Why Study Business
Consider Your Career Trajectory
Graduates today can expect to have seventeen jobs over five different fields before retirement. Additionally, only 27% of college graduates go on to work in a field related to their major. What does this tell us? While choosing a major is important, developing highly sought-out transferable skills is even more important. What skills do today's hiring employers want? Strong communication skills, the ability to problem solve, leadership capability, collaborative workstyle and adaptability. These are the hardest skills for employers to find, and also the most valuable.
The Business Minor is a distinctive CU Boulder option that cultivates these skills from the moment you apply. Whatever your preferred field, consider joining an inclusive community that is focused on preparing you for the future of the workplace.
The Business Minor curriculum was created in partnership with employers who requested that Leeds build a highly accessible program to prepare non-business majors for the workplace. With a focus on making graduates more marketable, the Business Minor has become the most popular minor on campus with nearly 2,000 students representing every discipline across the university.
"You can do anything you want in the world, but you’ll be better off with a little business in your back pocket." That’s Leeds alumnus and NY fashion designer, Ann Mashburn, on the value of business education. The Business Minor teaches the practical realities of how organizations function, which will inform you where you fit best in your chosen industry. It's easier to know what to do next when you understand the possibilities.
Business Minors gain access to valuable Leeds programs, including professional mentorship, networking events, skill-building certificates, case competitions, career treks, international opportunities and more. These co-curricular opportunities help you strengthen your career skills, build your professional network, and put your best foot forward upon graduation.
Emmanuel B., Psychology
Kelsey M., Sociology
Andres C., Mechanical Engineering
Getting out of the engineering school - meeting new people - gives me perspective on what work is really like.
Andres is a project-oriented person drawn to technical knowledge - so an Engineering major was a natural fit. To satisfy his people-oriented side, he enrolled in the Leeds Business Minor, and his favorite course was the capstone where he had the opportunity to work alongside business professionals to create a thoughtful business plan. While completing a summer internship related to his engineering major, he used his business finance skills to discover cost-effective solutions, and also came to the realization that the Business Minor has pushed him to be more creative and better able to manage ambiguity.
Paula P., Civil Engineering
I always want to be challenged, that's important to me, and the Business Minor attracts people who want to be leaders.
Paula chose CU Boulder because of the opportunity for “crossover” between the engineering and business schools. While in the Business Minor she participated in case competitions and connected with the Leeds network, and during an engineering internship in the Amazon rainforest, she used her business skills to build financial models. As a result of these joint experiences, she is now pursuing an M.S. in Finance at the Leeds Graduate School. "I loved the [Business Minor] Finance and Business Analytics courses because I love math, but it was a new kind of math. I realized then that I have a talent for business intuition and risks, and the Business Minor helped me hone those strengths."
Lane L., Mechanical Engineering
Having this broad knowledge of how the business world works will be very beneficial to me, both as an engineer - and hopefully - as an entrepreneur.
Lane pursued the Business Minor for its emphasis on entrepreneurship, a key point of distinction for the university and Boulder. “Business people I collaborate with have wild ideas, which is great—but many of those ideas don't make sense, engineering-wise. On the other hand, engineers often get to the point where they have a full product, but never stopped to consider whether there’s market demand. That's what’s great about the Business Minor—I can combine the two and actually make something feasible.” Now that Lane’s CU career has concluded, he’s doing some provisional patenting on his winning Business Minor capstone idea, with the hope of pursuing it as a side hustle as he dives into his professional dream of working in the automobile industry.
Bridget M., Economics
Realistically, no matter what your major, you will be working for a business. The Business Minor is a great way to figure out what that means for you.
Bridget’s Leeds Business Minor experience is defined by her professors and classmates. She's impressed with the number of faculty who come from industry, and the opportunity to learn from other students across campus: “I've never been in classes before where people have such different perspectives, but they come together really well. So many majors are represented in the Business Minor… it’s great because my strength is someone else’s weakness, and vice versa.”