New Student Orientation - Coles College of Business

Orientation

New Transfer Students are not required by KSU to participate in a New Student Orientation. However, we strongly recommend that you attend Orientation. In addition to hearing useful information about the requirements for the business program, if you attend Orientation you will be able to register for your classes on that day. If you do not attend Orientation, you will have to wait until near the beginning of your first term to register.

Your KSU Orientation will include a session presented by Professional Business Advisors from the Coles College. Our session will explain the basics about the BBA [Bachelor of Business Administration] program requirements. You will receive our Undergraduate Handbook and other reference materials to help you plan your coursework and succeed in your business program.

Transfer Credit

Once you have been admitted to KSU, the Registrar’s Office will evaluate your transcript(s) from your previous school(s) and award you with transfer credit. When the evaluation process has been completed, you will receive a letter from the Registrar’s Office listing the credit, and eventually your credit will show in your online unofficial transcript. Coles College advisors cannot evaluate your transcript.

If you are given credit for a specific KSU course, that course number will be listed in your record (e.g., ENGL 1101). If you are given credit, but the course you took at your other school does not match any of KSU’s courses, then your record will show something like ENGL 3T00. The prefix indicates that it is an English course. The 3 (3xxx) indicates that it is a 3000-level course. The T (xTxx) indicates it is unmatched transfer credit. The last two digits always start at 00 and then go up one number at a time if you get more than one course of the same type (e.g., ENGL 3T00, ENGL 3T01, and ENGL 3T02).

If you believe that one of your “T” courses should count as a specific course you need for your BBA, then you may put in a request for a substitution. You do this by meeting with a Professional Business Advisor in the Business Undergraduate Advising Center (BB 431). The advisor will submit your substitution request for processing. Depending on where you took the course, you may be required to provide an official course description from your previous school’s Catalog or a course syllabus to be reviewed as part of your request.

The substitution request will have to be approved by the appropriate Department Chair or Dean. If the substitution is approved by the Department Chair/Dean, it will be submitted to the KSU Registrar’s Office for approval. The substitution must be approved at all levels in order to take effect. If it is approved, it will show up in your online record. If your request is denied, you will be notified either by the Business Undergraduate Advising Center or by a message in your online record.

When your transfer credit is listed in your online KSU record, a Professional Business Advisor can review it and help you decide what courses to take - either at Orientation or at an advising session. If your transfer credit has not been evaluated, the course selection process is much more difficult. Coles College advisors cannot look at your transcript and evaluate your credit - only the Registrar’s Office can do that. The Registrar’s Office works very hard to get the transcripts evaluated quickly for all students attending Orientation. If the evaluation process is not complete, you may be able to get an idea of what usually transfers from your previous school by checking the Transfer section of the Registrar’s website. There is general information there about what transfers and also a database of specific course equivalencies from some schools.

If your transfer credit has not been evaluated by the Registrar’s Office by the time you are registering, you need to select safe courses to take. Safe courses are ones for which you are sure you will not receive transfer credit. For example, if you have taken a Biology course, you might get transfer credit for SCI 1101, so you should not sign up for it. But if you haven’t taken any science courses in college, then SCI 1101 would be “safe” to take.

Requirements for your BBA Degree

Check the online KSU Undergraduate Catalog for the complete requirements that must be met to earn a BBA at KSU. Check sheets summarizing the courses required and some of the academic policies are available on our web pages for each Major. You can view the Major list here and the Minor list here.

Requirements for your BBA Degree

Registration Information for New Transfer Students

Almost all of the courses in the BBA program have prerequisites - you cannot take a course until you complete its prerequisites. It is important to plan your schedule so that you complete courses in the proper order and are not held up later because you are missing a prerequisite. You can check the prerequisites for a course in the online KSU Undergraduate Catalog or in the registration system. For additional Registration Help, visit Override & Policy Information.

Suggested Course Completion Sequence

Obviously transfer students come in at different stages of their programs and with different courses completed. Therefore, it is impossible for us to say here exactly what you should take in your first term at KSU. However, we have developed the list below to alert you to the highest priority courses you should take if you do not already have them completed.

The list below shows the courses in order of priority to complete - with the highest priority courses at the top.

ENGL 1101 and 1102 (English Composition)

You must earn a “C” or better in these courses. These courses are prerequisites to several business courses and to General Education courses.

MATH 1111 (College Algebra) or 1112 (College Trigonometry) or 1113 (Pre-calculus)

If you want to start with a higher math, discuss this with the Professional Business Advisors.
One of these courses is a prerequisite for Calculus and Calculus is required to proceed as a business major.
Do NOT take MATH 1101.
Do NOT take MATH 1107. If you have already taken MATH 1107 at another school, you may be able to use it in another area of your business degree, but it will not satisfy the General Education Math requirement for the BBA. Visit the Business Undergraduate Advising Center (BB 431) to discuss this issue.

MATH 1160 or 1190 (Calculus) or a higher Calculus course

All business majors must take a Calculus course.
The grade in this course will be used in the calculation of the Sophomore GPA Requirement that business majors must meet. You must have a minimum of a “C” in the course, and at least a “B” average in all the courses for the Sophomore GPA Requirement.

If you are interested in the International Business major, you will be required to complete several courses at the 2000- and 3000-level in one of the foreign languages approved by Coles. If you need to take the most basic course in a language (1001) as preparation for the 1002 course (which counts toward your General Education requirements), you should take the 1001 course in your first semester.

Sophomore GPA Requirement Courses

It is important to complete the Sophomore GPA Requirement courses as quickly as possible. Completion of the Sophomore GPA Requirement is one requirement for admission to the Coles College Undergraduate Professional Program. Admission to the Professional Program is necessary in order to take upper-division business courses and earn a BBA degree.

The Sophomore GPA Requirement courses are:

Calculus (MATH 1160 or 1190)
ACCT 2100 (Introduction to Financial Accounting)
ACCT 2200 (Introduction to Managerial Accounting)
ECON 2100 (Principles of Microeconomics)
ECON 2200 (Principles of Macroeconomics)
ECON 2300 (Business Statistics)
IS 2200 (Information Systems & Communication)
BLAW 2200 (Legal & Ethical Environment of Business)

You are required to earn a GPA of at least 3.00 in these eight courses, and you must have at least a “C” in each course. Courses may be repeated if necessary. If any of your Sophomore GPA Requirement courses are transferred in from another university and are not three-hour courses, that will affect the GPA calculation - be especially careful when you are checking whether you meet the 3.00 GPA.

If you have completed all the Sophomore GPA Requirement courses with at least a 3.00 GPA and a “C” or better in all the courses, you need to apply to the Coles College Undergraduate Professional Program. Visit the Business Undergraduate Advising Center to discuss this.

Admission to the Coles College Undergraduate Professional Program is required in order to register for 3000-level or 4000-level business courses.

- There are no exceptions to this prerequisite for 4000-level business courses.
- If you are almost finished with the Sophomore GPA Requirement, there may be a possibility of getting a Prerequisite Override to take a couple of 3000-level business courses while you are finishing the Requirement. It will depend on your grades in the courses you have completed and how many courses are completed. If you go to Orientation, these overrides will be handled for you. If you do not, you will have to submit your requests through the Coles Online Prerequisite Override Request System. Each request is individually reviewed and researched using your KSU online transcript information. If your transfer credit has not yet been entered into the KSU system, the override request will not be approved. More information about the override system in the Coles College can be found here.

Early in your first term at KSU (after your transfer credit has all been evaluated by the Registrar but no earlier than the 3rd week of classes), you should make an appointment with a Professional Business Advisor to discuss your plans for your remaining work at KSU.