Business Minors Policies and FAQs

All courses must be completed with a letter grade of C or better.  Effective with the Summer 2021 term, S/U grades will NOT be accepted.

Yes, AP/IB credit will be accepted as long as the credit has been accepted by your home college at Cornell (listed on your transcript), and you’ve met the score requirement (based on Cornell enrollment date – visit the Courses of Study website to confirm). To add to your dashboard, you should select the AP course option and enter “S” as the grade.

No. Core requirements and transfer/substitution policies vary across minors. Make sure to carefully read the requirements for your minor’s core courses.

Course substitution requests must be submitted for review PRIOR to taking the course. The request will be reviewed by the curriculum committee to determine if the course will meet your minor’s requirements. When you submit your substitution petition, a copy of the proposed course’s syllabus with the following information is required: mode of instruction, institution, instructor, number of credits, meeting times/hours, exam schedule, and list of topics covered.
*Note: we will NOT accept course descriptions or overviews.

Cornell course substitutions, study abroad courses, and courses taken at another institution may all be submitted for review via a substitution petition.

All requests must be made in advance of course enrollment, with the exception of transfer credits taken prior to Cornell enrollment. A petition is not an automatic approval – we need to evaluate course content.  When you submit your substitution petition, a current version of the course syllabus is required. If you are considering taking a course outside of Cornell, you should check with your college’s registrar for specific policies about transfer credit before you enroll in the course.

Only one substitution is allowed per minor, whether for foundation or core courses.

Any/all foundation courses that have been accepted by your home college at Cornell are eligible for review to be applied toward your minor. Additionally, one core course can be submitted for review. All transfer credit requests (with the exception of AP/IB) must be submitted via the “Substitution Petition” link located in your Minors Dashboard. The minors office will then consult with the faculty director and/or review committee to verify course content, to ensure it is equivalent to the Cornell course.

In order to receive a business minor, nine of the required credits must be completed at Cornell. Additionally, each minor has an “in-house” requirement of credits that must be taken within JCB (AEM, HADM, NCC/NBA).  If you are able to meet those requirements with a substitution, you may request one. All substitution requests must be submitted via the “Substitution Petition” link located in your Minors Dashboard.

The minors office will accept any/all foundation courses that have been accepted by your home college as long as they have been accepted/transferred in as the equivalent required minors course (example below).

Incoming Course (from University of Connecticut) – ECON 1201: Principles of Microeconomics

Transferred to Term Spring 2023 (Cornell University) – ECON 1110 Transfer Credit 

The minors office will NOT accept any core courses that have been transferred in as a lesser amount of credits than the Cornell requirement.

*Note – this often happens with institutions that use the quarter system (10-week sessions).

No. Any/all foundation courses are eligible for review, in addition to one core course. No exceptions.

No. A copy of the syllabus (including: mode of instruction, institution, instructor, number of credits, meeting times/hours, exam schedule, and list of topics) is required in order to determine whether the course meets the necessary requirements of your minor. *Note: we will NOT accept course descriptions or overviews.

Plan ahead. Review each minor’s eligibility and course requirements on our website to determine if you will be able to complete the minor during your time as an undergraduate. Plan a course of study that will help you complete the requirements. Reach out to the Minors office to discuss your course plan and feasibility of completing the minor during your time at Cornell.

You may sign up for your chosen minor as early as your first year. This will give you enough time to plan out your courses. Your will be eligible to enroll in the core courses starting your sophomore year.  The latest you may sign up for a minor is by your sixth semester at Cornell, typically the fall of your junior year. Please use the Business Minors Dashboard to sign up. You are not officially pursuing one of the minors until you are signed up in our system.

Your course plan is your plan of courses you’ll take to complete the minor. On your dashboard, enter in your planned courses and semester under each category and then your plan will be complete.

You will not be penalized if your actual course of study deviates from your plan. We realize things change, but we want you to plan ahead and have a viable course plan during your time at Cornell.

All requirements must be completed with a grade of C or better. Effective with the Summer 2021 term, S/U grades will NOT be accepted.

A course will usually be marked rejected for one of three reasons:

1) You did not meet the grade minimum of a C.

2) You entered the wrong course. The exact course number as listed on your student record needs to be listed otherwise it will come back as rejected (i.e. AEM 2241 versus HADM 2250, both which are finance courses).

3) You took a course outside of Cornell and it needs to be submitted via the substitution petition.

You are required to report your own courses and grades. We verify your completed courses and grades against your student record.

Once all coursework has been completed and your final grades are posted, you are ready to confirm completion! You will be prompted to attest you have met all requirements and be given a short survey. The minors office will be notified and will verify your minor completion and submit for the minor to be listed on your transcript—this will not happen until you confirm completion.

We do not limit the number of business minors that you can pursue. However, some minors cannot be taken together because they are too similar to each other. The important rule is that students may not “double count” courses that overlap with the other business minors – courses may only count toward one minor.

You may pursue only one of the business minors (Business, DBME, DBMLS, FAB) in combination with one of the other minors, should you choose. 

You may drop your minor at any time without penalty. To drop the minor, simply select “Drop Minor” from your profile on the Business Minors Dashboard.

Once the minors offices reviews your confirm completion, you will get an auto-email saying your minor is complete. Your dashboard will also show “COMPLETE”. You will see your minor listed on your transcript AFTER your degree is conferred.

If you have submitted your confirm completion, please be patient while your minor is being reviewed. If there is an issue with your minor, you will receive an email explaining what changes need to be made to complete your minor.

We recommend to begin with the foundation courses. For the business minors, students tend to start with a management, marketing or accounting course and then follow with a finance course.

Capstone courses are taken last and intended to bring together all of your coursework in a practical application.

**Please note** some courses are offered in only fall or only spring. As you are planning your minor, look ahead to see when the courses are offered to ensure that it will fit with the plan you’ve chosen.

Policies on retaking courses varies across colleges.  We recommend you check with your registrar as well as the Minors office.

Some of our minors have an in-school credit requirement or a JCB requirement to complete the minor. This means that of the courses you are already taking for your minor, a certain amount of those credits must be from the Johnson College of Business (JCB). These courses include any course code of AEM, HADM, NBA, or NCC.

You can see the amount of in-school credit required for each respective minor on their individual pages on the website or on your dashboard.