Business is an incredibly popular field of interest for college students. An undergraduate degree in business provides a general understanding of the business world, but most schools offer more specialized majors such as accounting, finance, business administration, marketing, entrepreneurship, and international business.
Our list of small liberal arts colleges with business programs is short because business is not a liberal art, and very few liberal arts colleges currently have business programs in place. However, some argue that studying business within the context of a liberal arts education gives those students an advantage, because in addition to learning about business, they also spend more time reading, writing, thinking/learning about the world, and empathizing.
Below you’ll find our list:
Washington and Lee:
The Williams School at W&L was fully accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business in 1927. The available majors are accounting, business administration, economics, politics; and students can minor in entrepreneurship. W&L has resources for internships, jobs, and academic advisors. The program is also home to the Connolly Entrepreneurship Society, which is a group of students that meet weekly to attend guest lectures, get consulting advice for start-ups, and work on collaborative projects. There are 50 full-time faculty members, and 40% of students at Washington and Lee attend the Williams School.
Skidmore:
In addition to offering a bachelor of science in business, Skidmore also offers the following bachelor of arts interdepartmental majors: Business-French, Business-German, Business-Spanish, and Business-Political Science. Students at Skidmore approach business by studying numerous “dimensions” that shape and are shaped by business: ethical, historical, technological, cultural, creative, ecological and political forces. While there is an emphasis on liberal arts, the catalog of management, marketing, accounting, and finance courses is impressive.
Dickinson:
Dickinson offers a major in International Business and Management, an interdisciplinary program in which students study economics, business, management, and three courses beyond an intermediate level of a foreign language. The course catalog offers a wide variety of courses ranging from fundamentals of business to alcohol advertising’s contribution to addiction in 18-25 year olds. Students in the department must complete an internship to graduate, and juniors are encouraged to study abroad. There are also student-faculty research projects, which you can read more about here.
Franklin and Marshall:
Franklin and Marshall’s major in Business, Organizations, and Society (BOS) was created for students who want to work in the business world who are also interested in the intersection of business and social, political, culture, and technological issues of today’s world. The entry course for the major is called Organizing in the 21st century: Strategies for Organizing. Then you’ll go on to take classes in marketing, finance, and calculus. The requirements for graduation are broken out here. Overall, the curriculum is meant to teach students to hone their analytical, reasoning, and framing skills – in words they train you how to digest the material, draw conclusions, and analyze and argue all sides of an issue.
University of Richmond:
Richmond offers many business-related programs. The school has majors in accounting, business administration, and economics; minors in business administration and entrepreneurship; and concentrations in accounting, finance, economics, marketing, marketing consulting, marketing entrepreneurship, business analytics, and international business. As we said earlier, there are not many business programs at liberal arts schools, so if you’re interested in tailoring your major to one of the specific concentrations above, but don’t want to sacrifice a liberal arts education, Richmond is worth looking into.
If you want to study business, and you’re not sure where to do it, contact us here.