smith School of Business, is by far and away the best thing I could have done in college for my career. Not only does the SDF program train you academically, but it also prepares you practically for what it's like to work in a creative, collaborative, competitive, and client-based industry. It is the perfect combination of business and design, and absolutely gives any industry creative a leg up when entering the workforce. Plus, the program’s faculty are knowledgeable marketing and design practitioners who are empathetic mentors, and they're truly invested in the success of their students. If you’re someone who is business minded but driven by a creative spirit, SDF is absolutely for you. Couldn't recommend it more!”

Talia Evans, Class of 2015
Associate Strategy Director at Pearlfisher

Marketing Courses

BMGT450: Integrated Marketing Communications

With the marketing discipline covering a plethora of channels, it is integral that students understand how to build a coordinated marketing plan including advertising, sales promotion, digital marketing, and personal selling. Through this course, students learn how to strategically plan and effectively use promotional tools to communicate with customers to meet marketing goals through developing an IMC campaign.

BMGT456: Customer-Centric Innovation

With markets becoming exceedingly competitive, companies must continually innovate in order to stay industry leaders. In this course, students are tasked with developing a new product idea based on design thinking principles and then preparing a market launch strategy for it, following the innovation process of opportunity identification, concept generation, design, testing, and launch.

BMGT484: Digital Marketing

In this course, students not only learn about the most current trends in digital marketing, but get to apply them in a real-life setting as well. Each semester, teams of five to six students partner with a local small business to revamp their digital marketing efforts including a new website, a mobile app, social media ads, and other advertisements and sales promotions. Through this course, students build their personal portfolios with real-world projects while also helping the surrounding College Park community to prosper.

BMGT457: Strategic Marketing

Students further develop their critical thinking skills as they work in teams creating value propositions, personas, customer journey maps, forecasting demand and developing pricing strategies in the semester-long simulation. Class content includes presentations on up-to-date global marketing activities, case discussions, as well as, Smith marketing alumni returning as guest lecturers.

American Marketing Association (AMA)

The University of Maryland chapter, UMD AMA , boasts 120 student members with 12 members holding executive leadership positions. Seniors within the organization also have the opportunity to earn the Alpha Mu Alpha Marketing Honors Recognition upon completion of their degree. The American Marketing Association is a premier association for marketing professionals with 30,000 members among 76 professional chapters and 250 collegiate chapters across the United States

UMD AMA is a recognized organization both on and off campus. In 2022, the club won the SUSA Career Excellence Award and was recognized as one of the Top 25 collegiate chapters across the country by AMA Nationals. In 2023, UMD AMA was named the Spring 2023 Grant Winner, from the national AMA for their unique approach to the Marketing Employer Networking Night event , which also won the SUSA Club Event of the Year award. The UMD AMA-SDF team was a finalist in the 2023 AMA Wall Street Journal Case Competition that was held at the International Collegiate Conference in New Orleans placing in the top 11 teams out of 78 entries.

UMD AMA USG AMA

Career Resources

Marketing Internships

The Marketing Department places a large emphasis on cultivating job-market-ready skills through student internships. Most Smith Marketing students complete at least one internship during their undergraduate career. Smith's Office of Career Services through HireSmith and the Marketing Department through their dedicated site marketingjobsforterps.com work together to provide hundreds of internship opportunities annually to marketing students. Students can earn 3 to 6 academic credits for their internship experience.

Marketing Careers

One of the goals of The Marketing Department at the Smith School of Business is to prepare its students for the job market post-graduation. Each year, Professor Mary Harms compiles and edits a Marketing Career Guide for undergraduate students that details the most recent information on:

  • Marketing job salaries
  • Marketing skills employers are looking for
  • How to maximize your experience
  • Over 38 career paths in marketing
  • Smith top employers

Sample Marketing Resumes

When applying to internships or full-time roles in marketing, it is important to tailor your resume and cover letter to the industry and position you are applying for. For more data and analytics marketing roles, a standard business format resume or one with a slight twist is appropriate. However, for more creative marketing roles, recruiters may want to see a unique resume and/or online portfolio that reflects your own personal brand.

Resume Tips:

  1. Remember that employers only scan your resume
  2. Keep your resume to one page
  3. Include keywords from the job description in your resume
  4. Use a font that is easy to read both on screens and on paper
  5. Use active verbs in your bullet points
  6. Include numbers and statistics to quantify your achievements
  7. Utilize ample white space to enhance legibility
  8. Proofread to make sure there are no spelling or formatting errors

Sample Marketing Cover Letters

Cover letters are another effective way to differentiate yourself from other applicants. Keep the design consistent with your resume and tell your story to recruiters. Take them on your journey as a student and young professional and along the way make sure to detail why you are qualified for the position and why you are interested in that specific company or industry. Remember: make it personal and make it unique.

Cover Letter Tips:

  1. Write a new cover letter for each application and tailor it to that position
  2. Address your recruiter by name when possible
  3. Do not exceed one page: an intro paragraph, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion
  4. Start strong! Most recruiters will not read your entire cover letter
  5. Think about what brand voice and tone you want to convey
  6. Show recruiters why you are a good fit for the job, don’t just tell them
  7. Include a call to action at the end of the letter

OCS

For further career help, please visit the Office of Career Services at the Smith School of Business in 2520 VMH during their walk-in hours from Noon to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday or email SmithOCSQuestions@umd.edu with general questions. To schedule an appointment with a career coach, visit HireSmith. Be sure to keep up to date with the OCS website for information on the Smith Career Fair each fall and spring.

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