Entrance Requirements, Application Process, and Class Scheduling for students new to Penn State in summer 2023, fall 2023, or spring 2024.
Entrance to Major Requirements, the Major Application Process, and Class Scheduling for students entering Penn State in summer 2023, fall 2023, or spring 2024.
Requirements for Entering a Major - Known as the Entrance to Major (ETM) process, applying and entering a major occurs within a defined window of completed Penn State cumulative units (credits), attainment of the minimum cumulative Grade Point Average (GPA), and completion or enrolled in ETM courses. Specific ETM requirements include:
- 1. Be enrolled at Penn State as a pre-major in the Smeal College of Business or the Division of Undergraduate Studies (DUS).
- 2. Have earned a minimum of 36.0 but not more than 59.0 cumulative units (credits) at Penn State.
- 3. Have completed or are in-progress the following course requirements:
- English Composition: ENGL 15, ENGL 30, ESL 15, ENGL 137H or CAS 137H (C or better grade)
- Microeconomics: ECON 102
- Calculus: MATH 110 or MATH 140 (C or better grade)
- Statistics: SCM 200 or STAT 200 (C or better grade)
- 4. Have completed or are in-progress the following course requirements at Penn State with a grade of C or better. With advisor consent, students may take ACCTG 201 and ACCTG 202 in lieu of taking ACCTG 211.
- Financial and Managerial Accounting: ACCTG 211
- Basic Management Concepts: MGMT 301
- Principles of Marketing: MKTG 301
- Corporation Finance: FIN 301
- 5. Students pursuing the Actuarial Science major take MATH 140 and MATH 141 to satisfy the calculus requirement.
- 6. At the time of applying for a major, students must have the minimum cumulative Grade Point Average (GPA) posted for the major of their choice. The minimum GPA must be maintained until the ETM process is complete.
| Major | Cumulative GPA |
| Accounting -- ACCTG_BS | 3.00 |
| Actuarial Science -- ACTSC_BS | 3.20 |
| Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship -- CIENT_BS | 3.20 |
| Finance -- FIN_BS | 3.50 |
| Management -- MGMT_BS | 3.20 |
| Management Information Systems -- MIS_BS | 3.00 |
| Marketing -- MKTG_BS | 3.25 |
| Real Estate -- REST_BS | 3.20 |
| Risk Management -- RM_BS | 3.20 |
| Supply Chain and Information Systems -- SCIS_BS | 3.20 |
Applying for a Major – Students apply for a major via LionPath’s Update Academics. There are several application statuses students will then be placed in:
- Permanent Approval – Student has met all entrance criteria including completion of all required courses and is enrolled in their major.
- Conditional or Conditional Approval – Student has met all entrance criteria and has at least one required course in-progress.
- Dean's Review - The college must review the request manually.
- Final Approval – Student was in Conditional Approval status and has completed all requirements and has maintained the appropriate GPA. They are then enrolled in their major.
- Conditional Denied – Student was in Conditional Approval status and did not complete all requirements or maintain the appropriate GPA for their major. Their academic plan will revert back to Smeal or DUS pre-major status.
- Denied – Student applied for a major but has not met one or more of the entrance requirements.
Units (credits) earned at Penn State along with Advanced Placement and Transfer Credits
- Cumulative Units (credits) - These are units earned at Penn State and count towards your GPA. These are often listed in LionPath and transcripts as "GPA Units" or "Units Towards GPA".
- Transfer Units - Units earned from another institution which count towards Total Units. Transfer (courses) units can satisfy some specific ETM course requirements but will not count towards the cumulative units needed to apply for a major.
- Advanced Placement (AP) Units - These are units through various agencies (e.g., Educational Testing Services) which count towards total units. AP courses can satisfy some ETM course requirements but will not count towards the cumulative units needed to apply for a major.
Suggested Academic Plan for Entrance To Major
First Semester (term) | Second Semester (term) |
|---|---|
First Year Seminar (1) English Composition - ENGL 015, ENGL 30, ESL 15, ENGL 137H, or CAS 137H (3)1, 2 Calculus - MATH 110 or MATH 140 (4) 1, 2 Microeconomics - ECON 102 (GS) (3) 2 World Language - Level One (4) 4, 5 | Basic Management Concepts - MGMT 301 (3) 1, 2, 3 Statistics - SCM 200 or STAT 200 (4) 1, 2 World Language - Level Two (4) 4, 5 General Education Natural Science (GN) (3) |
Third Semester (term) | Fourth Semester (term) |
Principles of Marketing - MKTG 301 (3) 1, 2, 3 Financial and Managerial Accounting - ACCTG 211 (4) 1, 2, 3 General Education US Cultures (GA/GH/GS)(3) World Language - Level Three (4) 4, 5 | Corporation Finance - FIN 301 (3) 1, 2, 3 Supply Chain Mgmt - SCM 301 (3) or Business Writing - ENGL 202D (3) Speech - CAS 100, ENGL 138T, or CAS 138T (3) 1 General Education International Cultures (GA/GH/GS)(3) MIS 250 (3) or General Education Natural Science (GN)(3) |
FOOTNOTES 1 Course requires a grade of C or better 2 Entrance-to-Major Course - complete prior to attaining 59.0 cumulative units at Penn State 3 ACCTG 211, FIN 301, MGMT 301, and MKTG 301 must be taken at Penn State 4 Attain 12th unit (credit) level proficiency in a world language (0-12 units). Actual units required vary based upon a student's present skill level in the language they choose. 5 American Sign Language does not satisfy the Smeal College's world language requirement. | |
In order to promote student academic success, the Smeal faculty has designated the successful completion of specific "entrance-to-major" courses prior to the beginning of “major field” course work. In order to ensure all students are equally prepared for success, the Smeal College of Business requires that the following “entrance-to-major” courses must be completed at a Penn State campus: Accounting (ACCTG 211, or ACCTG 201 & ACCTG 202), Management (MGMT 301), Marketing (MKTG 301), and Finance (FIN 301). Therefore, transfer courses or those designated as direct equivalent courses for the four courses listed above will not be credited toward Smeal entrance-to-major progress.
