Strategy, Innovation, & Entrepreneurship

Gies Business only accepts applications for fall enrollment. You must apply to and be directly admitted to Gies to pursue a Gies undergraduate degree; students are not able to apply and enroll in another campus program outside of Gies Business, including the Division of Exploratory Studies, and then transfer into Gies at a later date. In addition, second bachelor’s degree applications are not eligible due to space limitations.


Admissions Requirements

GPA

It is expected that applicants to this program will have a minimum GPA of 3.0 (A = 4.0). For Fall 2023, the average GPA for admitted students was 3.8.

Coursework

Students With Fewer Than 50 Transferable Credit Hours at Time of Application

If you’ll apply to Illinois with fewer than 50 transferable credit hours, you must complete transfer coursework equivalent to the following University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign courses before or during the term you’re submitting your application:

  • ECON 102, Microeconomic Principles
  • ECON 103, Macroeconomic Principles
  • One of the following:
    • MATH 115, Preparation for Calculus
    • MATH 220, Calculus
    • MATH 221, Calculus I
    • MATH 231, Calculus II
    • MATH 234, Calculus for Business I
    • STAT 100, Statistics
  • RHET 105, Writing & Research (requires a two-course English composition sequence at most schools)
  • CS 105, Intro Computing: Non-Tech
    • or CS 101, Intro Computing: Engrg & Sci
    • or CS 124, Intro to Computer Science I

Students With 50 or More Transferable Credit Hours at Time of Application

In addition to the courses listed above, if you’ll apply to Illinois with 50 or more transferable credit hours, you must complete transfer coursework equivalent to the following University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign courses before or during the term you’re submitting your application:

  • ACCY 201, Accounting & Accountancy I
  • ACCY 202, Accounting & Accountancy II
    • You can substitute ACCY 201 and 202 for a Financial Accounting course and a Managerial Accounting course at the same institution.

Language Other than English

For admission to this program, you must have completed either three years of one language other than English in high school or two years of one language other than English in college prior to your desired term of entry.

For AdmissionFor Graduation
Level 3 if completed during high school
Level 2 if completed during college
Level 3

Admissions Recommendations

Coursework

Although it isn’t required that you do so in order to be admitted, we also recommend that all students complete transfer coursework equivalent to the following University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign courses before or during the term you’re submitting your application:

  • CMN 101, Public Speaking

Credit Hours & Term Limits

If you have over 70 graded college credit hours or more than four full-time fall/spring college semesters at the time of application, you’ll be under special admission review based on space limitation. If you have five or more graded college semesters or a high level of graded hours, we recommend you consider other options, such as pursuing a different undergraduate degree at UIUC, followed by our Gies Master’s degree program. Gies Business students are limited to nine terms of full-time enrollment to complete all degree requirements. This limitation includes terms completed at other institutions. Summer and winter terms aren’t included in this limitation.


Graduation Requirements

To graduate all students are required to complete at least 45 semester hours of credit at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. At least 21 of these credit hours must be at the 300 or 400 level.

General Education Courses

Included in our graduation requirements are general education (gen ed) courses. These classes allow you to gain and use broad knowledge beyond the specialized learning you’ll do through your major. Learn more about our general education requirements. You may be able to use Transferology to find gen ed courses that will transfer over from your institution to Illinois.

Language Other than English

To graduate from Illinois, you must complete three years of one language other than English in high school or through the third level (three semesters) of one language other than English in college. We strongly encourage you to complete our language requirement for graduation before transferring.

For AdmissionFor Graduation
Level 3 if completed during High School
Level 2 if completed during College
Level 3

Learn More About This Major

To learn more about this program, including degree requirements and similar majors, we encourage you to check out the below resources.