Business and Entertainment (BS)

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Offered by the Kogod School of Business and unique to American University, the BS in Business and Entertainment is a four-year program for students with strong interests in business and the business of entertainment. The program offers a substantial, exciting, and integrated curriculum that prepares students for a career in the entertainment sector. Students learn about the business of entertainment by completing Kogod’s AACSB-accredited core business program, an entertainment core, and an entertainment specialization track.

The Business and Entertainment program gives students a strong foundation of academic and hands-on coursework. The business core provides a broad array of basic business knowledge and skills in areas such as accounting, finance, management, marketing, operations management, information technology, and business strategy. The entertainment core focuses on economic, legal, and business aspects of the entertainment industry itself, preparing students for work in this challenging area. In completing the entertainment specialization track, students learn more about a particular sector or field of interest within the general entertainment industry. Specialization areas include agency, audio technology, and music performance. In consultation with the Business and Entertainment Program Director, students may also create self-designed specializations. Finally, students may leverage their academic experience with a for-credit internship, membership in the Business and Entertainment Club, and numerous co-curricular experiences.

Admission to the Program

Freshman applicants should have demonstrated above average performance in their college preparatory courses in secondary school. Scores on the SAT or ACT should indicate that the applicant has the potential for success in a rigorous university degree program. Due to the quantitative emphasis of the business administration curriculum, it is strongly recommended that applicants take the SAT II Math test for placement purposes.

In addition to university requirements for transfer admission, transfer applicants (including non-degree and degree seeking from other academic units) to KSB should have a minimum grade point average of 2.75 (on a 4.00 scale). All transfer students are required to take MGMT-458 and at least 18 upper-level credit hours toward their major requirements in residence. Transfer credits for 300-level and above business courses are subject to validation by the appropriate department chair and may be conditional on successful completion of a more advanced course at American University.

University Requirements

120 credit hours with a cumulative GPA of 2.00 or better
Completion of college writing requirement
Completion of university mathematics requirement

General Education Requirements

A total of ten courses, consisting of two courses from each of the five foundational areas.
At least one course from Area Five: The Natural and Mathematical Sciences must include a laboratory science component.
No more than two courses may be taken in the same discipline.

Note: Foundational Area 4 should be fulfilled by ECON-100 Macroeconomics FA4 and ECON-200 Microeconomics FA4 with grades of C or better (pass/fail grades are not permitted).

Major Requirements

A total of 120 credit hours with a cumulative grade point average of 2.00 or higher.
- Students must ensure that no more than 66 of the 120 credit hour graduation requirement are taken within the Kogod School of Business.
- IBUS-200 and FIN-200 are considered business courses and may not count toward the non-business course requirement even if they are taken for General Education credit.
- Students must complete 45 of the last 60 credit hours on campus, with a minimum of 15 credit hours of upper-level courses.
A total of 77-78 credit hours with grades of C or better for the major requirements.
Business core courses: 38 credit hours with grades of C or better (pass/fail grades are not permitted).
Entertainment core courses: 13 credit hours with grades of C or better (pass/fail grades are not permitted).
Entertainment specialization: 12-15 credit hours with grades of C or better (pass/fail grades are not permitted).
Students must maintain a minimum cumulative grade point average of 2.0 to be eligible to enroll in business or music courses.
A student may count no more than three internship credits in total towards the 120 credit graduation requirement for an undergraduate business degree.

Course Requirements

Students are responsible for fulfilling university and school requirements following a prescribed sequence. Students work closely with their academic advisor in Kogod to ensure appropriate course sequencing. However, it is the student’s responsibility to consult course descriptions to identify course prerequisites and to determine when courses are offered.

Non-Business (14-15 credit hours)

Complete the following courses with a grade of C or better:

ECON-100 Macroeconomics FA4 (3)
ECON-200 Microeconomics FA4 (3)
MATH-211 Applied Calculus I (4)
or
MATH-221 Calculus I (4)
STAT-204 Introduction to Business Statistics (4)
or
ITEC-210 Data Analysis for Business (1) and STAT-202 Basic Statistics (4) / STAT-203 Basic Statistics with Calculus (4) (Available only to students who transferred statistics from another institution or completed STAT-202 or STAT-203 prior to enrollment in Kogod)

Business Core (38 credit hours)

AT = analytical tool emphasis; provides a strong foundation in business analytical software

C = case analysis emphasis; provides growth opportunities for students to evaluate cases

O = oral communication emphasis; assists in the development of oral presentation skills

T = teamwork emphasis; focuses on teamwork and the importance of interpersonal relationships and communication

W = written communication emphasis; develops business writing skills, written assignments account for a significant part of the course grade

ACCT-240 Principles of Financial Accounting (3)
ACCT-241 Principles of Managerial Accounting (3) (AT)
ACCT-244 Introduction to Business Law (3)
or
MGMT-203 The Legal Environment of Business (3)
FIN-365 Business Finance (3) (AT)
IBUS-300 Fundamentals of International Business (3) (C/W)
ITEC-200 The Edge of Information Technology (3) (AT)
ITEC-355 Production/Operations Management (3) (AT/C)
KSB-100 Business 1.0 (3)
(students not taking KSB-100 in their freshman year take a 300- or 400-level business course in its place)
KSB-211 Business Professionalism (2)
MGMT-201 Global Corporate Citizenship FA3 (3) (O)
MGMT-353 Management and Organizational Behavior (3) (T)
MGMT-458 Business Policy and Strategy (3) (C/O/T/W)
MKTG-300 Principles of Marketing (3) (W)

Entertainment Core (13 credit hours)

ITEC-335 Social Networking, Social Media, and Web 2.0 (3)
KSB-391 Internship (1-6) (1 credit hours required)
or
1 credit hour in another approved internship
MGMT-301 The Entertainment Industry: Structure and Business Models (3)
MGMT-302 Entertainment Law (3)
MGMT-304 Protecting the Creative Class in the Face of Technological Innovation (3)
or
MGMT-305 Music Publishing and Copyright (3)

Entertainment Specialization (12-16 credit hours)

Select one of the entertainment specializations below or design a custom specialization with the assistance and approval of the Business and Entertainment Program Director. Specializations are 12-16 credit hours.

Agency (12 credit hours)

Audio Technology (12 credit hours)

ATEC-101 Fundamentals of Audio Technology (3)
ATEC-102 Audio Technology Laboratory (1)
ATEC-301 Digital Audio Workstations I (3)
ATEC-311 Sound Studio Techniques I (4)
2 credit hours of approved audio technology lab courses

Film (16 credit hours)

Music Performance (12 credit hours)

Music Theory

PERF-124 Music Theory I (3)

Private Study

Complete 4 credit hours from the following:

Performance Ensembles

Complete 2 credit hours from the following:

Music History

Complete 3 credit hours from the following:

Combined Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees

American University offers students the opportunity to earn both undergraduate and graduate degrees through its combined bachelor’s/master’s programs. Advanced undergraduates admitted to a combined degree program that includes a master’s degree from Kogod are eligible to take graduate-level courses and may apply up to 9 graduate credit hours earned as an undergraduate toward the requirements for both degrees. See Combined Bachelor’s and Kogod School of Business Master’s Programs for more information.