Let’s get down to business
While you’re here you’ll make extraordinary connections, get involved on campus, and see what it’s like to work in the real world. But the bread and butter of your education starts with a curriculum that combines the University of Iowa’s strong liberal arts tradition with Tippie’s nationally ranked business courses.
What you’ll need to graduate
Here’s the basic recipe of a Tippie degree:
Iowa Core requirements
and business prerequisites
+ Business core and major courses
+ Experiential learning (Tippie RISE)
= Your BBA degree
Foundational courses in areas like social sciences, literature, rhetoric, and world languages.
Intro-level business and math courses that you need to take to be admitted to Tippie if you are pursuing standard admission or are a transfer student.
A set of courses that all business majors take. You’ll need to take some of them before you can declare a business major.
Majors, and sometimes tracks within a major, have a set of courses you’ll take to graduate with that major. All seven majors at Tippie have their own course requirements and electives.
Complete hands-on experiential learning in one of the following ways: research, internship, study abroad, or take a course with an experiential element (like a consulting project for a real client). This is Tippie RISE.
World language requirement
Tippie College of Business students may complete the world language requirement using one of two options. Either option may be fulfilled by high school coursework, college coursework, or an appropriate combination of high school and college coursework. One year of high school world language is equivalent to one semester of college. The requirement may also be met by passing a proficiency test in one or two world languages.
Option one
The fourth-level proficiency in a single world language. To meet the fourth level of proficiency in the same language, students are required to take four years in high school or four semesters in college.
Option two
The second-level proficiency in two different world languages. To meet the second-level proficiency, students are required to take two years each of two different languages in high school or two semesters each of two different languages in college. Option two does not fulfill the world language requirement for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences or qualify students for language incentive credit.
We strongly encourage students to complete four years of a single language in high school. By completing fourth-level proficiency in the same world language, you will fulfill requirements for the Tippie College of Business and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
Students who receive an Associate of Arts (AA) from community colleges participating in the Iowa Community College/Regents Articulation Agreement or community colleges in the Illinois Articulation Agreement are considered to have met the General Education Program requirements in rhetoric, literature, natural sciences, social sciences, historical perspectives, values, society and diversity, international and global issues (or the past requirement of "Global and Cultural Studies"), but not the world language requirement. For students who receive an AS or AAS, admissions will evaluate their courses on a course-by-course basis.
Double majors, minors, certificates, and joint degrees
There are (almost) an infinite number of ways you can tailor your Tippie experience to your interests.
Double majors
Can’t choose between two business majors? You don’t have to. Pursuing a double major is not just possible, it’s common. In fact, about one in four Tippie students graduates with a double major. Here are some common pairings:
- Accounting and finance or business analytics
- Marketing and finance
- Management and accounting or finance
- Finance and accounting, business analytics, or economics
Joint degrees
You can major in more than one subject even if one of them is outside of business. Add journalism to your marketing major. Major in finance and math. Pursing two majors from two different colleges within the university is considered a joint degree. Tippie offers joint degrees with the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences as well as the College of Engineering.
Minors
Business students can minor in a vast range of subjects offered by another college at the university, such as Spanish or psychology in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Economics is the only subject area within business that has a minor.
Nonbusiness students can minor in business administration. Students in interdepartmental studies: business studies track are not eligible for this minor.
Certificates
There are more ways to boost your resume than majors and minors. Adding certificates to your major gets you one step closer to a great career. Explore what Tippie has to offer, from entrepreneurship to insurance and sustainability to international business.
Honors and distinctions
If you’re the type of person who likes to go the extra mile, you’ll be right at home at Tippie. We celebrate top academic performance with honors, distinctions, and through multiple active honor societies.