Why Questrom?

Business at Boston University

The Boston University Questrom School of Business undergraduate program combines a global orientation, a broad grounding in all business functions, a choice of 15 specialization, with also a world-class liberal arts education. While emphasizing professionalization, teaming, and functional excellence within the Questrom School of Business, we ensure that students develop critical thinking, broad-based analytic skills, and a deep curiosity about the wider world. Our aim is to develop competence with flexibility. This is accomplished through the Boston University Hub, the University-wide general education program that helps to develop six essential capacities — knowledge, skills, and habits of mind — that will equip them to thrive in their personal, professional, and civic lives. Through coursework at Questrom and across Boston University, students select courses to meet their personal and academic goals while simultaneously meeting general education and Questrom-specific requirements. Students have the opportunity to earn two undergraduate degrees (through the Dual Degree Program) during their time at BU, may minor in dozens of courses of study in other BU Schools and Colleges, and can even participate in interdisciplinary programs, such as the Sustainability Minor, which involves coordinated coursework in the College of Arts and Sciences, College of Engineering, and Questrom School of Business. By combining their management skills with understanding and aptitudes nurtured in the arts and sciences, Questrom School of Business students can assimilate knowledge more quickly and deploy that knowledge more effectively.

Advisors are here to support you throughout your time at Questrom. All students are assigned both an academic and career advisor once they enroll, initiating a collaborative, long-term partnership of support and guidance. More information and resources regarding advising and planning can be found on Boston University’s Undergraduate Advising website.

The Foundational Experience

Students begin studying business on their first day at Boston University and continue throughout their freshman year in our unique, year-long Foundational Experience suite of courses, which includes Business, Ethics and Measuring Financial Value. These courses introduce students to the challenges of creating and capturing value in the global economy and provide a foundation for the critical thinking, teaming, and professional skills required of modern management.

In Business, Ethics, and the Creation of Value, students will master frameworks for analyzing personal and professional ethics, and understanding the role of business and markets in society. They also will be exposed to management and ethical challenges in each of the functions of business.

Measuring Financial Value will provide an in-depth overview of the theory, methods, and core issues in the study of finance

The Foundational Experience is taught by a diverse team of the School’s most accomplished teaching faculty and lays the groundwork for a rigorous, globally-focused, and professionally-driven undergraduate program.

Professionalization, Team Learning, & Internship Experiences

Employers who recruit at the Questrom School of Business value the School’s strong emphasis on team learning. The ability to collaborate effectively in complex team environments is a quality that sets Questrom graduates apart from their peers. Our building was designed with this emphasis in mind: Questrom has as many classrooms as team rooms for groups to meet and collaborate on class assignments.

Students study Organizational Behavior to learn about the dynamics of collaboration and effective team leadership. The Organizational Behavior Department hosts the Center for Team Learning, which strives to assist teams to work productively as a group.

Professionalization and team learning experiences contribute to the School’s efforts to support student internships.  The vast majority of Questrom School of Business students fulfill career-related internships during summers, during semesters in Boston, and/or during global internship experiences. As a result, they arrive in their post-BU careers exceptionally well-prepared for workplace challenges.

Cross-Functionality & the Core Project

Another aspect that strengthens our program is our ability to teach students to think cross-functionally. In a company, no department functions alone; decisions made in one department affect other areas. Starting day one, our students learn to look at cases through multiple lenses.

Our team-based cross-functional set of courses (taken in the fourth or fifth semester) has won awards for its innovative curriculum design and ability to help students to think laterally, not functionally. The Cross-Functional Core consists of traditional courses – analytics, finance, marketing, and operations – integrated into an innovative one-semester sequence via a new business venture where students work in teams to invent and design a new product or service. The Cross-Functional Core has been lauded by recruiters who visit Questrom as an ideal mix of theory and real-world experience.

Study Abroad & Global Perspectives

Boston University has been one of the world leaders in Study Abroad programs and the Questrom School of Business is one of the first business schools to offer internships abroad on multiple continents. Questrom students have the opportunity to choose from management study & internship programs, exchange programs, and language & liberal arts programs in over 30 cities on six continents!  Approximately one-quarter of Questrom students have grown up outside the United States and one-third of our students study abroad during their time at BU.  Students at the Questrom School of Business learn global business and culture in the course of their studies and through their daily interactions with classmates and faculty.

Click here for more information on the Study Abroad programs available.