Business-Related Courses and Programs
Programs and certificates
Programs at Northwestern that teach important business skills and knowledge include the following:
- Harvey Kapnick Center for Business Institutions: This interdisciplinary minor program focuses on how the complex organizations of businesses function to meet the demands of customers, workers, ownership, government, and technology. This program also offers the possibility of for-credit internships in Chicago and around the world.
- Chicago Field Studies: CFS places students in a designed one-quarter internship program with a wide variety of top businesses and organizations in the Chicago area. Programs carry 1-4 credits and focus on a variety of subjects, such as social justice, law, business, and organizational behavior. CFS students intern up to 36 hours per week, depending on the program. Internship organizations are treated as sites for original research, which forms the cornerstone of seminar discussions and assignments. This program is offered, by application, every quarter, including summers.
- Kellogg School of Management Certificate Programs for Undergraduates: There are two Kellogg certificate programs: Financial Economics and Managerial Analytics. Each program involves four courses taught at a very high level by Kellogg School faculty. Students also have the opportunity to undertake a research project with a Kellogg faculty member. To be accepted into either program, students must have completed a set of seven prerequisite undergraduate-level courses including calculus, probability, statistics, and economics. Typically, students apply at the end of their sophomore year.
- Medill Undergraduate Integrated Marketing Communications Certificate: The five-credit undergraduate IMC certificate program prepares students for entry-level marketing communications positions, including advertising; direct, database, e-commerce and interactive marketing; public relations; and corporate communications. The program focuses on effective marketing communications strategies, tactics, and tools in an increasingly consumer-controlled environment.
- Undergraduate Leadership Program: This two-year program is open to sophomores and juniors and teaches the history, methods, and problems that go with various forms of leadership. Leadership is often held up as an abstract quality, but it is only by breaking it down to study it carefully, and by trying out various approaches in the face of challenges, that we can hope to understand and apply this elusive talent.
Courses
Beyond your major and what is offered through organized programs, you can choose classes that will teach you business skills and create an academic record that you can show to any potential employers. Here are some suggested classes that have direct applicability to the world of business. This list is hardly exhaustive, but please note that some of these courses require prerequisites.
Accounting and Finance
- Business Institutions 301: Accounting
- Business Institutions 304: Corporate Finance
- Business Institutions 394: Professional Linkage Seminar - Theories of Financial Investing
- Economics 308: Money and Banking
- Economics 309: Elements of Public Finance
- Economics 360-1: Foundations of Corporate Finance Theory
- Economics 360-2: Investments
- Industrial Engineering (IEMS) 326: Economics and Finance for Engineers
- Industrial Engineering (IEMS) 373: Introduction to Financial Engineering
- Mathematics 366-1: Mathematical Models in Finance
Advertising
- Journalism (IMC) 303: Integrated Marketing Communications Strategy
- Journalism (IMC) 304: Media and Message Delivery
Business Organizational Studies
- Business Institutions 303: Leadership in Organizations
- Business Institutions 321: Business and Economic Institutions in Historical Perspective
- Business Institutions 394: Professional Linkage Seminar - Entrepreneurial Start-Up Creation
- Business Institutions 394: Professional Linkage Seminar - Positive Entrepreneurship
- Sociology 215: Economy and Society
- Sociology 302: Sociology of Organizations
- Sociology 331: Markets, Hierarchies, and Democracies
- Learning and Organizational Change (LOC) 211: Introduction to Organization Theory and Practice
- Learning and Organizational Change (LOC) 306: Studies in Organizational Change
- Industrial Engineering (IEMS) 325: Engineering Entrepreneurship
Communications and Negotiation
- Communication Studies 205: Theories of Persuasion
- Communication Studies 363: Bargaining and Negotiation
- Communication Studies 364: Collective Decision Making and Communication in Organizations
International Studies
- Economics 361: International Trade
- Economics 362: International Finance
- History 319: History of US Foreign Relations
- Political Science 240: Introduction to International Relations
- Political Science 340: International Relations Theory
- Political Science 342: International Organizations
Management
- Business Institutions 394: Professional Linkage Seminar - Lessons in Nonprofit Management
- Economics 202: Introduction to Microeconomics
- Economics 310-1: Microeconomics 1
- Economics 310-2: Microeconomics 2
- Economics 339: Labor Economics
- Economics 349: Industrial Economics
Marketing
- Business Institutions 302: Marketing Management
- Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) 300: Introduction to Integrated Marketing Communications
- Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) 301: Consumer Insight
- Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) 302: Research for Marketing Communications
- Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) 303: Integrated Marketing Communications Strategy