Mar 28, 2024  
Undergraduate Record 2019-2020 
    
Undergraduate Record 2019-2020 [ARCHIVED RECORD]

McIntire School of Commerce: Concentrations, Minors, and Tracks


Return to: McIntire School of Commerce: Programs/Courses  


Concentrations

Minors

Tracks


Concentrations


Note: McIntire students must declare at least one concentration and maintain a 2.0 cumulative grade point average in all Commerce and concentration courses to complete the B.S. in Commerce degree.  Only one Global Commerce Immersion (GCI) course may be counted toward a concentration.  Courses may not double-count to satisfy more than one concentration.

Accounting Concentration

The accounting program is designed to help students understand the role and responsibilities of accounting professionals. Graduates work as business consultants, financial managers, independent auditors, and tax advisers. McIntire’s accounting program is widely recognized as one of the country’s best, and graduates are highly sought. The program builds on the broad liberal arts background acquired during a student’s first two years at the University. It is designed to give the student both a sound general business foundation and the analytical and conceptual skills essential to an understanding of current accounting practices.

Accountants supply quantitative information to various users. Primarily financial in nature, this information is essential to decision making and control. As corporate financial managers, they also participate in financial decisions that allocate scarce resources within and among private and public organizations to achieve both economic and social goals. Equally important, accounting provides information to investors, creditors, government, and society on management’s stewardship and the effective use of an organization’s resources. Independent certified public accountants provide a wide variety of audit, tax, and consulting services to clients.

The basic requirements for the accounting concentration are COMM 3110 and 3120 during the third year and two courses from the list below. Students seeking professional certification (e.g., certified public accountant, certified management accountant, or certified internal auditor) should consider taking all accounting courses offered at McIntire.

University of Virginia students who have been admitted to the McIntire School of Commerce may apply for, and be accepted to, the McIntire M.S. in Accounting degree program after completing two semesters of study as a Commerce School student. Because this is a competitive admissions process, acceptance to the program is not guaranteed but ultimately hinges on the candidate’s record of accomplishments.

Requirements for admission to the Uniform Certified Public Accountant Examination (CPA Exam) vary by state. Students planning to sit for the CPA Exam should determine the requirements for admission to the examination by contacting their State Board of Accountancy.

For information on requirements for the Certified Management Accountant (CMA) examination, contact the Institute of Management Accountants, 10 Paragon Drive, Montvale, NJ 07645-1759; 1-800-638-4427.

Third Year - Required

  

  

Fourth Year

Select an additional 6 credits from the following list:

  •   
  •   
  • COMM 5110 - Financial Statement Analysis Credits: 3
  • COMM 5130 - Advanced Financial Accounting Credits: 3
  • COMM 5140 - Strategic Cost Management Credits: 3
  • COMM 5460 - Taxes and Business Strategy Credits: 3
  • COMM 5510 - Topics in Accounting - Topic: Reporting&Assurance-Western Europe Credits: 3 (Offered 2019-20)
  • COMM 5559 - Government & Non-Profit Accounting Credits: 1.5

Finance Concentration

The program in finance starts with an integrative perspective of the role of the global financial manager within the corporation, and it addresses the manner in which finance interacts with the other business disciplines in performing core functions of financial planning and control, analyzing investment alternatives, and raising funds. Finance concentrators learn to value projects and firms in a variety of contexts including, for example, private equity and distressed debt. The program also offers students an opportunity to learn about asset management and sales and trading including the construction of quantitative equity strategies and the construction and evaluation of endowment and private wealth portfolios. The program is designed to prepare students for a diverse set of possible career paths in finance. Recent McIntire graduates with a finance concentration have gone on to work, for example, for investment banks, private equity firms, hedge funds, asset management firms, and endowment funds. International financial topics are incorporated throughout the finance concentration. Students concentrating in finance are required to complete COMM 3110, 3720, 3721, 4710 and at least one specialized advanced course (COMM 4720, 4721, 4730, 4731, 4731).

Third Year - Required

Fourth Year

AND

Only one course from the following list:

Information Technology Concentration

IT is used to collect and analyze unprecedented amounts of data at incredible speed, and it is often the primary driver of most exciting product, process, and business model innovations in the modern era. Organizations need leaders with the knowledge and skills necessary to manage this amazing resource and to use it to produce business value. McIntire’s Information Technology concentration prepares students to become business analysts and consultants ready to apply their skills in project and product management, data analytics, and leading edge technologies to solve business problems in accounting, finance, marketing, management, entrepreneurship, and international business. Course material in the IT concentration focuses on project and product management, business analytics, database design and management, consulting, fintech, digital innovation, big data and cybersecurity.  IT concentrators are also offered an opportunity for an immersive technology-focused experience in locations such as Silicon Valley, Argentina, and Israel. To complete the IT concentration students must take COMM 3200 (third or fourth year) plus six credits of approved IT courses from the courses listed below:

Third Year - Required

Fourth Year

Select an additional (3 credits – Class of 2021 or 6 credits – Class of 2020):

* May be taken in Fourth Year

** New required course for Class of 2021

Management Concentration

The Management Concentration prepares students to be successful in the organizations they join and lead by providing courses which integrate the OB, strategy, & communication expertise of our faculty. In the required undergraduate curriculum, students learn foundational content that builds competencies in four areas that are critical to short- and long-term career success: 1) strategy formulation & analysis, 2) leading teams and organizations, 3) decision-making & negotiation, and 4) managerial communication.

The Management Concentration focuses on strategic leadership or how leaders manage and improve organizations over time. This concentration has particular relevance to those students who plan to work in advisory businesses (e.g., consulting, investment banking), launch their own organizations, or work in other contexts in which they will interface with senior leaders early in their careers. The cornerstone of this 9-credit concentration is the required Strategic Leadership of Organizations course, which is complemented with two courses selected from a varied set of high-quality electives.

Fourth Year - Required

Select up to two courses from this list (3-6 credits):

Select up to one course from this list (3 credits):

Marketing Concentration

The discipline of marketing is diverse in nature. In articulating and developing its content, it draws from the quantitative and social sciences. As such, the areas of accounting, economics, finance, law, mathematics, anthropology, psychology, sociology, and other related disciplines are used as resources for the conceptual, theoretical, and empirical underpinnings of the marketing discipline.

What product or service, and how much of it, should a company provide for its consumers? How should the product be distributed? How should the company inform consumers of the product’s existence and merits? What price should be placed on the product or service? How should the firm measure the success of its offerings in the marketplace? What marketing and customer analytics should be gathered and analyzed? Where and how much should marketers invest in digital and social media? These and other decision areas compromise the marketing function.

Every organization, profit or non-profit, must answer these questions in one form or another. It is the purpose of the marketing program to provide the student with the necessary theories and tools for answering these questions. The program’s objective is to make the student aware of the role of marketing in society and in the firm, where it interrelates with almost all organizational functions and influences virtually all plans and decisions.

Case analysis, discussion groups, experiential exercises, research reports, seminars, field projects, lectures, outside speakers, and the Advertising and Marketing Association (AMA), together with national marketing/advertising competitions (AAF, the American Advertising Federation competition), are all used to help students understand marketing. The marketing program is intended to meet the basic educational needs of students planning graduate study or entering profit or non-profit organizations in such areas as client relations, sales, advertising and promotion, brand management, distribution, international marketing, marketing research, and customer/marketing analytics, marketing consulting, logistics, purchasing, product management, retailing, and positions in the service industries.

Required Courses

Fourth Year

Must complete an additional 6 credits, which may include:


Minors


Entrepreneurship Minor

The Purpose

The purpose of the Entrepreneurship Minor is to prepare students to play crucial roles in the new venture community (as founders, investors, policy makers, technologists, executives, etc.), thereby impacting positively the world in which we live and creating value of all kinds. The new venture community is defined broadly, including not only startup companies, but also new ventures operating within or launched by established firms. The program provides an education in and experience with the tools, techniques, and transformations involved in new venture development, (e.g., ideation and innovation, team building, product-market fit, financial and social return, and legal dynamics).  While administratively hosted within the McIntire School of Commerce, the Entrepreneurship Minor connects entrepreneurship efforts among multiple schools at the University of Virginia through a coordinated and collective curriculum. Within the minor, students select one of three concentrations: Technology Entrepreneurship, supported by the School of Engineering & Applied Sciences, Social Entrepreneurship, supported by the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, or Innovation in Business, supported by coursework at the McIntire School of Commerce. Additional courses are offered by the School of Architecture, the College of Arts & Sciences, and the Curry School of Education, among others.

Required Courses

Plus, one course from the following, thereby initiating a concentration:

Electives

Complete three courses from the following list:

Capstone Options

Students must choose one (1) course from the following, either a rpoject-based or a venture-based capstone, to complete the minor:Choose at least three (3) credits from the following, either a project based or a student venture based capstone to complete the Minor:

Project-Based Capstone Courses

Venture-Based Accelerator Capstone

The completion of either the Leadership or Entrepreneurship Minor requires a minimum of 15 credits unique to that minor, i.e., not “double counted” for another major or minor in any school or any prerequisites for those degrees.

Leadership Minor

THE MINOR WILL BE ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS IN SPRING 2020.

The Purpose

The purpose of the Leadership minor is to transform how students think about leadership and to develop the skills they need to lead people and organizations in today’s complex global environment. With this minor, students will be able to supplement the intellectual depth in their chosen fields of study and enhance their contributions within these fields by leveraging their leadership knowledge, skills, and abilities in their work.

Eligibility

The Leadership minor begins with an application process open to students who are enrolled in COMM 2600-Leadership Across the Disciplines (3 credit hours) during the spring of second year. The application process is open to all undergraduate students enrolled in COMM 2600 whose academic requirements allow them the flexibility to take the required 15 credit hours. For those admitted to the program, COMM 2600 constitutes the first three credit hours of the program. During this course, late in the spring semester, the application process begins and all students in the course are eligible to apply for the Leadership Minor Program.

The Selection Criteria

The application process requires students to consider and articulate their motivation for completing the leadership minor, with particular emphasis on how the program will beneficially complement their core area of study and career goals. Admission is NOT limited to students with the most leadership experience. Students who have a demonstrated strong interest and potential for personal development and leadership are desired.

Curriculum

Students are required to complete the following courses:

Electives

In addition to the nine (9) required hours listed above, students must complete two electives (6 credits). First, students will complete up to 3 credit hours from a list of pre-approved Commerce Communication courses focused on persuasion and influence. These courses include:

Second, students will complete up to 3 credit hours from a list of pre-approved leadership electives offered at the University. Students must meet any pre-requisite requirements for elective courses. Pre-approved courses included:

Other relevant leadership courses may be eligible as electives if approved by the minor director.

The completion of either the Leadership or Entrepreneurship Minor requires a minimum of 15 credits unique to that minor, i.e., not “double counted” for another major or minor in any school or any prerequisites for those degrees.


Tracks


McIntire students can choose up to two of six tracks, an area of specialty that spans across several disciplines.  These optional tracks allow students the opportunity to further specialize in an area that augments the School’s core and concentration coursework.

Advertising and Digital Media Track

Overview

The Advertising and Digital Media Track is designed to teach students advanced topics in the area of Advertising and Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC), including digital media strategy. Using the American Advertising Federation’s (AAF) National Student Advertising Competition (NSAC) as the catalyst for hands-on learning, the emphasis of the track is to illustrate how market and consumer research lead to market understanding and consumer insights, and how these are essential for creating a persuasive and effective IMC campaign that utilizes, among other things, emerging digital technologies and digital media activations. Students enrolled in this track will become proficient in Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator) and video production, giving them the tools to design and execute their creative concepts. Students will also have access to market research databases utilized by brand managers, marketing analysts, and marketers in general, to make strategic marketing decisions.

Eligibility

The Advertising and Digital Media Track is open to all 4th year Commerce students who, 1) apply (in January of their 3rd year) and are accepted into the “Promotions” curriculum (see below), and whose academic requirements allow them the flexibility to take the required 12 credit hours.

Selection Criteria

All McIntire students accepted into “Promotions” are eligible to enroll in the Advertising and Digital Media Track. The application process for the “Promotions” program occurs early in the spring semester of the third year and includes submission of written materials (a resume and completed application specifically designed for the track) and an interview. Criteria for acceptance into Promotions, and therefore eligibility to enroll in the track, include past academic performance, a demonstrated desire to work in advertising, digital media, brand strategy/management, or a related field past relevant work experience, and the ability to think in a strategic and creative manner that is required to be successful in the career paths in which this track will prepare students.

Curriculum

Required Courses (9 credits)

Admission into Comm 4372 and 4374 is not guaranteed and is based on a student’s performance in COMM 4371 and 4373 and on his/her group peer evaluations for the fall semester.

Electives (3 credits)

In addition to the nine (9) required credit hours listed above, students must complete 3 credits from the following courses:

Note: Admission to the track does not guarantee admission to any of the classes above. Instead, the list of electives is meant to provide a broad set of courses consistent with the objectives of the track.

Business Analytics Track

Overview

Business Analytics Track is designed to provide students with broad, interdisciplinary knowledge and skills that help managers leverage analytics to improve performance and decision-making. Students will learn practical research skills necessary to design, create, and analyze data sets as well as to report meaningful insights to diverse audiences. Students will appreciate the challenges and opportunities facing a wide array of commercial enterprises that rely on analytics to make key strategic decisions.

Eligibility

The Business Analytics Track is open to all Commerce students whose academic requirements allow them the flexibility to take the required 12 credit hours.

Curriculum

Required Courses (9 credits)

Electives (3 credits)

Entrepreneurship Track

Overview

The purpose of the Entrepreneurship Track, like that of the Entrepreneurship Minor, is to prepare students to play crucial roles in the new venture community–whether as founders, intrapreneurs, investors, policy makers, technologists, general executives, or otherwise. Our goal is that via these new ventures graduates will have a positive impact upon the world in which we live, thereby creating value of all kinds. Through case discussions, workshops, guest speakers, and team projects, the Track’s coursework provides an education in and experience with the tools, techniques, and transformations involved in new venture development (e.g., ideation and innovation, team building, product-market fit, venture viability and diligence, financial and social return, managing for growth and impact). The Entrepreneurship Track provides a select number of Commerce students with the unique opportunity to: explore the professional processes, concepts communities and tools that facilitate new-venture success; examine the sources of financing for a new venture; evaluate a start-up’s or innovation project’s ability to not only be financially sustainable, but also generate compelling financial and/or social returns; and apply these principles through practical application via new ventures and teams.  The coursework includes lectures, case discussions, short-form pitches and long-form presentations, viability assessments, rapid prototyping exercises, guest speakers, and a venture acceleration laboratory.

Eligibility

The Entrepreneurship Track is open to Commerce students whose academic requirements allow them the flexibility to take the required 12 credit hours.  All interested students must successfully complete COMM 4680 or COMM 4559 Managing Innovation, two elective courses, and one Capstone course in order to complete the requirements of the Entrepreneurship Track.

Required Courses (6 credits)

Elective Courses

6 credits required from the courses listed below:

Global Commerce Track

Overview

The Global Commerce track, a course of study spanning multiple concentration areas, is designed to provide students with a broad and interdisciplinary understanding of global business environments, an in-depth regional perspective, and an appreciation of the challenges and opportunities facing a wide array of commercial enterprises operating within these interrelated environments. 

Eligibility

The Global Commerce track is open to all Commerce students whose academic requirements allow them the flexibility to take the required 12 credit hours.  Note that some courses taken to satisfy requirements of the Global Commerce track may also satisfy other concentration requirements.

Required Courses

6 credits required from the courses listed below:

Elective Courses

6 credits required from the courses listed below:

Global Commerce Scholars

Application required spring of third year

The Global Commerce Scholars (GCS) program provides fourth-year McIntire students with the opportunity to carry out research and write a thesis under the guidance of one or more faculty advisors. Students will learn about professional research methods and practice as well as career opportunities in research. The experience will be especially valuable to students considering graduate studies leading to research careers in business, consulting, government, or academia. Students who successfully complete this research program are designated as “Scholars in Global Commerce” at graduation.

The GCS thesis project is carried out across the students’ entire fourth year. Admitted students register for COMM 4840 (2 credits) for the fall semester, during which they will produce a literature review and a detailed research proposal. Students whose proposals are approved by the GCS faculty advisors will complete their research and write the thesis while e registered for COMM 4841 (3 credits) during the spring of the fourth year.  The program also has a research methods requirement that must be satisfied by the end of the fall semester of the fourth year. Generally, marketing and management concentrators will satisfy the research methods requirement with COMM 3330 (Marketing Research Techniques), while accounting and finance concentrators will do so with ECON 3720 (Econometrics). Students may petition Program Director, Bill Wilhelm for approval of an alternative methods courses, but the requirement cannot be waived.

Interested students are encouraged to contact Professor Wilhelm to discuss their ideas and identify an advisor for their project. Most recent students have been informally admitted to the program well in advance of the application period that takes place shortly before spring course registration. The program is limited to 8-10 students. For additional information, visit our website: www.commerce.virginia.edu/undergrad/global/scholars

Quantitative Finance Track

Overview

The Quantitative Finance Track is designed to develop students’ analytical skills and prepare them for quantitatively focused careers in finance. The track is appropriate for students pursuing careers in areas such as asset/investment management, sales/trading, risk management/compliance, and FinTech. Students will gain a better understanding of model-based decision-making using tools from a variety of areas such as economics, operations research, statistics, computer science, and information technology.

Eligibility

The Quantitative Finance Track is available by application to all Commerce students whose academic requirements allow them the flexibility to take the required 12 credit hours.

Selection Criteria

Students apply for admission into the track at the beginning of the spring semester of the third year. Application materials include a resume, a one-page statement of purpose and interest, and a summary of all quantitative coursework taken to date including performance. Past quantitative coursework draws from departments such as chemistry, computer science, economics, mathematics, physics, and statistics, as well as all disciplines in the School of Engineering & Applied Science. Completion of a programming class is strongly recommended. Criteria for admission include past academic performance, past quantitative background, and the statement of purpose and interest. Admission is limited to 20-30 students.

Required Courses

One of the following three quantitative trading-based courses must be completed:

Required Capstone

Electives

3 credits from the courses listed below:

Note that admission to the track does not guarantee admission to each of the classes above. Instead, the list of electives is meant to provide a broad set of quantitative courses consistent with the objectives of the track. Typically courses outside of the Commerce School are appropriate for students double majoring in that particular department. Also, other quantitative courses may satisfy the track elective requirement. Please see the Quantitative Finance Track Coordinator about this.

Any two of the three classes COMM 4731, COMM 4732, and COMM 4230 can be taken to satisfy the track’s requirements. One will satisfy the quantitative trading-based required course; the other will satisfy the elective course.

Real Estate Track

Overview

Real Estate constitutes a large portion of the wealth, banking activity, and investment opportunities of the world’s varied economies. Characterized by localized, opaque, illiquid, highly cyclic, and relatively inefficient markets, commercial real estate investments tend to be ripe with both opportunity and risk. McIntire’s Real Estate Track is focused on providing a competitive edge to students that choose career or personal investment paths within this challenging environment. To this end, we have chosen understanding value as the RE Track’s theme given that valuation is central to real estate decision making. The value theme is framed within a broad model we refer to as commercial real estate’s three Ps–Principles, Perspectives, and Players–used to categorize and organize industry knowledge.

Within this strategic context, our program plays to key McIntire strengths–a talented, dedicated, team oriented student body operating within an honor code system and an equally dedicated group of outstanding real estate professionals–both friends and alumni–who mentor students, guest lecture, and share their experiences through an evolving collection of proprietary real estate investment case studies. Their involvement facilitates our dedication to active learning through historic and live cases plus presentations by “master” real estate investors, decision-makers and their equally outstanding organizations. This in turn enables us to test academic theory and empirical evidence regarding successful analytical principles applicable to real estate investment decision making within an organizational context.

Our program considers optimal real estate development and investment patterns with the context of sustainable urban environments and stewardship of our planet’s natural resources –both being key elements in the University of Virginia’s land use philosophy and commitment to future generations.

Eligibility

McIntire’s Real Estate track is open to all fourth-year Commerce students whose academic requirements allow them the flexibility to take the required 12 credit hours consisting of three potential real estate classes and one approved elective or with Director approval two of the three real estate classes and two approved electives. We highly recommend that students take COMM 4790 - Fundamentals of Real Estate Analysis (3 credit hours) during the fall semester of their fourth year. This exposure to fundamentals of analysis provides a solid basis of basic theory and experience from which to build a solid analytical skill set related to the wide variety of commercial real estate alternatives across global commercial real estate opportunities. Many students find it difficult with their curriculum to enroll in both the fall and spring real estate offerings. We have made it possible to successfully complete the Real Estate Track by allowing the students to take two of the three fourth year Real Estate courses. If students are unable to take COMM 4790, we can assign a home study program over the semester break to assure their learning curve is on par with other Real Estate Track participants. We prefer that participants take the full offering of McIntire Real Estate course offered but other electives can be substituted for one of those required courses. Such electives may be chosen from the attached list of approved Commerce courses. Requests that deviate from taking the full array of real estate courses must be accompanied by a student’s formal written request and the Director’s subsequent approval.

Keep in mind that some students enter the RE Track with exprience and may seek a more spcialized course of real estate study relating to future professional objectives. Our flexibility with regard to course make-up provides flexibility in this regard as well. Our ultimate goal is to enhance the student’s ability to engage and excel in commercial real estate analysis and investment activities and, thus, we also encourage students seeking less than full exposure to the topic to seek out opportunities to take less that the full menu of courses. We are always ready to discuss appropriate avenues of study along these lines.

Core Curriculum (9 credits preferred, 6 credits minimum) 

Required Courses

Electives

3-6 credits from the courses listed below:(3 credits preferred, 6 credits maximum)