School of Business Administration

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The School of Business Administration (SBA) undergraduate programs enable students to combine the intensive study of a functional area of business (i.e., accounting, actuarial science, finance, human resource management, management information systems, marketing or operations management) or business economics with a broad background in management. Alternatively, students can focus on economics, the fundamental discipline behind business processes. In these programs, a strong foundation in liberal arts is combined with a rigorous education in written and oral communications and in problem definition, analysis and resolution. This combination produces graduates who can think analytically, communicate effectively and work cooperatively with others of similar or diverse backgrounds in both domestic and international environments. Graduates of these programs are prepared to handle the increasingly complex and changing problems faced by managers in profit-oriented enterprises and not-for-profit organizations, both public and private.

Accreditation of School of Business Administration

The SBA is accredited, on both the undergraduate and the graduate levels, by AACSB International (The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business), the premier business school accreditation agency. In addition, the accounting program has achieved the separate AACSB accounting accreditation.

Admission Criteria for School of Business Administration

Admission to major standing is selective. The minimum requirements for consideration are:
1. Student’s admissibility to and retention in the university;
2. Completion of the writing requirement;
3. A minimum grade-point average of 2.6 in all courses taken at Oakland University (with a minimum of six credits completed at Oakland University);
4. A minimum grade of C in each of the pre-core courses or their equivalents
5. Satisfactory completion of SBC1990 and SBC2990;
6. Submission of an “Application for Major Standing” for the desired major

A student is classified as pre-business upon admission to Oakland University if they have a cumulative GPA of 2.80 or above and four years of college preparatory math. Transfer students are classified as pre-business if they have a cumulative transfer GPA of 2.80 or above and math through intermediate algebra. A student is classified as Direct admit into their business major if they have a high school cumulative GPA of 3.7 or higher. All other students are classified as undecided business and these students cannot register for most 3000- and 4000-level courses until they obtain pre-business or major standing status within the SBA. Undecided business students may register for all SBA pre-core courses and general education requirements.

To maintain pre-business status before obtaining major standing within the SBA, an OU student must maintain a cumulative GPA set by the SBA. Any pre-business student (SBA students not yet having major standing) who does not maintain an OU cumulative GPA (as set by the SBA) at the end of any term is classified as an undecided business student. The GPA set by the SBA for pre-business status is 2.6.

All students who are not business majors in the School of Business Administration, whether they have applied for a minor or not, are limited to no more than 25 percent of their total degree credits required for their degree in business courses (usually 32 credits). The maximum of 25 percent of total degree credits includes courses taken at Oakland University and all previous colleges. Economics (ECN) courses and QMM2400, QMM2410, QMM4400 and QMM4520 are excluded from this requirement. Therefore, students from majors outside the business administration program, including economics majors in either the School of Business Administration or the College of Arts and Sciences, may not earn more than 25 percent of their required total degree credits in transfer plus Oakland credits in ACC, FIN, MGT, MIS, MKT, ORG, POM or QMM courses (excluding those noted above). Economics majors and students from other majors at Oakland University may take 1000-and-2000 level SBA courses as long as they have all the prerequisite courses with the required grades. Economics majors and students from non-business majors at Oakland University must have an approved university concentration/minor authorization form to take 3000-and-4000 level SBA courses which have the prerequisite of major standing.

All transfer courses from another institution need to be a minimum of three credits for the SBA to evaluate them for transfer credit for pre-core, core, and major courses and must have a minimum grade of C to meet the requirement.

School/College Honors

School honors are awarded by the SBA to graduating students who have completed a minimum of 32 credits in SBA courses with a minimum GPA of 3.33 in courses offered in the school.