Frequently Asked Questions

If you are enrolled in the Special Program, you are guaranteed pre-enrollment as long as you select your classes by the pre-registration deadline.  If you are not a part of the Special Program, you do not have registration priority.  Students outside of the program can join waitlists of Special Program classes and will be promoted from the waitlist in the order joined.  Students should not petition to enroll in classes or reach out to faculty and/or administration be promoted from the waitlist out of order.  

Students who are not enrolled in Special Program classes should not attend classes, even if they are on the waitlist.  

Special Program in Business Management professors handle their own absences, although they may choose to follow the MBA Core Attendance Requirements.

No, the two courses are not the same. Only BUSI W3013 counts for the Special Program in Business Management.

Yes, a link to the application will be available on the application information page.  Please note, all core and elective classes must be taken at Columbia.  No classes taken while studying abroad will be accepted towards the Special Program.

Barnard students are not eligible for acceptance into the Special Program in Business Management. They are able to take classes in the program for elective credit, but Barnard does not recognize the special program as a formal program of study.

We consider grades, difficulty of coursework taken, essay, work experience, and co-curricular activities. The Admissions committee will be particularly interested to see the rationale for pursuing the Special Program in Business Management that you include in your essay — i.e., why you think it will be particularly beneficial for you in light of your academic and professional plans.

No, you are not required to complete all of the pre-requisites before applying for the Special Program in Business Management. We require that applicants receive a B+ or better in at least one, but preferably two, prerequisite program courses in the following three required areas before applying: statistics, economics, and psychology. Students who have completed only one prerequisite at the time of application must be currently enrolled in at least one other; acceptance is conditional on achieving a grade of B+ or higher in the second course.

All classes for the Special Program in Business Management must be taken for a letter grade. Your options are:

1) Petition to uncover the grade;

2) Take a different course that is acceptable (e.g., students who took ECON W1105 as Pass/Fail may take ECON W3211 or ECON W3213 instead);

3) Retake the course for a letter grade.

Exceptions to this policy

Spring 2020: Given the mandatory Pass/Fail policy across Columbia University for Spring 2020, all courses taken Pass/Fail in Spring 2020 will count toward the Special Program prerequisite, core, or elective courses as if they were letter grades.

Fall 2020, Spring 2021, and Fall 2021: Columbia College and General Studies students are able to elect the Pass/D/Fail option for one class this semester without restriction. The course chosen for this grading option can fulfill a prerequisite, core, or elective requirement for the Special Program.

Spring 2024: Students can elect two Pass/D/Fail for the Spring 2024 semester to count toward the Special Program

The 2025 application will open December 2024. The application deadline is February 19, 2025 at 12:00 PM (ET). All applications will be reviewed after the deadline. All application decisions will be released on March 17, 2025.

Yes, Financial Economics majors must take an extra elective from the financial economics list to make up for the overlapping financial accounting or corporate finance class.  Please work with your major advisor to identify the additional elective.