Carroll School of Management

Information for First Year Students

In most ways, the first year in the Carroll School of Management resembles the first year in the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences. Carroll School of Management freshmen are expected to focus their study on aspects of the University's Core curriculum (described in the University Policies and Procedures section); the study of courses required in the Management Core, with the exceptions noted below, usually begins in earnest in sophomore year.

All Carroll School freshmen will enroll in PRTO1000 Portico, a 3-credit course, offered in the fall semester, which combines an introduction to business with ethics and attention to globalization.

During freshman year, Carroll students should also complete the Writing Seminar and Literature Core requirements, the Mathematics Core, and Business Statistics (OPER1135). These five courses, or their equivalent via Advanced Placement, along with ISYS1021 Digital Technology, are indispensable in the first year. Note that there is no necessary sequence for the above-mentioned courses; they may be taken in any order, either semester, during the first year.

What other courses should a freshman pursue? Students contemplating study abroad should be aware that some programs require a language proficiency and may want to consider taking a relevant language course(s). However, beginning with the class of 2022, the Carroll School no longer has a language requirement. 

Freshmen should also consider enrolling in one of the University's hallmark programs, PULSE and Perspectives, which fulfill both the Philosophy and the Theology Core requirements. Perspectives, with the exception of one sophomore section, is restricted to freshmen; PULSE may be taken at any time except senior year.

Other possibilities for freshman year include the History sequence, Principles of Economics (ECON1101) plus one other Social Science core class, and a pair of science courses.

While the preceding remarks capture a range of possibilities, even greater possibilities await a student possessed of Advanced Placement, transfer, or International Baccalaureate credit. Such students should consult carefully with the Senior Associate Dean and their faculty orientation advisor in crafting a plan of study for first year.

Management Core Courses

Note: There are curricular changes for the Class of 2022 and beyond; please note them below.

• PRTO1000 Portico (freshman, fall)
• OPER1135 Business Statistics (freshman)
• ECON1101 Principles of Economics (freshman or sophomore)
• ISYS1021 Digital Technology (freshman)
• ACCT1021 Financial Accounting (sophomore or freshman, fall)
• ACCT1022 Managerial Accounting (sophomore)*
• OPER2235 Modeling for Business Analytics (sophomore)**
• BSLW1021 Introduction to Law (sophomore or junior)
• MGMT1021 Organizational Behavior (sophomore or junior)
• OPER1021 Operations Management (junior)
• MFIN1021 Fundamentals of Finance (junior)
• MKTG1021 Principles of Marketing (sophomore or junior)
• MGMT3099 Strategic Management (senior)
• 4–6 CSOM concentration courses (junior, senior)
• 12 credits of MCAS Electives

With the exception of MGMT3099 Strategic Management, all Management Core courses usually are completed by the end of the junior year. Students who have transferred, who have done a semester or a year abroad, or who have had deficiencies may have to modify their schedules somewhat.

Students pursuing a minor in the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences or the Lynch School of Education and Human Development may elect to eliminate one of the Carroll School core management courses. Students who complete the pre-medical program requirements (without a major or minor in MCAS) are eligible for this incentive as well. A student pursuing a major in the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences may elect to eliminate two of the Carroll School core management courses. Selection of the eliminated courses must be done with advising from the Associate Dean's office. No one may eliminate Portico, Financial Accounting, Statistics, or Principles of Economics. Note: Students are not eligible to combine any of the incentives above (i.e., a student with two minors may not eliminate two courses.)

Prerequisites, which are listed in the individual course descriptions, must be followed.

*Beginning with the class of 2022, Managerial Accounting will no longer be required except for students concentrating in Accounting.

**Required core course for the classes of 2022 and 2023. Beginning with the Class of 2024, OPER2235 Modeling for Business Analytics is no longer required for the core and will be replaced by OPER2021 Coding for Business.

Satisfactory Academic Progress

All students must complete 120 credits for graduation.

To continue enrollment in a full-time program of study, a student must maintain a cumulative grade point average of at least 1.5 as the minimum standard of scholarship and must not fall more than 6 credits behind the total number of credits a student of their status is expected to have completed. For example, a first semester sophomore student must have completed at least 24 credits during the freshman year. Any student who is permitted by the dean to continue enrollment in a full-time undergraduate program is considered to be in good standing.

Failure to maintain good standing either through a low cumulative grade point average or by incurring excessive deficiencies including failures, withdrawals, or unapproved underloads will result in the student's being placed on probation or being required to withdraw, as the Academic Standards Committee or the Dean shall determine.

A student on probation may return to good standing by approved methods (e.g., make-up of credits via approved summer school work; students may make up no more than 10 credits in summer study). A student who incurs additional failures or withdrawals or carries an unapproved underload while on probation may be required to withdraw from the School at the time of the next review.

Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences Major

Students who have a very strong interest in an area in Arts and Sciences may complete a major in the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences by careful use of their electives. For example, it is possible to graduate with a concentration in Finance and a major in Philosophy or History. Students interested in this option should contact the Carroll School of Management Undergraduate Senior Associate Dean and the department chairperson in the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences as early in their studies as possible.

Pre-Medical Studies

Carroll School students are also eligible to pursue a pre-medical course of study in addition to their management curriculum.

International Study

Studying and living in another country enables students to broaden their horizons and experience a different culture, and Carroll School of Management students who have a 3.0 GPA or higher are eligible to study abroad during their junior year. During the spring semester of freshman year, the Dean’s Office sponsors an annual program for management students interested in studying abroad; a subsequent fall semester program for first semester sophomores complements the first-year program. All students interested in international study should visit the Office of International Programs early in their sophomore year.

The Office of International Programs administers a growing number of programs for Boston College including course-based summer programs for those who desire a shorter abroad experience or cannot go during the regular academic year. Carroll School of Management students may avail themselves of opportunities for study in excellent institutions in the Pacific Rim, continental Europe and the United Kingdom, South America, and Eastern Europe, among others. See elsewhere in this Catalog for a full listing.

Special Programs

Pre-Professional Studies for Law

Pre-Law students need clear reasoning power, a facility for accurate expression, a mature balance of judgment, and the ability to appreciate the moral, social, and economic problems related to the administration of justice in modern society. The Carroll School of Management offers an ideal opportunity to develop these qualities both through the Liberal Arts Core and specialized management courses, notably those case style courses which place a premium on analytical powers and a capacity in both oral and written expression.

Carroll School students interested in law should contact Salvatore Cipriano, Assistant Director for Career Engagement, in the Career Center, and the University's pre-law advisor.

The Ethics Initiative

In addition to PRTO1000 Portico, many regular Carroll School of Management courses integrate ethical issues in business and management. Elective courses in accounting, marketing, law, and operations are focused on ethical issues specific to those disciplines.

The Winston Center for Leadership and Ethics offers annual lecture, seminar, and workshop programs on ethics and leadership for undergraduate students.

Summer Management Catalyst Program

The Carroll School of Management Summer Management Catalyst Program is an intensive, full-time, 9-week program designed to develop a solid and broad foundation in the functional areas of management for non-management students.

Participants take three full courses and a career practicum that covers a wide range of business management topics, including management, accounting, finance, marketing, ethics, law, Excel, big data, and career skills.

Additional information and application can be found at: www.bc.edu/catalyst.

Program Benefits

• Learn how organizations operate and develop management skills to contribute to complex, not-for-profit, business, and government entities.
• Complete three core management courses in one summer and receive 9 credits through the completion of 3 full courses—ideal for students who find it difficult to fit management courses into their schedule and students interested in completing a Carroll School minor.
• Develop career strategies in building your personal brand through sessions on skills assessment, writing resumes and business letters, interviewing skills, effective networking, and employer panels.
• Attend a Catalyst-exclusive Career Networking Night with employers from a wide array of industries looking to recruit Catalyst students specifically.

Stand out in the competitive job market for internships or full-time positions with enhanced credentials from the summer program, including Excel and exposure to programming languages.

Carroll School of Management Dean's Office Courses

PRTO1000 Portico (Fall: 3)
This course is required for all Carroll School students and must be taken in the fall semester of their first year at BC. Portico fulfills the Carroll School ethics requirement.
This is the introductory course for Carroll School of Management’s first year students. Topics will include ethics, leadership, globalization, economic development, capitalism, innovation, entrepreneurship, vocational discernment, and the functional areas of business. This will be an interactive 3-credit seminar, serving as one of the five courses in the fall semester and fulfilling the ethics requirement for the Carroll School. The instructor will serve as academic advisor during the student’s first year.
The Department

BCOM1116 Business and Professional Speaking (Fall/Spring: 3)
This course is designed to be an introduction to the theory, composition, delivery, and criticism of speeches. Individual as well as group speaking assignments will be used to help the student become more comfortable and confident in speaking situations. The following areas will be developed: the uses of evidence, the development of clear organizational structure, and the development of a dynamic presentation style. The student will also examine speaking from the audience perspective and learning ways to analyze and evaluate the oral presentations of others. 
Stacy Schwartz

BCOM3688 Communication for Consultants
The course is designed for juniors and seniors who are planning on consulting (or client facing) careers. 
This course explores the communication challenges and opportunities consultants encounter when they work with internal or external clients. Students learn practical business writing and presentation skills specifically related to engagement activities. There is a strong focus on assessing audience needs, analyzing case studies, and determining the value of a communication with a client. Students produce a variety of communications including project proposals, statements of work, instructions, routine project correspondence, progress reports, formal reports, panel presentations, and post-implementation reviews. Students must have demonstrated strong writing skills in English.
Rita Owens

BCOM6688 Business Writing and Communication Skills for Managers (Fall/Spring: 3)
Restricted to CSOM 
The course focuses on the type of communication done on the job, especially in corporations. Business assignments are used to illustrate appropriate writing and communication strategies, protocols, styles, and formats. Students work alone and in collaboration with others around a variety of assignments and tools including traditional paper reports, electronic materials, e-mails, social media, and oral presentations. By the end of the semester, students will be proficient in producing business letters, instructions, reports, proposals, and visual materials.
Rita Owens

PRTO2401 Free Markets, Faith, and the Common Good (Spring: 3)
If sharing our gifts, pursuing justice, and acting on our concern for the poor and marginalized of society are core values of Jesuit-trained students, to what extent is free market capitalism a good "fit" for helping us meet those goals? In this course, we will explore several key moral and philosophical foundations of free market capitalism. These arguments will then be placed in dialogue with central insights contained in Catholic social teaching, especially the principles of human dignity, solidarity, the preferential option for the poor, and the common good. 
Joseph Cioni 

PRTO4307 Happiness in a Commercial Society (Spring: 3)
The aim of this course is to introduce students to the interdisciplinary study of human well-being as it applies to the domains of contemporary business and commercial life. The course will include philosophical, psychological, and social scientific inquiries into human flourishing, as well as the nature of meaningful work, the relationship between wealth and happiness, and the application of well-being measures to thriving economic and political institutions.
Michael Smith
Jeremy Evans

PRTO4901 Special Topics: The Ethics of Capitalism (Spring: 3)
This course explores the philosophical basis and moral implications of contemporary commercial life. Along the way, we will consider the role of business in society, the relationship between capitalism and democracy, and the ethics of consumption, among other issues where market values intersect public and private virtues.
Michael Smith
Jeremy Evans

UGMG1010 Perspectives on Management (Spring: 3)
This course, taught by practitioners John Clavin (BC '84) and Jere Doyle (BC '87), provides BC students with an excellent opportunity to explore the functional disciplines of business from a real-world perspective. Using a combination of lectures, case studies, readings, and outside speakers, the course provides students the opportunity to get grounded in each of the CSOM concentrations while gaining outside views on careers in related fields and industries. The course will also provide a framework to explore and discuss cross-functional issues that impact business strategy and execution. This is a highly interactive class that places a premium on both preparation and participation each week. The course is initially open to CSOM sophomores but normally has availability for juniors and seniors across all undergraduate majors
John Clavin
Jeremiah Doyle

UGMG2222 Career Accelerator (Fall/Spring:1)
Restricted to sophomores and second semester freshmen in the Carroll School of Management
It is a 1-credit pass/fail course consisting of eight 90 minute sessions designed to ensure that you learn the following: how to identify your top skills/interests and explore career fields that are a good match; write an effective resume/cover letter; how to talk about yourself to employers; how to network effectively and utilize the BC Network; how to interview to get the job––you will learn about interviewing from employers/upperclassmen and conduct a video mock interview; how to dress to impress––learn from a professional stylist what you need to wear to all these different employer and networking events; how to make a positive first impression; how to use social media to your advantage––you will develop a strong LinkedIn page and learn how to convey a positive image through social media, as well as how to use social media to network with the right people. It features employers/alumni and expert speakers on using social media and how to dress for success.
Amy Donegan
Madeline Cortes

Co-concentration in Entrepreneurship

Are you interested in revolutionizing markets or joining a firm that does? The entrepreneurship co-concentration provides a strong background for launching and managing high-growth ventures in nascent or high-velocity industries. The curriculum introduces a set of tools and a way of thinking that will help students navigate the uncertain, ambiguous contexts that often characterize new initiatives in established firms as well as start-ups.

The Entrepreneurship co-concentration is designed to be a second concentration for Carroll School of Management students. Up to one class from the co-concentration course list can be counted towards another concentration.

Required Courses

The courses in the co-concentration include the following:

Required:

• MGMT2170 Entrepreneurial Management

Choose one of the following courses:

• ISYS3315 Special Topics: Managing Digital Innovation
• MFIN2210 Entrepreneurial Finance
• MFIN2212 Venture Capital/Private Equity
• MGMT2139 Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Choose two electives from the following list or any not previously taken from above:

• BSLW6604 Law for the Entrepreneur
• ISYS3178 Special Topics: Design Thinking
• ISYS3205 TechTrek West
• ISYS3206 TechTrek East
• ISYS3253/MKTG3253 Digital Commerce
• ISYS6621/MKTG6621 Social Media, Emerging Technologies, and Digital Business
• ISYS6640/MKTG6640 Analytics and Business Intelligence
• MGMT2123 Negotiation
• MGMT2139 Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship
• MKTG3156 Special Topics: Launching Digital Marketing
• MKTG3158 Product Planning and Strategy
• MKTG3170 Entrepreneurial Marketing
• UGMG1010 Perspectives on Management
• UNAS1025 Innovation Through Design Thinking

Managing for Social Impact and the Public Good

The Managing for Social Impact and the Public Good co-concentration is jointly sponsored by the Business Law and Society, Information Systems, and Marketing departments. It is designed to be a second concentration for Carroll School of Management undergraduate students, who must first choose a primary concentration such as Accounting, Finance, Information Systems, Management and Leadership, Marketing, or Operations Management.

Managing for Social Impact and the Public Good aims to provide Carroll School students with a well-defined, interdisciplinary co-concentration focused on analyzing the multifaceted impacts of today’s global corporations, social enterprises, public sector, and nonprofit organizations.

In successfully completing this co-concentration, students will:

• Develop a theoretical and practical understanding of the extended social impacts of global corporations and why responsible enterprise values and the public good are relevant for all stakeholders
• Learn to apply research and critical thinking to understand the challenges, benefits, and current practices in corporate social responsibility
• Explore the philosophical, ethical, legal, economic, and ecological implications of the decisions made by corporate and public sector global leaders through case studies, readings, and class discussions
• Understand the challenges, available tools and innovative models for managing social impacts and balancing stakeholder value in a variety of corporate, nonprofit, and public sector organizations
• Develop and articulate a personal vision for integrating moral decision-making, social justice, citizenship, and responsible management in their future professional lives

Course Requirements

This co-concentration requires four courses (representing at least 12 credits), two of which are required and two of which are electives. In accordance with the interdisciplinary nature of Managing for Social Impact and the Public Good, students in this co-concentration will select their two electives from a list of courses jointly approved by the Carroll School of Management and participating departments in the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences. The MCAS elective courses taken for credit toward completing this co-concentration cannot be counted toward fulfilling other Boston College or MCAS course distribution requirements.

The following two Carroll School courses are required:

• BSLW3345 Managing for Social Impact (fall/spring)
• BSLW6001 Leading for Social Impact (spring of senior year)

In addition, students must take two approved MCAS elective courses (for a total of at least 6 credits). Students can choose from over 150 electives, which appear on a list that is updated every semester on our website at the following link: 

The electives must also come from one of the three social impact Focus Areas listed below, and described further on our website: www.bc.edu/content/bc-web/schools/mcas/sites/msi-pg/minor.html.

• Digital Economy, Social Innovation and Citizenship
• Economic Development, Equality and Enterprise
• Environmental and Economic Sustainability
  

Study Abroad

A course taken during a semester abroad may be approved as an elective counting toward the Managing for Social Impact co-concentration, but such courses must be pre-approved by the directors of the program before enrollment if they are to be counted. After a student completes the pre-approval process, credit for courses taken abroad will only be granted upon the student’s return from the program, based on the graded work completed for the course.

Declaring the Co-Concentration

Students interested in the co-concentration can declare it at the Undergraduate Dean's office after filling out an interest form in Fulton 460. Students must declare the co-concentration by October 15 of their junior year. After that date we cannot guarantee a spot in the required foundation course.

For questions about the Managing for Social Impact co-concentration, contact Professor Lourdes German at germanl@bc.edu.