Lehigh’s College of Business offers three undergraduate business degree programs to prepare students for different specializations.

But despite their different specializations, all three degrees share the Lehigh difference - a rigorous business core curriculum, options to personalize specialization to leverage students’ strengths, and exposure to courses beyond business to build students’ skills and perspective. 

Rigorous Business Core

Every undergraduate business degree at Lehigh has a rigorous business core curriculum that is required of all students in the degree program.

All Core Curricula Across our Three Business Degrees

  • Start with early exposure to business. Whether it’s in BUS 001: Foundations of Business or IBE 050: Integrated Business and Engineering Workshop, all first-year business students experience business decision making, setting the stage for future study. First-year students also benefit from the experience of peer mentors in their degree programs to help support their academic and social transitions to Lehigh. 
  • Require rigorous, intermediate-level courses across business disciplines. All business undergrads will experience the same introductory accounting, economics, finance, management, and marketing that is required of accounting, economics, finance, management, and marketing majors, respectively – regardless of the specialization each student eventually chooses. This intermediate-level core is demanding, but it’s a good investment.  Lehigh students are prepared to solve complex business problems that aren’t neatly niched in one business discipline, and they have the perspective to understand, work with, and lead colleagues from across business functions. Lehigh students can make more informed decisions about their specializations after they experience introductory courses, and they are positioned to choose a second (“Double”) major more easily if they choose to do so. 
  • Finish with a senior capstone that integrates and extends the core into applied experience. Students in the BS in Business and Economics program engage in a real-time strategic management simulation, with some students participating in an accompanying Global Lab in locations like Singapore, Vietnam, and Dubai. BS in Computer Science and Business students work in project teams with real clients across two semesters to assess needs and develop prototype applications to meet them. Students in the BS in Integrated Business and Engineering program select challenging problems that engage project teams to propose innovations to address them. 

Options to Personalize Specializations and Leverage Strengths

Finding the right specialization is the first step towards a rewarding future in business, and at Lehigh, students have a staggering array of options from which to choose, including two unique AACSB-accredited interdisciplinary programs with the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science. 

In the BS in Business and Economics – our largest undergraduate business program – students can choose from 7 majors and more than 100 double-major combinations. Majors include accountingbusiness information systemseconomicsfinancemanagementmarketing, and supply chain management.  Majors also go deep, with 5 to 7 required courses per major, depending on the major chosen. Some of the majors, like Accounting and Management, also include tracks that allow students to refine their specializations even further. 

Students in the BS in Integrated Business and Engineering (IBE) program can choose any one of 20 different majors, including 7 business majors, 10 engineering majors, and majors like financial engineering that are unique to the IBE program.   

In the BS in Computer Science and Business (CSB) program, all students complete a specialized sequence of CSB courses that integrate business and computer science. As a result, this degree is dually accredited – both as a business degree and as a computer science degree.  Students also have the flexibility to choose professional electives to develop personalized areas of concentration, including accounting, finance, marketing analytics, or other areas of interest.

Across business specializations, major courses are engaging and challenging. Faculty are scholars, teachers, and mentors committed to excellence in undergraduate education, and class sizes are small enough for faculty to know their students.

Courses Beyond Business to Grow Perspective

All business degrees give students an opportunity to engage in courses from Lehigh’s outstanding College of Arts and Sciences and the P.C. College of Engineering and Applied Science.

The BS in Business and Economics degree gives students the most freedom to explore since a minimum of 48 of their 124 required degree credits must come from outside of the business school. Fifteen of the 48 credits are specified to be taken within three different areas (humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences) to ensure students are exposed to valuable, different ways of knowing – but distribution courses are not defined, so students still have choice with respect to the courses they take. Business students may use their 48 credits outside of business to explore what Lehigh’s College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) and the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science have to offer, taking courses outside their comfort zone on campus or abroad. Students often develop their interests beyond business into minors, and some students drill even deeper to earn a second degree from arts and sciences or engineering (a “dual degree”).

Starting in Fall 2019, first-year students in the BS in Business and Economics program will have even more flexibility to add courses beyond business to their schedules. Earlier exposure to Lehigh’s robust courses outside of business will build students’ perspective and critical thinking skills even more and open doors for them to go even deeper earlier with minors and dual degrees with other Lehigh colleges.